The Last Boat to Denmark (ePub)

This is Ingerid Lotze's biography. She is the last scion of the noble Von Below-Saleske clan of feudal barons. She was born in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1937. She is a witness and victim of the Third Reich.

Her father, a language professor, was confined in a Nazi labour camp when she was a baby. He spent more than a decade as a POW in Russia. Ingerid never knew him. She, her mother and her grandmother, fled Pomerania to Denmark via Operation Hannibal, the largest evacuation and biggest disaster in maritime history. Hollywood shows us Dunkirk and the Titanic but no one remembers the Gustloff, the Goya or Cap Arcona or any of some 45 sunken ships that caused more casualties than that world-famous ocean liner.

Of the 2.4 million evacuees, Ingerid is one of the last to give a first-hand account of the perilous journey across the Baltic Sea. The vessels were hunted down by Russian submarines and British bombers while surrounded by tens of thousands of naval mines. Their escape took place in a fierce winter storm that, in itself, threatened their safe passage. At the time, she had no idea of any of those dangers. They were on the last boat from Stolp. Hours before the city fell into Soviet hands. Her grandmother, a direct descendant of Von Herder and a true princess daughter, died as a result of the rough cruise from Pomerania to Copenhagen. Ingerid and her mother spent four years in Danish concentration camps before being exiled to Sweden.

At 19, after a stint as an au pair in a British garrison, she settled in Germany and married 35-year-old Fritz Math, the best friend of her fallen brother Eckhardt. They lived like bohemians in the late 50s as they were housed in his workshop, the car, or on a park bench. At 24, after their divorce, she was able to fulfil her dream: explore the world. After hopping around Europe for a decade, other corners of the globe lured. Subsequently, she lived in Gaddafi's Libya and in Somalia before the US tried to 'restore hope' there. She then spent years in Nigeria, in a period between Biafra and Boko Haram. She married Steffen Lotze in Kenya, in 1981. After an early retirement, the couple moved to the Dominican Republic.

A historical and cultural background, of various parts of the world where she resided or vacationed, is given to best live her experiences. Her ups and downs, usually caused by her lovers, pass by. Her pedigree, which spans almost a millennium, is also covered in detail as a number of family members played remarkable roles in history. During WWI, five of them were generals who led the bloodiest battles.

A significant part of the book is about WWII: not the well-known events but forgotten stories, often linked to Ingerid or her relatives. Fritz's plane was shot down near the Stalingrad Cauldron. Eckhardt fell during the Battle of the Kursk. Much is written about these Russian cities. These narratives exemplify the end of the Third Reich. I describe Fritz's crucial role in Eben Emael and with Messerschmitt. I try to find out what Jews are and who Adolf Hitler was. They had great influence on Ingerid's life and created the world we live in now.

Who was the person behind Aunt 'Misi'? Why did Ingerid's holiday to Cyprus deviate from its original itinerary? I elaborate on her love for animals, books, music, films, photography and art, and on Norbert, the man she really loved but never married.

The publication coincides with the forthcoming Thucydides Trap. Ingerid's life bridges the gap between the present and the past downfalls. This time, hegemony will move to the East, leaving the Western world to slide into an abyss. The US is at the cusp of collapsing. The dollar and the MIC are hopefully to follow soon. Umvolkung is near completion. Climate freaks create a living hell and plandemics paralyse the world. Censorship, AI, social credit systems and CBDCs will soon rule our lives. 2030 is the new 1984.