The Gestapo was only minutes behind. Dietmar Krupp knew that if he failed in his task, Nazi Germany would surely win the war against the Allies and maybe even rule the entire world!

It was December 7th, 1941 – just hours after the Japanese surprise attack at America's Pearl Harbor. Dietmar's family was already waiting for him in a 'safe house' under the control of his longtime friend OSS Director William Donovan. Dietmar had met Donovan when he was a student at Columbia University and Donavan was a visiting professor.

In 1934, Dietmar returned to Germany where he gathered and directed some of the finest minds in science, mathematics and invention. His family's company, which had strong ties to the Nazi party, was charged by Adolf Hitler to create the 'instruments of destruction' that would help him win a major war that everyone knew was just a few short years away. During this time, he was in constant contact with Mr. Donovan.

Seven years later, Dietmar entered the room at his family's company that stored the fruits of thousands of hours of research into hundreds of stealth, laser, rocketry, flight and space flight technologies. The plans were already finished for most of these projects. All they needed was Adolf Hitler's approval to be sent to the different manufacturing plants for production.

Each drawer in the all-important metal filing cabinet had its own combination lock that was changed weekly. Dietmar hoped that he had the latest codes or the game was over. Setting the bag that accompanied him on a table, Dietmar nervously set each of the six wheels to the sequence that he had memorized. Hearing a 'click' at the end of the last turn, he knew that he had the correct order and breathed a sigh of relief.

Setting three huge files on the table, Dietmar used the tiny camera that Mr. Donovan had given him at their last meeting and took picture after picture. Six rolls of film later, he smashed the camera to bits and dumped the mess into the filing cabinet. He also returned the files to the drawer.

Working feverishly now, Dietmar opened all of the filing cabinet drawers and poured acid on the files. Satisfied that the liquid had done its work, Dietmar went over to the table and pulled out a large Saint Nicholas figurine. Last Christmas, his toymaker brother Klaus had made for his nephew Rolf right before the Gestapo sent Klaus away to the concentration camp at Dachau. Not only was Klaus one of the most famous toymakers in Germany, but he was also an outspoken critic of the Nazi regime. Even his family's influence within the party was unable to save his brother. Once Hitler made up his mind, that was it.

Dietmar borrowed his son's toy for a vitally important task. Remembering what his brother had said, Dietmar tapped the nose of the statue three times. All at once, the entire back end opened – revealing a secret compartment. Klaus had intended for Rolf to use this space to store his very special nick-nacks.

Now needed for a different purpose entirely, Dietmar pushed a leather pouch full of diamonds, emeralds and rubies into the space. He also stored vitally important rolls of film in their metal containers next to the bag. When he was sure that all was in order, Dietmar filled the remaining space with fine, white sand. After a final check, he carefully closed the back of Saint Nicholas and placed it gently back in the bag. Dietmar knew that there was only one person he would ever trust with the contents of the most important figurine in history. It would be his son, Rolf. When the time was right, Dietmar would reveal its secret and the story behind it.

Hearing the sirens in the distance now, he pulled the explosive charges out of the bag and set their timers for five minutes. After arming the bombs – he quickly ran out of the building and into the bitterly cold December night. Fortunately for Dietmar, Mr. Donovan had arranged for a car to pick him up. The vehicle sped away to the safe house.

In the two pursuing Mercedes vehicles, Gestapo Colonel Helmut Reiser and his men were hoping to catch Dietmar in an act of treasonable espionage. Receiving a tip only several hours earlier, he thought that there was still plenty of time to act before Mr. Krupp became suspicious. When Dietmar's brother Klaus was captured by his men earlier, Reiser had suspected that Dietmar was also sympathetic to the Americans. However, he was prevented to do anything about it because of the political power of the Krupp family.

After planning what he was going to say to Mr. Krupp, Helmut took a few moments and wondered what type of promotion was in store for him because of this intelligence coup. At the minimum, he figured that he would replace his boss. Maybe if the Fuhrer thought that it was important enough, he would get to work directly with his idol Heinrich Himmler – the head of the SS and one of the leaders of Germany.

After arriving at the plant, Reiser and his men walked over to the research and development section. Entering the vital records storage room and turning on the lights, Helmut saw the explosive charges everywhere. As the seconds ticked down to zero – Colonel Reiser knew that he and his men had indeed run out of time after all.

Miles away, Dietmar heard the explosion that confirmed that the room with its lethal and evil contents was destroyed forever. The Allies had at least a level playing field against Germany and the Axis – even though Germany had a tremendous advantage in forces under arms. But Dietmar knew that some of the technologies he and his group had worked on could never fall into Axis hands. For instance, the laser 'fan' was tested successfully against a squadron of planes and had sent them all crashing to the ground.

Reunited with his wife and son Rolf, Dietmar made it out of Germany before the borders were closed for good. Unfortunately for Leland Burnette Morris, the American Chargé d'Affaires in Germany when Hitler declared war on the United States, he was unable to leave the country until April of 1942. He and the remaining diplomatic staff were exchanged in Portugal for German prisoners of war.

Now safely in the United States, Dietmar Krupp changed his name to David Crandall. He also changed his son Rolf's name to Raymond. He used the jewels that were smuggled in Saint Nicholas to build a very large but mostly secret company that was devoted to the creation of peaceful technologies. Fulfilling his end of the bargain, Dietmar gave some of the 'lesser evil' projects to William Donovan. This included the gyroscope systems that assisted advanced rocket flight. He also turned over the formulas for some of the rocket fuels. Finally, Dietmar passed along his company's early work on lasers – which was still far more advanced than where the Americans were at the time. Before David Crandall died in 1978, he lived to see the Apollo Manned Missions to the moon and knew that his teams 'then and now' played a very large part in the successful flights. However, because of the vitally important but secretive nature of his company, most Americans never knew the part that he played behind the scenes.

After David Crandall died, his son Raymond took his place at the helm. Out of respect for his father, he turned David's office into a 'shrine' devoted to his memory and life's work. Within the shrine was a smaller one – an entire section of his father's office that was devoted to the memory of the brilliant toymaker, Uncle Klaus. The centerpiece of a number of Klaus Krupp's toys that had survived the war was the beautiful Saint Nicholas figurine. The figurine still carried its important contents as David thought that it was the safest place to leave the blueprints to the 'instruments of mankind's destruction'. David had used 'bits and pieces' of these projects to facilitate the creation of the inventions that gave birth to the internet, cellular technologies and supercomputers – just to name a few of the benefits to mankind.

On each anniversary of his father's death, Raymond Crandall spent the morning hours in David's office. This particular morning, as he was thinking about some of the lessons that his Dad had taught him, Deep in thought, Raymond looked over at his Uncle's shrine. All of a sudden, a terrible realization hit home. The Saint Nicholas figurine was missing!

Quickly burying his rising panic, Raymond strolled over to the telephone and connected with his secretary Astrid. "Good morning Astrid, please call Conover Snow on his cell and ask him to come by my office as soon as possible. Tell him that we will send the company jet where ever he is to collect him. Thank you."

After hanging up with his secretary, he walked over to the large window that overlooked the Hudson River and the harbor that led out to Liberty Island and its famous Lady. He hoped and prayed that his father's cleverness did not turn into a disaster for the United States and mankind.

Before he left the window, he looked down and saw a group of carolers. Even though he could not hear them, the song "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" came into his mind. He quickly punched up the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's great poem "Christmas Bells" on his cell phone:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,A

nd made forlornThe households born

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong,

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."

"Christmas Bells" was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow during the American Civil War.

After reading through the poem, the peace and hope of the Christmas season flooded Raymond's soul. Just maybe things would be all right after all!

Anthony Cota

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