Iron Cross

As the situation in the Middle East changed, all Turkish politicians in power lamented that the country's daily life began to become unstable.

Turkey, which had always maintained a neutral position, was in a comfortable position. The Axis wanted to buy minerals (especially chromium), agricultural products and other urgently needed materials from Turkey. The Soviet Union temporarily put away its usual aggressive attitude because it was worried that Turkey would turn to the Axis. Britain and the United States also tried to win over Turkey in many ways. Although Britain and the United States opposed Turkey's supply of minerals to Germany, they could not come up with a good solution if Turkey ignored it.

In addition to making a fortune from the war, the Jewish trade that started a few months ago also made the Turks earn a lot of money. Istanbul has become a transit point for Jewish trade. A large number of Jews who can deliver ransoms have been transferred from Germany to Turkey, and a large number of materials have been transported from Turkey to Germany. Turkey can not only make money from transit and transportation, but also earn a middleman service fee. The Turks were not bad-hearted. They usually only took 10%, which was the cheapest compared to Spain's 20% and Switzerland's 15%. Moreover, Turkey's geographical location determined that it could quickly transport Jews to India or Australia and New Zealand, and it was even very convenient to go to Jerusalem.

With the expansion of the scale of transactions, steel, gasoline, aluminum, gold, rubber, grain and other materials offered by Germany flowed in like a trickle, among which grain and gasoline were the most. On the one hand, Turkey's agricultural production was relatively abundant, and on the other hand, since Persia was a ready-made refined oil production area, gasoline was cheap to buy and more convenient to transport.

Although the British and American officials clearly prohibited this kind of material transaction, the problem was that the Jews had great power in Britain and the United States, so much so that the officials had to turn a blind eye. Some people even believed that if the Jews could be rescued by economic means alone, it would be a good idea. In particular, a small number of Zionists who were eager to restore their country even thought that since the Führer even sold the Jews, it meant that he had changed his mind about killing all the Jews, and that economic factors had replaced political factors as the essence of the problem. If the Jews could be sold, would Germany be willing to sell all the territories it had conquered? If there was a suitable territory for the Jewish people to survive, as long as the Führer asked, 1 billion, 2 billion US dollars or even a little more - if there was a reliable channel and figure, Jewish organizations would not hesitate to provide it. In the final analysis, buying with money is the easiest way. In Germany, the whole thing can be settled by persuading a few people. Can you try it in a democratic country? It is not that simple to buy from Britain and the United States.

Therefore, in the Jewish trade, Turkey is the largest transit point. Only the extremely wealthy go to Switzerland - there are less than 100 such people. Most of those who go to Spain are to go to Portugal, and the number does not exceed 500. However, the total number of Jews handled by Turkey has exceeded 10,000. The demand and list are still being continuously put forward to Germany, and the materials for exchange have long been prepared and stored in Turkey - there are already savvy bankers who have set up special mortgage loans for this purpose. As long as someone is willing to guarantee, even if the Jew is penniless, the bank can provide rescue assistance.

Now everyone knows that as long as they are willing to spend money or provide materials, anyone can get the Jews out of the hands of the SS (provided that they have no experience in espionage or sabotage), and there is absolutely no problem of not being able to find or not willing to let go. Therefore, Jews who have relatives and friends in Europe and the United States, Jews who have industries abroad, and Jews with a certain identity and status can all escape the clutches of the SS - although the price offered by the Germans is not cheap, compared with the previous price and waiting time required to buy off the Nazi high-level officials to rescue people, it has improved a lot now, and there is no risk.

The news about the Jewish concentration camps became known to the outside world as the Jews fled, but Germany's international reputation had long been portrayed in a mess by the Allied media, and now it doesn't care about this. However, everyone knows that the current situation of the Jews has actually improved substantially. The Jewish concentration camps have been closed one after another, and the actions of Western European countries to hunt down Jews have also been gradually stopped. The Jews controlled by Germany do not have to worry about the danger of death. They can either let others pay to redeem themselves or serve three years of hard labor peacefully - the German government clearly stipulates that they will be freed after the service period expires, and everyone believes that the war cannot be fought for less than three years, so the actual service time will only be shorter, or it can be regarded as a special kind of compulsory military service.

Therefore, in the mines in Finland and Eastern Europe, the construction of fortifications and air defense systems on the Western Front, and the cultivation of collective farms in Poland, organized Jews can be seen working everywhere. The SS and the Gestapo will not kill people casually anymore. Although it is a bit hard, everyone thinks there is still hope. Many German Jews are even looking forward to the fact that after the three-year labor service, if the Führer's War is won and a large area of ​​new territory is newly expanded, will they be resettled and start over when they are in a good mood.

In the final analysis, anti-Semitism is a historical tradition. Which European power has not had anti-Semitism? Tsarist Russia, France, and Poland have killed Jews without mercy in history. Germany has only reached a new and higher level - who made Germany suffer so much after World War I, and the Jews are so rich? The Third Reich once developed anti-Semitism to the peak, but now it is also shrinking back? This is the law of history.

But the Turks are well aware that once they make their position clear and give up neutrality, this comfortable life will be gone. The headache now is that the Germans not only beat Britain and the United States in North Africa, but are also about to occupy the Middle East. Turkey's external environment has undergone earth-shaking changes. Whether this is good or not, every Turk has his own opinion. The Republic, Turkey's most influential and consistently pro-German and anti-Soviet newspaper, has been reporting on the progress of the German war and its great victory. Although it has never expressed its views on what the next step should be, the potential tendency is already very obvious.

The news department has made statistics that since the German fleet passed through the two Black Sea straits to exert pressure and strike the Soviet Union, the sales of this newspaper have increased by 30%. There is no need to test public opinion.

Looking at the plane gradually descending in the sky, Turkish Foreign Minister Sarajolu, who came to greet him, was very nervous: If German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop came alone, he could still stall for time, play Tai Chi, and use diplomatic rhetoric to find out Germany's true thoughts; but what was the meaning of Field Marshal Keitel, Chief of the General Staff of the German High Command, coming along? Demonstration? Intimidation?