Germany (Earth-7642)

**Germany**, officially the **Federal Republic of Germany**, is a federal parliamentary republic in west-central Europe. The country consists of 16 states, and its capital and largest city is Berlin.

## History

### Birth of Abraham Erskine

On September 14, 1869, the city of Augsburg was the birthplace of Abraham Erskine, who went on to become one the most renowned scientists of his time.

### Birth of Werner Reinhardt

In 1904, the city of Arnsberg was the birthplace of Werner Reinhardt, who went on to become an Obergruppenführer of the Schutzstaffel and a member of HYDRA.

### Third Reich

#### Rise of Adolf Hitler

The devastation caused by World War I greatly destabilized Europe. Adolf Hitler managed to raise to power given the political and economic instability in Germany, and a lingering resentment over the terms imposed by the Versailles Treaty following the Great War.

#### Deutsches Opernhaus

In February 1934, Adolf Hitler attended a representation of Richard Wagner's opera *Parsifal* at the Deutsches Opernhaus in Berlin, with all the audience waiting to see Hitler's reactions before applauding the performance. During the ensuing gala dinner, Hitler praised some aspects of the play that linked to his own line of thought, such as celebrating the purity of blood that must be safeguarded, while constructing a new aristocracy based on it.

Johann Schmidt, a university researcher in the field of physics, interrupted Hitler, saying that the old ways should not be disposed, as they could prove to be more than they appeared. After apologizing, Schmidt revealed that Wagner's music had influenced his work just as it "inspired" Hitler to set Germany back on a path of greatness.

Hitler asked for the link between Wagner and physics, and Schmidt answered that the "magic" from the Norse mythology that Wagner adapted into his operas could simply be the oldest science ever known. Intrigued by Schmidt's ideas, Hitler asked Ernst Kaufmann to arrange a lunch between Hitler and Schmidt to discuss the ideas.

Schmidt asked Kaufmann, leader of the special weapons division, to continue his research in his division, but Kaufmann, displeased with Schmidt's interruption, was threatened and warned not to come near Hitler again. However, Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, overheard Schmidt's theories, and took him under his wing.

#### Viola's Trips

HYDRA agent Viola traveled to several places in Germany during the 1930s, including Berlin, Hamburg, and Bremen.

#### Night of the Long Knives

On the 30th of June, 1934, Ernst Kaufmann and other leaders of the Sturmabteilung were hosted at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee. In order to gain support from the Wehrmacht for his regime, Adolf Hitler ordered the assassinations of all higher officers of the SA, in a purge that later became known as the Night of the Long Knives.

Johann Schmidt, having become Heinrich Himmler's protege, told Kauffmann that the only way the German Army would support Hitler's regime was if Kaufmann's stormtroopers were eliminated, and as Himmler and the Schutzstaffel shared Schmidt's interest in Norse mythology, Schmidt would take leadership of Kaufmann's weapons program. Schmidt assassinated Kaufmann by throwing a knife into his throat as the other leaders of the Sturmabteilung were killed.

#### Takeover

In June, 1934, Johann Schmidt led a takeover in the SA Weapons Testing Ground in Kummersdorf, where troops loyal to Ernst Kaufmann and the Sturmabteilung shoot the members of the Schutzstaffel on sight, as they had not received orders of that the Sturmabteilung was dismantled following the Night of the Long Knives. As the troops had been handpicked by Kaufmann and were loyal to him to the death, Schmidt decided to kill all the soldiers in the facility. He came across scientist Arnim Zola, who was working on developing an Exo-skeleton battle armor, to make a soldier stronger.

On the other hand, Schmidt wanted to transform soldiers themselves into weapons, and he informed Zola that all his budget was going to be rerouted for that project, something Zola, fearing for his life, agreed to.[3]

#### Nuremberg Laws

On the 14th of September, 1935, Abraham Erskine, his wife Greta, and their sons Klaus and Marlene, boarded a train to Geneva in hopes of avoiding a group of anti-Semitic laws known as the Nuremberg Laws that Adolf Hitler would approve the following day in Nuremberg. Upon arriving to the German/Swiss border, the train was stopped by Johann Schmidt. Schmidt's troops began looking for Erskine, and, although his wife begged him not to, Erskine turned himself in to avoid other people suffering because of him.

Erskine was taken to Schmidt's presence, where they discussed Erskine's attempt to leave the country at the last time, given his research at the university went so well he was reluctant to leave it. Schmidt had been monitoring Erskine's progress in a project that increased the molecular density of cellular fibers through synthetic proteins of his own devising. However, a warning of the announce of laws against Jews that would happen in Nuremberg, and given his wife's Jewish heritage, made Erskine decide to leave the country for the well-being of his family.

Schmidt disregarded the purpose of those laws, as he was not interested in Nazi ideology, and his only goal was to create an actual "superior man" that would be a race unto himself. For that goal, he coerced Erskine into helping him, but threatening the lives of his wife and sons, that were sent to a concentration camp in Dachau.

### World War II

#### Beginning of the War

In 1939, Adolf Hitler began a conflict later denominated World War II, with the intention of creating a German Empire that would last for a thousand years. Germany was considered the center of Axis powers after the official outbreak of the war, with its capital, Berlin, housing the headquarters of the Nazi Third Reich government, the German Armed Forces and the Schutzstaffel.

#### Birth of the Red Skull

By 1940, Johann Schmidt had moved to Ernst Kaufmann's castle, now abandoned after Kaufmann was murdered by Schmidt during the Night of the Long Knives. Schmidt tested Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum upon himself, and spent the following two days secluded in a room suffering the side effects of the serum as, according to Erskine, the serum was not ready yet. Schmidt' maid, Eva, tried to bring food to Schmidt, who angrily threw a wardrobe against the door in a feat of the strength granted by the serum, demanding to be alone to contemplate the meaning of his fate.

In the dungeons, Arnim Zola visited a chained Erskine, to announce that the failure of the "Übermensch" soldier program would grant Zola an opportunity to provide a technological alternative for Schmidt's goals. Erskine answered that it was not the serum who failed, as Schmidt was the one who failed at being human. Zola mocked that the disfigurement inflicted upon Schmidt would result in an order of execution against Erskine, and against his family held in Dachau.