The Knight´s Legacy

Neuschwabenland

NEUSCHWABENLAND

69 ° 51's 8 ° 25' E

ANTARCTICA

1938 SOUTHERN SUMMER

The U Boot 977 moored in the precarious floating dock for submarines of the maritime station called Base 209, on the coast of Antarctica, in the Land of Queen Maud. Far beyond was the gray silhouette of the Schwabenland, the nurse ship that was the pride of the Kriegsmarine, icebreakers, specially prepared for polar navigation and for the transport of heavy loads, including building construction materials and equipment. The Commander of the submarine had already handed over command of download tasks to a naval officer stationed on the Base 209, and vigorous marines began to disembark the cargo consisting of scientific equipment, food, tools and fuel, as well as some curious mechanical sleds for staff transportation.

Horstmann and Knopf brought their belongings to the shore, taking care themselves of much of their own baggage given the limited availability of men. While Knopf supervised the discharge of his valuable instruments for geophysical research, Horstmann was devoted to watch the frantic activity at the base. With his organizer spirit he reflected that the men staying at the place had to take advantage of the time available in the short summer polar to download materials, transport them to other bases in construction and move forward with it, before the harsh southern winter arrived, with its six months night in which due to the weather conditions the outputs out of the barracks were necessarily short. But Horstmann had no idea of the  purpose nor the scale of the tasks carried out by his compatriots in Antarctica. It surprised him to see how heavy digging equipment and machines for processing concrete were taken to the ground. He wondered if they were also carrying cement, sand, and other concrete components since bringing  these bulky materials from so far away was a very costly task, especially in a nation that clearly was preparing for a war in Europe.

After lunch it met Knopf and while they were exchanging information and impressions were summoned to a meeting in a huge shed full of tools and supplies.  There were all military and civilians not belonging to the crews of ships and submarines, that is to say those who had arrived at the base with the purpose of staying.

Two men, with the apparent purpose of harangue had perched on a small makeshift stage. It was not big surprise for Horstmann to see that one of them was his travelling companion, the Norwegian Knudsen while the other was an officer of the Kriegsmarine with the rank of Captain, who introduced himself as Alfred Ritscher. The latter addressed the newcomers in a somewhat dramatic tone.

“Germans, welcome to Neuschwabenland. You have had the privilege of being selected for a task whose scope exceeds the present generation…”

“Puff.” Whispered the skeptical Knopf in the alarmed Horstmann´s ear. “ Another Nazi harangue. So this part of Antarctica is now called Neuschwabenland.”

“The German presence in Antarctica.”Continued Ritscher. “ Dates from the mid 19th century, with the voyages of the pioneer Grønland ship in 1873 and the Meteor in 1925. In my case, this my fifth mission on this land  so closely linked to the future of humanity.”

Horstmann had the hunch that was now going to be revealed, at least in part, the purpose of his trip to the southern continent and all that frantic scientific, technical and human effort which they were witnessing.

Ritscher went on explaining that the purpose of the expedition was the prepare a base important enough so that Germany could claim sovereignty over a substantial Antarctic portion and begin to exploit natural resources, particularly oil and coal, in which the territory chosen in the Land of Queen Maud was presumably rich, according to the results of the first surveys that had been carried out. “This.” Thought Horstmann. “ explains the presence of a geophysicist as Knopf in the company, but leaves other more subtle things in the dark, aspects that had been discovered on the journey.”

Ritscher´s  harangue ended with an exhortation to challenge the tough Antarctic autumn and winter weather. Despite the expectations of Horstmann and Knopf -or rather to their relief- Knudsen did not speak this time.

That night, at dinner, both Horstmann and Knopf sat by chance close to Knudsen in the long and rustic table mounted on trestles that had been improvised in the shed. In the middle of the talk, one of the officers asked the Norwegian which was the task reserved for him in the expedition.

After a prolonged silence, Knudsen decided to talk to his regret. He started his explanation, and for some reason a profound silence was imposed at the table to listen to him.

“The Universe is composed of fire and ice. Large blocks of ice fell by gravitation into the Sun many million years ago being pushed out by it and generating, along with wandering cosmic material of rocky nature, our planets and in particular the Earth. “In the beginning it was the ice”” He added with a distorted paraphrase of the Gospel of Juan.”…and our Aryan race is one of the original breeds that absorbed its vital energy of that ice in the endless nights of the glacial ages. This return to the ice is a cosmic connection of the race with its origins to achieve its regeneration and purification, prior to its takeover of the planet that is its destiny.”

“ But the origin of the breed took place near the North Pole, at the opposite end of the world.” Argued one of the diners, reiterating the question asked by Dieter in the U-boat.

“Both poles are United in the interior of the Earth.” Replied glumly Knudsen, expanding the response given on that occasion. “ Superhuman, as well as the dwarves, must be forged in anvils located at caverns in the depths, where the living conditions are harder.”

As he heard the reference to the caverns, Horstmann recalled the interview with von Knobelsdorff in Wewelsburg, and his interest in his skills as speleologist. However, his future tasks and his role therein were not clear yet. As for Knopf, it was evident that the Knudsen´s explanations were indigestible for him and made no effort to hide it. This was, in the eyes of Horstmann, a problem, since he had the perception that certain members of the base, whose mission was not clear, watched  them with suspicion. Dieter, less informed on issues of military intelligence, did not accept his advice of absolute discretion on the inside of the base. Horstmann feared for their safety, but above all for his friend, in a harsh physical environment where forging a credible accident was easy.

The conversation with Knudsen ended there. After the frugal dinner, Horstmann and Knopf stepped into hourly light given by a sun still shining on the horizon, despite the watch marking  twenty-one hours.

“I accept the explanation of Ritscher, but Knudsen´s theory is that of a lunatic.” Commented Knopf, after a walk in silence.

“I grant that it is strange and even bizarre.” Said Horstmann “ …but I cannot deny that he transmits his views with force and conviction.”

“Well, after all you are a military and not a scientist. But I hope you will not turn a Nazi.”

Horstmann left his friend to vent his anger and moodiness by Knudsen´s  pseudo-scientific screed that was already becoming repetitive. The conversation then turned on other more mundane subjects and the comrades separated ignoring that it would be the last time that they could chat together.

Despite being Germany an educated and scientifically advanced country it  has always been the homeland of mystics of different stamp. An anti- rationalist intellectual stream, whose members watched the science with suspicion was generated as a by-product of romanticism. Some of the theories sheltered by the occult societies referred to above when they are viewed from a distance sound ridiculous. One of them is that of the hollow Earth, according to which there would be a labyrinth of caverns, perhaps interconnected, under the cloak of surface rocks. This would make livable the planet inside parts  and according to other theories bordering delirium they were actually inhabited. Heinrich Himmler, as has been said was an adept at these occult theories which in some strange and twisted way strung with the racial doctrines of Nazism. Himmler himself sponsored experiments too costly in terms of resources for a country embarking on an arms race. The expedition to Antarctica-although also motivated by strategic considerations and the need to control natural resources- was one of them.

At 5 am the next day, Horstmann was awakened by a sergeant who spoke to him in whispers so as not to disturb other men sleeping in the long barracks.

“Herr Oberst, your contingent is preparing to leave.”

Horstmann cursed to himself. He had a hard time falling asleep after the long submarine ride in the middle of the nebula night light in the Antarctic summer, provided by a sun that remained at sight anywhere. He thought he deserved a couple of days of acclimatization to the site but it was clear that, under pressure from the short Antarctic summer and the multitude of tasks, not yet known to him, the organizers did not want to waste a moment. He reasoned that given the transportation cost of basic inputs for life maintaining an idle man one day at that latitude was prohibitively expensive. He only regretted he could not say goodbye to Knopf.

The snowmobile was moving fast at first, passing through areas of flat ice, possibly covering sea inlets. The scenery was absolutely monotonous, since only at the distance there were soft undulations of the terrain corresponding to low hills areas. At times they had to take long detours to avoid areas of thinner and fragile ice that could dip to vehicles in the icy Antarctic waters, which would have meant for all crewmembers to perish by freezing in a few minutes. Horstmann could not see other wildlife that some few frigates and petrels, but at the time even these birds disappeared, as they moved away from the coastline. Horstmann was dazzled, as he had never seen a land so flat and vast before. With the passing of the hours awe began to give way to eyestrain, and then to tedium. It was mostly boring to not be able to realize the passage of time by variations in the amount of light, always constant in the long polar day. Slowly the three sleds with nine persons were approaching  the line of hills, which were becoming progressively higher. Then began the serious obstacles to the advancement of the vehicles, whose engines had to puff for crossing certain rocks covered by snow or climb some slopes. On some occasions the men had to push the vehicles, a quite strenuous task. Due to lack of physical references such as mountain peaks, the navigator of the first sled had to stop every couple of hours to verify the latitude and longitude. with his sextant and chronometer Even with all these precautions, errors of a few seconds of angle could take them tens of kilometers away from their course.

Gradually mountains of larger size were delineated on the horizon in the direction in which they were moving. Despite the lack of differentiation in the  landscape the sleds were advancing without hesitation toward an area located more or less in the center of the still distant mountain range.

“Here is my destination for the next months.” reflected Horstmann invaded by mixed emotions.

As still they had to travel several hours to reach the target the Colonel allowed himself to relax knowing that he would eventually get asleep even despite the jolts of the vehicle. He thus dozed for about one hour and a half. Upon awakening, he settled into the seat, where he had slid down, and placed the briefcase on his knees; suddenly, a detail startled him: one of the locks was fastened in a different way that he usually did. Insignificant, but to a man as methodical and perceptive as Horstmann there were no doubts that it had been reviewed by some of the members of the crew of the sled in the period from their stupor.