The Exchange Students - 6. Chapter 6

**

“Ahnenerbe depends on secrecy to survive, and the other branches consider us dangerous,” said Frank.

“What do you plan to do?” Emma asked.

“We plan to expose them and eliminate them as a risk,” stated Carson. “It will be difficult to convince enforcement agencies of their existence and even more difficult to convince them to take action, but their influence is growing, and we must act soon. They have powerful allies.”

”What can I do to help?” I asked.

“Yeah, what can we do?” Amy, Brad, and Emma said.

**

“Our reason for telling you about Ahnenerbe was to alert you to the dangers you incur by associating with us,” said Frank.

“We've grown fond of you over the last couple of weeks,” said Oscar while looking deeply into my eyes, “and are concerned about your wellbeing.”

“What do you think they would do to us?” I asked.

“Probably nothing,” said Carson. “We are their target, and I doubt they will risk attracting the attention of the American government. Still, there is some risk.”

“The Ahnenerbe has two options,” interjected Frank. “The program has invested an enormous amount of resources in us. Their first choice is to bring us back into the fold.”

“And if that doesn’t work, what’s the second option?” asked Emma.

The question was left hanging in the air.

“In any case, you’re probably safe for now,” said Oscar.

“If you still want to help, there is something you can do for us,” said Frank.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“We have some artifacts we want to hide until things are more settled,” said Carson, “and we need someone to know where they are in case things go badly.”

“Why don’t you turn the artifacts in to the authorities,” said Emma.

“As I said before, Ahnenerbe has powerful allies.”

“I’ll help,” I said. “Where do you want to hide the objects?”

“At the camping ground,” said Carson.

Frank turned off the paved road an hour later onto a rutty dirt path. The road was barely wide enough to accommodate the SUV, so I was glad we were riding in a four-wheel-drive vehicle. In a few hundred feet, a secure-looking metal gate blocked our path. Jakob jumped out, walked a short distance into the woods, and returned with a key. He opened the lock and swung open the gate.

He closed and locked the gate behind us and hopped back into the vehicle. The road improved dramatically from there on.

We cleared the crown of a wooded hill, and a view of Lake Tahoe's profound blue majesty a few miles away emerged.

“This is our first visit to Lake Tahoe,” said Oscar. “It's beautiful. It reminds me in some ways of the fjords in Norway.”

I could tell Oscar missed his home. All the Norwegians seemed contemplative. We drove in silence for a while.

“The campground should be up ahead, behind that thicket of trees,” said Frank.

We rounded the bend and parked the SUV at the end of the road. We grabbed the tents and our sleeping bags and followed a path through the trees until it opened to a sunny, tranquil pond fed by a gurgling spring-fed stream. All my worries seemed to drift away at the sight of the idyllic surroundings.

“Two per tent,” announced Carson. “I’ll share with Frank.

I could see the disappointment on Emma’s face. Things still might work out for her and Frank this weekend.

“Me and you, Matt,” said Oscar.

A rush of excitement raced through my body. It was going to happen. I felt a swelling in my pants and eagerly set myself to work, erecting the tent as a distraction.

“You and me, Amy?” said Brad.

“In your dreams, big boy,” quipped Amy with a smile. “I’m sharing a tent with Emma.”

I think Brad knew that if things had worked out differently with Frank and Emma, Amy would have gladly shared a tent with him. I suspected they would sneak off together at some point this weekend.

Pulling herself together, Emma joked. “It’s OK, Amy. You can bunk with Brad. I was hoping to share a sleeping bag with Jakob and have hot, steamy sex all night.”

Jakob’s eyes grew wide, and his cheeks went scarlet.

“Come with me, Jakob,” Brad said. “I’ll protect you from the scary lady.”

We all joined Brad in laughter.

“I would have done it,” said a relieved Jakob.

We set up our tent. I carefully chose a spot a short distance from the others and closer to the babbling stream for privacy in case the lovemaking grew too loud. I was so excited.

We completed our preparations and assembled around a fire pit at one end of the pond.

Between Frank and Carson were stacked six wooden boxes of various sizes.

“These are the artifacts we told you about. There is one other at your house in San Mateo, Matt,” said Frank.

“The bowl?” I asked.

“Yes, the bowl,” said Frank. “Carson is knowledgeable on the antiquities and will explain their histories to you.”

“The bowl in Matt’s parent's possession was buried in the grave of Hadugato. He was an early Saxon leader, considered a founding father of Saxony. In 531, he led the Saxons to victory over the Thuringians at the battle of Burgscheidungen. Note that this was the period of large-scale Saxon immigration to England."

Carrying a crowbar, Carson pried the lid of the first box open. Rings filled the box.

“These are SS-Ehrenring, commonly called Totenkopfring or, in English, Death's Head Rings. There are eight thousand five hundred and seventy three silver rings in the box. Heinrich Himmler awarded these rings to select members of the SS. Upon their death, the rings were returned to Himmler for display in a memorial. The silver value of the rings is minimal, however, the propaganda worth is inestimable.”

I was in shock. “Why…why…why do you have these rings?” I stuttered.

Carson looked at Frank.

“The artifacts were collected by Ahnenerbe for Himmler, in a misguided attempt to prove to the world and the German people the superiority of the aryan race. When the Nazis realized they would lose World War II, Himmler directed all the SS sacred objects divided among the chapters of the Ahnenerbe,” said Frank. “These are the Norwegian artifacts.”

As Frank was speaking, Carson removed the lid of the second box. He reached into the container and withdrew what looked like a crude crown.

“This is the crown of King Arthur,” said Carson.

“THE King Arthur, with like the round table and Excalibur?” exclaimed Amy.

“Yes,” Carson continued, “though the claim is highly dubious. British amateur archaeologists discovered The crown in Wales in the late nineteenth century. It is fifth century and roughly hammered out of a sheet of gold/copper alloy. Whether it has anything to do with the Arthurian legends, it’s a valuable Romano-British relic.

“Wow,” I said despite myself. I’d never seen anything like this before.

“The next item is the largest and, the heaviest of the artifacts.” Carson removed the lid and pried the sides of the box loose.

Brad, Emma, Amy, and I leaned in and gasped. Inside was a shimmering gold cauldron, which took my breath away.

“What is it!” asked Emma.

“It is an early Hallstatt cauldron from about 500 B.C. Unlike “Arthur’s crown,” this item is made from approximately 18-carat gold/silver alloy. It weighs 27 kilograms or about sixty pounds. The Repoussé metalwork on the sides depicts, according to Himmler’s propagandist, early Celtic mythology.”

“We plan to hide these items in a cave carved by glaciers at the bottom of the pond,” said Frank.

“We have two more items that aren’t suitable for underwater storage,” said Carson.

Opening the fourth box, Carson withdrew what looked like a gnarly tree limb with a worn cross carved out of one end.

“This is the staff of Saint Boniface. He was born in the late seventh century and martyred in the mid-eighth century. He is the patron saint of Germany and the Netherlands. The staff is probably authentic.”

We stared at the relic with a sense of awe.

“Amy and Brad, will you look after the staff until things are resolved?” said Frank.

“Are you sure you trust us with it?” said Brad.

Smiling, Frank said, “We trust you.”

“The last box holds perhaps the most valuable and certainly the most dangerous of the artifacts,” said Carson.

I could feel my stomach tighten.

Carson opened the last wooden box and, donning white cotton gloves, extracted an ancient scroll.

“This is ‘De origine et situ Germanorum’. The English translation of the Latin is ‘On the Origin and Situation of the Germans’ written by the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus in 98 A.D. The scroll is the original document written in Tacitus’s hand and thought lost over a millennium ago. It was very dear to Himmler, Hitler, and their associates. Tacitus wrote about the heroic and physically intimidating early German tribes. He also wrote less flattering descriptions of the barbarians that the Nazis preferred to ignore.”

“Matt and Emma, will you look after the scroll for us?” said Frank.

I nervously accepted the repackaged artifact from Carson.

I looked around the fire pit, first at Oscar and then at the other Norwegians, all of whom I considered friends. Something was terribly wrong. It was eating away at me.

“Are you Nazis?” I blurted out.

There was silence.

“Matt, it’s complicated,” said Oscar. “Until recently, we belonged to an organization started by the Nazis in the mid-1930s. That’s ninety years ago. By the late ‘60s, the Norwegian Ahnenerbe location had drifted away from the ideology of the original organization. By necessity, we still collaborated with the other branches.”

“We never thought about it. We did what we were born to do and what was expected of us. We are no longer following that path.”

“What were you born to do?” I asked, while fearing the answer.

“We were born to breed,” said Carson.

“Breed?”

“Yes, selective breeding. We are the result of six generations of a program meticulously adhered to for over ninety years.”

“The Nazis considered Norwegian children particularly “pure,”” said Carson. “We are considered the Ubermensch, Nietzsche's human ideal. But of course…we’re not.”

Brad, Amy, Emma, and I were speechless. It was the 2020s. How could something like this exist today? There was something repulsive about the whole thing. The Norwegians may not be Nazis, but they were the ultimate product of the ideology.

“Are there more like you?” I asked.

“There are several thousand spread among the various locations and over three hundred of Generation Six.”

“Generation Six?”

“Generation Six is considered the program's culmination,” said Carson. “Improvements are still possible, but the core program is considered complete with us.”

“We recognize that our story may be repugnant to you,” said Frank.

“We were born into this life, and when we reached maturity, we rejected it,” said Oscar. “I hope, in time, you will understand. Until then, we realize you might want nothing to do with us, and we will honor your wishes.”

Oscar looked at me and a tear streaked down his cheek.

I had a lot to figure out. We all had a lot to figure out.