The Will of “ Steel ”

A man with German army uniform, as if deep in thought, walked on the street in Berlin, which leads to his home……

His name is Ludwig Muntze, and one day in 1897, he was born in Stuttgart. His father was a veteran of German military, who had been to many countries. As the only boy in the three children, he got the most education from his father, who had a great passion in military. When he was six years old, he received a stamp from his father by accident, he loved it, especially when he learnt about the country on the stamp from his father. Then he started to collect stamps. His fond of Geography increased as he collected more and more stamps, what is the same that his knowledge of military accumulated as he grew up.
At the age of 30, Ludwig entered the Berlin University to pursue his passion in Geography, in the same year, he met Christina in a school social activity,who became his wife later. In the following five years, they got their two lovely children. The four of them lived in a rental apartment near the University in Berlin. At the time, he thought he was the happiest man in the world, and he decided to be an expert in Geography and live with his family peacefully for the rest of his life.
But future can never be predicted, in the same year, Ludwig met his father’s old friend Goring in a club, Goring was once in the army with Ludwig’s father, they used to fight together in battles, and his only son was killed in one battle. He used to be Muntze family’s regular visitor, Goring saw Ludwig growing up from a kid, to a mature young man, and he thinks there is a great potential in Ludwig to become successful in the German army.
In their conversation, Goring told Ludwig a lot about the life in German army, the global military situation and the stories about how Goring and his father fight their opponents in different countries, these stories were like a bell, woke up Ludwig’s hidden passion of military inherited from his father.
As the global situation worsens over time, Ludwig slowly realised that being an expert in geography couldn’t secure his family a bright future. After several meetings with Goring, he finally made up his mind of joining the German army to fulfil his ambition in German military.
The first day in the army, anxious and exciting, everything was new to him, Goring, being his superior, gave him a lot of help in getting used to the military life, taught him a lot of manners, rules in the German army, just like what his father used to teach him.
Ludwig could still remember the conversation in a bar after they successfully accomplish a mission together.
“You know son, this reminds me of the days your father and me fight along side with each other, you have a great father, you should be proud of him.”
“I do!”
“I have lost my son in a battle, and seeing you growing up is like seeing my own, it brought me joy and satisfaction, I see great potential in you, just like I saw it in my own son, your father once told me that he wanted his son to be more successful as a soldier. I hope you stick to your faith, stick to your ambition, and seek your own way to be a successful, do not let me down, do not let your father down, and more importantly, do not let yourself down.”
“I will not let anybody down……”

“Daddy, Daddy, Mommy…. Daddy is home”, the sweet voice of Ludwig’s lovely kids brought him back from the memory as he walked into his house.
“Welcome back, dear, you are home early today”, Christina was happy to see her husband and was also a bit surprised,
“Goring sent me home early.” Ludwig replied with a forced smile.
“Is everything alright, darling? " Christina asked with concern.
“I was informed about my promotion to Sergeant today”, Ludwig replied calmly
“That is great news, isn’t it, we should have a celebration.”, Christina became a bit confused.
“Well, I’m happy about the promotion, but…”, Ludwig paused for a few seconds, as if he was trying to swallow the words that were about to come out from his mouth.
Christina didn’t say any word, but she started to look very anxious.
“I have also received the letter of transfer order to deploy me to Poland and the troop is leaving in three days”, Ludwig avoided Christina’s concerning eye as he continued.
The next few minutes, there was nothing in the air but silence.
“Then we should start packing up for you, shouldn’t we?”, Christina smiled at Ludwig as she replied, but tears could be barely seen rolling in her eyes.
Ludwig didn’t say anything, but hugged Christina tightly.
Three days later…..
“Goodbye, my love, I will miss you and I will write to you.” Ludwig said to Christina.
“Goodbye, darling, I will miss you too, take care of yourself while you are there, I will look after our kids.”Christina replied with a kiss.

1939 November in Poland Warsaw….
“Good day Sergeant Muntze, welcome to Poland.” Ludwig was saluted by Corporal Wagner
Ludwig: “Good day Corporal Wagner, have you got the report on you?”
Wagner: “Yes Sir, the report here has all the comprehensively information about the Jews Concentration Camp, Forced Labour Camp as well as the deployment of our soldiers.”
Ludwig: “Very well done, Corporal Wagner, now, anything else I need to know here.”
Wagner: “Lieutenant Koch wanted to talk to you”
Ludwig: “Lead the way”
In Lieutenant Koch’s office…..
“Welcome to Poland, Sergeant Muntze, I am Lieutenant Koch, I am in charge of all the German military affairs in Warsaw, and you will report to me in the future” Koch said to Ludwig expressionlessly.
“Yes Sir!” answered by Ludwig
“The latest report showed the local resistance troop, also called Home Army (HA) is now secretly transferring weapons into Warsaw from nearby areas, and it is now becoming a big concern, I want you to have a thorough investigation on this, and find the people who’s behind it.” Koch commanded
“Yes Sir! I will not let you down.” Ludwig answered confidently
“You better not, Heil Hitler!”
“Heil Hitler!”
As Ludwig accepted his first task in Poland, he picked a group of soldier, went to the eastern bound of Warsaw, into what is called by Germen Area 11. There, they found several suspicious vehicles carrying bags of rice, and each vehicle was guarded by 2 or 3 Pole looking males.
“Go search the vehicles thoroughly, arrest anyone who resists, shoot them dead if necessary!” commanded by Ludwig to his troop.
Just as the troop started approaching the vehicles, gun shot were heard, and 5 Germen soldiers were found laying in the blood right after the sound, “Pull back!! Right Now!!”, Ludwig yelled at the remaining army….
“Too late, you nasty Nazi, now drop your weapon and kneel on the ground or I will shoot you dead!” just as Ludwig was about to run, he found himself under the gun point of a group of Poles, several gun shot were fired after he obeyed what was said, then he found himself the only one alive, Ludwig tried to say something, but soon realised his mouth was filled with filthy clothing, then his eyes got covered by another one and hands were tied.
“Let’s blow his brain out too, all Nazis should die!!!” said by a young, energetic voice
“Wait, look at his uniform, he might be an officer in the army, he might have the information we want to know, we will take him back”, “Ok then….. but we will kill him after that, they all deserve to die, all of them!!”
With eyes blindfolded, Ludwig walked on grass, rocks, water bare feet, that was the hardest time he had ever experienced, he thought about his parents, his kids and his beloved wife Christina … he thought about death….. After 1 hour’s walk, he was taken into the HA’s base.
In the HA base, Ludwig was interrogated, the HA members punched his head, slapped his face, kicked his stomach, tried to drown him in the water, left all sorts of scar on his body, as if they are releasing all their rage towards Nazi all on himself, however, all these torturing did not make him talk, so they decided to kill him, in the eve of being executed, just as he was about to give up all the hope, an old man’s voice brought a sparkling light into his already-darkened void.
“Wake up, wake up, I want to ask you one thing?”
“What?” Ludwig struggled to open his eyes and saw the blurry image of an old man,
“Do you know Paul Muntze?” the old men asked.
“Why do you ask that?!” Ludwig’s eyes suddenly brightens as he heard the name
“My name is Marta Nowak, me and Paul used to be good friends when he was in Poland, he was a soldier and a quiet man, but whenever we talk about our families, he talks a lot, especially about his son, and you reminded me of him when you were brought here” the old man quickly explained to Ludwig
“Yes, Paul Muntze is my father, and I am Ludwig Muntze, his son.” Ludwig replied with joy.
“That’s all I need to know” the old man answered and unlocked the cell, and said “Now hurry, and run with me, I won’t let my old friend’s son die under my eye lid”
In the same night, Marta and Ludwig escaped to Marta’s house in a rural village in Northern Warsaw, “From now on, you will live under my house, this is my wife Pauline Nowak, and you have to use a new identification” Marta explained to Ludwig as he checked the surrounding of the house, “I will do whatever you say, and I thank you for saving my life”, Ludwig said gratefully, “Your father is a good man, and I’m glad that I can save his son, but now since you are fugitive in Poland and live under my house, you will pretend to be my son, name Leon Nowak.”, Ludwig thanked Marta again and looked around the house, it was made by timber, the normal house concept didn’t apply there, the kitchen, bedroom and the toilet are no gap to each other, only a dim light on the roof, leaves a lot of shade in the space.
“The old house we were in wasn’t like this, we had a two stories house in the Warsaw city, finely decorated, we used to come to this area for hunting and this was the storage room for our hunting gears, things changed after nasty Nazis invaded us, they have taken our property, drove us out of the city area, and threaten killing us if we go back there, and now its filled with the Germen settlers, I don’t understand, I can’t understand, it used to be our sweet home, and now it turns into battlefield, we love peace, what we have done to deserve this?” Pauline said sobbingly.
“Stop it! Pauline, Ludwig had no choice” Marta said helplessly.
“I apologise….” Ludwig tried to say some comforting words, but soon realised he wasn’t in the position of saying anything, but to lower his head and then silent……
Days passed by, as the HA seeks extensively for the escaped German Officer, Ludwig started to get used to his new identification of Leon, in the days of staying in Marta’s house, he helps Marta to collect the timbers from the nearby hill, helps Pauline to carry the heavy goods when she takes them to the nearest town to sell. No one in that area knows he is a German.
One day, Marta came to Ludwig and said, “Ludwig, I’m going Western Warsaw to deliver this metal chest to a camp, and I need your labour”, “Certainly”, Ludwig replied, “Good, we will make our way tonight”
They arrived at a secret Jews Camp in the Western Warsaw the next morning, Marta said to Ludwig, “Leon, my son, your strength made this trip so much easier, I am impressed, now I am going to find a friend of mine here, won’t be long” Marta said to Ludwig, “Yes father”
As Marta walked into a building in the camp, Ludwig started to take a good look at this camp, the camp was full of Jews, young and old, man and women, however, everyone was quite, with sad faces, if it wasn’t the kids that running around and made some laughter, he would think he have just walked into a zombie town. With great curiosity, he stopped a little boy, and asked “Good morning little boy, what is your name?”
“Guten Morgen, my name is Justin”, little boy replied.
Ludwig was shocked at what he’s just heard, how could it be possible for a Jew kid to speak German “Were you speaking German?”
“Yes, my Mom told me if I speak German, I might have a chance not getting killed” Justin said naively.
The word came out from Justin’s mouth was like a big rock on the chest, made Ludwig impossible to breath, but he hid his emotion and asked “Who taught you the language?”
“Don’t talk to strangers, Justin!” just as Justin about to answer his question, a mid age women interrupted the conversation, “Who are you? Are you a German, it is not the date of what you said, why do you come here?”
“I am not German, my name is Leon, Leon Nowak, I am the son of Marta Nowak, I came here today with my father to deliver goods”, Ludwig replied, “Can you tell me what is this place? Why everyone look so sad?”
“The son of Marta Nowak, hasn’t your father told you anything?” the woman said
“No, he has been always secretive to me, he always tell me that the less I know the better for me.”, Ludwig paused for a second, “but I want to know things, I want to help my father!”
“Marta has been really kind to us, but he can’t save us, this place seems to be a Jews Refuge Camp, after German invaded Poland, we Jews were forced to leave the city and gathered in Jews Refuge camp, the Germans are always seeking for us, whenever they find us, they will kill us at once, so we have to move all the time, everyone here has already given up the chance on surviving from this invasion, we can only wish someone defeat the Nazis and rescue us……” the woman burst into tears as she describes the situation, “But our children are still young, they haven’t done anything wrong, we teach them the German with our limited knowledge, and hoping some merciful German soldier would give them a chance to live.”
The guilt rapidly grew in Ludwig’s kind heart, and he felt he was about to vomit, but he couldn’t show his feeling, he turned around, pretended to put something in the bag, but in fact dried his wet eyes with his cuff, then he turned back, tried his best to stay calm and said to the woman, “You have my deepest sympathy, and my most sincerely prayer, if I can ever do anything to help, you have my word, I will.” Without waiting woman’s reply, Ludwig walked out of the camp, as he walked out the camp, emotions took over his soldier heart, his hand twisted into fists, fell on his own chest like rain falls on the ground, and the helpless tears came out from his eyes.
“Are you alright, Leon?” Marta asked while walking out the camp and saw Ludwig’s back
“I am fine, father, I am fine” Ludwig replied as he quickly wiped his tears.
“The delivery has been successful, and I’ve heard from the Jews about your curiosity towards this camp, remember this son, you are a soldier, like your father, obeying the command is what’s in your blood, from that sense, you haven’t done anything wrong, your command in chief Hitler has got mental problem, he is a crazy bastard, all these are caused by his damn idea of racial superiority, it is his fault, not yours, stop blaming yourself!”Marta said emotionally.
“Thank you Marta,” Ludwig calmed down, “I know what to do now”
“Good, let’s go home then, I’m sure Pauline has prepared food to comfort our stomach”
Late in the evening, Marta and Ludwig got back to the house, as Marta open the door, what welcomed them was not the expected dinner, but German soldiers’ guns and Pauline’s dead body on the ground, on the stove was the till-warmed soup, the always-calm Marta lost his temper, went to Pauline’s body like a beast, and started howling “What has she done?!?!?! What has she done?!?!?! She is just a woman, you blackhearted Germans!!!! I’m gonna kill you all, kill you all!!!!!!!!!!” as Marta reaching to his gun on the belt, gun shot sounded, blood spilled on Pauline’s dead face from Marta’s body, and Ludwig witness everything happening in front of him like a zombie, he couldn’t talk, he couldn’t breath, but only to stand and watch it, as if everything is happening in the dream.
“You have been rescued Sergeant Muntze, we can go back ………” The sound of German soldiers became echoes in his ears and he fainted……
When he woke up again, he was laying in a German controlled hospital in Warsaw, Lieutenant Koch was sitting besides him, he said to Ludwig, “I’m glad you have survived and your demonstration of the steel will of we German soldier when being captured has earned your promotion to Lieutenant. However, I also have a bad news for you ….. Your wife and kids were killed by the bomb, they hid in the wrong side of the shelter, I’m sorry, you are a soldier, I’m sure your will of steel will help you to get over this tragedy, now I’m on a mission and have to go, look after yourself.”
To Ludwig’s surprise, the news of his wife and kids’ death didn’t bring him too much pain, maybe Koch was right, he does have a will of steel ….. or something else …….
In 1941, 44 years old Ludwig was deployed to Holland as the Captain in German headquarter……