Abel Tiffauges

**Abel Tiffauges** is a simple Frenchman at the start of World War II who loves animals and children.

During his childhood at a sadistic Catholic school for boys where he prayed to Saint Christopher that the school, which he saw as a prison, be burned down. By chance, while Abel was being disciplined for spilling lamp oil on the chapel floor, his friend Nestor accidentally set fire to the building, burning it down as he wished. From that day on, Abel was convinced that fate was on his side, and that it would protect him from anything.

1940 and Abel was working as a car mechanic in Paris. His hobby was photography, and he befriended and photographed the local children. However, on one occasion a girl named Martine took his camera; he told her off and upset her. She then falsely accused him of assaulting her. The police believed her, and Abel was put on trial. Fortunately for Abel, the war against Germany had broken out, and soldiers were urgently needed on the front. As a punishment for his supposed crime, he was sent to the army to fight off the invader.

However, it was not long before France surrendered, and Abel and his comrades were sent to a camp in East Prussia. Abel was often able to sneak away from the camp to a hunting cabin in the forest where he fed a blind moose. One day, he encountered a German officer who was curious about his affinity for animals and told him that the moose was known as The Ogre to the local peasants before telling him to return to the camp and to stop visiting the cabin. Several weeks later, the officer returned to Abel, and removed him from the camp. He took him to Hermann Göring's hunting lodge where he was the Chief Forester and gave Abel a job looking after the animals on the estate. When Göring arrived, he first seemed cheerful and friendly, but it is soon clear that he is sadistic, bombastic and mentally unstable. After hearing news that he was needed in Berlin because of the failure of the German Army at Stalingrad on the Russian Front, he dismissed the whole company at the lodge - including Abel. Before leaving, however, the now-former Chief Forester arranged for Abel to be given a new job at the nearby Kaltenborn Castle, a Napola, military academy for boys.

At the castle, Abel instantly proved popular with the boys, and was treated by the staff as a privileged servant. One day, he was out riding, and came across a group of boys on holiday. He told them of life in the castle and they followed him back. Obersturmbannführer Raufeisen, was impressed and gave Abel the job of recruiting local boys into the academy. Although he was successful and meant well in his efforts, Abel soon learned from the castle housekeeper, Mrs. Netta, that the locals are afraid of him for taking the boys, and that they had published pamphlets telling parents to watch out for "The Ogre", his newly-acquired nickname. Abel began to develop doubts about his work. Several days later, one of the boys he recruited was left horribly burned during training from standing behind another boy as he fired a Panzerfaust, making Abel yet more uncertain of the Nazis. Soon after, the owner of the academy, Count von Kaltenborn, was revealed to have been part of a plot to kill Hitler. He was arrested and taken away in a car, and was never seen again. Meanwhile, news had broken out that the Red Army had crossed the border, and the officers in charge of the castle, as well as the oldest boys training there, were sent out to the front line.

One night while out riding, Abel found a column of prisoners being taken through the forest, and saw one being shot by a German soldier. When they had gone he approached the road and found that it was littered with dead bodies. Under the pile of corpses, he found a boy named Ephraim who was barely alive and took him to the castle where he hid him in the attic. With all the officers dead or at the front, Abel and Frau Netta were now in charge of the castle. Frau Netta stayed on, trying to look after the boys, but Abel realized that Hitler and the Nazis had lied - there will be no victory, and a last stand at the castle would be pointless. Abel gathered the remaining cadets and ordered them to prepare to evacuate. Caught up in a patriotic fervor, they deemed Abel a traitor and knocked him unconscious. Shortly afterward, a group of German veterans arrived. Led by Raufeisen, they took command of Kaltenborn Castle, promising the boys a victorious battle for the Fatherland.

That night, Abel regained consciousness and returned to the attic. The Russians soon arrived, and a senior officer demanded the castle's surrender. Abel tried to surrender the castle, but Raufeisen nearly shot him with a rifle and the boys opened fire on the Russians. As the battle began, Abel finds Ephraim and leaves the castle with him. The castle catches fire during the fighting; it burns down and none of the defenders survive. They escape across the marshes safely, with Abel recalling the tale of St. Christopher.

## Gallery

Von Kaltenborn and Abel Tiffauges.Netta and Abel Tiffauges.Ephraim and Abel Tiffauges.