Daniel Pov Prisoner Of Night And Fog

Chapter 34

We all walked towards the Brandenburg Gate, I kept my hand on her arm lightly so we don't get lost. Forster was walking on her other side; his movements were jerky, he seemed slightly on edge, as if he was going to turn around at any second.

Ahead, there was the triumphal arch, I noticed Gretchen was looking at it in wonder, but she seemed to remembered what I had said in the restaurant--  You never know who might be listening; let us walk in the Tiergarten, where we may be assured of privacy--

The Tiergarten was a large park, full of trees and long paths. The doctor took the nearest one, having a fast stride, making Gretchen and I speed our pace up to catch up to him. There were lots of children laughing and giggling somewhere close by. As we walked there was only the sounds of the mid-morning, and we kept silent. We walked into a cluster of trees, hiding us from the public.

Gretchen seemed to feel safe enough to speak "Herr Professor, my father overheard you were talking with another doctor about Herr Hitler when he was a patient in your hospital. You used a word he didn't understand. I realise this was a long time ago, but it occurred on a momentous day, when the patients learned about our surrender. Perhaps you can remember--" She stopped speaking when the doctor shot her a sharp look, she seemed taken aback, and the sunlight made the planes of his face show.

"Then you don't know," he said, Gretchen and I were relieved that she hadn't yelled her, however, what is it we didn't know, or she doesn't know "Of course, you wouldn't. I'm sure your parents wished to keep the truth from you" he said. I tightened my grip on Gretchens arm, not enough to hurt her, but enough that she knows I'm trying to comfort her.
I saw some confusion on Gretchens face "I don't know what you mean" she said.
The doctor continued "The Pasewalk hospital wasn't an ordinary military hospital. It contained seven different clinics and sick bays" he said, Gretchen seemed very confused, and I was also clueless "For treating hysterical soldiers" he said.
Gretchens eyes widened "Hysterical..." she trailed, I only had a basic idea of it, since I'm not that interested in the medical field "You mean mentally diseased." she confirmed. I was right, and so was her earlier suggestion about what the hospital was.

"Neurotics unfit for duty" he corrected, I suppose we were close enough "Not through any physical injury, you understand, but from their weak constitutions. There were so many of them that the Berlin War Ministry had to pass a law, quarantining the hysterics from the able-minded soldiers in hospitals. Eventually, different facilities were set up to treat them." he explained.

Gretchen looked shocked, she wasn't really here, I can't really blame her, she just found out something this shocking about her father, so I decided to speak, and I didn't understand this near as well as Gretchen or the doctor "Why were they quarantined?" I asked.
"My dear young man. Hysterics had to be separated from the other soldiers in the hospital for fear of their hysteria infecting entire wards and rendering hundreds more men unfit for battle. Their weak nerves were contagious, you see" he explained.

Gretchen seemed to have snapped back into the real world. We saw a woman pushing a baby carriage, we had to stop speaking so no one else could overhear us.
 Once the woman was out of earshot, the doctor continued "Naturally, Hitler and Müller were sent to a different hospital than the rest of their regiment. There was no question they had been gassed, but the other soldiers had already recovered their sight. Those two still claimed to be blinded" he explained.

I felt Gretchens arm stiffened "How could you possibly know they weren't truly blinded?" Gretchen asked.
Doctor Forster stopped walking for a moment before he started walking again "Because it was my job! I saw hundreds, perhaps thousands, of soldiers during the war. In a moment, I could determine who was genuinely wounded and who was faking.
Neither Hitler nor Müller had any of the physical characteristics of men still suffering from gas poisoning." The doctor pointed a finger at Gretchen "Hitler's eyes were reddened, probably from conjunctivitis; Müller's eyes were clear. Their eyes had none of the dead tissue or milky-gray appearance that would have resulted from a blinding gas attack. They were what we called malingerers-- clear cases of hysteria" he said.