Authors: Nick Mariano
Hitler and Reichsfuhrer Himmler talked about the successes the German army was having throughout Europe; however, the Fuhrer voiced concern about some of the setbacks his armies had met in the Soviet Union. He also talked about the Japanese and, despite their secret treaty, that he did not trust the Japanese. He felt that their only saving grace was that they were also fighting the Americans and, therefore helping to divert some of its army to places besides Germany and the European fronts.
Hitler stressed that he wanted a new type weapon that could be used against the Americans on their own soil and inflict huge casualties and fear among the general populace. Himmler suggested that they talk about some of the breakthroughs German scientists and doctors were having with medical experiments currently being conducted at numerous secret locations throughout Germany. Himmler filled Hitler in on several human experiments that were being conducted at a number of the concentration camps. Jews, Poles, Soviet POWS and even some non-Jewish Germans were being used in experiments under the direction of several well-known German doctors.
Himmler advised the Fuhrer that he would begin to talk to various German doctors, in particular Josef Mengele, who had earned the nickname of the “Angel of Death” because of some of the experiments he had carried out, particularly at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Himmler assured the Fuhrer that this group of doctors and chemists could quickly develop some sort of super agent that could be unleashed on the American homeland and cause mass casualties. This would help divert their attention from the European Theater, at least temporarily. Himmler added that such a drastic act on Germany’s part, could in fact have the reverse reaction, and make the Americans even more determined to defeat the German war machine. Himmler suggested that they reconvene again in a month’s time to see where they stood on this project.
Himmler then met with Josef Mengele and told the Doctor about his meeting with the Fuhrer the week before and that he wanted something that the Nazis could use to inflict mass casualties and instill fear into the American people on their own home land. Himmler said the Fuhrer wanted the project to move forward as quickly as possible and that the Fuhrer thought this might help turn the tide of the war, which was quickly slipping from Germany’s grasp.
Mengele told Himmler that he thought he could quickly mobilize resources at his labs in Auschwitz and perhaps combine some known and existing viruses to make what would be a super virus. The new virus would be highly contagious and at the present time, there would be no real cure for it. He thought the virus could be introduced into the American population through a number of methods and that once the epidemics started, there would be no slowing the viruses down. The end result would be just what the Fuhrer desired; mass casualties throughout the United States and a very rapid decline in the morale of the American people both on the home front and abroad. Mengele told Himmler he was confident that he could have samples ready for testing in about two months and that once everything was perfected, production of the virus would move rapidly. The two men agreed to keep in touch and to meet again in a month’s time to see what progress had been made.
After a few days of initial research and experimenting, all the Doctors believed that by combining some existing viruses like influenza, the plague and smallpox, the end result would be a new super virus that could withstand any of the new medicines currently available in the United States. Although no one was sure yet how such a virus could be delivered in order to inflict a mass outbreak, they would worry about that after they had the virus developed. Given the fact that Auschwitz had hundreds of prisoners the doctors knew they would have more than enough test subjects to try out their new contagions. Virus samples were obtained from the Institute of Biological Racial and Evolutionary Research in Berlin and gave them the necessary starting blocks to get their work underway. A new sterile area was quickly built at the camp so that they could isolate test subjects and watch how the infections progressed. The Doctors themselves also had to obtain some new protective clothing and equipment, so that they and the German staff didn’t get infected in the process. The group began to work ten-hour days and had a meeting every night to discuss the progress they were making.
Meanwhile, Himmler considered the most logical vehicle for delivering their gift to the American people and believed that their U-boats were the answer. Germany’s U-boat fleets were having enormous success attacking Allied supply ships and even some of its well-equipped military ships. The U-boats were able to cross the ocean separating the two countries and once the sub was close enough to the American shores, landing parties could deliver their cargoes to German intelligence agents, who were already in place and reporting from several cities throughout the United States. The agents could then target the principal cities on the East Coast, and eventually the West Coast, if the initial attacks were successful. The Americans would never know what hit them.
Himmler and Mengele met again at Auschwitz and Himmler could see that Mengele was excited about the rapid progress his group of doctors had made. The Doctor told Himmler that they were able to obtain strains of all the needed viruses from Berlin and that, because of the previous research his team had done, they were able to quickly genetically drift the influenza, plague and rabies viruses, resulting in a new super strain of virus. Mengele went on to explain that an antigenic or genetic drift was when two or more strains of different viruses combined to form a new subtype virus, which was entirely different from the original viruses, but still maintained the original characteristics of the primary viruses. He said it was a sort of genetic mutation that would be immune to all current antidotes that normally might be effective, if employed against each individual strain of virus, but would have little effect on the new strain. He said that when the virus infected the host, the different strains would attack the cells simultaneously and that the host had little chance of fighting the infection and that the new, more dangerous strain, would in fact result in a pandemic. Mengele was confident that none of the current antibiotics would be effective in fighting the new strain and that the process of finding a new antibiotic to fight the infection would be most difficult and require months of research and development. He said that the team decided on the three different viruses for a multitude of reasons. Considering history and the staggering figures regarding both the influenza and the plague, or Black Death, the physicians were confident that the number of deaths resulting from a new super strain would even surpass the statistics of both the 1918 outbreaks of these two viruses. The influenza would attack the victim’s respiratory systems and death would be rapid if left untreated. The plague on the other hand caused painful swellings, sometimes as large as an apple or orange in the areas of the arms, legs, neck and groin. When the body could no longer withstand the excessive swelling, the body areas would burst open and ooze blood, fluids and pus like secretions. When the Black Death last hit mankind the incidence of death was usually within a week. The plague would also effect the lungs, which in conjunction with the effects of the influenza, would accelerate the failure of the lungs by filling them with not only fluids but with the victim’s own blood. Mengele said that they chose rabies instead of smallpox, which they originally considered, because of the extreme physical effects this disease produced. Persons exposed to the rabies virus suffered an extreme attack on their nervous systems and death was rapid if left untreated. Advanced infection could produce violent behavior ranging from extreme aggressiveness to raging to hallucinations and ranting and raving. The infected people might even begin to attack other infected or non-infected people they encountered. Mengele added jokingly that if the rabies virus became airborne, which it probably would, after being combined with the influenza virus, it would result in a zombie pandemic and the victims could take on both a zombie like appearance as a result of the plague and start to act like zombies, because of the rabies infection. He laughed and told Himmler that it would be the best of both worlds, since either the viruses would kill the Americans outright or infected people would begin attacking other people when the rabies started to drive them crazy. Either way, Hitler and his Germany would deliver a crippling blow to the Americans.
Mengele said they were also successful in figuring ways to disperse the virus when it arrived in America. He said that normally the virus would have to be airborne for maximum effectiveness; however, they also figured how they could infuse it into the Americans’ water supplies without the chlorine and other water purifying chemicals having any effect on the super strain. Since the virus was normally airborne it would spread naturally from one person to another in the same manner as the common cold. Once a significant number of people became infected, the virus would have a steamrolling effect and spread rapidly, especially in densely populated areas. Mengele’s team had already developed special canisters for both transporting the virus and for an aerial dispersal of it at selected cities on the East Coast. A second type container could be used to infuse it into the water supplies at various reservoirs, which normally had little in the way of physical security. Mengele said that their initial testing on some of the Auschwitz inmates was very promising and that they were confident they had been successful in their development of a new super virus. Additional testing might be necessary, however, given Hitler’s timelines, he said they should be ready to proceed with deployment in less than a month.
Himmler felt repulsed by what the Doctor of Death had described to him, however, he knew that the Fuhrer would have little problem in approving the plan. Himmler was scheduled to meet again with Hitler and he told Mengele that when the Fuhrer approved the plan they would proceed. Confident that this would happen, he instructed the Doctor to make ready the canisters for deployment as soon as possible. Mengele said they had adequate supplies of both the virus strains and special canisters and would start to get things ready.
Before his next meeting with Himmler, Mengele decided that he would conduct some more tests of their newly developed super strain to make sure that it was everything he had promised to his SS boss. The camp already had a number of controlled areas that could be used to observe subjects and determine if the virus was as effective as Mengele and his staff thought it was. The Doctor decided that he would use both male and female test subjects of varying ages, some youths, middle-aged persons and some of the elderly. This should give them a good sampling for determining if the virus affected everyone in the same manner.
Using one of the special aerosol canisters they had developed, the subjects were placed in two large control rooms and the virus was quickly introduced by means of the ventilation system. The rooms were then hermetically sealed and everyone sat back to see what the results would be. No significant changes were noticed with the subjects after two days. On the third day, however, several of the subjects began to display symptoms of the flu and started sneezing and having running noses. The fourth day produced additional results when several subjects began to display tumor like growths on their necks, arms and legs and began to become lethargic in their movements and mannerisms. By the fifth day everyone was now covered with growths over their entire body and some of the outer tissues had begun to discolor and turn black and blue. Many of the growths had already started to ooze fluids, blood and pus. By the sixth day some of the subjects had already died, however, the remaining individuals became highly aggressive in behavior and soon began attacking each other. It was at this point the Doctor decided to introduce a number of new patients who had not been previously infected. Almost immediately the zombie like subjects began to feel out and finally attack the uninfected individuals and many were killed within minutes. Shocking to even Mengele, several of the previously infected subjects began to actually eat parts of their victims. As the Doctor and his staff continued to watch the test subjects they were surprised that several of the people initially attacked and believed to be dead, suddenly started to stir and came back to life. The doctors had believed that the virus would be totally lethal, however, it now appeared that once a person reached the zombie like stage, some subjects could linger and remain lifelike for an indefinite period of time.
While Himmler was holding his final meeting with the U-boat commanders, Mengele and his staff were busy preparing the canisters of the deadly virus for its trip to America. Mengele was sure that the effect of the virus on the American population would cause mass hysteria among the people and that the ensuing pandemic would set America’s war efforts back several months or longer. Mengele had second thoughts about telling his superior about the ghoulish effects of the virus and the fact that the infected had turned into man eating creatures who reacted violently and without any thought or feeling toward both infected and uninfected persons they encountered. The Doctor decided that he would keep this fact to himself since even the Fuhrer might consider this weapon too much to use against the Americans, despite Germany’s rapid weakening in the war.
Mengele and his staff of doctors decided that the virus should be contained in a primary container constructed of a special strength glass that they used in numerous laboratory experiments and that the top would be a special airtight stopper that was fastened to the vial, and would not come loose during the transport of the virus. The tops also had two other functions when they reached their final destinations. One type could disperse a mist like vapor that would make the virus airborne and would be used in densely populated areas to have the maximum effect on people. The second type top could be unfastened and the virus introduced into drinking water, where it would mix with the populations supply of water and become a deadly elixir to whoever drank it.