In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Encyclopedia
In the Presence of Mine Enemies (2003) is an alternate history novel by American author Harry Turtledove
, expanded from the eponymous short story. The novel depicts a world where the United States
remained isolationist and did not participate in the Second World War, thus allowing victory to the Axis Powers
who divided the world among themselves. Still, some years after WWII, the Third World War
occurred, featuring nuclear weapons used against the U.S.
Set in 2010, the novel focuses on Heinrich Gimpel and a small group of Jews who survived the Holocaust
by passing as Gentiles. The events occur against a backdrop that parallels the Soviet Union
's last days, with characters based upon Mikhail Gorbachev
, Boris Yeltsin
, and others.
she's always learned and parroted without question.
Meanwhile, Heinrich finds himself caught in the marital strife between his co-worker, Willi Dorsch, and Willi's wife, Erika. Embittered by her husband's infidelity, Erika wants a retaliatory affair with Heinrich. He resists, which leads to Erika accusing him of being a Jew and Heinrich being arrested by the SS. Only after Erika realizes that her accusation caused Heinrich's children to be taken also, she confesses that she lied, unaware the entire time that Heinrich and his family really are Jewish.
Esther Stutzman, who works as a receptionist in a doctor's office, also experiences a close call with Nazi policies when her friends Richard and Maria Klein, closeted Jews like herself, bring their ailing eight-month-old baby, Paul, in for a checkup. The diagnosis, Tay-Sachs disease
, is a disease known to be prevalent among Jews. A subsequent investigation into his family background would spell doom for his parents and any Jews whose names they might be forced to reveal under torture. Although Esther's husband Walther is able to hack into the Reich's computer network and change the Klein's family history, it is the revelation that Reichsführer-SS
Lothar Prützmann has a nephew with Tay-Sachs that brings the investigation to a halt.
All of this happens against the background of the events happening after the death of the current Führer, Kurt Haldweim
. He is replaced by the reform-minded Heinz Buckliger
, who relaxes the oppressive laws of the Reich. In a secret speech, with word-of-mouth spreading it to the populace, the new Führer denounced his predecessors, saying that the Reich committed crimes in the past. Reactionary opposition rallies around the SS, while the populist Gauleiter
of Berlin, Rolf Stolle
, champions accelerated reform.
Things come to a head with the announcement of (relatively) free elections — candidates need not be Nazi Party members, but they must be Aryan. Led by Reichsführer-SS
Lothar Prützmann, the SS effect a conservative coup d'état — imprisoning the Führer, and installing former High Commissioner
of Ostland
Affairs, Odilo Globocnik
, as the new Führer. However, Stolle instigates a people power movement, which the Wehrmacht
supports. The coup d'état is defeated, after Walther Stutzman salts the country's computer network with the information about Reichsführer-SS Prützmann's Tay-Sachs afflicted nephew. Soon, Berlin comes to the conclusion that Prützmann is a Jew, which definitively turns the tide against the coup. In the aftermath, Prützmann kills himself and Globocnick is lynched.
Italy
's empire is around the Mediterranean Sea
, including the parts of Africa granted by the Reich. The Nazis compel the Italians to large-scale massacres of Arabs in their portion of the Middle East. The nation is controlled by King Umberto and the Duce
of the Italian Empire
. While much of Africa is divided up among Germany, Italy and Portugal, an "Aryan-dominated" Union of South Africa
remains as an independent ally of the German Reich.
Although less powerful than Germany, Japan is a nuclear power keeping the Reich at bay with the implicit threat of mutually assured destruction. Moreover, Japan has its own subordinate rulers — of whom only the Emperor of Manchukuo
is mentioned — through the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
. Despite having "an ocean of slave labor" at its disposal, Japan now concentrates upon developing high technologies. Despite the Germano–Nipponese alliance, the Nazis consider the Japanese racially inferior and lacking in creativity, with propaganda pointing to a perceived decrease in Japan's technological advances as proof of this. Even so, Japanese tourists, students, and restaurants are common within the Reich.
and Philadelphia and others were destroyed, and their environments rendered uninhabitable. Omaha, Nebraska
is now the US capital, and the Reich maintains Wehrmacht occupation forces at New York
, Chicago
, and St. Louis. Upon conquering the U.S., the Einsatzkommando
s and the nativist American racists systematically killed the country's Jewish and Black populations.
The U.S. pays annual tribute
— an important income for Germany's economy — despite the American economy's hyperinflation
and the Dollar
's disappearance as a world currency; whenever possible, the U.S. evades paying the tribute.
, Russians
, and Ukrainians
are killed because they are Untermenschen, like-wise, the Arabs for being as "Semitic
as Jews". Moreover, the Reich and the Italian Empire effect the genocide of the African populations, and enslave the survivors. Any Jews found are immediately killed. While "the surviving Russians were pushed far east of the Urals", there is much guerrilla fighting, requiring forts to protect the German settlers.
The Nazis treat the Czechs, Croats, and Bulgarians, relatively well, despite being Slavs, because the Croats lend themselves to savagely persecuting the Serbs
via severe racial discrimination, suppressed rebellions, and dissidents enslaved or put to death. Iranians and Indians — classified as "Aryan" — are not persecuted; some are invited to study at German universities.
makes use of jet aircraft
, panzer
s, submarine
s, APC
s, assault rifle
s and a variety of naval warships. The "Ministry of Air and Space" is mentioned as having planted a permanent outpost on the Moon, carrying out a manned landing on Mars
, and may be planning a manned mission to the Jovian
moons. Orbital weather platform
s are also mentioned in the book.
Civilian technology has also advanced in a similar way to its military counterpart in the 21st century. Jet airliner
s, television
s (called televisors), computer
s, although the internet has not been invented in fear of it being a "security nightmare", modern cars, and microwave
s are used throughout the Reich. The German population enjoys very high living standards at the expense of non-Germans throughout the Reich and occupied nations.
and Volkswagen
are thriving under fascism, and Zeiss produces the Reich's computers and software. Agfa-Gevaert
TV commercials for film encourage Germans to migrate to the Ostland
territories, and Lufthansa
covers the air.
The British Broadcasting Corporation is mentioned throughout the novel with the Reich's counterpart being the RRG. A RRG newscaster named Horst Witzleben appears several times in the novel, his "Seven O'clock News" being highly influential.
The Reich Genealogical Office has online genealogical records, which can define life and death to persons suspected of being Jewish. Historically, the Nazis of our history already made use of the pre-computer punch-cards developed by IBM
in order to mark out the Jews and eventually arrest them and send them to extermination camps.
is the dominant world currency, and it is legal tender in the Greater German Reich, though most of the Reich's member states, territories, and allies — including the Empire of Japan, Latin America, Britain, and America — have national currencies. The Reich dictates favorable exchange rates, so the Reichsmark is readily accepted (and, apparently, welcome) even where it is not legal tender. Britain remains using its pre-decimal £sd currency, though the five-shilling Crown coin is struck in cheap aluminum, not silver, as "silver" coins were at least partly made of before World War II and briefly after.
is practiced in schools; it punishes actions such as disrespecting a superior, not doing one's school work, and for not knowing the correct answers to teachers' questions in the classroom. The school year occupies most of the calendar year, with the only major holidays being the end-of-the-year, two-week holiday between Christmas and the New Year, and the week-long break after Easter Sunday. The remainder of the year is school work, though one-day holidays occur infrequently.
The Hitler Jugend and Bund Deutscher Mädel are compulsory for children in the German Reich; the Nazi gender roles having changed little since their foundation. At story's end, the Hitler Jugend implements changes towards preparing boys into becoming responsible, adult citizens rather than army conscripts.
The Reich education system is only for Germany; allied states and occupied territories control their own education systems. In the U.S., American children have long summer holidays from school, a fact German teachers emphasize as one of the reasons the German Reich defeated America.
German academics have key roles in the processes of racial discrimination and genocide. The German Institute for Racial Studies, part of Friedrich Wilhelm University, is charged with defining which peoples and ethnic groups of the "Germanic Empire" are subhuman and so marked for genocide or slavery. At its side, as the smiling face of the Reich, is the German Institute for Foreigners (founded 1922), charged with instructing those foreigners who fortunately were classed as "Aryans" — such as Iranians
and Indians
— in the German language
and culture
.
Academic life is male-dominated. Although it is not impossible for a woman to have an academic career, few do, and such a woman lecturer faces great difficulties and must engage in daily, petty struggles in order to gain privileges that are granted to men. Under Reich sexism, an assertive woman might be accused that she is "not a proper National Socialist woman"; however, such attitudes are regarded as old-fashioned, and are challenged by the younger people.
between home team fans and the visiting Leipzig
team fans. Deprivation of the right to tour the Reich, and of having Reich teams visit, is financially hurtful. Germany
won a recent World Cup
, but now is challenged by a powerful, multi-racial Brazil
comprising Negroes and Native American
s, and others.
— Trust No Fox in the Green Meadow, No Jew on His Oath, and The Poison Mushroom
— are universal reading for German children. The hidden Jews feel obliged to buy them for their children; doing otherwise might arouse suspicion.
Jews are and are-not of the society surrounding them. They must constantly play a role, parroting the prevailing anti-Semitic clichés. They keep as much of their Jewish identity as can be imparted in secret meetings among themselves, with purely oral lore, though some written Hebrew is taught. With the exception of the Bible, which can be kept openly — as Christianity, while not encouraged by the Reich, is not forbidden — they dare not possess books on Judaism, though such books do still exist.
All of the viewpoint characters were born under the Nazis, and maintaining the masquerade is second nature. The greatest danger is when a child is told of his or her true identity, usually at age of ten — considered old enough to keep the secret. Children often are shocked, since, like all German children, they grew up exposed to constant anti-Semitism from teachers and children's books. The adults soften the shock by teaching the children to feel privileged to belong to such a secret society.
It is mentioned that the hidden Jews regard it as too dangerous to gather on the Major Holidays and fasts of Judaism, such as Passover
and Yom Kippur
, and hold their secret gatherings on Minor Holidays such as Purim
.
or Arab
slave laborers for "dirty" or dangerous work. In one passage, an industrial accident in the Ruhr
is reported on TV as having caused the deaths of "Twelve Aryans and an unknown number of Untermenschen".
Homosexuals are actively persecuted. Unlike Jews, Gypsies, and other "inferior races" (which are thought to have been wiped out), homosexuals continue to arise, and are hunted by the security police—unless they have political connections which protect them.
. An important example is the Great Hall
that can house more than 100,000 people; in it was held the funeral of deceased Führer Kurt Haldweim. The Hall has a dome 200 metres high and 250 metres in diameter, it is crowned with a massive, gilded German eagle holding a swastika
.
Nearby is the Führer's Palace (the official residence for the Führer) that is guarded by soldiers from the Grossdeutschland Division, who are barracked near the Palace. Aside from security, they are a ceremonial, dress corps armed with (antique) Gewehr 98
rifles; their arsenal includes assault rifles and tanks; next is the Adolf Hitler Platz, a grand public square for rallies and such.
The Soldier's Hall commemorates the German Reich's military might, exhibiting the radioactive remains of the Liberty Bell
(displayed behind lead glass), gliders
used to invade Britain, the first Panzer IV
to enter the Kremlin
, and the railroad carriage in which Imperial Germany surrendered
to the Allies in 1918, at Compiègne
, France, and in which France surrendered to Nazi Germany in 1940.
The Arch of Triumph is 170 metres wide and 1,700 metres deep — despite being modelled from the smaller Arc de Triomphe
in Paris
; much of that city district's automobile traffic transits through this arch. Because Berlin is populous, public transport — rapid transit
trains (U-bahn) and commuter railroads are well developed; such a rail station is the "South Station", near government offices. Per Speer's plans, this was to anchor the south end of the main boulevard with the most monumental structures. Captured enemy weapons and battle wreckage (British fighter plane; Soviet tank; U.S. submarine conning tower), are displayed outside the station.
Berlin also is headquarters to these key government ministries for Air and Space, Justice, Interior, Transport, Food, Economics, Colonial, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
, and the Führer's Office.
The Kurfürstendamm
commercial district glitters with neon
signs and reflected sun light, yet these citizens of Berlin use the street's full name in their daily lives, not the abbreviated slang of the native. Nazi Berlin is a culturally-vibrant city offering resident and visitor a wildly successful musical about Churchill and Stalin and cosmopolitan cuisines — however — under the Reinheitsgebot
, the nation's medieval beer-purity law, Japanese beer is illegal for importation to the Reich; American fast food
is unavailable, because of the American economic collapse on its World War III defeat.
Culturally, the toy store Ulbright offers the children of the Reich pretty "Vicki" dolls and the "Landser Sepp" action figures (a boy's doll). Vicki dolls are made in the U.S.A. with slave labour, and come in varieties, yet all dolls look perfectly Aryan — in abiding Reich policy.
, the capital of Britain. In this timeline, the British people are impoverished due to the German occupation; William Shakespeare
and his works are more widely known and published in Germany than in Shakespeare's homeland, partly due to Britain's economic collapse. During the Second World War, much of London was destroyed by dive bomber
s and panzer
s as well as during the last-ditch resistance by Churchill
and his supporters. Key British buildings including the Parliament building, Big Ben
and St Paul's Cathedral
have been completely destroyed, with their only remaining legacy being photographs. Some areas of the city have been in ruins for over seventy years, due to harsh reparations imposed on the British by the Germans and partisan uprisings that would only be completely crushed by 1970. German city planners often visit Britain to see how their colleagues deal with building from the clean slate that they themselves can never have.
The Crown is a hotel that serves as the meeting place of the British Union of Fascists
; as its name implies, the hotel is dominated by an enormous crown. The BUF members have a reputation of being violent thugs; a fight involving members of the party takes place outside and within the hotel. A second hotel, the Silver Eagle, is the location of the Medieval English Association conference; it bears a glass and steel eagle on its top. Both hotels are modern, glass-fronted structures.
in his work, The World Hitler Never Made, notes that unlike other alternate histories that deal with a Nazi victory, In the Presence of Mine Enemies humanizes the Nazis. Rosenfeld stated this would have been impossible in earlier years where the trend was to show the Nazis in alternate histories as the "incarnation of evil." Rosenfeld, however, noted that despite Turtledove's reputation as an acclaimed and skilled writer in alternate history, he received a lot of criticism for the novel making Rosenfeld assume that most American audiences do not wish to humanize the Nazis.
Adam-Troy Castro
, however, gave a good review of the novel. Though he found that the hidden Jewish characters of the novel weathered their secret life too well and compared others who live secret lives in our society (for examples homosexuals) who sometimes have to deal with incidents of self-loathing, alcoholism, drug abuse and even suicide. In the end Castro was thrilled to see at the end of the novel the main characters standing tall against an oppressive government.
Harry Turtledove
Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...
, expanded from the eponymous short story. The novel depicts a world where the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
remained isolationist and did not participate in the Second World War, thus allowing victory to the Axis Powers
Axis victory in World War II
An Axis victory in World War II is a common concept in alternate history. World War II alternate histories are one of the two most popular points of divergence in the English language...
who divided the world among themselves. Still, some years after WWII, the Third World War
World War III
World War III denotes a successor to World War II that would be on a global scale, with common speculation that it would be likely nuclear and devastating in nature....
occurred, featuring nuclear weapons used against the U.S.
Set in 2010, the novel focuses on Heinrich Gimpel and a small group of Jews who survived the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
by passing as Gentiles. The events occur against a backdrop that parallels the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's last days, with characters based upon Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
, and others.
Plot summary
Wehrmacht officer Heinrich Gimpel astonishes his 10-year-old daughter, Alicia, with a secret that's been hidden from her all her life: the family's Jewish. He explains that the Gimpels, their friends Walther and Esther Stutzman, and their extended families all belong to those remnants of Jews who now survive by hiding in plain sight within the very society that wants them dead. Now old enough, by family tradition, to be trusted with this life-or-death deception, Alicia is obliged to hide the truth from her friends, her classmates and even her younger sisters, even as she's forced to regard her school's racist curriculum from a new perspective that leaves her sick and angry over all the anti-Semitic propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
she's always learned and parroted without question.
Meanwhile, Heinrich finds himself caught in the marital strife between his co-worker, Willi Dorsch, and Willi's wife, Erika. Embittered by her husband's infidelity, Erika wants a retaliatory affair with Heinrich. He resists, which leads to Erika accusing him of being a Jew and Heinrich being arrested by the SS. Only after Erika realizes that her accusation caused Heinrich's children to be taken also, she confesses that she lied, unaware the entire time that Heinrich and his family really are Jewish.
Esther Stutzman, who works as a receptionist in a doctor's office, also experiences a close call with Nazi policies when her friends Richard and Maria Klein, closeted Jews like herself, bring their ailing eight-month-old baby, Paul, in for a checkup. The diagnosis, Tay-Sachs disease
Tay-Sachs disease
Tay–Sachs disease is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder...
, is a disease known to be prevalent among Jews. A subsequent investigation into his family background would spell doom for his parents and any Jews whose names they might be forced to reveal under torture. Although Esther's husband Walther is able to hack into the Reich's computer network and change the Klein's family history, it is the revelation that Reichsführer-SS
Reichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
Lothar Prützmann has a nephew with Tay-Sachs that brings the investigation to a halt.
All of this happens against the background of the events happening after the death of the current Führer, Kurt Haldweim
Kurt Waldheim
Kurt Josef Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria, from 1986 to 1992...
. He is replaced by the reform-minded Heinz Buckliger
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, who relaxes the oppressive laws of the Reich. In a secret speech, with word-of-mouth spreading it to the populace, the new Führer denounced his predecessors, saying that the Reich committed crimes in the past. Reactionary opposition rallies around the SS, while the populist Gauleiter
Gauleiter
A Gauleiter was the party leader of a regional branch of the NSDAP or the head of a Gau or of a Reichsgau.-Creation and Early Usage:...
of Berlin, Rolf Stolle
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
, champions accelerated reform.
Things come to a head with the announcement of (relatively) free elections — candidates need not be Nazi Party members, but they must be Aryan. Led by Reichsführer-SS
Reichsführer-SS
was a special SS rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945. Reichsführer-SS was a title from 1925 to 1933 and, after 1934, the highest rank of the German Schutzstaffel .-Definition:...
Lothar Prützmann, the SS effect a conservative coup d'état — imprisoning the Führer, and installing former High Commissioner
High Commissioner
High Commissioner is the title of various high-ranking, special executive positions held by a commission of appointment.The English term is also used to render various equivalent titles in other languages.-Bilateral diplomacy:...
of Ostland
Ostland
Ostland may refer to:* In World War II, the Reichskommissariat Ostland was the official designation of some of the eastern territories occupied by Nazi Germany* Ostland is a province of the land called The Empire in Warhammer Fantasy Battles...
Affairs, Odilo Globocnik
Odilo Globocnik
Odilo Lotario Globocnik was a prominent Austrian Nazi and later an SS leader. He was an acquaintance of Adolf Eichmann, who played a major role in the extermination of Jews and others during the Holocaust...
, as the new Führer. However, Stolle instigates a people power movement, which the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
supports. The coup d'état is defeated, after Walther Stutzman salts the country's computer network with the information about Reichsführer-SS Prützmann's Tay-Sachs afflicted nephew. Soon, Berlin comes to the conclusion that Prützmann is a Jew, which definitively turns the tide against the coup. In the aftermath, Prützmann kills himself and Globocnick is lynched.
Viewpoint characters
- Heinrich Gimpel, a hidden Jew serving as an officer at the Wehrmacht HQ in Berlin. Heinrich is careful and meticulous about keeping up his masquerade — originally even from the reader, who goes through nearly a whole chapter before finding that Gimpel is a hidden Jew and a leader of a secret Jewish community. Heinrich's specific job is to monitor the American payment of tribute to Germany, and detect the frequent attempts to avoid payment. Gimpel is later arrested due to no more than a friend's wife denouncing him as a Jew without knowing he really was one, simply because he resisted her sexual advances. Gimpel is eventually released from custody; an SS major who escorts Heinrich out the door then casually remarks to him: "You find us in the oddest places."
- Lise Gimpel, Heinrich's wife and like her husband, she is also a Jew.
- Alicia Gimpel, Heinrich and Lise's ten-year-old daughter and oldest of three sisters. At the beginning of the book, she is initiated into the secret that she, and other family and friends, are Jewish. She is stunned, but gradually comes to accept it.
- Susanna Weiss, a Medieval English scholar at the Friedrich Wilhelm University. She is also one of the few surviving Jews left in the Reich.
- Esther Stutzman, a receptionist at a Berlin area pediatrician's office. She and her husband Walther are also hidden Jews. She is a tuckerizationTuckerizationTuckerization is the act of using a person's name in an original story as an in-joke. The term is derived from Wilson Tucker, a pioneering American science fiction writer and fanzine editor, who made a practice of using his friends' names for minor characters in his stories...
of the well-known science-fiction/fantasy author Esther FriesnerEsther FriesnerEsther Mona Friesner-Stutzman, née Friesner is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for her humorous pieces.- Life :...
.
- Walther Stutzman, a computer programmer at Zeiss. He has unauthorized access into many of the Reich's databases due to codes his father created, his father being involved with transferral of paper records to computer records. He has been able to assign false Aryan pedigrees to Jewish individuals, to enable them to avoid detection by the Reich.
World politics and geography
Political alignment
The Führer of the Greater German Reich is the world's most powerful political leader. Besides the Reich, itself, the "Greater Germanic Empire" includes occupied, but not annexed, countries and allied countries. The occupied countries have their own governments — but limited sovereignty; the Nazis interfere in their internal affairs, especially about applying racist ideology. The allies, though technically independent are subject to the Nazi rule; most represent the local varieties of racist, fascist, and radical nationalist forces.Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
's empire is around the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
, including the parts of Africa granted by the Reich. The Nazis compel the Italians to large-scale massacres of Arabs in their portion of the Middle East. The nation is controlled by King Umberto and the Duce
Duce
Duce is an Italian title, derived from the Latin word dux, and cognate with duke. National Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini was identified by Fascists as Il Duce of the movement and became a reference to the dictator position of Head of Government and Duce of Fascism of Italy was established...
of the Italian Empire
Italian Empire
The Italian Empire was created after the Kingdom of Italy joined other European powers in establishing colonies overseas during the "scramble for Africa". Modern Italy as a unified state only existed from 1861. By this time France, Spain, Portugal, Britain, and the Netherlands, had already carved...
. While much of Africa is divided up among Germany, Italy and Portugal, an "Aryan-dominated" Union of South Africa
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
remains as an independent ally of the German Reich.
Although less powerful than Germany, Japan is a nuclear power keeping the Reich at bay with the implicit threat of mutually assured destruction. Moreover, Japan has its own subordinate rulers — of whom only the Emperor of Manchukuo
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
is mentioned — through the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was a concept created and promulgated during the Shōwa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan. It represented the desire to create a self-sufficient "bloc of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers"...
. Despite having "an ocean of slave labor" at its disposal, Japan now concentrates upon developing high technologies. Despite the Germano–Nipponese alliance, the Nazis consider the Japanese racially inferior and lacking in creativity, with propaganda pointing to a perceived decrease in Japan's technological advances as proof of this. Even so, Japanese tourists, students, and restaurants are common within the Reich.
The fate of the U.S.A.
In the 1970s, Germany and the Axis powers defeated the U.S. in the Third World War with the nuclear bombs they developed first. The key American cities of Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and Philadelphia and others were destroyed, and their environments rendered uninhabitable. Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
is now the US capital, and the Reich maintains Wehrmacht occupation forces at New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and St. Louis. Upon conquering the U.S., the Einsatzkommando
Einsatzkommando
During World War II, the Nazi German Einsatzkommandos were a sub-group of five Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads—up to 3,000 men each—usually composed of 500-1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to kill Jews, Romani, communists and the NKVD collaborators in the captured...
s and the nativist American racists systematically killed the country's Jewish and Black populations.
The U.S. pays annual tribute
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
— an important income for Germany's economy — despite the American economy's hyperinflation
Hyperinflation
In economics, hyperinflation is inflation that is very high or out of control. While the real values of the specific economic items generally stay the same in terms of relatively stable foreign currencies, in hyperinflationary conditions the general price level within a specific economy increases...
and the Dollar
Dollar
The dollar is the name of the official currency of many countries, including Australia, Belize, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.-Etymology:...
's disappearance as a world currency; whenever possible, the U.S. evades paying the tribute.
Fate of other occupied nations
The PolesPoles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
, and Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
are killed because they are Untermenschen, like-wise, the Arabs for being as "Semitic
Semitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
as Jews". Moreover, the Reich and the Italian Empire effect the genocide of the African populations, and enslave the survivors. Any Jews found are immediately killed. While "the surviving Russians were pushed far east of the Urals", there is much guerrilla fighting, requiring forts to protect the German settlers.
The Nazis treat the Czechs, Croats, and Bulgarians, relatively well, despite being Slavs, because the Croats lend themselves to savagely persecuting the Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
via severe racial discrimination, suppressed rebellions, and dissidents enslaved or put to death. Iranians and Indians — classified as "Aryan" — are not persecuted; some are invited to study at German universities.
Technology
The level of technology in the novel is much the same as in the actual 21st century. The WehrmachtWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
makes use of jet aircraft
Jet aircraft
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft...
, panzer
Panzer
A Panzer is a German language word that, when used as a noun, means "tank". When it is used as an adjective, it means either tank or "armoured" .- Etymology :...
s, submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s, APC
Armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier is an armoured fighting vehicle designed to transport infantry to the battlefield.APCs are usually armed with only a machine gun although variants carry recoilless rifles, anti-tank guided missiles , or mortars...
s, assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
s and a variety of naval warships. The "Ministry of Air and Space" is mentioned as having planted a permanent outpost on the Moon, carrying out a manned landing on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, and may be planning a manned mission to the Jovian
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
moons. Orbital weather platform
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
The Geostationary Satellite system, operated by the United States National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service , supports weather forecasting, severe storm tracking, and meteorology research. Spacecraft and ground-based elements of the system work together to provide a continuous...
s are also mentioned in the book.
Civilian technology has also advanced in a similar way to its military counterpart in the 21st century. Jet airliner
Jet airliner
A jet airliner is an airliner that is powered by jet engines. This term is sometimes contracted to jetliner or jet.In contrast to today's relatively fuel-efficient, turbofan-powered air travel, first generation jet airliner travel was noisy and fuel inefficient...
s, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
s (called televisors), computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
s, although the internet has not been invented in fear of it being a "security nightmare", modern cars, and microwave
Microwave
Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
s are used throughout the Reich. The German population enjoys very high living standards at the expense of non-Germans throughout the Reich and occupied nations.
Society
The society of the German Reich is a culturally dominant people because of their victories in the Second and the Third World Wars, and German companies and organizations dominate the economies of allied and occupied nations. Mercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
and Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
are thriving under fascism, and Zeiss produces the Reich's computers and software. Agfa-Gevaert
Agfa-Gevaert
Agfa-Gevaert N.V. is a European multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes analogue and digital imaging products and systems, as well as IT solutions. The company has three divisions. Agfa Graphics offers integrated prepress and industrial inkjet systems to the...
TV commercials for film encourage Germans to migrate to the Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland
Reichskommissariat Ostland, literally "Reich Commissariat Eastland", was the civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany in the Baltic states and much of Belarus during World War II. It was also known as Reichskommissariat Baltenland initially...
territories, and Lufthansa
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...
covers the air.
The British Broadcasting Corporation is mentioned throughout the novel with the Reich's counterpart being the RRG. A RRG newscaster named Horst Witzleben appears several times in the novel, his "Seven O'clock News" being highly influential.
The Reich Genealogical Office has online genealogical records, which can define life and death to persons suspected of being Jewish. Historically, the Nazis of our history already made use of the pre-computer punch-cards developed by IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
in order to mark out the Jews and eventually arrest them and send them to extermination camps.
Economy
The ReichsmarkGerman reichsmark
The Reichsmark was the currency in Germany from 1924 until June 20, 1948. The Reichsmark was subdivided into 100 Reichspfennig.-History:...
is the dominant world currency, and it is legal tender in the Greater German Reich, though most of the Reich's member states, territories, and allies — including the Empire of Japan, Latin America, Britain, and America — have national currencies. The Reich dictates favorable exchange rates, so the Reichsmark is readily accepted (and, apparently, welcome) even where it is not legal tender. Britain remains using its pre-decimal £sd currency, though the five-shilling Crown coin is struck in cheap aluminum, not silver, as "silver" coins were at least partly made of before World War II and briefly after.
Education
School is the tool with which the German Reich indoctrinates and controls the citizenry, starting in their youth. Corporal punishmentCorporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
is practiced in schools; it punishes actions such as disrespecting a superior, not doing one's school work, and for not knowing the correct answers to teachers' questions in the classroom. The school year occupies most of the calendar year, with the only major holidays being the end-of-the-year, two-week holiday between Christmas and the New Year, and the week-long break after Easter Sunday. The remainder of the year is school work, though one-day holidays occur infrequently.
The Hitler Jugend and Bund Deutscher Mädel are compulsory for children in the German Reich; the Nazi gender roles having changed little since their foundation. At story's end, the Hitler Jugend implements changes towards preparing boys into becoming responsible, adult citizens rather than army conscripts.
The Reich education system is only for Germany; allied states and occupied territories control their own education systems. In the U.S., American children have long summer holidays from school, a fact German teachers emphasize as one of the reasons the German Reich defeated America.
German academics have key roles in the processes of racial discrimination and genocide. The German Institute for Racial Studies, part of Friedrich Wilhelm University, is charged with defining which peoples and ethnic groups of the "Germanic Empire" are subhuman and so marked for genocide or slavery. At its side, as the smiling face of the Reich, is the German Institute for Foreigners (founded 1922), charged with instructing those foreigners who fortunately were classed as "Aryans" — such as Iranians
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...
and Indians
Demographics of India
The demographics of India are inclusive of the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people , more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing...
— in the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and culture
Culture of Germany
German culture began long before the rise of Germany as a nation-state and spanned the entire German-speaking world. From its roots, culture in Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular...
.
Academic life is male-dominated. Although it is not impossible for a woman to have an academic career, few do, and such a woman lecturer faces great difficulties and must engage in daily, petty struggles in order to gain privileges that are granted to men. Under Reich sexism, an assertive woman might be accused that she is "not a proper National Socialist woman"; however, such attitudes are regarded as old-fashioned, and are challenged by the younger people.
Sports
In the Reich, sports are sole province of the Aryans, and are controlled by the German Federation of Sport — which favors German sportsmen over sportsmen from other states. It has power to reserve the right to withdraw from competition with foreign teams; and to withhold the rights of foreign teams to tour the Reich when political relations sour. An example is boycotting Italian sports teams after a riot at a football match in MilanMilan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
between home team fans and the visiting Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
team fans. Deprivation of the right to tour the Reich, and of having Reich teams visit, is financially hurtful. Germany
Germany national football team
The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....
won a recent World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
, but now is challenged by a powerful, multi-racial Brazil
Brazil national football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international men's football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation , the governing body for football in Brazil. They are a member of the International Federation of Association Football since 1923 and also a member of the...
comprising Negroes and Native American
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
The Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the European invasion around 1500...
s, and others.
Surviving Jews
Although the Jews are considered exterminated as of the year 2010, the anti-Semitic stereotypes remain strong in popular culture and official propaganda, and they are an important part of the education imparted at school. The books of anti-Semitic author Julius StreicherJulius Streicher
Julius Streicher was a prominent Nazi prior to World War II. He was the founder and publisher of Der Stürmer newspaper, which became a central element of the Nazi propaganda machine...
— Trust No Fox in the Green Meadow, No Jew on His Oath, and The Poison Mushroom
Der Giftpilz
Der Giftpilz is a children's book published by Julius Streicher in 1938. The title is German for "the toadstool" or "the poison mushroom". The book was intended as anti-Semitic propaganda...
— are universal reading for German children. The hidden Jews feel obliged to buy them for their children; doing otherwise might arouse suspicion.
Jews are and are-not of the society surrounding them. They must constantly play a role, parroting the prevailing anti-Semitic clichés. They keep as much of their Jewish identity as can be imparted in secret meetings among themselves, with purely oral lore, though some written Hebrew is taught. With the exception of the Bible, which can be kept openly — as Christianity, while not encouraged by the Reich, is not forbidden — they dare not possess books on Judaism, though such books do still exist.
All of the viewpoint characters were born under the Nazis, and maintaining the masquerade is second nature. The greatest danger is when a child is told of his or her true identity, usually at age of ten — considered old enough to keep the secret. Children often are shocked, since, like all German children, they grew up exposed to constant anti-Semitism from teachers and children's books. The adults soften the shock by teaching the children to feel privileged to belong to such a secret society.
It is mentioned that the hidden Jews regard it as too dangerous to gather on the Major Holidays and fasts of Judaism, such as Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
and Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
, and hold their secret gatherings on Minor Holidays such as Purim
Purim
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
.
Other minorities
German industry uses SlavicSlavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
or Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
slave laborers for "dirty" or dangerous work. In one passage, an industrial accident in the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
is reported on TV as having caused the deaths of "Twelve Aryans and an unknown number of Untermenschen".
Homosexuals are actively persecuted. Unlike Jews, Gypsies, and other "inferior races" (which are thought to have been wiped out), homosexuals continue to arise, and are hunted by the security police—unless they have political connections which protect them.
Berlin
Much of the story occurs in Berlin, the Reich capital replete with the monumental architecture of Albert SpeerAlbert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
. An important example is the Great Hall
Volkshalle
The ' , also called ' or ' , was a huge domed monumental building planned by Adolf Hitler and his architect Albert Speer for Germania. The project was never accomplished....
that can house more than 100,000 people; in it was held the funeral of deceased Führer Kurt Haldweim. The Hall has a dome 200 metres high and 250 metres in diameter, it is crowned with a massive, gilded German eagle holding a swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
.
Nearby is the Führer's Palace (the official residence for the Führer) that is guarded by soldiers from the Grossdeutschland Division, who are barracked near the Palace. Aside from security, they are a ceremonial, dress corps armed with (antique) Gewehr 98
Gewehr 98
The Gewehr 98 is a German bolt action Mauser rifle firing the 8x57mm cartridge from a 5 round internal clip-loaded magazine that was the German service rifle from 1898 to 1935, when it was replaced by the Karabiner 98k. It was hence the main rifle of the German infantry during World War I...
rifles; their arsenal includes assault rifles and tanks; next is the Adolf Hitler Platz, a grand public square for rallies and such.
The Soldier's Hall commemorates the German Reich's military might, exhibiting the radioactive remains of the Liberty Bell
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American Independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formerly placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House , the bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack in 1752, and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY...
(displayed behind lead glass), gliders
Military glider
Military gliders have been used by the military of various countries for carrying troops and heavy equipment to a combat zone, mainly during the Second World War. These engineless aircraft were towed into the air and most of the way to their target by military transport planes, e.g...
used to invade Britain, the first Panzer IV
Panzer IV
The Panzerkampfwagen IV , commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz...
to enter the Kremlin
Kremlin
A kremlin , same root as in kremen is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there...
, and the railroad carriage in which Imperial Germany surrendered
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
to the Allies in 1918, at Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
, France, and in which France surrendered to Nazi Germany in 1940.
The Arch of Triumph is 170 metres wide and 1,700 metres deep — despite being modelled from the smaller Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; much of that city district's automobile traffic transits through this arch. Because Berlin is populous, public transport — rapid transit
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
trains (U-bahn) and commuter railroads are well developed; such a rail station is the "South Station", near government offices. Per Speer's plans, this was to anchor the south end of the main boulevard with the most monumental structures. Captured enemy weapons and battle wreckage (British fighter plane; Soviet tank; U.S. submarine conning tower), are displayed outside the station.
Berlin also is headquarters to these key government ministries for Air and Space, Justice, Interior, Transport, Food, Economics, Colonial, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
The Oberkommando der Wehrmacht was part of the command structure of the armed forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.- Genesis :...
, and the Führer's Office.
The Kurfürstendamm
Kurfürstendamm
The Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten of Brandenburg. This very broad, long boulevard can be considered the Champs-Élysées of Berlin — full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants...
commercial district glitters with neon
Neon
Neon is the chemical element that has the symbol Ne and an atomic number of 10. Although a very common element in the universe, it is rare on Earth. A colorless, inert noble gas under standard conditions, neon gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in either low-voltage neon glow lamps or...
signs and reflected sun light, yet these citizens of Berlin use the street's full name in their daily lives, not the abbreviated slang of the native. Nazi Berlin is a culturally-vibrant city offering resident and visitor a wildly successful musical about Churchill and Stalin and cosmopolitan cuisines — however — under the Reinheitsgebot
Reinheitsgebot
The Reinheitsgebot , sometimes called the "German Beer Purity Law" or the "Bavarian Purity Law" in English, was a regulation concerning the production of beer in Germany. In the original text, the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley and hops...
, the nation's medieval beer-purity law, Japanese beer is illegal for importation to the Reich; American fast food
Fast food
Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...
is unavailable, because of the American economic collapse on its World War III defeat.
Culturally, the toy store Ulbright offers the children of the Reich pretty "Vicki" dolls and the "Landser Sepp" action figures (a boy's doll). Vicki dolls are made in the U.S.A. with slave labour, and come in varieties, yet all dolls look perfectly Aryan — in abiding Reich policy.
London
Parts of the story also take place in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the capital of Britain. In this timeline, the British people are impoverished due to the German occupation; William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
and his works are more widely known and published in Germany than in Shakespeare's homeland, partly due to Britain's economic collapse. During the Second World War, much of London was destroyed by dive bomber
Dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target reduces the distance the bomb has to fall, which is the primary factor in determining the accuracy of the drop...
s and panzer
Panzer
A Panzer is a German language word that, when used as a noun, means "tank". When it is used as an adjective, it means either tank or "armoured" .- Etymology :...
s as well as during the last-ditch resistance by Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
and his supporters. Key British buildings including the Parliament building, Big Ben
Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster
Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is generally extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well. It is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world...
and St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
have been completely destroyed, with their only remaining legacy being photographs. Some areas of the city have been in ruins for over seventy years, due to harsh reparations imposed on the British by the Germans and partisan uprisings that would only be completely crushed by 1970. German city planners often visit Britain to see how their colleagues deal with building from the clean slate that they themselves can never have.
The Crown is a hotel that serves as the meeting place of the British Union of Fascists
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
; as its name implies, the hotel is dominated by an enormous crown. The BUF members have a reputation of being violent thugs; a fight involving members of the party takes place outside and within the hotel. A second hotel, the Silver Eagle, is the location of the Medieval English Association conference; it bears a glass and steel eagle on its top. Both hotels are modern, glass-fronted structures.
Literary criticism and significance
Gavriel David RosenfeldGavriel David Rosenfeld
Gavriel D. Rosenfeld is Associate Professor of History at Fairfield University. His area of specialization is the history and memory of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.-Education:...
in his work, The World Hitler Never Made, notes that unlike other alternate histories that deal with a Nazi victory, In the Presence of Mine Enemies humanizes the Nazis. Rosenfeld stated this would have been impossible in earlier years where the trend was to show the Nazis in alternate histories as the "incarnation of evil." Rosenfeld, however, noted that despite Turtledove's reputation as an acclaimed and skilled writer in alternate history, he received a lot of criticism for the novel making Rosenfeld assume that most American audiences do not wish to humanize the Nazis.
Adam-Troy Castro
Adam-Troy Castro
Adam-Troy Castro is a science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer living in Miami, FL. He has more than eighty stories to his credit and has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Stoker. These stories include four Spider-Man novels, including the Sinister Six trilogy,...
, however, gave a good review of the novel. Though he found that the hidden Jewish characters of the novel weathered their secret life too well and compared others who live secret lives in our society (for examples homosexuals) who sometimes have to deal with incidents of self-loathing, alcoholism, drug abuse and even suicide. In the end Castro was thrilled to see at the end of the novel the main characters standing tall against an oppressive government.