The Iron Dream
Encyclopedia
The Iron Dream is a metafiction
al 1972 alternate history novel by Norman Spinrad
.
The book has a nested narrative that tells a story within a story
. On the surface, the novel presents an unexceptional pulp
, post-apocalypse science fiction action tale entitled Lord of the Swastika. However, this is a pro-fascist narrative written by an alternate-history Adolf Hitler
, who in this timeline emigrated from Germany to America in 1919 after the Great War, and used his modest artistic skills to become first a pulp-science fiction
illustrator and later a successful science fiction writer, telling lurid, purple-prosed
adventure stories under a thin SF-veneer. Spinrad was intent on demonstrating just how close Joseph Campbell
's Hero with a Thousand Faces — and much science fiction and fantasy literature — can be to the racist fantasies of Nazi Germany
. The nested narrative is followed by a faux scholarly analysis by a fictional literary critic, Homer Whipple, of New York University
.
in 1919 and became a science fiction illustrator, editor and author. He wrote the science-fantasy novel Lord of the Swastika in six weeks in 1953, shortly before dying of cerebral hemorrhage (possibly caused by tertiary syphilis
); Lord of the Swastika subsequently wins the Hugo Award
and the "colorful uniforms" described therein become a regular feature of cosplay
ers at SF-conventions.
In Whipple's review following the narrative, we learn more about the background of the alternate history in which Hitler emigrated to the United States. Without Hitler, the Nazi Party fell apart, and the Communist Party of Germany
succeeded in a socialist revolution in 1930. As this alternate history continues, there is reference to a "Greater Soviet Union
" which took over the United Kingdom
in 1948, and whose influence grows in Latin America
.
Whipple also discloses that the Japanese Empire has retained its militarist ascendancy, with reference to its bushido
code of conduct, while the United States vacillates against the Greater Soviet Union's ascendancy. Due to the Greater Soviet Union threat, the United States and Japanese Empire move toward a closer military and strategic alliance. Japanese militarist values are much admired in the United States. Japan and the U.S. are the only two major powers standing between the Greater Soviet Union and total control of the globe—yet most Americans seem unable to be roused to deal with the Soviet threat. Whipple wonders what the emergence of an American leader like Feric Jaggar, the hero of Lord of the Swastika, could accomplish.
Finally, there is a casual mention of the fact that, while in this history Nazi Germany never came into being, it is the Soviets who undertake the systematic genocide of all Jews - and since this is perpetrated by the Soviets, there is no power left whose armies might stop it and save at least a remnant of the Jews from this version of the Holocaust.
Lord of the Swastika is lauded for its qualities as a great work of heroic fantasy
. (To further hammer the point, in an early edition, actual science fiction writers wrote faux sincere "admiring" blurbs for Spinrad for the novel's back cover blurbs, praising "Hitler"'s writing skills.) Irony abounds in Whipple's review, as he singles out the mechanisms such as sheer force, midnight rallies, phallic symbolism and such like that in fact characterized Nazism's rise to power in Germany, blithely assuring us that such a rise would be quite ludicrous to contemplate in real life. "After all", Dr. Whipple says, "it can't happen here
."
' and the current despoliation of most forms of life. The gene pool
s of almost all life forms are corrupted by the radioactive fallout. Few examples of the 'baseline' human form can be seen, and most of humanity are mutants with blue skins, lizard scales or parrot beaks, or wizened half-breed mutants and normal-seeming but inhuman "Dominators
", who desire to rule the ruined world with their mind-controlling powers.
The pure and strong young "Trueman" (so named for the lack of mutations in his DNA
) Feric Jaggar returns from the outlands of Borgravia
where his family was exiled by the treaty of Karmak
with the surrounding mutant states
to his ancestral land of Helder
("the High Republic of Heldon"; founded on the principles of killing mutants and keeping humanity pure), only to find its rigor slackened and corrupted by the "Universalists
", pawns of the sinister Dominator country Zind
, which seeks to corrupt Helder's pure human gene pool into the mutant diversity that rules the rest of the world. Indeed, the very first portion of Helder that Feric enters, the customs
fort where entrants are tested to see whether they are pure and free of mutation, Feric is outraged by the fact that mutants were being allowed in Helder on day-passes, that the fort is under the spell of a Dominator, and that the tests are so lax that impure specimens were being granted citizenship.
In Helder proper, Feric dines in the "Eagle's Nest
" tavern, and mulls over the question of how to change this situation. Should he enter politics or the military? Feric then witnesses the oratory of Seph Bogel
, leader of the 'Human Renaissance Party'
, who speaks eloquently but ineffectually to the crowd about the need for human purity. Fired by his words, Feric is inspired to take control of the listening crowd and leads a mob to the border post he had recently entered Helder by, there to slay the Dominator (or 'Dom') who had quietly disguised himself as a clerk to sway the immigration decisions in favor of mutants.
At Bogel's invitation, he assumes leadership of the Party, which Feric renames 'The Sons of the Swastika', and the two travel on to Walder
- the second city of Helder - to meet the party inner circle and begin the great task.
Their journey, however, is interrupted when their steam-powered vessel is waylaid by the outlaw petrol-powered motorcycle gang, the Black Avengers. Jaggar, however, senses that these men may be of use to his cause and challenges their leader, Stag Stopa
. The rules of the Black Avengers only allow a member to challenge the leader, and so he and Bogel are taken back to their headquarters for Feric to be initiated. Feric acquits himself mainly in the drinking of ale
and in running the gauntlet of torches on a motorcycle. He and Stopa duel with truncheons, and Feric's truncheon breaks. Desperately he reaches out and defeats Stopa with the legendary "Great Truncheon
of Stag Held
" - which may only be wielded by a descendant of the last true King of Helder, Sigmark IV
. The Black Avengers immediately pledge fealty to him, and become the "Knights of the Swastika"
.
From this event, Jaggar assumes a hereditary right to be the leader of Helder and embarks on a violent crusade for genetic purity, drawing a massive following, staging outdoor rallies
and raising an army personally loyal to him. He is elected to the Council and stages a coup d'état when he forces the Council to admit to treason and a Zind plot against Helder. Confirming his suspicions, the Universalist member of the Council turns out to be a Dom. Feric summarily executes him with the Great Truncheon, and then has the other members of the Council shot. Immediately after assuming power Jaggar puts down an imminent coup by Stopa
(who has been corrupted by the fleshly pleasures of Zind).
Backed by the army and the adoring multitudes, Feric sets about the great task of re-invigorating the military, ordering the production of tanks and fighter jets, the establishment of the Sons of the Swastika - a legion of the purest and most manly men that can be found through the "Classification Camps"' activities, which process all citizens of Helder (killing the Doms and sterilizing or exiling all relatively impure humans).
After repelling a Zind attack through Wolack
, Helder annexes its western and southern neighbors, beginning with Borgravia
. In the course of the Helderisation of its neighbors Jaggar orders, at the suggestion of Bors Remler
, that all mutants are to be euthanised rather than exiled.
Months later, his scientists report that they are near to rediscovering the secrets of atomic bombs, but that Zind is making efforts to dig up relics of the Ancients, which might salvage its own complement of nuclear weaponry. Feric orders such research ended, and determines to wipe out Zind and every last Dom before they can unleash the Fire. Soon enough, Zind begins to rally its troops from their reverse in Wolack. The final invasion of Zind is hard fought: the main Helder force, under the command of Lar Waffing
takes the south western oil fields needed for resupply, while the secondary force fights a delaying action against the vast bulk of the Zind army to north towards the Zind capital, Bora
. Needless to say, the forces of Helder prevail and the Zind army is destroyed and burned, down to the last mindless "Warrior". The central city is reduced to a cinder in a firestorm (akin to that which engulfed Dresden
in our world).
The last Dom, apparently a military leader, is discovered hunkered in a bomb bunker. The Dom has anticipated its defeat and, before Feric has the pleasure of killing him, triumphantly reveals that the Doms had salvaged and rearmed one of the ancient nuclear weapons. It is a doomsday weapon, and he triggers the failsafe. After Feric and his cohorts have evacuated Bora, a cobalt bomb
detonates, and as the Dom planned, its fallout utterly corrupts the gene pool of Helder. If any of its citizens, including Feric, reproduce, they will produce the mutants that they had previously sought to obliterate.
Feric orders the sterilization of the entire Heldon nation, including himself, and, in a final desperate gamble, orders the SS's scientists to redouble their efforts to develop the next Master Race
from cloning the perfect specimens of the SS. Eventually they succeed and millions of the new master race are produced in 'reproduction works' to complete the cleansing of the Earth. At the novel's close, Heldon has mastered interstellar travel
. As a consequence, an initial starship
, full of 300 of these seven-foot, blond, super-intelligent all-male SS clones in suspended animation
is launched into space to initiate Heldon's own galactic empire
. The SS clones also have a clone of Feric to lead them. This inaugural rocket is launched on a voyage to Tau Ceti
and will become the first of many.
It is a pastiche
of Hitler's own life filtered through a fantasy lens, ending not in defeat but in global, indeed galactic
, dominion: the Dominators represent the Jews, Helder represents Germany, Feric Jaggar represents a cliché, wish-fulfillment, almost Mary Sue
-ish self-portrait of Hitler himself, and Jaggar's initial return from Borgravia mirrors Hitler's own birth in Austria
.
nomination and a Prix Tour-Apollo Award
. Ursula K. Le Guin
wrote in a review that: "We are forced, insofar as we can continue to read the book seriously, to think, not about Adolf Hitler and his historic crimes—Hitler is simply the distancing medium—but to think about ourselves: our moral assumptions, our ideas of heroism, our desires to, lead or to be led, our righteous wars. What Spinrad is trying to tell us is that it is happening here."
Leslie Fiedler
proposed that Spinrad be considered for the National Book Award
in 1973, but apparently won no support from his fellow award judges.
In 1982, the book was "indexed" (i.e., de facto
banned) in West Germany by the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien
for its alleged promotion of Nazism; Spinrad's publisher, Heyne Verlag, challenged this in court and, until the ban was overturned in 1990, the book could be sold, but not advertised or publicly displayed.
The American Nazi Party
put the book on its recommended reading list, despite the satirical
intent of the work. In Spinrad's own words:
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
al 1972 alternate history novel by Norman Spinrad
Norman Spinrad
Norman Richard Spinrad is an American science fiction author.Born in New York City, Spinrad is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. In 1966 he moved to San Francisco,...
.
The book has a nested narrative that tells a story within a story
Story within a story
A story within a story, also rendered story-within-a-story, is a literary device in which one narrative is presented during the action of another narrative. Mise en abyme is the French term for a similar literary device...
. On the surface, the novel presents an unexceptional pulp
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
, post-apocalypse science fiction action tale entitled Lord of the Swastika. However, this is a pro-fascist narrative written by an alternate-history Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, who in this timeline emigrated from Germany to America in 1919 after the Great War, and used his modest artistic skills to become first a pulp-science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
illustrator and later a successful science fiction writer, telling lurid, purple-prosed
Purple prose
Purple prose is a term of literary criticism used to describe passages, or sometimes entire literary works, written in prose so extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to break the flow and draw attention to itself. Purple prose is sensually evocative beyond the requirements of its context...
adventure stories under a thin SF-veneer. Spinrad was intent on demonstrating just how close Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience...
's Hero with a Thousand Faces — and much science fiction and fantasy literature — can be to the racist fantasies of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. The nested narrative is followed by a faux scholarly analysis by a fictional literary critic, Homer Whipple, of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Frame narrative
The book's frame narrative and premise is that "after dabbling in radical politics," Adolf Hitler emigrated to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1919 and became a science fiction illustrator, editor and author. He wrote the science-fantasy novel Lord of the Swastika in six weeks in 1953, shortly before dying of cerebral hemorrhage (possibly caused by tertiary syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
); Lord of the Swastika subsequently wins the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
and the "colorful uniforms" described therein become a regular feature of cosplay
Cosplay
, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...
ers at SF-conventions.
In Whipple's review following the narrative, we learn more about the background of the alternate history in which Hitler emigrated to the United States. Without Hitler, the Nazi Party fell apart, and the Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
succeeded in a socialist revolution in 1930. As this alternate history continues, there is reference to a "Greater Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
" which took over the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1948, and whose influence grows in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
Whipple also discloses that the Japanese Empire has retained its militarist ascendancy, with reference to its bushido
Bushido
, meaning "Way of the Warrior-Knight", is a Japanese word which is used to describe a uniquely Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and...
code of conduct, while the United States vacillates against the Greater Soviet Union's ascendancy. Due to the Greater Soviet Union threat, the United States and Japanese Empire move toward a closer military and strategic alliance. Japanese militarist values are much admired in the United States. Japan and the U.S. are the only two major powers standing between the Greater Soviet Union and total control of the globe—yet most Americans seem unable to be roused to deal with the Soviet threat. Whipple wonders what the emergence of an American leader like Feric Jaggar, the hero of Lord of the Swastika, could accomplish.
Finally, there is a casual mention of the fact that, while in this history Nazi Germany never came into being, it is the Soviets who undertake the systematic genocide of all Jews - and since this is perpetrated by the Soviets, there is no power left whose armies might stop it and save at least a remnant of the Jews from this version of the Holocaust.
Lord of the Swastika is lauded for its qualities as a great work of heroic fantasy
Heroic fantasy
Heroic fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy which chronicles the tales of heroes in imaginary lands. Unlike stories of sword and sorcery, heroic fantasy narratives tend to be intricate in plot, often involving many peoples, nations and lands. Grand battles and the fate of the world are common themes,...
. (To further hammer the point, in an early edition, actual science fiction writers wrote faux sincere "admiring" blurbs for Spinrad for the novel's back cover blurbs, praising "Hitler"'s writing skills.) Irony abounds in Whipple's review, as he singles out the mechanisms such as sheer force, midnight rallies, phallic symbolism and such like that in fact characterized Nazism's rise to power in Germany, blithely assuring us that such a rise would be quite ludicrous to contemplate in real life. "After all", Dr. Whipple says, "it can't happen here
It Can't Happen Here
It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical American political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935 by Doubleday, Doran. It describes the rise of a populist politician who calls his movement "patriotic" and creates his own militia and takes unconstitutional power after winning election —...
."
Novel Within the Novel -- Lord of the Swastika
Lord of the Swastika opens in the year 1142 A.F. - 'After Fire', the global nuclear war referred to as the 'Time of Fire' which brought about the end of the civilization of the technologically advanced 'AncientsAryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
' and the current despoliation of most forms of life. The gene pool
Gene pool
In population genetics, a gene pool is the complete set of unique alleles in a species or population.- Description :A large gene pool indicates extensive genetic diversity, which is associated with robust populations that can survive bouts of intense selection...
s of almost all life forms are corrupted by the radioactive fallout. Few examples of the 'baseline' human form can be seen, and most of humanity are mutants with blue skins, lizard scales or parrot beaks, or wizened half-breed mutants and normal-seeming but inhuman "Dominators
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
", who desire to rule the ruined world with their mind-controlling powers.
The pure and strong young "Trueman" (so named for the lack of mutations in his DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
) Feric Jaggar returns from the outlands of Borgravia
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
where his family was exiled by the treaty of Karmak
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
with the surrounding mutant states
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
to his ancestral land of Helder
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
("the High Republic of Heldon"; founded on the principles of killing mutants and keeping humanity pure), only to find its rigor slackened and corrupted by the "Universalists
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
", pawns of the sinister Dominator country Zind
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, which seeks to corrupt Helder's pure human gene pool into the mutant diversity that rules the rest of the world. Indeed, the very first portion of Helder that Feric enters, the customs
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
fort where entrants are tested to see whether they are pure and free of mutation, Feric is outraged by the fact that mutants were being allowed in Helder on day-passes, that the fort is under the spell of a Dominator, and that the tests are so lax that impure specimens were being granted citizenship.
In Helder proper, Feric dines in the "Eagle's Nest
Kehlsteinhaus
The Kehlsteinhaus is a chalet-style structure erected on a subpeak of the Hoher Göll known as the Kehlstein. It was built as an extension of the Obersalzberg complex erected in the mountains above Berchtesgaden...
" tavern, and mulls over the question of how to change this situation. Should he enter politics or the military? Feric then witnesses the oratory of Seph Bogel
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
, leader of the 'Human Renaissance Party'
German Workers' Party
The German Workers' Party was the short-lived predecessor of the Nazi Party .-Origins:The DAP was founded in Munich in the hotel "Fürstenfelder Hof" on January 5, 1919 by Anton Drexler, a member of the occultist Thule Society. It developed out of the "Freien Arbeiterausschuss für einen guten...
, who speaks eloquently but ineffectually to the crowd about the need for human purity. Fired by his words, Feric is inspired to take control of the listening crowd and leads a mob to the border post he had recently entered Helder by, there to slay the Dominator (or 'Dom') who had quietly disguised himself as a clerk to sway the immigration decisions in favor of mutants.
At Bogel's invitation, he assumes leadership of the Party, which Feric renames 'The Sons of the Swastika', and the two travel on to Walder
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
- the second city of Helder - to meet the party inner circle and begin the great task.
Their journey, however, is interrupted when their steam-powered vessel is waylaid by the outlaw petrol-powered motorcycle gang, the Black Avengers. Jaggar, however, senses that these men may be of use to his cause and challenges their leader, Stag Stopa
Ernst Röhm
Ernst Julius Röhm, was a German officer in the Bavarian Army and later an early Nazi leader. He was a co-founder of the Sturmabteilung , the Nazi Party militia, and later was its commander...
. The rules of the Black Avengers only allow a member to challenge the leader, and so he and Bogel are taken back to their headquarters for Feric to be initiated. Feric acquits himself mainly in the drinking of ale
Ale
Ale is a type of beer brewed from malted barley using a warm fermentation with a strain of brewers' yeast. The yeast will ferment the beer quickly, giving it a sweet, full bodied and fruity taste...
and in running the gauntlet of torches on a motorcycle. He and Stopa duel with truncheons, and Feric's truncheon breaks. Desperately he reaches out and defeats Stopa with the legendary "Great Truncheon
Truncheon
Truncheon may refer to:*Baton *Cutting , means of plant propagation used by gardeners*HMS Truncheon , a British submarine commissioned during Word War II and later sold to Israel...
of Stag Held
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
" - which may only be wielded by a descendant of the last true King of Helder, Sigmark IV
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
. The Black Avengers immediately pledge fealty to him, and become the "Knights of the Swastika"
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...
.
From this event, Jaggar assumes a hereditary right to be the leader of Helder and embarks on a violent crusade for genetic purity, drawing a massive following, staging outdoor rallies
Nuremberg Rally
The Nuremberg Rally was the annual rally of the NSDAP in Germany, held from 1923 to 1938. Especially after Hitler's rise to power in 1933, they were large Nazi propaganda events...
and raising an army personally loyal to him. He is elected to the Council and stages a coup d'état when he forces the Council to admit to treason and a Zind plot against Helder. Confirming his suspicions, the Universalist member of the Council turns out to be a Dom. Feric summarily executes him with the Great Truncheon, and then has the other members of the Council shot. Immediately after assuming power Jaggar puts down an imminent coup by Stopa
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
(who has been corrupted by the fleshly pleasures of Zind).
Backed by the army and the adoring multitudes, Feric sets about the great task of re-invigorating the military, ordering the production of tanks and fighter jets, the establishment of the Sons of the Swastika - a legion of the purest and most manly men that can be found through the "Classification Camps"' activities, which process all citizens of Helder (killing the Doms and sterilizing or exiling all relatively impure humans).
After repelling a Zind attack through Wolack
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Helder annexes its western and southern neighbors, beginning with Borgravia
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. In the course of the Helderisation of its neighbors Jaggar orders, at the suggestion of Bors Remler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
, that all mutants are to be euthanised rather than exiled.
Months later, his scientists report that they are near to rediscovering the secrets of atomic bombs, but that Zind is making efforts to dig up relics of the Ancients, which might salvage its own complement of nuclear weaponry. Feric orders such research ended, and determines to wipe out Zind and every last Dom before they can unleash the Fire. Soon enough, Zind begins to rally its troops from their reverse in Wolack. The final invasion of Zind is hard fought: the main Helder force, under the command of Lar Waffing
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
takes the south western oil fields needed for resupply, while the secondary force fights a delaying action against the vast bulk of the Zind army to north towards the Zind capital, Bora
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. Needless to say, the forces of Helder prevail and the Zind army is destroyed and burned, down to the last mindless "Warrior". The central city is reduced to a cinder in a firestorm (akin to that which engulfed Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
in our world).
The last Dom, apparently a military leader, is discovered hunkered in a bomb bunker. The Dom has anticipated its defeat and, before Feric has the pleasure of killing him, triumphantly reveals that the Doms had salvaged and rearmed one of the ancient nuclear weapons. It is a doomsday weapon, and he triggers the failsafe. After Feric and his cohorts have evacuated Bora, a cobalt bomb
Cobalt bomb
A cobalt bomb is a theoretical type of "salted bomb": a nuclear weapon intended to contaminate an area by radioactive material, with a relatively small blast....
detonates, and as the Dom planned, its fallout utterly corrupts the gene pool of Helder. If any of its citizens, including Feric, reproduce, they will produce the mutants that they had previously sought to obliterate.
Feric orders the sterilization of the entire Heldon nation, including himself, and, in a final desperate gamble, orders the SS's scientists to redouble their efforts to develop the next Master Race
Master race
Master race was a phrase and concept originating in the slave-holding Southern US. The later phrase Herrenvolk , interpreted as 'master race', was a concept in Nazi ideology in which the Nordic peoples, one of the branches of what in the late-19th and early-20th century was called the Aryan race,...
from cloning the perfect specimens of the SS. Eventually they succeed and millions of the new master race are produced in 'reproduction works' to complete the cleansing of the Earth. At the novel's close, Heldon has mastered interstellar travel
Interstellar travel
Interstellar space travel is manned or unmanned travel between stars. The concept of interstellar travel in starships is a staple of science fiction. Interstellar travel is much more difficult than interplanetary travel. Intergalactic travel, or travel between different galaxies, is even more...
. As a consequence, an initial starship
Starship
A starship or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for traveling between the stars, as opposed to a vehicle designed for orbital spaceflight or interplanetary travel....
, full of 300 of these seven-foot, blond, super-intelligent all-male SS clones in suspended animation
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
is launched into space to initiate Heldon's own galactic empire
Galactic empire
Galactic empires are a common trope used in science fiction and science fantasy, particularly in space opera. Many authors have either used a galaxy-spanning empire as background, or written about the growth or decline of such an empire...
. The SS clones also have a clone of Feric to lead them. This inaugural rocket is launched on a voyage to Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti
Tau Ceti is a star in the constellation Cetus that is spectrally similar to the Sun, although it has only about 78% of the Sun's mass. At a distance of just under 12 light-years from the Solar System, it is a relatively close star. Tau Ceti is metal-deficient and so is thought to be less likely to...
and will become the first of many.
It is a pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
of Hitler's own life filtered through a fantasy lens, ending not in defeat but in global, indeed galactic
Galactic
Galactic is a funk and jazz jam band from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States.-Origins and background:Originally formed in 1994 as an octet and including singer Chris Lane and guitarist Rob Gowen, the group was soon pared down to a sextet of: guitarist Jeff Raines, bassist Robert Mercurio,...
, dominion: the Dominators represent the Jews, Helder represents Germany, Feric Jaggar represents a cliché, wish-fulfillment, almost Mary Sue
Mary Sue
A Mary Sue , in literary criticism and particularly in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author or reader...
-ish self-portrait of Hitler himself, and Jaggar's initial return from Borgravia mirrors Hitler's own birth in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
Critical reaction
The Iron Dream won critical acclaim, including a Nebula AwardNebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
nomination and a Prix Tour-Apollo Award
Prix Tour-Apollo Award
The Prix Tour-Apollo was an annual French award given to the best science fiction novel published in French during the preceding year. Awards were given in 1972-1990, inclusive, and usually went to a work first published in English in the US or UK.-Winners:...
. Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
wrote in a review that: "We are forced, insofar as we can continue to read the book seriously, to think, not about Adolf Hitler and his historic crimes—Hitler is simply the distancing medium—but to think about ourselves: our moral assumptions, our ideas of heroism, our desires to, lead or to be led, our righteous wars. What Spinrad is trying to tell us is that it is happening here."
Leslie Fiedler
Leslie Fiedler
Leslie Aaron Fiedler was a Jewish-American literary critic, known for his interest in mythography and his championing of genre fiction. His work also involves application of psychological theories to American literature. He was in practical terms one of the early postmodernist critics working...
proposed that Spinrad be considered for the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
in 1973, but apparently won no support from his fellow award judges.
In 1982, the book was "indexed" (i.e., de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
banned) in West Germany by the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien
Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien
The Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons is an upper-level German federal agency subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It is responsible for examining media works allegedly harmful to young people and entering these onto an...
for its alleged promotion of Nazism; Spinrad's publisher, Heyne Verlag, challenged this in court and, until the ban was overturned in 1990, the book could be sold, but not advertised or publicly displayed.
The American Nazi Party
American Nazi Party
The American Nazi Party was an American political party founded by discharged U.S. Navy Commander George Lincoln Rockwell. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Rockwell initially called it the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists , but later renamed it the American Nazi Party in...
put the book on its recommended reading list, despite the satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
intent of the work. In Spinrad's own words:
To make damn sure that even the historically naive and entirely unselfaware reader got the point, I appended a phony critical analysis of Lord of the Swastika, in which the psychopathology of Hitler's saga was spelled out by a tendentious pedant in words of one syllable.
Almost everyone got the point...
And yet one review appeared in a fanzineFanzineA fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
that really gave me pause. "This is a rousing adventure story and I really enjoyed it," the gist of it went. "Why did Spinrad have to spoil the fun with all this muck about Hitler?"
See also
- FatherlandFatherland (novel)Fatherland is a bestselling 1992 thriller by the English writer and journalist Robert Harris. It takes the form of a high concept alternative history set in a world in which Nazi Germany won World War II.The novel was an immediate bestseller in Britain...
- In the Presence of Mine EnemiesIn the Presence of Mine EnemiesIn the Presence of Mine Enemies is an alternate history novel by American author Harry Turtledove, expanded from the eponymous short story. The novel depicts a world where the United States remained isolationist and did not participate in the Second World War, thus allowing victory to the Axis...
- It Can't Happen HereIt Can't Happen HereIt Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical American political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935 by Doubleday, Doran. It describes the rise of a populist politician who calls his movement "patriotic" and creates his own militia and takes unconstitutional power after winning election —...
- It Happened HereIt Happened HereIt Happened Here is a 1966 British film, directed by Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo. It is set in an alternate history in which Nazi Germany successfully invades and occupies the United Kingdom during World War II.-Setting:...
- The Man in the High CastleThe Man in the High CastleThe Man in the High Castle is a science fiction alternate history novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. It won a Hugo Award in 1963 and has since been translated into many languages....
- The Ultimate SolutionThe Ultimate SolutionThe Ultimate Solution is an 1973 alternate history by journalist and former Playboy interviewer Eric Norden, set in a world where the Axis forces won World War II and partitioned the world between them, and is noted for its particularly grim tone....
- 19451945 (novel)1945 is an alternate history co-authored by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen in 1995, describing the period immediately after World War II wherein the United States had fought only against Japan, allowing Nazi Germany to force a truce with the Soviet Union, after which the two victors...
- CollaboratorCollaborator (novel)Collaborator is an alternate history novel by Murray Davies, published as a hardcover on 19 September 2003 and released in paperback in the United Kingdom and the United States in September 2004. The novel is set in a Nazi-occupied Great Britain in 1940 and 1941...
- The Sound of His HornThe Sound of His HornThe Sound of His Horn is a 1952 dystopian time travel/alternate history novel by the senior British diplomat John William Wall, written with the pseudonym Sarban. It relates the story of a British naval lieutenant, Alan Querdillon who, after becoming a POW during the Battle of Crete awakens in a...
- Making History
- Swastika NightSwastika NightSwastika Night is a futuristic novel first published in 1937 and republished in 1940 by Katharine Burdekin, writing under the pseudonym Murray Constantine. Swastika Night was a Left Book Club selection in 1940....
- SS-GBSS-GBSS-GB is an alternate history novel by Len Deighton, set in a United Kingdom fictionally conquered and occupied by Germany during World War II. The novel's title refers to the branch of the Nazi SS that controls Britain.-Plot summary:...
- The Turner DiariesThe Turner DiariesThe Turner Diaries is a novel written in 1978 by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald"...
- The Children's WarThe Children's WarThe Children's War is a 2001 alternate history novel by J.N. Stroyar. It is was followed by the sequel A Change of Regime. The book was the long form winner of the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2001.-Background:...
- Quark, Strangeness and CharmQuark, Strangeness and CharmQuark, Strangeness And Charm is the seventh studio album by the English space rock group Hawkwind, released in 1977. It spent 6 weeks on the UK albums chart peaking at #30....
, HawkwindHawkwindHawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
album with instrumental song "The Iron Dream"
External links
- Review by Ursula K. Le GuinUrsula K. Le GuinUrsula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
- Review by Thomas M. Wagner