“This open secret was still a secret. Werner Count von Alvensleben was swiftly dispatched to a concentration camp for making an impolitic mention of this peculiar arrangement. Goebbels even fired his favorite cook, Martha, for gossiping.” – Preston rose from his reclining chair and paced the room. “You are missing the point.” – He finally cried out, disappointed. “I am? What, pray, is the point?” “If Magda converted to Judaism, no subsequent conversions to other faiths would have rendered her less Jewish. Once a Jew, always a Jew.” “You are telling me…” – I groaned. “Judaism is matrilineal. In other words, if the mother is Jewish, her offspring are Jews.” – added Libby cautiously. “I am impressed by your in-depth knowledge of this painful subject.” – I commended them – “Where does all this lead? All her children are dead, poisoned by her own hand in her beloved Fuehrer’s bunker.” “Even this much is untrue.” – Preston shook his head. “Harald survived. He was captured in Africa by the British and whiled the rest of the conflagration in a Prisoners of War camp.” – Explained Dan. “Good for him.” – I said – “I guess the uniform didn’t make him omnipotent after all. He should have joined the SS.” “Israel,” – Libby laid her hand on my shoulder, burning a pleasurable hole right through it – “do you really not see the implications? If Magda converted to Judaism and then had children with Hitler, this means that the Fuehrer of the Third Reich fathered Jewish offspring.” **** It took a while to sink in. “So, this whole thing is not about Hitler’s ancestry. It’s about his progeny.”
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