Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke Read Online Free PDF

have battled each otherfor supremacy in the Reichstag for the past few years.”
    Gretchen barely breathed, afraid to miss a single word.
    “Today, President Hindenburg and Chancellor Hitler declared a state of emergency and issued the Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and the State,” the announcer went on. “The decree suspends all major civil liberties, including freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and freedom to assemble. Letters, telephone calls, and telegrams may be intercepted by the police at any time. We have been told that there is widespread panic in the streets of Berlin, and its residents fear more imminent terrorist attacks.”
    The announcer paused for breath and then launched into another story. Gretchen’s mouth had gone as dry as sand. Was Hitler responsible for the fire? Throughout her childhood, the Communists had been the National Socialists’ fiercest opponents, and Hitler despised them. He had taught her that Communism was like an infectious disease spreading down from the vast Russian steppes. A political system designed by Jews meant to enslave non-Jewish nations , he used to say, tapping her nose playfully.
    “My God,” Alfred said in a hushed voice. “Gretchen, do you think Hitler is behind this?”
    “Maybe.” She knew too well that he would stop at nothing, even murder, to advance his political career. Now, in one night, he had been granted two of his most fervent wishes: a means to destroy the Communists and to monitor the German population. Thanks to this presidential decree, nobody was assured of any privacy in Germany.
    And that meant no letters from Daniel. He wouldn’t contact her for he wouldn’t want anyone to read his mail and learn herlocation. Thank God he was in Munich, hundreds of miles from the chaos in Berlin. But that was no guarantee he was safe.
    Julia crossed the room to sit next to her. “Hitler can’t hope to get away with it,” she said firmly. “Sooner or later, people will realize how wicked he is and have him removed from office.”
    Gretchen couldn’t find her voice. Maybe Julia was right, but what if Daniel was in trouble right now? He could be dead or imprisoned, and she had no way of finding out.
    Somehow, Gretchen managed to slog through her lessons, bicycle home, sit in her bedroom staring at blank pieces of paper that should have been covered with her homework assignments. She read every newspaper she could get her hands on, but none of the articles about Germany mentioned Daniel’s name. They focused on the Reichstag blaze instead. A twenty-four-year-old named Marinus van der Lubbe had been arrested on the scene. As he was half blind, it seemed impossible that he could have set the fire by himself, and no one else had been accused yet.
    The information gave Gretchen pause. If Hitler had ordered the fire set in an effort to frame the Communists and create a national emergency suspending civil liberties, then wouldn’t he have chosen a better scapegoat? It didn’t make sense. The sensation of déjà vu swept over her. Something about this fire seemed familiar, but she couldn’t pinpoint what it was. As far as she could recall, Hitler hadn’t been mixed up in arson before. She was too worried about Daniel, though, to puzzle over it further.
    At school, nobody asked what she thought of the mysterious fire in her homeland, although several of her friends wanted to know how Daniel was faring and when he would be back. She shrugged, too heartsick to answer.
    “Now, Gretchen,” Mary said five days later, linking their arms and guiding Gretchen away from the cluster of girls on the school’s front steps, “you needn’t put up a brave front with me and the other girls. It’s obvious what’s happened to Daniel.”
    Gretchen started in surprise. “It is?”
    “Of course.” Mary gave her a sad smile. “He’s gone back to Germany to live, hasn’t he? I daresay he’s awfully handsome, but there are plenty of