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“Putzi—” “Yes, Herr Hitler?” “I’m about to speak. Go have a seat.” “Yes, Herr Hitler.” Halstead rose when Harrer introduced him as the newest member of the party committee, and strode to the rostrum against the background of applause that was strongest among the party members in the first few rows of the rented beer hall. The man in black combat boots and gray cloth did not smile, but only stared at a series of faces once he reached the podium, and purposefully passed his right hand over the two medals over his heart. Then Halstead began to speak. “My fellow countrymen! My fellow Germans! My fellow workers!” Halstead shouted down at the crowd without the aid or the need of a microphone. “Yes, I am now one of you, my fellow workers! Just yesterday, after four and a half years in the service of the Reich, I retired from the Reichswehr to devote myself full time to further service!” There was a smattering of applause, mostly from Putzi and his ilk, and then Halstead continued. “And what service is that, might you ask? Why it is to aid the cause of the German worker, that is what! The war just concluded might have been a victory for the German Empire, if we had not been stabbed in the back by the November criminals!” The applause was louder and more widespread this time, at the mention of the convenient scapegoats. “It is the worker who shall make Germany great once more, it is the working masses who shall provide the foundation for a new Germany, for a Third Reich!” At regular intervals, Halstead pounded the top of the podium with a fist to add greater emphases to his shouted points. “My fellow German workers, very soon, tomorrow in fact, tremendous change will come once again to our beloved Bavaria. Tomorrow shall begin the darkest period in our history, tomorrow shall begin the greatest test of our will and endurance. Beginning with tomorrow, those who believe in a greater Germany undominated by foreign powers shall be persecuted and even murdered for their beliefs!” |