Dla polepszenia nastrojow pozwalam sobie forwardowac efekt pracy nad scenariuszem hipotetycznej historii swiata w ktorej Adolf hitler nie odegral zadnej roli. Milej lektury Bernard Korzeniewicz, Bendin >############################################## >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Johnny Pez" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if >Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2001 12:23 AM >Subject: DBTL 20: 1945 - Where Are They Now? > > >> It is the morning of 7 May 1945 in the Drowned Baby Timeline. To recap: >> >> ADOLF HITLER has been dead for fifty-six years, having accidentally >drowned >> while being bathed shortly after his birth. >> >> ERNST RÖHM, ex-Führer of Germany, has been dead for eight years, having >> committed suicide just before the fall of Berlin to the Polish Army. >> >> JOSEF PILSUDSKI has been dead for seven years. He lived long enough to >fight >> off the German invasion of Poland in 1936, and to appoint the great hero >of >> that war as his successor: >> >> STANISLAW SKWARAZNSKI has been War Minister of Poland for seven and a half >> years. As Pilsudski's chosen successor, he has been instrumental in >making his >> predecessor's vision for Poland a reality. Since passage of the Law of >> Devolution by the Sejm in 1939, the Polish Commonwealth has developed into >a >> multi-ethnic federalist state. >> >> GREGOR STRASSER is President of the Brandenburg Bundestag. Brandenburg is >the >> oldest of the Polish Commonwealth's autonomous regions (or devos as they >are >> popularly known), having been established in October 1939. Originally a >German >> nationalist, Strasser has become one of the pillars of the Polish >Commonwealth. >> >> JOSEF STALIN is General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet >Union. >> It is a tribute to the utter terror Stalin inspires in his subordinates >that >> the late LAVRENTI BERIA, ex-head of the NKVD, never once considered trying >to >> depose or assassinate him. However, Stalin is well aware of the fact that >the >> recent attempt to liberate Lithuania from its capitalist oppressors, and >the >> subsequent invasion of the Polish Commonweatlth, was the greatest blunder >of a >> career filled with blunders. Although Beria has taken the blame for the >USSR's >> poor showing, Stalin knows that he is going to have to kill an awful lot >of >> people, even by his standards, to cover up his own responsibility. >> >> The body of ALEXEI KOSYGIN, ex-Mayor of Leningrad, was recently exhumed >from >> the ruins of Leningrad's City Hall. Being safely dead, Stalin can turn >him >> into a heroic defender of the Soviet Union and a martyr of Socialism. >> >> The body of NIKITA KRUSHCHEV will not be so easy to find, since the >Ukrainian >> party boss was torn apart by a mob during the uprising in Kiev. >> >> They said it couldn't be done, but Polish President JOSEF BECK and Prime >> Minister EDWARD RYDZ-SMIGLY have done it. In the atmosphere of euphoria >that >> pervaded Poland after the Second Soviet War, the half dozen political >parties >> that made up the governing coalition, including the Socialists, the United >> Peasants Party, and the pro-government parties of the devos, united to >form the >> Federalist Party. Now, for the first time since Poland's rebirth, a >single >> party holds an absolute majority in the Sejm. >> >> WLADISLAW SIKORSKI is the leader of Poland's conservative National >Democrats, >> the Federalist Party's main opposition. The recent addition of the >Belorussian >> and Ukrainian SSRs to the Polish Commonwealth has reduced his party's >power in >> the newly-enlarged Sejm. Unless he can think of some way to overcome his >> party's limited influence, both it and the cause of Polish nationalism it >> stands for will be drowned in the rising tide of non-Poles. >> >> BOLESLAW PIASECKI is the Duce of the National Socialists (aka the Nasos), >> Poland's anti-Semitic extremists. Piasecki is overjoyed by the addition >of the >> ex-Soviet Republics of Belorussia and Ukraine to the Polish Commonwealth. >The >> more the Poles become a minority within their own country, the more >popular his >> own brand of xenophobic nationalism will become, and the closer he will >come to >> his ultimate goals of abolishing the devos, establishing a Polish ruling >class, >> and expelling Poland's Jews. >> >> HEINZ GUDERIAN is widely -- and correctly -- perceived as the mastermind >behind >> Poland's victory in the Second Soviet War. In recognition, he has >recently >> been appointed First Marshal of the Polish Commonwealth by War Minister >> Skwaraznski, a post previously held only by Josef Pilsudski and by >Skwaraznski >> himself. Guderian cannot help but contrast the honor he has been accorded >in >> Poland with the shabby treatment he received in Germany under Röhm. >Previously >> apolitical, he has now become a fervent Federalist, as have his many >admirers >> among Poland's Germans. >> >> MAXIME WEYGAND is widely -- though incorrectly -- perceived as the >mastermind >> behind the Polish victory over the Red Army in August 1920. In >recognition, he >> was appointed Premier of France in 1944 when it became clear that his >> predecessor, HENRI DE KERILLIS, was incapable of dealing with the Algerian >> uprising. >> >> WINSTON CHURCHILL has been absent from public life since resigning as >Military >> Governor of Hanover in December 1939 to protest the new Attlee >government's >> decision to grant Indian independence in 1944. His memoirs of the Danzig >War >> were moderately successful, and he has begun work on a multi-volume >History of >> the English Speaking Peoples. >> >> EDWARD ALBERT CHRISTIAN GEORGE ANDREW PATRICK DAVID SAXE-COBURG UND GOTHA >> became King of Hanover when the country formally gained its independence >on 1 >> May 1944. As he and Queen Wallis are childless, the Hanoverian crown is >likely >> to revert to the family of his younger brother KING GEORGE VI in the >future. >> King Edward has established an excellect working relationship with his >Prime >> Minister, KONRAD ADENAUER. >> >> THEODOR HEUSS became first President of the Republic of Bavaria when the >> country formally gained its independence on 30 April 1944. His Prime >Minister, >> LUDWIG ERHARD, first rose to prominence in Bavaria in 1940 by defying an >order >> from Military Governor PIERRE LAVAL to create a secret slush fund for his >> personal use. The resulting scandal forced Laval's removal and made >Erhard a >> hero among Bavarians. >> >> ANTANAS MERKYS has emerged as the leader of the Lithuanian Devo's >Independence >> Party. A plebescite on the fate of the newly-united halves of Lithuania >is >> scheduled for 1 June, and Merkys plans to spend each day until then trying >to >> convince the disparate peoples of his country that they should vote for >full >> independence from the Polish Commonwealth. >> >> BENITO MUSSOLINI is Duce of Italy. The recent success of Italy's secret >> research project to create an atomic bomb has left him in a curiously >> schizophrenic state. On the one hand, he feels a strong desire to use the >bomb >> against the British and French bastards who put a halt to his attempted >> conquest of Ethiopia five years earlier. On the other hand, he knows that >as >> soon as the bomb's existence is known, the British and French (at least) >and >> the Poles and Russians (probably) will start building atomic bombs of >their >> own, and Italy will be back to square one. Thus, while he is now master >of the >> world, he is not quite sure what to do next. But he will think of >something. >> >> GROUP CAPTAIN ARTHUR C. CLARKE is the Director of the RAF's Rocket >Research >> Project. The remarkable success of Poland's rocket weapons in the Eastern >War >> has resulted in a sudden flood of resources for the Project, and Clarke >has at >> last been able to give the green light to his long-cherished (and >> long-neglected) pet project: a multistage ballistic missile which he hopes >will >> serve as the model for an orbital spaceship. >> >> ALBEN BARKLEY is the President of the United States. He blames his defeat >by >> Robert Taft in the 1940 election on his then-running mate, Ambassador >JOSEPH >> KENNEDY, who was enveloped by a series of scandals during the fall >campaign. >> Determined not to make the same mistake twice, at the 1944 Democratic >> convention Barkley passed on his first choice for a running mate, SENATOR >HARRY >> S TRUMAN. Although personally honest, Truman was too closely associated >with >> the corrupt Pendergast machine for Barkley to risk choosing him. Instead, >> Barkley chose the popular Governor of New York, THOMAS WAGNER, JR. Wagner >is >> currently discovering for himself the truth of his predecessor JOHN >GARNER's >> adage about the Vice-Presidency. >> >> Meanwhile, former Vice-President THOMAS E. DEWEY is now regarded as the >> Republican Party's front runner for the 1948 presidential nomination. >>From his >> office in New York City, Dewey observes and occasionally comments on the >> Barkley administration's policies. >> >> FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT retired from public life in January 1941. He >now >> divides his time between his family's home in New York and his winter home >in >> Warm Springs, Georgia. His memoirs of his eight years in the White House, >> which he co-wrote with his friend HARRY HOPKINS, have proved surprisingly >> popular. >> >> The strange world of Wisconsin politics has produced a new national >curiosity. >> The CPUSA's strident criticism of the Polish Commonwealth proved >attractive to >> the state's large population of German-Americans, who had their own >reasons for >> disliking Poland. In 1944 an ambitious local politician took advantage of >the >> state's unusual political landscape (and the widespread disenchantment >with the >> Taft administration's economic policies) to get himself elected to >national >> office: "Comrade" JOSEPH R. MCCARTHY is now the sole Communist member of >the US >> House of Representatives. >> >> ERNEST HEMINGWAY is currently in Los Angeles, putting the finishing >touches on >> a screenplay adapted from his bestselling novel _To Sail Beyond the >Sunset_. >> ERROL FLYNN has already been signed to play the film's lead character, >Captain >> Clark. Hemingway's efforts to get Warner Brothers to hire his fianceé >LENI >> RIEFENSTAHL to direct have been unsuccessful. >> >> ROBERT A. HEINLEIN is also in Los Angeles, having been hired by MGM to >write >> the screenplay for *their* new science-fiction epic. Heinlein decided to >use >> his novel _Methuselah's Children_ for the purpose, though as he finishes >the >> script's third draft he is beginning to suspect that the final result will >bear >> little resemblance to his original. Still, the studio pays very well, >always >> an important factor with Heinlein; he and his wife LESLYN have bought a >new >> house in Burbank with the proceeds from his screenwriting stint. >> >> ISAAC ASIMOV, PhD is in Newark, Delaware, having accepted a position with >the >> University of Delaware's Department of Chemistry. It has been two years >since >> his girlfriend GERTRUDE BLUGERMAN dumped him, citing his lack of job >prospects. >> Since moving to Delaware, Asimov has rekindled a romance with his first >love, >> a fellow chemist named IRENE. >> >> ANNE FRANK started a diary when she was 13, but nothing ever really >happens in >> Amsterdam, so she has let it lapse. However, after reading a Dutch >translation >> of "To Sail Beyond the Sunset", she has started writing stories set in >outer >> space. >> >> STANISLAW LEM has also read "To Sail Beyond the Sunset", but he was not >> impressed. WITKACY's recent "Fear and Loathing in Lwow", on the other >hand, >> impressed him greatly with its "bad craziness", and Lem now considers >himself a >> part of the growing Gonszo School of modern Polish literature. >> >> After a decade and a half spent knocking around Europe, ANDREAS VAN KUIJK >has >> come to rest in Warsaw. There, operating as "Colonel Tadeusz >Paruszewski", he >> has found a niche as a bottom feeder within Poland's burgeoning recorded >music >> industry. However, the ambitious van Kuijk keeps a keen eye peeled for an >> up-and-coming act he can use to make himself rich. >> >> CAPTAIN KAROL WOJTILA is currently stationed in the town of Chernobyl in >the >> newly-organized Ukrainian Devo. He is rather dismayed to find that many >> Ukrainians blame the Jews for the terrors they have undergone at the hands >of >> the Bolsheviks. The Polish army is able to keep any major pogroms from >> occuring, but is helpless in the face of hundreds of acts of random >terrorism. >> Fortunately, one man can act where a hundred would be helpless... >> >> -- >> Johnny Pez >> Newport, Rhode Island >> April 2001 >> > --
