As Hans is leaving the building a tall dark haired SS-man approaches him and introduces himself.
“Hello, my name is Hermann Müller and I work in SS HQ (Headquarters) in Wilhelmstraße. I think I’ve seen you before.”
“Yes, that’s possible. I like to spend time in Berlin. My name is Hans Koch and I’m based in Sachsenhausen.”
Hans is curious and surprised at Hermann’s interest in him. Maybe they have met in one of Berlin’s many nightclubs, when he was under the weather and on the prowl for a stray female.
“Would you like a coffee, Hans? I know a nice coffee shop nearby.”
“Of course, Hermann. Why not.”
He can see that Hermann is middle class and speaks with a cultured accent. Maybe he can be a useful source of information. He looks elegant in his black uniform and obviously comes from the sunny side of the street. Hans is surprised that he’s not an officer. He’s just an SS-Sturmmann like himself.
“I’m a Berliner, and I was a student in Universitat Zu Berlin on Unter der Linden for three years. I decided to leave last year, because of some dangerous and undesirable elements there, and felt I would be better off doing useful work for the Reich.”
Hermann is economical with the truth. He is fiercely proud of his city and his university, which had been founded by the humanist Wilhelm Von Humboldt. It became a centre of German philosophy and produced Karl Marx. Albert Einstein was a professor there, when he was director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics in Berlin. Hermann left because the Nazi peasants burned books, and expelled and murdered many students and professors. He was devastated and had no choice but to enlist in the forces of the Reich, as he believed he had a better chance of survival inside the serpent’s lair than outside. He likes to keep his feet on the ground so the Luftwaffe (Air Force) and the Kriegsmarine (Navy) were out of the question, which left the choice between the Wehrmacht and the SS. The streets of Berlin are wall to wall with Wehrmacht, making them almost common, and he did not want to be one of the millions. He wanted something a bit more exclusive, and the SS seemed a better choice with its maximum number restricted to ten percent of the Wehrmacht’s strength.He knows he can rise above its Nazi ideology and avoided officer training, as even he didn’t want to get buried in a sea of ideological confusion. He chose the Allgemeine SS and was happy to find a nice comfortable niche in SS HQ (Headquarter) in Berlin, so he can stay in his native city.
Hans is unsure about Hermann.
“My job is to keep the records of the camp up to date, and share information with the Gestapo.”
Hans is a trained killer and a practiced hangman and executioner in the camp, and he’s wary of his new friend. He knows his curriculum vitae would make many cringe, and he does not intend to reveal his real purpose to an ex university pen pusher.