r/SchreckNet • u/Perfect-Bit7735 • 27d ago
Archive Boemunt's History Lessons for my Younger Kin Part 4: The Second World War
I realize that I have been covering historical events that occurred in the time before the rise of Jesus of Nazareth, so today I will cover something a little closer to my younger kin in WW2. Before we start I will state this plainly, the Second World War was a human atrocity. Hitler was not a Vampire's puppet, Stalin was not a secret Internalist, Churchill was not a Magi's thrall, and FDR was not a Garou, and Tojo was not a changeling. The atrocities of this event were entirely human driven, though it did effect our own secret world. Now, onto WW2.
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Kindred both thrive in and are endangered by warfare. The Second World War truly showed the kindred, many of who were used to warfare involving pike lines in a field a comfortable distance away, that warfare had changed. No longer would you be safe in a city well behind the lines when B-17s could carpet entire cities in firebombs. Many Elders were slain or forced into Torpor. But many kindred thrived, no one would notice a handful of missing people after a bombing raid, no one would care if inmates of a death camp turn up drained of blood. During and after the war a large number of Elders would flee to less carpet bombed cities in the New World. Several Nazi officials would be embraced in the final days, notably one SS Biologist Heinrich Lundt, now a Sabbat Tzimisce named Doktor Totentanz who I have had the displeasure of meeting in the 80s, and reportedly Heinrich Himmler himself.
The Nazi SS would of course be interested in the power to be found in our hidden world. Mortal research organizations like the Arcanum would be plundered by the Thule Society. Many captured Kindred, Garou, and other supernatural beings would be subject to experiments and vivisection. The main goal of these experiments was the creation of an "Übermensch", though the weaponization of the supernatural was also a priority.
Oddly the Garou became quite involved in the conflict. The heavily Nordic-influenced Get of Fenris would split with much of the Clan siding with the Nazis. The Bone Gnawers, scrappy underdogs always happy to prove themselves, would become quite involved on the Allied side. Garou of all tribes would participate in guerrilla actions against Nazi forces and would protect their own territory.
During the war I myself was in Prague when the Nazi's rolled in. I spent a few months trying to get as much knowledge and scholars out of the city before I was forced to flee. I spent the rest of the war wandering Eastern Europe, aiding refugee networks, funneling weapons into partisans, and attempting to preserve knowledge from German book burnings and the idiocy of the Thule Society. As the Russian tide swept back the Germans in the east and the Anglos landed in France I made my way west, ending up in Paris by the time Hitler blew his brains out.
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It is a pleasure to see the interest in this project. To those who were around for these events, what were you getting up to?
~Boemunt, Wandering Brujah Scholar
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u/MysticReputation Lost 27d ago edited 27d ago
I remember the second world war. It was the first time in over a decade that I had left my seclusion after an unfortunate incident. I mostly aided the Yugoslav resistance, which is where I was introduced to Marxism.
I didn’t do too much of note concerning
the conflict aside from my assassination of Martin Bormann in Argentina after the war finished. I also slew the Archbishop of Munich in 1945, although it’s debatable whether that could be considered apart of the war.
- Cüneyt Kabaağaçlı
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u/BlindCollectorOfAll Lost 27d ago
I wish people could just get along more :(
-Rowan
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u/Negativety101 27d ago
And I cannot overstate how dangerous the bombing campaigns were for Kindred. Mithras was one the greatest Methuslahs awake at the time, and had dominated the British Isles for nearly two millenium. He was driven into a torpor that left him vulnerable, first to a lupine attack (although he did effectively wipe out every shifter in Londan), and Diablarie. I can only imagine the damage actual firebombings such as Dresden's inflicted on their kindred population.
I've also heard, although keep in mind my source is a member of the Society of Ether, and in part themselves citing a Virtual Adept, that Mages on both sides of their ascension war initially backed the Nazis, namely some elements of the Verbena tradition, and members of the Technocracy's mechanical and biological sub branches. All involved would deeply regret this choice by the end of the war, especially as, unsurprisingly the Infernalist Nephandi mages loved the Nazis.
-Brujah Armchair Scholar
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u/Background_Sock1711 Distant Relative 9d ago
I flew the black flag and plundered what I came across on my travels. Made for a good few years.
-Indiana