Chapter 107, A Christmas Story During World War III (3)
Noon on December 24, 1946, Berlin, Germany
Although a year and a half have passed since Hitler's final defeat and the complete destruction of the Nazi regime, the smoke of the original Battle of Berlin has long dissipated. But right now, urban Berlin is still full of ruins and rubble. In at least half of the city blocks, roads, parks and squares are still buried under layers of gravel and silt. The remaining blocks are also covered with scaffolding, looking like they are in dire need.
Especially around the Reichstag, where the street fighting in Berlin was the most intense, as far as the eye could see, within a few square kilometers, there were empty shells of buildings, with twisted beams pointing straight to the sky, and exposed steel bars on the remaining walls that had not yet collapsed. Stretching out in all directions, like the remains of a pterosaur crucified on a cross. In the outline of the wall loomed the ugly shape of the chimney. There is an atmosphere of deathly silence everywhere, and bones that have not yet been buried are scattered...
At this time, in the biting cold wind, groups of German aunts wrapped in coarse cloth headscarves, as well as a number of blond Germanic girls, were wielding shovels and pushing carts to clean up the streets covered with rubble. The crumbling dilapidated buildings that survived the bombing, as well as the barricades and bunkers repaired during the city defense battle, were dismantled and knocked down one by one, and then the bricks and other building materials were carefully cleared out for future reuse.
Since more than six million German men died in the war, and most of the remaining German men were in prisoner-of-war camps in Siberia, helping the Soviets develop the wilderness for free, the newly established German socialist government could only let women take on the responsibility. Started the rubble clearing and urban reconstruction work in the capital Berlin. They are described by the term Trümmerfrauen - roughly translated as "rubble women" or "rubble women".
Regardless of time and space, this is an awe-inspiring word in Germany. The fathers, brothers, and sons of these women were all sent to the front line by Hitler, and many never returned. All homes were in ruins. Fear, sadness, hunger, humiliation... But they used their weak shoulders to support the broken family and this ruined and devastated country, and they struggled to rebuild their homes on the ruins.
You must know that what they are engaged in is not only a very hard work, but also a very dangerous job. Those dangerous and crumbling buildings that are riddled with holes are not only in danger of collapsing and burying people at any time, but there are also unknown people buried under the rubble. How many unexploded bombs... From the beginning of Berlin's rubble clearing work to now, explosions and landslides have occurred every day. But German women who are suffering from hunger and cold have no choice at all - in this defeated country that has become a scorched earth, this is almost the only relatively stable and "legitimate" job they can find...
"...Beep--Beep--Beep--attention, everyone! Attention, everyone! It's time to call it a day and have a meal! It's a time to call it a day and have a meal!"
Listening to the foreman's whistle and shouts, Mrs. Maria Smit, who had been working for a long time, wiped the sweat from her forehead, walked down a pile of huge rubble formed by the collapsed house, and leaned the shovel in her hand against the corner. After putting it away, he and his fellow workers took turns washing their hands under a public faucet, and then walked outside a cooking shed where there was already a long queue, preparing the metal workers' number plates hanging around their necks to receive today's lunch food.
Her current job is very hard. Not only is the workload heavy, but it also works almost all year round, without Sundays, and she has to work on the day before Christmas. But compared to the nightmare days when the Nazi regime fell, Mrs. Smit already felt that her current life was pretty good.
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Although the Soviets used the word "liberation" extensively in their propaganda documents describing the process of the Red Army's conquest of Nazi Germany in an attempt to create an image of glory, greatness and justice, the Germans were accustomed to referring to the moment of Nazi Germany's demise as "zero point" ”, meaning that Germany’s new history begins here.
Because it is really difficult to get the German people to accept the concept of being "liberated" by the Russians. At least for countless German women, the arrival of the Russians was tantamount to a catastrophic disaster. To put it bluntly, the Soviet Red Army that broke into Germany was really far away from being called a liberator, but not far away from locusts. Wherever the sickle and hammer flag went, not only was there no grass growing, but at least it was filled with victims.
Before the fall of Nazi Germany, Mrs. Maria Smit originally lived in a small town outside Berlin. She clearly remembered the scene when the Soviet troops arrived at her door: the Russians wearing long military uniforms and big leather boots, after eliminating the small number of German troops stationed on the outskirts of the city, unceremoniously rushed into the houses and took away the residents' jewelry and watches. . Any resistance is futile. If anyone dares to resist, the Russians will shoot and kill them.
These undisciplined Russian soldiers not only snatched things unscrupulously, but also looked for young women everywhere. As soon as they caught one, they immediately dragged them to an empty house, followed by Maria, who was only 29 years old. Naturally, Mrs. Smit was not let go. Late one night, the Russians broke into her home and dragged her away. Then she was forced at gunpoint into an empty house. There were already some naked young women standing there. What followed was an unbearable collective rape, again and again, lasting the whole night, and they were not allowed to leave until dawn.
However, compared to other German women who suffered the same fate, Mrs. Smit's experience was not the worst, because at least they could drag their weak bodies home and continue to live with humiliation. And many more unfortunate German girls endured the aggression of a platoon or even a company on the same night, so they changed from girls to women, and from women to corpses overnight... Many cowardly German women, They committed suicide because they did not want to fall into the hands of the Russians, or they hanged themselves in shame and anger after being violated. There are also teachers and students at a missionary girls’ school who committed collective suicide in despair after being collectively assaulted. During this period, the various tragedies that occurred in Germany were simply too numerous to count and describe.
However, no one sympathizes with their tragic experience, because when the Nazi German army invaded European countries, the various heinous crimes they committed against women in the invaded countries would only be more and more cruel than this, and definitely not less. , more civilized... when these seemingly innocent German While women had previously rejoiced at the victories of the Nazi German army and enjoyed the steady flow of trophies brought back to the country, their fathers, husbands and brothers who served in the army were also paying attention to the women of the Soviet Union, France and Poland. Doing all kinds of heinous acts of beastliness. Now that the situation has reversed, the vengeful Soviet Red Army has invaded Germany. It is the turn of these German women to be humiliated and even massacred by the Nazis. It is only right that they pay off the debts of their fathers, husbands and brothers who burned, killed and robbed on the battlefield - -Since we are a defeated country, we should accept our fate, kneel down and enjoy the treatment that a defeated country deserves.
In fact, compared to what Nazi Germany experienced after its defeat in another time and space, the situation of the Germans in this time and space is already much better - because the Soviet Union in this world has received the full help of the ship girl Miss Sophie. In the early days of the Soviet-German war, the German army did not collapse. The German army only occupied some border cities and could not push forward until it reached the Minsk line. After that, the main battlefields of both sides were placed in Poland and Southeast Europe. As far as the Soviet Union was concerned, the damage suffered by the war was not serious. Naturally, there was not much blood feud with the Germans, and the desire for revenge was relatively muted.
Due to the minimal damage caused by the war to domestic productivity, and the addition of the black technology of the ship girl, the Soviet army's material supply has become more abundant. Except for the initial period of chaos, after the occupation stabilized, although the Russian soldiers still couldn't control their lower bodies and still frequently had inappropriate relations with German women, they finally no longer relied solely on violence and coercion, but on taking Cigarettes, cans, biscuits and sweets with her They made deals - in this era when everyone was starving and freezing, according to the "market conditions" in big cities in Germany at that time, Soviet soldiers usually only needed to take out a piece of bread to make a deal with a pure Aryan girl with blond hair and blue eyes. Having sex once, there is really no need to be too stingy and look like you are cheap.
Moreover, due to the incredible power of Miss Ship Niang to build factories out of thin air, and the various future world scientific and technological achievements later obtained from Wang Qiu, the Kremlin today no longer looks down upon those old German machines. It's not like after the victory of World War II in another time and space. , as soon as they broke into Nazi Germany, they dismantled machines as war compensation. If the factory door was too small to move the machines out, they simply smashed the wall and drove the car directly in. They were even more powerful than locusts. It seemed that they wanted to destroy Germany. Directly split into an agricultural country...
However, although the Soviets, who are now obsessed with time and space, no longer look down on the machines of Nazi Germany, the engineers and technical workers of Nazi Germany are still very valuable in their eyes - the education of the Soviets these days The level cannot be compared with the Cold War era when everyone knew calculus. Most ordinary Soviet citizens had an education level ranging from elementary school to junior high school. No matter how many factories, mines and oil fields are built using various unscientific means, if there are no knowledgeable people to operate them, they will still be left to rust: therefore, in such a situation of extreme shortage of labor, from After the defeat of Germany and Austria, it became the Kremlin's inevitable choice to plunder high-quality human resources.
Therefore, after the fall of the Nazi German regime, the Soviets not only continued to detain millions of German prisoners of war, allowing them to continue working for free in Central Asia and Siberia to open up wasteland. They even took advantage of the anarchy in the early days of the occupation to forcibly recruit a large number of young and middle-aged labor from Germany, and even evacuated entire factories - here I mean leaving the machines behind, taking away all the workers, and moving them to newly built factories in Siberia and Central Asia. "Unmanned factory" goes to work.
As a result, when Germany's socialist regime was officially established in the spring of 1947, these new German rulers were horrified to discover that if they did not count the millions of German prisoners of war and young men who were working hard in Siberian labor camps, , the current male-to-female ratio of the population of childbearing age in Germany has reached a disparity of one to four! I am afraid that only by imitating the Arabs and practicing polygamy, a German man can maintain balance by marrying four wives...
Under this situation, even if the factories in Germany are still there, they will still not be able to operate because there are no human resources, and it is naturally impossible to resume production. Even postwar cleanup of ruins and reconstruction of railroads, roads, and city buildings struggled due to an extreme lack of labor.
Moreover, the land area of post-war Germany in this time and space is much larger than that of Germany in another world. In view of the lessons of later history, the Kremlin believes that there is really no need to be hot-faced and cold-butt to increase Poland, a die-hard rebel. land. Therefore, after the fall of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union only restored the new territory of Germany to the state before the outbreak of World War II. Of course, the places such as Alsace, North Schleswig, and Danzig Port that were lost after the end of World War I would not come back. , but at least East Prussia, Pomerania, Silesia and other places were not taken away.
It is certainly a good thing that Germany's territory has not been further reduced, but these retained lands were the places that were most severely damaged during the war, and experienced countless massacres and destructions during this period - whether it was the Soviet army or the German army, When encountering guerrilla warfare, they would not hesitate to go on a killing spree, rounding up and shooting all the men in entire villages and towns, and then driving the women and children into the church, and then burning them together with the church. As a result, after the war, according to war correspondents' descriptions, when walking on this land, the only people you could see were old Soviet Red Army soldiers. The fields have been deserted, the granaries have been emptied, there are no cattle, horses, or poultry in the wilderness. There are no birds singing, and no wild animals can be seen. It is completely lifeless. Apart from the occasional passing Soviet soldier, there was almost no living thing on this land.
It is conceivable that in the face of so much land that was completely abandoned and deserted during the war, and even contained countless landmines and unexploded bombs, the workload of reconstruction must be staggering. However, now only the old, weak, women and children are left in Germany. How can they do so much work?
Seeing such a predicament of devastated land, a lot of waste, but no one available, Germany's new red government naturally wanted to complain and reach out to the Soviet big brother, saying that German women could not find husbands. But Stalin, who always had a kind face and a dark heart, refused to release him at all. Instead, he taught German comrades to learn to think in the opposite direction - after the war, there were more women than men in Germany, and the remaining German men were all working in Siberia to open up wasteland, right? It doesn't matter, just send the extra German women too! It would be nice to reunite their flesh and blood, right? The Soviet Union can definitely afford it! There are never too many people in Siberia!
Faced with such a shameless big brother, the German authorities can only admit that they are unlucky. In addition to allowing those abandoned towns and villages to grow weeds and turn into wilderness, they can only fully mobilize women and let these strong women who have suffered from the scourge of war , shouldering the difficult task of rebuilding the country...
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For post-war Germany in this time and space, in addition to the extreme shortage of labor and the extremely imbalanced gender ratio, there is also a very fatal disadvantage: peace did not come with the collapse of the Nazi regime, but instead ended with the end of World War II. Three World Wars broke out immediately afterwards, which greatly delayed Germany's reconstruction process - Mrs. Maria Smit That house located on the outskirts of Berlin was very lucky to survive the terrible years of World War II, but unfortunately it was completely burned down by incendiary bombs dropped by British bombers six months after the fall of Nazi Germany... Therefore, I was homeless. After returning home, she had no choice but to bring her two sons to Berlin, where they lived in a simple shack and relied on government-organized debris cleanup projects to make a living.
Such days are naturally tiring and hard, but at least they are stable enough for her and her two sons to survive. Moreover, as time goes by, the treatment of these "rubble women" who participate in debris clearance and urban reconstruction work is slowly improving in all aspects.
——At the beginning, they dragged their weak bodies to work hard all day and could only get a free lunch-usually only black bread, salt and hot water, and a few potatoes to cover their wages, so that Smit The lady's two sons also had to catch mice and dig wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger. Later, it gradually increased to providing two free meals a day, plus food parcels that can be taken home, which can barely feed the family. Now, salaries have begun to be paid, and the rationing system has been restored. You can use the ration card to buy things in state-owned stores, and the dishes and quality of work meals have also improved a lot.
It seems that because today is Christmas Eve, the free lunch provided by the government is particularly generous. Not only was the staple food upgraded from brown bread to white bread, salted fish was added to the potato soup, but each "rubble woman" also received two small sausages as an extra meal. Mrs. Smit was reluctant to eat this extravagant extra meal. Instead, she carefully wrapped the sausages in oil paper and prepared to take them back to her children to try.
After lunch was over, the foreman announced another piece of good news: In order to celebrate Christmas, the government had temporarily granted them, the "rubble women," a day and a half of leave, and the entire city would be suspended from this afternoon until tomorrow. At the same time, each person was also distributed an extra kilogram of sugar as a Christmas gift from the country to thank working women. In later generations, this thing would be too shabby to be handed over, but now, it makes many German aunts They were overjoyed.
So, with a rare happy mood, Mrs. Smit braved the cold winter wind and left the ruins of the Capitol building and walked to her residence.
Although Hitler's Nazi Germany regime had perished last year, the tragic traces of various wars and fires can still be seen everywhere in urban Berlin at this time. There are ruins and devastation everywhere. It is difficult to find a building without bullet holes. houses. Among the rubble and ruins, you can occasionally see some disabled soldiers who have lost the ability to work. Some of them still have medals hanging on their chests. But at this time, they were all wrapped in thin clothes, sitting numbly on the ground, looking at everything with dull eyes, without any energy, as if they had lost their souls. Pedestrians passing by walked in a hurry and paid no attention to these dying beggars. In this era when everyone is hungry and cold, people's hearts seem to be frozen, and sympathy and mercy have become extremely rare.
Near the crumbling and dilapidated buildings, there are many shacks built with construction waste scattered in a messy manner. These are the temporary residences of the homeless people who lost their houses in the war before new buildings are built. Everywhere is filled with the atmosphere of dilapidation, filth and abject poverty. Only a few children playing add a lively color to the shacks in the ruins, which at least makes it look alive.
——At present, although the population of Germany has been reduced by one-quarter to one-third compared with before the war, the number of houses destroyed is much higher than this proportion, so that there is a severe housing gap. The survivors of these wars had to live a hard life in their destroyed homes, living in cellars, ruins, caves and sewers, completely unable to enjoy the basic public services of modern cities such as running water, gas, electricity and so on. They searched for wood in the ruins to light fires for heating and cooking, and drew water from wells and rivers. Then thousands of people contracted dysentery because of drinking unclean water...not just in Germany, but millions throughout Europe. Such a miserable person. They stay in the middle of the shabby machinery of the twentieth century and live a medieval life.
However, even in such a difficult environment, people in Berlin are still racking their brains and doing everything possible to create a bit of a festive atmosphere. They made Christmas trees out of green waste paper and steel bars, washed empty cans and broken glass until they were shiny, and hung them on them to pretend to be Christmas gifts. Everyone put on the few good clothes they had and tried to put a smile on their faces.
In order to have a good Christmas, Germany's new government has also made its greatest efforts. Although Berlin's concert halls, cinemas and theaters are still in ruins, the government still found ways to borrow equipment from the Soviet Red Army and set up several open-air film teams to provide citizens with some minimum entertainment during the festival. . Then several bands were put together to play carols when the Christmas bells rang.
The residence of Mrs. Smit's family of three in Berlin is naturally a simple shack. Two sides of the shack are leaning against the ruins of a shop, and the remaining two sides are built with bricks that Mrs. Smit took out piece by piece from the ruins. Made of linoleum, broken boards and iron sheets. Since there were no windows, the light in the shack was very dark and the smell was not good. She and her two sons try to stay outside unless they are sleeping, raining or too cold.
When Mrs. Smit returned to the door of her shack in the cold winter wind with two small sausages in oil paper bags and the newly received kilogram of sugar, she found her two sons, ten-year-old Simon and Eight-year-old Justin is waving to her mysteriously:
"...Mom...Mom...a letter from dad was sent today!"
"...What? Your father sent a letter from the prisoner of war camp? Where is it? Where is it? Show me quickly!" Mrs. Smit's face was filled with surprise.
"...No, the letter is here." Simon first carefully took out a letter from his arms and handed it to his mother. Then he pulled his mother into the shack, and at the same time, he pressed his mother's ear and spoke in the softest voice. Said, "...Mom, dad also sent a parcel, which was full of delicious food! We didn't dare to show it to anyone, so we hid it in the blanket as soon as we received it..."
When she heard that her husband, who was captured by the Russians in Siberia because he joined the German navy, was able to mail food from the prisoner of war camp, Mrs. Smit couldn't help but feel a little confused, but she still checked the mail package and found that there were two Tinned fish, a pack of dried mango, a pack of dried coconut and a box of chocolate candies. Then, she opened the envelope again, and a photo fell out. It showed her husband Lucas, wearing a somewhat sloppy sailor suit, standing next to the railing of the ship's side, holding a cigarette in his mouth, and behind his back. It is a tropical island covered with coconut trees...
Seeing this photo, Mrs. Smit seemed to have guessed something, so she quickly took out the letter paper, walked outside and started reading:
“…Dear Maria:
I haven’t written to you for more than four months. How are you and your children doing in Berlin? You must have suffered a lot these days! I have good news for you, I have been released from the prison camp in Siberia! Because I once served as the first mate on a destroyer, the Soviets asked me to take a group of companions to sail a merchant ship in the South Pacific. I enjoyed the treatment and salary of a captain in the Soviet Red Navy. I also got additional allowances when I went to sea. It was a rare job. .
By the way, according to the Soviets, you in Berlin can also enjoy special food rations based on the treatment of the families of Red Army soldiers. So if you have time, please ask the relevant departments to find out what specific procedures need to be done and whether you need me to send supporting documents.
The food and living conditions here in the South Pacific are very good, and the work is relatively easy. The scenery along the route is even more beautiful and intoxicating. There are fine white beaches, beautiful coconut trees, and colorful coral reefs everywhere. , and all kinds of sweet tropical fruits, many of which I have never tasted before. In the parcel is some ration food that I saved for you and the children to try. After the first month's salary is paid, I will try to send the money back to you. Please take care of your health, take good care of your children, and look forward to the day when we can reunite as a family again.
——I will always love you Lucas..."
Seeing this, Mrs. Smit couldn't help but hold the letter tightly to her chest, trying not to let the tears of joy flow out of her eyes. But her youngest son, Justin, was still curiously reaching out and pulling at the lower corner of his mother's clothes, "...Mom! Mom! What did the letter say? How is dad?"
"...Your father...he is no longer in a prisoner of war camp in Siberia. He is sailing in the South Pacific!" Mrs. Smit choked with sobs.
"...South Pacific? What is this place? How is dad doing there?" Justin bit his finger and asked uncertainly.
"...The South Pacific...is far, far away, farther than Siberia, and hotter than Siberia. Your father is living a good life there...at least better than in a prisoner of war camp in Siberia! And! Our lives will be better too!”
At this point, Mrs. Smit suddenly opened her arms and held her two sons tightly in her arms, with tears of joy on her face, "...God bless...our family has survived the war." ! This must be a great celebration! Mom will cook you a Christmas dinner today! However, as the Germans gradually emerged from the catastrophic years of war and death and struggled to rebuild their homes in the ruins, another great country located at the western end of Europe was falling inexorably amidst chaos, hunger, violence and blood. Entering the dark age of primitive wilderness...