Chapter 102: The Seizure of Power

Inside the Presidential Palace, Hindenburg stared at Akado and finally spoke, “I cannot sign and pass this act of yours. If you take it to the Parliament, the result will be the same! I know you are doing many things for this country, and I also know that many people are obstructing you. But for you to rely on such a document to strike down all your opponents—this does not conform to the laws of this country.”

Akado’s fingers tapped on the desk, very rhythmically. Suddenly, his fingers stopped. “Mr. President, I do not have that much time and energy to deal with these foolish idiots. Germany’s opponents are all seizing the time to develop. We must catch up to and surpass them, not engage in schemes and intrigues with a few fools in our own country!”

“But this is not a few people, but the vast majority!” Hindenburg said with a sigh.

“No. The majority of the German people yearn for strength. It’s just that the representatives they have elected are not able to represent them,” Akado said seriously.

“That is the Parliament! Are you thinking of overthrowing the Parliament and shaking the constitution? I warned you long ago! Any power obtained through improper means will ultimately lead to ruin!” Hindenburg looked at Akado with a frown. “Give it up! You have already done very well, my child. The German people will remember you, remember you forever.”

“I still want to try!” Akado stood up and looked at Hindenburg. “I have already submitted the bill to the Parliament. The vote will begin in a moment. I am going to give a speech on the bill. I hope I can persuade the majority.”

…

“Bastard!” A member of parliament angrily tossed the agenda aside and pointed at the stack of paper, cursing loudly, “He has the nerve to bring this stuff out for us to vote on? Did he sleep himself stupid?”

Another MP snorted coldly. “Hmph, it’s more than just sleeping himself stupid. I think he believes this place is the same as the Reichswehr, where he alone calls the shots.”

“Ahem, ahem, say a few words less. Their people are coming,” a timid MP said, nudging his cursing friend with his elbow to remind him. “In any case, all we have to do is not agree to their bill in a little while. They don’t have a majority vote anyway.”

“Gentlemen, we must unite the entire German democracy! Let those who have the ability to fight crime have the freedom to fully display it! From now on, apart from the ruling party, the propaganda qualifications of all other parties will be temporarily canceled. The distribution of leaflets and the posting of slogans will be prohibited. The publication of any remarks that are not conducive to German unity or that affect regional law and order will be forbidden…” Akado stood on the stage, loudly giving his speech to the silent audience of parliamentary members below.

“Go to hell, you dictator! Go back to your hometown!” An MP stood up and cursed loudly, but he was quickly pushed back into his chair by members of the Greater Germany Party. After a moment of chaos, the scene returned to calm.

Akado ignored the chaos below and continued to shout from the stage, “So all of this is for the self-strengthening of the German people! God will forgive our temporary restriction of people’s freedoms, because in the end, we will obtain an unprecedented free world! Long live Greater Germany!…”

While Akado was giving his speech on the stage, another kind of war was being waged below. A member of parliament in the uniform of an SS officer leaned close to the ear of a Nazi Party MP beside him and said softly, “Your son, Jamie, asked me to bring you a message.”

The MP’s face changed slightly, and he immediately asked nervously, “My son, what happened to him?”

“He’s fine,” the SS officer said, splitting his mouth into a grin that revealed a full set of teeth. “He and his mother are visiting our headquarters. They will be back in the evening.”

“You! This is kidnapping! This is a violation of law and discipline…” the MP said in a low voice with a frown. “I will protest! I will go to…”

“Yes, we are indeed breaking the law. But we just want to win. If we lose, then everyone will be buried with us,” he said, pointing to the other MPs around them. “You, and him, and him, and them. All must die.”

“Truth will not yield to the devil,” the MP said with righteous indignation.

“Alright, if you insist, that’s fine too,” the officer nodded. “But perhaps you can explain what was going on last month on the ninth, when you received 15,000 US dollars in the beer hall downstairs from your house?”

“I know what to do. I know what to do! Say no more,” the MP said, as panicked as if he had seen a ghost. “I’ll do as you say.”

The officer nodded to a man in a suit not far away. That man in the suit then whispered something to the person beside him…

“Well then! Please cast your votes! Vote on whether to pass this act, the ‘Law to Protect the German People’! To guarantee the interests of all the German people!” Akado finished, supporting himself on the podium with his hands, exhausted. He stared at all the MPs below the stage, silent.

A person presiding over the meeting nodded at Akado, then spoke loudly, “The vote on whether to pass the ‘Law to Protect the German People’ will now begin!”

With a swoosh, all the members of the Greater Germany Party stood up, immediately taking up nearly half of the entire hall. Following them, a few scattered MPs also stood up. These were from some small parties who had no propaganda power of their own. The reason they stood up was because they did not dare to offend the massive number one party in Germany.

Following them, several Nazi Party MPs also stood up. They were dejected and seemed very reluctant, but they still stood up. Their rising caused the hall to erupt in an uproar.

“George! What are you doing? Are you mad? Why are you standing up? Sit down, quick!” a person shouted while forcefully pulling at his companion, but his companion just lowered his head and shook off his hand.

“Is this your trick? Threatening a few idiots in a vain attempt to get a majority vote? To pass your bullshit act?” Hitler sat there with a smug look on his face. He muttered to himself, his tone filled with ridicule and disdain. “It’s a pity you still haven’t gotten a majority vote. You’ve lost!”

“Unity and justice and freedom!

For the German fatherland!

Towards these let us all strive!”

A German SS member of parliament stood at attention and began to sing the German national anthem loudly. His voice was somewhat hoarse, and because he was forcing it too much, it was even a little off-key. But he still had a devout look on his face. He raised his arm towards Akado and gave a German salute.

“Brotherly with heart and hand!

Unity and justice and freedom!”

Beside him, several SS MPs followed his lead and began to sing, simultaneously raising their right hands in a salute. More and more people joined this procession. In the blink of an eye, all the standing people in the entire hall began to sing loudly.

Some MPs shifted uncomfortably in their seats. More had angry looks on their faces as they stared at the expressionless Akado on the stage.

Soon, an MP could no longer bear the inner torment and stood up. He stood at attention, held his head high and chest out, and began to sing the sacred national anthem along with the others. Following him was a second, a third, a fourth. One by one, the MPs were forced to stand up.

“Are the pledge of happiness!

Flourish in the splendor of this blessing,

Flourish, German fatherland!”

More and more MPs stood up. Their expressions were solemn, they stood ramrod straight, following the Greater Germany Party MPs who were singing loudly, singing that familiar melody over and over again.

Hitler and the dozens of Nazi Party MPs looked around to their left and right. They found that the place where they were sitting was like a lonely island. The MPs in the other seats had all stood up. The solemn and majestic song echoed all around, and some people were even looking at them, the seated ones, with contemptuous and angry gazes.

Hitler suddenly looked at Akado on the speaker’s platform and found that Akado, standing there, was so tall. His tall and thin body stood there like a benchmark, unshakable.

Hitler suddenly felt that the seat under his buttocks was very hot, so hot that he had to shift to alleviate the scalding sensation he felt. So he had no choice but to place his hands on the armrests of the chair and gently shift his body. Seeing this movement, some Nazi Party MPs thought he was about to get up, and with a swoosh, another dozen or so people stood up.

Hitler looked to his left, then looked to his right. He did not withdraw the hands that were propping him up on the armrests. He slowly stood up, staring at Akado as he slowly stood up—as if he had entered a slow-motion time field; as if he were using all his strength just to stand up.

As he stood up, so did the last dozen or so Nazi Party MPs. The national anthem was still echoing in the Parliament hall, and all the MPs were already on their feet. It seemed the passage of the “Law to Protect the German People” could no longer be stopped.

When the national anthem ended, Akado suddenly extended his right arm, pointing to the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, and roared, “Long live Greater Germany!”

“Long live victory!” all the Greater Germany Party MPs shouted along with him.

On January 1, 1933, Akado promulgated the “Law to Protect the German People.” It obstructed the propaganda of the German Communist Party, the Nazi Party, and the Social Democratic Party, and ultimately solidified control over the Parliament even more firmly.

This act strictly controlled the development of other parties and placed the Greater Germany Party above all other parties. Unlike the Nazi Party, the Greater Germany Party, after 5 years of careful preparation and reserving talent, was more than capable of controlling the government and even the grassroots of all of Germany. Under the protection of this “Law to Protect the German People,” they wantonly attacked their competitors, suppressing the opposing political parties to the point where they could not even lift their heads.

And Akado, with his government’s decrees now more unified, expanded the Reichswehr by a full 70,000 men in this year and equipped them with 336 of the newest Panther tanks. The de facto commander of the Reichswehr, General von Brauchitsch, assured Akado that the current Reichswehr was fully capable of holding off a French attack, and even of defeating the French army.