Time had passed quickly and easily. Martin stood only days before their first visit to the Natzweiler-Struthof. He was nervous. During the last months, he'd picked up on a few things, but mostly he'd known them already, Franz's memory kicked in more and more frequently, making it hard for Martin to remain in control over the war veteran's body. In some moments he thanked the Heavens above that Franz took over: he would never have made it past Professor Hirt's vigilant eye without him.
Nevertheless, occasionally when Franz would get the upper hand at dinners Martin would feel uncomfortable. He could deal with the jokes Franz would make, sometimes very anti-semitic, but he couldn't deal with the physical reactions Franz had. For example, when somebody would mention their recent victories in winning land, a strong sense of pride would bloom in his chest. Or when they sang the "Deutschlandlied" his heart would beat faster - not out of fear but out of admiration and camaraderie.
Professor Hirt was evidently excited. He'd already picked out a small group of prisoners who would be the guinea pigs for his experiment. They were all criminals (BV - Berufsverbrecher) or political prisoners. Martin was surprised, he'd thought the experiments would most likely be done on Jews because they were seen as 'lesser' as an - "Untermenschentum" (subhuman people). Professor Hirt had laughed and shaken his head. "Herr Weiher, these are scientific experiments. We want the subjects to have about the same physical condition a soldier at the front would have - the experiment would be of no good if they were already falling apart before coming in contact with the mustard gas." Ostensibly, those types of prisoners were still in better condition than the Jews and could be nursed to health more easily and quickly. Martin shuddered at the idea. He didn't want to go to that Godforsaken place.
For Martin, it was impossible to understand how something could go so far. How could people, or even a monster like August Hirt, agree to do such terrible things to other people?
But if he had been in Germany since 1933 he may have been able to grasp the expanse of the antisemitic net that had been cast over Germany long before he'd come.
First, there had been the ongoing hate against Jews that had started with the death of Jesus Christ - a Jew himself. Then there was the Middle Ages where the plague had been blamed on Jews who wanted to 'destroy the Christians' by poisoning the wells. And now the financial problems, the economic problems, were blamed on the Jewish people.
More importantly, Hitler had recognized the growing antisemitism and used it for himself, to gain approval. Martin had not understood how Hitler had done it before he'd been whisked back in time to the middle of the war. It hadn't started with exaggerated hate. Hitler had not propagated to 'destroy, or gas, etc' the Jews.
When he'd risen to power he'd had institutes be made - pseudo-scientific ones - but they nonetheless had the air of being researched and well-thought-out, they were logical, and, at first glance, the math seemed to add up. For example the "Institute for the Study of the Jewish Question" - that published books and articles about Jews and the Jewish Question. Martin had found one of their books on one of Franz's shelves. The title of the book had been "Die Juden in Deutschland" (The Jews in Germany). On the first page was a quote from Goebbels in 1933. Martin had shuddered involuntarily when he'd read it: "It is not as if we would make out the Jew as the sole main culprit of the German mental and economic catastrophe. We know all of the other causes that led to the collapse of our people. But we also have the courage to recognize his role in this process and name him (the Jew)." The rest of the book included statistics but also quotes from famous Jews themselves that were twisted countless times. But perhaps, for somebody who'd grown up at that time, the book could have resonated and wouldn't have felt as alien as it did to Martin because he knew the history - the future. And this wasn't the only anti-jewish organization in Nazi Germany. During conversations, he heard many other names being dropped, and slowly, he started to recognize the extent and the influence of these antisemitic claims that ruled the German crowd.
Then, there were the laws that had started in 1933. The partial or full exclusion of Jewish people in national sports teams, in schools, and universities, the law to prevent Jewish journalists from being published in the official papers, the Blutschutzgesetz making marriage between a Jewish and non-Jewish person illegal, for Jewish people who did not carry a typically Jewish first name it was obligatory to add "Israel" or "Sara" to their name. The list went on and on.
Hitler's Germany was incredibly systematic and organized. It was the perfect place for pseudo-science and for men like August Hirt.
Martin's anxiety thrived in the confines of that horrible world.