The sun in Berlin was unnaturally bright for late summer, as if mocking the nature of the discussions unfolding behind tightly drawn curtains in the Reich Chancellery.
No papers were leaked.
No declarations were made.
But within those walls, one nation was being quietly made ready to consume another.
On the surface, things seemed ordinary.
But the Reich was not operating on the surface.
Inside Hitler's office, maps of Austria were now mounted beside the usual spread of German provinces.
Not military maps at least not yet but electoral districts, industrial corridors, telegraph lines, and press circulation routes.
Civilian frameworks.
Skeletons waiting for flesh.
On August 3rd, Hitler summoned a select group: Göring, Ribbentrop, Himmler, and Wilhelm Keppler the special advisor for Austria.
The door closed behind them at 09:15 and would not open again for nearly two hours.
