White Rose

This story is about RALPH GOLDSCHMIDT, compassionate, God-fearing, patriot, whose dreams are real; at least they feel that way. He has no idea why he parades around as Heinrich Müller, the Chief of the Gestapo, during the final years of the Third Reich: a man who was never found after the war but presumed dead. Some historians believe he could have gone to Colombia, South America.

Ralph’s vivid dreams about mundane things are nothing new, but nightmares about the Holocaust seem to be completely coincidental; albeit frightening. Although, he does remember when he was young, seeing a documentary showing naked dead bodies that at the time made him sick to his stomach. Because of these terrible dreams, his wife, worried about his mental health, convinces him to go to a psychiatrist who in turn convinces Ralph to write down his dreams if he can remember them. He does so and gives the notebook to the psychiatrist to analyze. Unfortunately, the psychiatrist gives the notebook to a colleague who inadvertently makes the private data public record. When the local news reports the story, his small conservative town of South Pharaoh Maine becomes convinced he could be a Nazi sympathizer. Through syndicated news, it doesn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the world.

An FBI agent, Don Hirthler, and a State Department representative, Jill Lassiter, both determined to get to the bottom of Ralph’s dilemma, visit his home while disgruntled protestors stand across the street. He becomes suspicious to colleagues at the insurance agency where he works. The FBI has him come to Washington for an interview, followed by a visit with the German Consulate who believes he’s just a victim of terrible dreams and nothing more.

But of course, it’s not over. A covert German anti-Nazi organization called White Rose finds out about Ralph and kidnaps him, taking him to Germany. HANS BERGER and his group, including Ilsa Meyer, an ardent believer in reincarnation, a lawyer for the covert group, are convinced he must be the reincarnation of Müller because of the accuracy of events found in his notebook. What could be scarier? They continually hound him, wanting to know intricate details. Ralph agonizes over the reality there’s no way out. Hirthler and Lassiter meet with Helga Talman and Greta Rankin, German government officials, in Germany to try to locate the group; thought to be in an underground facility. Eventually, White Rose puts him on trial and sentences him to death. The member told to carry out the execution has a change of heart and lets him go instead of hanging him in a desolate German forest. Now safe, he is reunited with his thankful family in Maine.

While it might seem like the nightmare is over, at least he’s alive, there are residual consequences. He’s fired because of adverse publicity for the insurance agency. His community still cannot bring themselves to dismiss their adverse feelings. He confesses to his wife, even though he’s been through hell, he’s confused about what the dreams really mean. Of course, White Rose’s irrational belief in reincarnation isn’t realistic and certainly doesn’t help, but Ralph begins to question his identity and believes the captors could be on to something: a hint to the Stockholm Syndrome where captives eventually sympathize with their captors. This is a Kafkaesque portrayal of a man who has lost his way due to a bazaar set of circumstances, straddling between fantasy and reality. Confused and unbelievably curious, thinking he could have lived a former life, he goes to South America to sort it all out.

In the end, while smoking a cigarette on a desolate road in Colombia, South America where Müller could have gone; Ralph thinks back to what he was continually told; that he is Heinrich Müller, back from the dead. All this before he gets back in his car and drives past a sign that reads BOGOTÁ – 20 Km.