This story is an attempt at erotic historical fiction. In a broad sense, the history described in his story is accurate although, of course, the central characters and specific events describe are fictitious. Some real institutions and people are mentioned but, insofar as the author knows, none of them ever did the specific things ascribed to them in this story. Any similarities between any of the central characters in this story and any real persons, living or dead, are unintended and completely coincidental. I encourage comments on this story, both favorable and unfavorable. Thank you for reading.
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I met Trudi Rothmann at a farmhouse in northern Virginia in July 1942. Trudi, I learned, was 25; two years younger than me. She was tall for a woman, only slightly shorter than my six feet. Much of her height appeared to be in her legs. I could only see part of her calves below the hem of her dress, but they were very promising. The dress was tight enough to show that Trudi had an excellent figure. The face framed by her shoulder-length blonde hair reminded me a little of the German actress Brigitte Helm. Trudi's fluent, educated English was delivered with a noticeable German accent.
The farm had been taken over for the duration by the new Office of Strategic Services. I had been summoned from my Army Signal Corps training in Davis, California. I wondered whether I had attracted the OSS's attention because I'd learned fluent German from my immigrant grandparents as a child growing up in Chicago or because I had been a young lawyer at Mr. Donovan's law firm in New York before I enlisted.
Trudi, I learned, was a Berlin native. Her father Hermann had owned a small publishing business there. Weimar Germany, and particularly Berlin, had become sexually liberated, if not licentious; a reaction, I think, to the prudery of the Hohenzollern monarchy which had led Germany to defeat in World War I. A substantial market had developed for erotica and pornography and that was much of what Herr Rothmann's firm produced and published. The open attitude towards sex was not only a business opportunity for Herr Rothmann. Hermann and his wife Jenna were part of a circle of successful Berliners who believed that sex existed for pleasure and that pleasure should be shared with one's friends. These folks exalted the human form and thought that nudity and sexual conduct should be open and exposed whenever possible.
Hermann Rothmann had understood that, while utterly immoral, the National Socialists would not tolerate the exultation of the self and of pleasure which were core values of his circle in Berlin. Hermann was able to liquidate his assets for a fair price. Using his American connections, Hermann had brought himself and his wife and daughter to the U.S. shortly after Hitler took power in 1933.
Trudi was 16 when her family emigrated and already spoke English. She finished secondary school here and went on to an elite East Coast college where she received her degree with a major in European history. I was struck that day by her upright carriage and graceful movements. She had also studied dance from childhood through college.
An OSS officer who identified himself only as "Hank" explained why we were there. The OSS knew about Hermann and Jenna Rothmann and suspected that their friends in Berlin probably did not support the Nazis. OSS wanted to infiltrate people into Berlin to contact people there with presumed anti-Nazi views. The idea was to use those people as intelligence sources, wittingly or unwittingly, and to assess any potential for an anti-Nazi coup. OSS wanted Trudi to contact the "libertines" who had been her parents' circle of friends.
I was curious why I had been summoned since this seemed to be a mission for Trudi. Hank explained that I was to go along to primarily to provide cover. Because Trudi had grown up in Berlin and her family had some prominence, there was risk that her true identity and German citizenship might be revealed. OSS thought that would be less likely if she went to Berlin in the guise of my wife. OSS also thought that the mission was a two-person job. I suspect that the sexism of that era was also a factor: a belief that a woman by herself could not complete a sensitive mission. Any man of the right age would have done. I was chosen because I was fluent in German and because Mr. Donovan remembered me.
As a cover, OSS had arranged for me to work in the Berlin office of a small but exclusive Zurich bank. Trudi and I would travel with genuine Swiss passports showing us as Herr and Frau Peter Mueller, my real name. Being surrounded by the Reich, Fascist Italy, and occupied France, Switzerland was overtly cooperative with the Germans. However, the Swiss realized that, if Hitler won the war, their country would disappear from the map. Less nobly, it may have been that the Swiss bankers appreciated that, if Germany lost the war, the massive, looted wealth which Nazi leaders had placed in their vaults would remain in their custody indefinitely.
I guess that, formally, I could have declined the assignment and gone back to the Signal Corps. Hank did not make that sound like a genuine option. As our briefing dragged on, Trudi began treating it as an established fact that she and I were going to infiltrate Hitler's capital city. I was always susceptible to a beautiful woman.
Our briefing had started at 10:00 a.m. Both Trudi and I raised many questions about how we were to carry out the mission, some of which Hank could answer and some which he could not. Around 6:00 p.m., someone I did not see came in and prepared a dinner for us. Hank brought a bottle of wine up from the cellar. Hank encouraged Trudi and me to tell each other our life stories. "You two will need to understand each other perfectly and be closer than most married couples for this to work," Hank explained. Left unsaid was that Trudi and I would be shot, or worse, if it did not work.
About 8:00 p.m., Hank led us upstairs. "Since your cover is as a married couple," Hank said, "we thought you'd only need one bedroom. We didn't make up the other. I'm sleeping downstairs." Hank went back down the steps. I turned to look at Trudi. She was smiling.
We walked into the room which had a double bed, a dresser, a floor lamp, and an overstuffed chair. I set my single bag on the floor. Trudi put her larger bag on the floor but put a smaller bag on the bed and opened it. She took out what appeared to be a thin photo album. "OSS spoke to my father first," she said, "so I came here with an idea of what they want us to do. I brought this along to help my partner on the mission understand me." She chuckled. "Hank called my parents and their friends 'libertines.' I don't think he meant that as a compliment. I do think of it as a compliment. I was too young to participate with my parents and their friends in Berlin, but I share my parents' attitudes. Here." She handed me the album. Trudi walked to the door and said, "I'll be back in a moment."
As Trudi went down the hall, I opened the album and was amazed at what I saw. The pictures, all black and white, were of Trudi. Based on how old Trudi looked, I guessed the pictures were all taken here in the States. A few appeared to be recent. The pictures all seemed to have been professionally done. Another thing all the pictures had in common was that, in every picture, Trudi was completely naked. Some pictures showed Trudi in dance moves, a jump or pirouette. In some of the pictures, Trudi was obviously posing for the camera. Several of the pictures showed Trudi fully exposed. The final thing I noticed that was common to all the pictures was that Trudi looked beautiful in the nude.
"Do you like my pictures?" Trudi asked. I hadn't heard her come back into the room. I looked up. Trudi was standing just inside the door, smiling. She was naked. "In case you didn't divine it out from my pictures," Trudi said, "I like being seen in the nude." I understood why. Trudi Rothmann was extremely beautiful with no clothes on and much better in person than in pictures.
"Since we are supposed to be a married couple," Trudi said, "I thought you should know that about me from the beginning. What about you Peter? Do you enjoy people seeing your nude body?"
"I, uh, well, uh, I've never thought about that," I stammered.
"Of course not," Trudi replied. "You're American. You Americans are fearful of the human body. If we're going to act like a married couple, I need to know whom I'm partnered with. Soldier, get that uniform off and present yourself properly!"
I hesitated but sensed that Trudi was inviting me into a different life than I'd known. I was curious. Also, when a nude woman as beautiful as Trudi Rothmann asks you to undress, undressing is the prudent course. I slowly took my uniform off and laid it carefully over the back of the chair. I hesitated again when I got down to my boxers.
"Peter," Trudi said, "this isn't going to work if you insist on being a prude. Remember, we're supposed to contact my parents' 'libertine' friends in Berlin. If we want them to trust us, we must act like they do. Now, please, get those shorts off and let me see what you really look like."
I pushed my boxers down and stepped out of them. It was arousing to strip in front of this beautiful, strong-willed woman. My dick began to get hard. Trudi stepped closer to me. We were almost touching. "Peter," she said, "you have no reason to feel shame about being naked. You are a handsome man, more so out of your uniform than in it." She reached down and wrapped her hand around my dick. "I especially like this part of you," she said. Trudi paused before adding, "another thing you should know is that I really enjoy sex. Married couples are supposed to have sex with each other, aren't they?"
Of course, I wanted to have sex with this beautiful, compelling, woman. But I also thought about what would happen if she got pregnant before we'd even started our mission. Trudi must have read my mind, something she has done with unsettling frequency throughout our relationship. "Don't worry Peter," she said, "I have a diaphragm." I knew diaphragms existed but thought that no one used them because they were expensive and required a doctor. Most doctors back then thought contraception was unethical and immoral.
Trudi quickly refocused my thoughts. She began stroking my dick with her right hand. With her left hand, she guided my hand between her legs. "Please get me ready Peter," she said. I began running my finger along her outer lips. After a few moments of that, I worked my index finger into Trudi. "Thank you," she said. She leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. Our mouths opened and our tongues met.
After a few moments, Trudi pulled back and said, "Peter, I really want a part of you other than your finger inside me." Keeping her hand around my dick, Trudi led me to the side of the bed. She let go and lay down on her back, legs spread. Of course, I'd been laid several times in college, law school, and as a young lawyer in New York. However, I had never seen a woman look as arousing and desirable as Trudi looked at that moment. I got on the bed between her legs, lowered myself down, and slid my dick into my OSS-chosen wife.
