Chapter 400151Chapter NaN

In the end, Hungary accepted the conditions.

It was, after all, the only way for them to reclaim Transylvania without entering the Great War, just as they most desired.

Hungary also wanted Banat, but that region had a strong identity as a province separate from Transylvania, and a significant number of Serbs resided there.

There was already a territorial dispute over Banat between Yugoslavia and Romania, and if Hungary, which had provoked Yugoslavia by abrogating the Treaty of Trianon, were to take Banat, it would obviously become a future flashpoint, so we made them give that one up.

Instead, in exchange for Banat, we secured from Yugoslavia an official abrogation of the Treaty of Trianon and support for Hungary's acquisition of Transylvania.

For Regent Paul, it was an unavoidable decision to curb the expansion of Croatian power, but since failing to secure the territory taken by Italy had become a political burden, he gladly accepted this opportunity.

In return for mediating between Hungary and Yugoslavia, we were able to pocket a considerable amount of bauxite as a gift.

Now that we are just starting our collaboration with Boeing, the more raw material for aluminum, which will be the material for aircraft, the better.

Still, it would be good if, at the very least, the two countries could forget a little of their old conflicts and continue a favorable relationship as pro-Allied neutral countries.

The meddlesome Churchill and Britain were quite dissatisfied with this situation, but they shut their mouths the moment I mentioned that we were considering whether to have Rommel's unit return home due to the losses on the Western and Eastern fronts.

It felt like I was paying Britain back for the way we had to conduct diplomacy with a servile attitude since the Civil War, and for some reason, there was a strange sense of pleasure, making me feel like I was awakening my inner bastard.

The Poles would be dissatisfied with Hungary cooperating with the Soviet Union, even if temporarily, but Poland could no longer protect its homeland without Germany, and was even falling behind on payments for military equipment, so they were in no position to protest such things.

Likewise, Finland, which depended on our arms support, and other Allied nations with no direct interests did not bother to question our decision.

While we were smoothly unifying the opinion of the Allied Powers, Romania, knowing nothing, only began to sound out its intention to join the Allied Powers and request protection from the Soviet threat after it started being pressured by the Soviet Union and Hungary.

Carol II, who had fought on the side of the Entente in the last Great War, was quite shameless to approach us citing the friendship of the House of Hohenzollern, but it didn't take him very long to grasp the situation.

We first used the problem of the Iron Guard fascists running rampant in Romania and their history of supporting Rydz-Śmigły's invasion of Germany as an excuse.

Then, we maintained a stance of complete disregard, citing that the Allied Powers had no spare capacity to support Romania due to the two-front war situation.

As a de facto monarchy where anti-communist fascists held sway, Romania would find it hard to choose the option of joining hands with the communist Soviet Union.

Even if Romania reached out to the Soviet Union, from the Soviets' perspective, it would be better to tear off a piece of Romania rather than let both Hungary and Yugoslavia join the Allied Powers just to bring Romania to their side.

If they had the ability to maintain the Polish Front and even launch a Balkan offensive through Romania, they would have finished off Finland long ago.

By bringing in Yugoslavia, Romania was left without even the option of pretending to be crazy, giving the Soviets what they wanted, and then fighting Hungary.

When even Bulgaria, which had been testing the waters while reading the mood, joined in as a pro-Soviet country demanding Dobruja, Romania, now facing war with all its neighboring countries, could do nothing.

Under the thorough neglect—no, encouragement—of the Allied Powers, Romania surrendered and ceded all of Transylvania to Hungary, Banat to Yugoslavia, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union, and Dobruja to Bulgaria.

It took less than a month for the once-strongest nation in the Balkans to become isolated in the international community and be reduced to a small Balkan country without even putting up a proper resistance.

-

December 11, 1940

Posen, North-Central Germany

The depths of winter had arrived.

The Allied Powers, the Axis Powers, and the Soviet Union were all preoccupied with recovering from their massive losses, so a strange confrontation continued on the fronts, with only sporadic localized wars and no large-scale battles.

I was in Posen, a city we had received from Poland.

The place once occupied by Poles, who made up half of this region's population, was now filled with the Jewish people we had resettled.

After Kristallnacht, the Jewish people had all their property confiscated and had to spend a brutal winter in concentration camps, where hundreds died.

We overthrew the Nazi regime before the Holocaust was implemented, liberating them from the camps, but in a situation busy with fighting a war, the most we could do for the penniless Jews was to give them just enough subsidies to not die.

But still, they endured the winter and survived, and they gained a new home.

In Posen, one could easily find shops and restaurants with the word "Kosher" (food and ingredients prepared according to Jewish law) written on them, as well as synagogues.

In the Germany of 1940, the Jewish people could maintain their society, and there was no threat to their lives for not hiding it.

There was hope on their faces.

The winter two years ago was spent in concentration camps without proper food or clothing, and last year was spent in the cold shoulder of neighbors and poverty.

The Jewish people were now finally spending a warm winter in their new homes.

I sat in a cafe, drinking coffee and watching the unfamiliar scene.

After a short wait, a person I hadn't seen in a very long time approached.

"It's been a long time, Vice-Chancellor Schacht. You were a Captain two years ago, but your position has changed a lot. Congratulations."

It was Count Helmuth James von Moltke, the leader of the Kreisau Circle and a prestigious Junker from a founding family of the German Empire.

"Haha, thank you. I'm happy to see you again, Count."

The Count sat down opposite me with a gentle smile.

Two years ago, after hearing my plan to reconstruct a democratic government, he and his wealthy acquaintances had provided funds to the Black Orchestra.

We lightly asked about each other's well-being and exchanged pleasantries, and after a little while, Count Moltke spoke.

"This may be a strange thing to say now, but when I first heard your words, I doubted whether it was really possible to overthrow Hitler and the Nazis and revive democracy. I provided support, but honestly, it was with the feeling of grasping at straws."

Thinking back now, my plan was quite flawed, and I had to rely heavily on luck, such as starting a civil war within a civil war and overcoming several crises.

"It's thanks to the help of many, including you, Count."

And what allowed me to overcome all of that and come this far was not some flimsy future knowledge or my own ability.

Claudia, who was my greatest strength; Tresckow, Hans Oster, and Kort, who were the working hands of the Black Orchestra; the Frankfurter Zeitung and the citizen factions.

My father and the members of the New Government, the people in the military who responded to the civil war, General Model and Richthofen who ended up joining me even after I gave up on persuading them, and my dear friends Clemens and Roger.

If even one of them had been missing, I might have failed.

The Count smiled gently at my words and then looked around.

"What do you think of this scene, Vice-Chancellor, a sight created by your vision and those who lent their strength?"

"…I'm overwhelmed, and also sorry."

Although we gave the Jewish people the territory we gained from Poland as a new home, the reason they followed our resettlement policy with little resistance was that they had no other alternative.

Not a penny of their property remained, their homes were already owned by others, and among their former neighbors, only a very small number felt any compassion for the Jews who had been released after suffering in the camps.

The Nazi slogan of Jewish extermination was gone, but the revulsion they left behind towards the Jewish people, while fading, had not completely disappeared.

To the Germans, the Jewish people are still closer to an object of aversion rather than fellow citizens.

There is no Star of David that the Jews had to wear on their chests, and they cannot be distinguished from other Germans by appearance alone, but the Jews still gather and live amongst themselves in their own districts.

It's unlikely our government will ever compensate for the property the Nazi regime illegally plundered from the Jews and their suffering, or if it does, it will be after a considerable amount of time has passed.

The most we, who are busy fighting a war, can do is to gradually improve the perception of the Jewish people and maintain public security to guarantee their safety from unjust hate crimes.

"It was your idea, Vice-Chancellor, to settle the Jewish people in the territory gained from the war. There's no need to feel sorry."

The Count spoke in a light tone, and as the coffee he ordered arrived, he savored the aroma and then spoke.

"It's a winter so abundant that it's hard to believe we're in the middle of a war. It's the fruit of your and the government's efforts."

Even during the war, the German people are enjoying a diet without major shortages.

Even without a rationing system, things like wheat bread, pasta, and sausage can be bought at low prices by ordinary households.

In fact, it has improved compared to the Nazi era, thanks to the abundant and diverse food coming in from Italy, Yugoslavia, and America.

The money to purchase that food and those resources is earned by selling military equipment produced in the Ruhr to the Allied Powers, and the resulting shortage of equipment will be more than made up for once the equipment replacement in Hungarian munitions factories is finished and the workers' proficiency increases.

From the perspective of Hungary, which was just beginning to rearm, it wasn't a bad deal either, since they could support the war by producing German Army equipment more advanced than their own, and after the war, they could strengthen their own military with the existing facilities just by purchasing the license.

The generation that went through the severe food shortages of the Turnip Winter in the last Great War is satisfied with this situation, and the government's support, which had briefly wavered after the crushing defeat by the Soviet Union, was fully recovered a long time ago.

But to obtain this abundance we are enjoying, we had to shed no small amount of blood.

Another country was also shattered to pieces.

After losing more than half of its territory, Prime Minister Ion Antonescu staged a coup d'état in Romania and ousted Carol II.

Antonescu, who seized control of Romania, placed Michael I on the throne as a figurehead king and became the Conducător (leader).

In the original history, he had Romania join the Axis Powers, but now, with no way to get help from France and being surrounded by enemy nations, that possibility is low.

For the Romanian people, their country was halved overnight, their king was replaced, and a fascist leader's dictatorship began; it's a chaos unlike any other.

Nominally, I stood by with the excuse that we weren't in a position to protect them against the Soviet Union, but the one who greatly contributed to that chaos was me.

In reality, it wasn't neglect but instigation, so if this fact is ever revealed, I'll become a villain in Romanian history for ages to come.

But for now, no one knows.

The Allied Powers aside, looking at it from a global perspective, there were surprisingly few who paid much attention to Romania's misfortune and chaos.

Only a few intellectuals cautiously expressed their disappointment at the Allied Powers' neglect, while most were just wary of and denouncing the Soviet threat.

To think that I'd feel more at ease if they just criticized me now is probably just hypocrisy.

"Is business going well, Count?"

As a reward to the Count and the tycoons who had provided financial support to the New Government from the time of the Black Orchestra to the German Civil War, our government distributed factories in places like West Prussia, Posen, and the recently reclaimed South Tyrol.

Count Moltke is managing those factories, providing jobs to the Jewish people, and at the same time, helping them settle.

His actions, as a member of one of the most distinguished Junker families in Germany, are a great help to our efforts to improve the discrimination against the Jewish people.

"Yes. It's going very well. The Jewish people are satisfied with just being paid properly without discrimination and work diligently. It was difficult to find an administrator who respects Jewish culture, but I managed to find a good person, so it's going well."

"That's a relief."

"It is. He's a fellow named Oskar Schindler, and he's doing a great job. To be honest, his reputation was so bad that I was going to reject him, but I hired him as a test, and I'm glad I did."

I opened my mouth for a moment, then closed it.

Oskar Schindler… as in, the man from Schindler's List? It connects in this way too.

He had apparently been busily offering bribes to get a position by cozying up to the Nazi Party, so he had to pay a heavy fine.

In the original history, a debauched businessman witnessed the atrocities against the Jewish people and changed, but here, was he punished as a Nazi collaborator and had a change of heart after seeing the truth about the Nazis that we exposed?

Anyway, it's an interesting thing. Can he remain a good person in this changed history?

"And the number of Jewish people migrating here is steadily increasing. Jewish people who were helped to escape abroad by the Abwehr during the Nazi regime are returning with their families, or they are immigrating from other countries where the persecution of Jews is severe."

"I see.

That's joyful news. It means that our abolition of the persecution of Jews isn't just for show in their eyes."

Although the Nazi regime's persecution of the Jewish people was notoriously famous, even without the Nazis, in this era, the Jews are treated as the root of almost all evil.

The modern Jewish state of Israel is criticized as being no different from the Nazis, but the long history of persecution that the Jewish people received and the attitude of the great powers who irresponsibly threw them into an Islamic den without taking responsibility are surely important factors in how that came to be.

We are focusing on protecting the Jewish people, if only to atone for the Nazis' wrongdoings, and it seems to look pretty good to the Jews of this era.

Maybe Israel won't be created in this world?

It's not a bad feeling. As I was thinking that, Count Moltke spoke.

"Actually, I was constantly anxious even after the Civil War ended."

"Anxious?"

"Yes. The Nazis were expelled, but I kept wondering if the revival of democracy would really happen, and even if it did, whether it would be a proper democracy."

I gave a bitter smile at Count Moltke's words.

Certainly, the war is dragging on, yet the achievements of our government, which is merely an Emergency War Cabinet, are excessively large.

For him, who supported us not just for the expulsion of the Nazis, but with a dream of democracy, it was only natural to be concerned.

"In the midst of that, the way you took responsibility you didn't have to bear and drew a line with the military, which would have been your strongest political connection, was very impressive."

"Haha…"

To me, who was just laughing, Count Moltke sent a serious gaze.

"But you, who spoke of sublime ideals in front of me, have now become a man of power who can push a nation to ruin if necessary."

After intimidating Czechoslovakia and tearing away the Sudetenland, I sought comfort from Claudia out of guilt.

But when abandoning Romania, I had gained enough composure to persuade the Cabinet and reassure a worried Claudia.

Is this me adapting to this era and my position, or am I just losing my morality? I'm not sure.

Count Moltke looked at me for a moment, then asked.

"Vice-Chancellor, may I believe that your goal, which you told me of in Kreisau, your thought of returning the power of this Germany, which a dictator held and shook, to the people, has still not changed?"

Unlike Count Moltke, the revival of democracy in Germany was not an ideal in itself for me.

My purpose from beginning to end was to turn Germany back into a normal country, and in fact, democracy was merely a means to that end.

That's why, even as a German politician, I have constantly doubted Germany.

I even doubted myself.

And as long as I doubt everything, my will does not change.

"Of course, Count."

A normal country under a dictator? What kind of nonsense is that? At least until the 21st century I lived in, no one had ever accomplished such a thing.

Having barely managed to overthrow the Nazis with future knowledge and the help of so many people, what kind of great man am I to attempt something that the long history of mankind has not achieved?

"I've gone through all this hardship for that."

To protect my precious people, I started by confronting the Nazis to save Germany from ruin, and finally came this far.

I don't think that the Germany I, we, have created is clean or just simply because Hitler and the Nazis are gone.

In the end, the atrocities committed by the Nazis are a burden we must carry, and that debt is not something our government can fully repay.

Just as it was for the Germany of the original history, the history and influence of the Nazis will cast an eternal shadow over Germany.

Even this land, where the Jewish people have found a new home and are cultivating hope, is a place scattered with the tears of its exiled residents.

Blood is still flowing on the front lines, and the justification of a war against fascism and communism does not serve as an indulgence to justify all the actions the German Army will commit.

Many of our proud German Army generals who are active on the front lines are people who committed war crimes in the original history.

History changing doesn't mean a person completely changes, so they'll repeat the same things if the situation arises.

There are definitely those who are harmed by the changed history.

What I wish for is not a perfect and great Germany.

I just hope that even after avoiding the extreme processes of the Nazis and the ruin of World War II, Germany can be reborn as a normal country that has escaped the specters of nationalism and militarism.

Even if I don't dream of the deluded fantasy of a just nation for all, or of perfectly leading Germany as a powerful ruler—

"I just want to end this war quickly, throw off this damn burden, and live a sweet, loving life with my wife."

As an ordinary human being, I'm allowed to hope that the people precious to me can enjoy peace and happiness, right?