Reincarnated: Vive La France
Chapter 285: But what is tyranny if not the silence imposed on a people by borders they never chose?

Chapter 285: But what is tyranny if not the silence imposed on a people by borders they never chose?

By the thousands, Austrians had filled the plaza.

No music played.

There were no drums, no salutes, no grand orchestration.

Just people.

Silent.

Watching.

Then came the motorcade.

And finally door opened.

Adolf Hitler stepped out and approached the podium greatcoat drawn tight,

Hitler stood for several seconds before he spoke. _{fr.e ewe.bno.vel .com}

He looked not just at the people, but through them.

Over them.

Beyond them.

And then finally he began.

"Men and women of Austria.

I have come back to you not as a stranger.

Not as a guest.

Not as a man of conquest.

I come back as a son who was never truly gone.

I come back to a homeland that the world told us was lost.

But it was never lost. It was simply silenced."

He paused.

"Today, that silence ends.

I do not speak today for Germany alone. I speak for all of us for every man and woman born under skies like these, whose hearts beat in the rhythm of German blood, who have looked across borders and known they were lies.

The lie of separation.

The lie of division.

The lie that told us we were different simply because others needed us to be weak.

But we are not weak.

We are not divided.

We are one people."

From the fringes of the crowd, flags began to rise first in hands, then from balconies.

"Austria and Germany have been sundered not by nature, not by God, but by treaties. By signatures of shame written by the hands of those who never understood what it means to be German.

They said, Let us cut the limb from the body, and let us call it peace.

But a severed limb does not forget the body. And the body never stops feeling the absence.

And so for nineteen long years, Austria has been told to look east, look west, to look to Europe, to look to Paris or Geneva but never to look to Berlin. Never to listen to the song of her own blood."

His voice softened.

"But you have heard it anyway. You’ve heard it in the words of your poets, your composers, your dead.

You heard it in the trenches of 1915, where German and Austrian bled side by side.

You heard it in your fields, in your factories, when foreign men came with new rules and foreign tongues, and you whispered to yourselves, ’We remember who we are.’

And now I say to you, you are remembered. You are heard. You are no longer forgotten."

He leaned closer to the microphone.

"Austria was never meant to be a stranger to us. She is our sister. She is our beginning.

This is not an occupation. This is a reconciliation. This is not aggression. This is return.

No shot was fired. No wall breached. No resistance made. Because there is nothing unnatural in the blood of a family flowing together.

You did not resist us because you are us."

He scanned the balcony windows of the Hofburg Palace.

"Let the world listen closely today. Let those in London, in Washington, in Geneva write what they will. Their pens are dull. Their papers are dust.

They said that Germany was the threat. That unity would bring war. But tell me, do you see war here today?

No. You see tears. You see mothers clutching children and saying: ’This, this is who we are.’ You see fathers standing straight again, knowing they no longer need to hide their pride.

You see flags returned to buildings where they had once been torn down in shame."

He lifted his hand.

"You see a people restored.

You see justice.

For too long, they told you that loving your nation was a sin. That believing in your heritage was backward. That the age of blood, of kin, of soil was dead.

But I tell you, it is not dead. It is reborn.

And not through fire or force. But through faith. Through the unbreakable law of belonging."

His voice grew sharper.

"The internationalists will howl. They will say, This is tyranny. They will cry, This is darkness.

But what is tyranny if not the silence imposed on a people by borders they never chose?

What is darkness if not living in exile while still inside your homeland?

Austria chose light. Austria chose voice."

He pointed behind him to the marble statues of Maria Theresa and the emperors.

"These stones remember an empire that ruled much of Europe and yet forgot its own soul. They ruled over millions, but did not know the hearts of their own people.

We are not here to build empires. We are here to restore wholeness.

Germany will not absorb Austria. Germany will reunite with her.

There will be no two nations. There will be one people.

Ein Volk.

He gestured outward now, voice thick with emotion.

"Look at yourselves this square filled not by decree, not by soldier’s command, but by the will of the people. Who can deny that will?

The ballot box awaits. Let them call it theatre. Let them mock it. But let them also remember that it is the only theatre where every actor speaks with one voice.

And that voice says, we are home."

A chant broke out from somewhere near the front.

"Ein Volk, ein Reich!" And then.

"Hitler! Hitler!"

He waited for it to calm.

Then continued.

"I say this now to all Austrians whether you cheer today or remain silent, you are part of us.

Whether you held a German flag last night, or whispered in fear behind drawn curtains you are part of us.

I come not to punish dissent, but to dissolve doubt.

Your work will be honored. Your land protected. Your children taught again the story of their heritage.

Vienna shall not be a jewel we steal. It shall be a light that shines at the center of our crown"

He took a breath.

Then lowered his tone.

"To those abroad who ask, What now? I answer this what was broken is being healed. What was torn is being sewn.

There will be no tanks rolling into your capitals. No banners raised in defiance.

But know this, the German people are no longer a people to be split like wood or pawned like coin.

We are whole."

A hush again.

And then his final words.

"Today is not a Chapter. It is a turning of the book.

This is the day the German soul crossed back into itself.

And it did not need war to do so. It only needed will."

He raised his right hand slowly, palm open.

"Austria is not annexed.

Austria is not conquered.

Austria is home."

The square erupted in unified chant.

"Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer!"