Timeline © Alexis Orsini/ www.labasesecrete.fr
Klaus Poppe, Czechoslovakian of German roots (his family comes from the small town Ruhenheim, in South Germany) is born in Bohemia.
Many Czechoslovakians leave their country to retreat in Ruhenheim, small south-german town.
Stefan Verdemann, Czechoslovakian who ran to Germany after WWII, launches his own radio, KWFM, in Munich. His main radio show always starts and concludes with the Song Over the Rainbow.
Near the border between Czechoslovakia and Austria, Milan, son of workers, bonds with Peter Çapek son of civil servants The two boys like to send paper planes through their windows and hope to cross the border themselves one day.
Richard Brown is born.
His real name and his birth place are unknown.
Halenka Novakova, who will later be known as Margot Langer, is born in Prague.
Klaus Poppe, who married a Czechoslovakian, becomes a father after the birth of his son Lipsky.
Kenzô Tenma is born in Yokohama, Japan. He is the youngest of three boys.
The city of Zweifelstadt, in Germany, is the scene of a terrible slaughter. An habitant kills a neighbor with a weapon. The entire city then goes crazy and each habitant starts killing his neighbour with hand-made weapon. Nobody survives.
Martin is born, probably in Frankfurt.
Klaus Poppe, now known as Franz Bonaparta, is a scientific genius (PhD in psychology, psychiatrist and medical doctor specialized in neurosurgery). Bonaparta works for the Czechoslovakian government and probably already is a member of the StB (Czechoslovakian secret police). Bonaparta's experiments and searches aim to defeat the Western block.
The Wall separating East Berlin and West Berlin is being built.
At the age of 6 or 7, Grimmer (who does not bear this name yet) enters Kinderheim 511, Kinderheim, an East Berlin orphanage with an "educational method" inspired of Bonaparta's experiments."
Karel Ranke, in charge of the intelligence service of the Berlin's Embassy of Czechoslovakia, puts his orphan nephew, Adolf Reinhart, in Kinderheim 511. Il est convaincu que l'établissement forme la future élite du communisme. Adolf, qui prendra plus tard le nom de Robert, aime le chocolat et rêve de devenir entomologiste (mais refuse toujours de tuer les insectes qu'il capture).
The cartoon Magnificent Steiner airs in West Germany. Grimmer manages to watch it in East Berlin. He is captivated by the story of this young weak boy who is rescued by his mysterious friend, Magnificent Steiner, whenever he is in danger. He never realizes that Magnificent Steiner is just another part of his own personality.
Grimmer misses Magnificent Steiner's last episode because of one of his "educators", who prevents him from watching the cartoon. He will wonder till the end of his life how the story ended.
The strange "lessons" of Kinderheim 511 make the orphans' memories fade away. Grimmer is no exception. His emotions also start to fade away. immer. A day of sickness, Adolf Reinhart brings him a cup of hot chocolate (that the orphans got on a weekly basis). Adolf then asks Grimmer to not forget him.
Tenma plays hide and seek with his friends and is called a "coward" because he seems very fearful.
Franz Bonaparta begins to give reading seminars every friday at 3PM at the Red Rose Mansion. classes de lecture" à la villa des roses, tous les vendredis, à 15 heures. He reads a tale to the children and then asks them what sense they would give to the story they just heard. The reading seminars will last till 1968 (if not more).
Bonaparta's son Lipsky attends the reading seminars. But he is quickly excluded from these sessions because he is not a "brilliant student".
Stefan Verdemann goes to Czechoslovakia to meet Klaus Poppe at the Red Rose Mansion (3, Cerveny street). Verdemann is supposedly meeting Bonaparta to work on their soon to be aired radio show dedicated to picture books. But Verdemann actually starts meeting Bonaparta on a regular basis at the Red Rose Mansion, not as a picture book author but as a high-profile StB member (Czechoslovakian secret police).
"And I, where am I?", a Klaus Poppe's picture book, is the highlight of the KWFM's show Tales for children of all over the wolrd
Franz Bonaparta's The God of Peace is released by Moravia publishing. Bonaparta uses the pen name Klaus Poppe (which is his actual name). One of the characters is named Johan and a scene shows the God of Peace talking to his reflection in the mirror, saying "You are me, and I am you". A line that Johan will use in 1986 to convince his twin sister to shoot him, after he had just killed the Lieberts.
Stefan Verdemann convinces one of the reading seminars' student to escape like Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He basically saves his life since many students of these strange classes went on to kill themselves.
Stefan Verdemann, suspect of spying activities and of the murder of one of the secretaries of the Parliament, is arrested. His case quickly becomes a national scandal since we're in the heart of the Cold War. Verdemann is sentenced to 20 years in jail, even though he always claimed his innocence.
Grimmer gets out of Kinderheim 511 at the of 14. He is given a false name (Wolfgang Grimmer), false parents in an artificial town strictly controled, and his spy training can begin. That's how he learns German, French, English, Russian, Spanish. He also learns how to display several emotions even though he doesn't actually feel them.
Peter Çapek attends his first reading seminar. Captivated, he introduces himself to Bonaparta and wants to know more about his educational methods. Bonaparta then gives him his three pictures books (The God of Peace, The Nameless Monster and The Man with the Big Eyes and The Man with the Big Mouth - which constitues a chronological mistake since at the time, only The God of Peace had been published, the other two pictures books would only get published in 1977 and 1973, respectively).
Peter Çapek and Milan, who has now become a "rookie" dentist, meet for the first time in many years in Prague. Çapek is wildly enthusiastic when talking about the "great" person he has met. He is convinced this person can bring something "completely new".
Helenka Novakova clandestintely gets to West Germany, at the age of fifteen. Her friend Anna, future mother of the twins, is arrested at the borderland and sent to Prague.
Jan Suk is born, probably in Prague.
Martin, 10, drags his alcoholic mother home every night. Until one especially cold night when he decides to grant her wish and leave her in the street. She passes away during the night, killed by the cold.
Stefan Verdemann's spouse - Fritz's mother - passes away, after a long fight to claim her husband's innocence
One year after his wife's death, Stefan Verdemann passes away in jail.
Fritz Verdemann, high school student who has suffered from his father's reputation throughout his entire life, gets some kind of "revenge" when his father is finally proved innocent by the government. He receives a financial compensation. Fritz will later become a great lawyer, known as "a hero of the legal world", who likes to defend people mistakenly accused.
A new picture book written and drawn by Franz Bonaparta is released by Moravia Publishing. The story, signed Jakub Farobek, is entitled The Man with the Big Eyes and the Man with the Big Mouth but won't have any link with the twins and therefore is of little interest.
In Prague, Franz Bonaparta launches the StB's eugenic experience which consists of making brilliant people fall in love and give birth to the future Czechoslovakian elite.
The future father of the twins, a brilliant Czechoslovakian soldier of German roots, is part of the elite supposedly going to ensure the country's bright future. He consciously contributes to Bonaparta's eugenic experience. That's how he meets Anna, beautifil blonde with blue eyes, "real genius" specialized in genetic engineering at Brno's university.
The soldier and the student quickly fall in love. Anna gets pregnant. Her lover confesses to her that they are part of an eugenic experience. They try to run away without knowing this idea was expected from Bonaparta and his men. The couple is caught : Anna is placed under constant surveillance and heir lover is killed.
Kept under constant surveillance during her pregnancy, Anna guesses that her lover has been killed. Franz Bonaparta visits her regularly and draws sketches of of the future mother. She promises him that her children will take revenge for her.
Just before giving birth to her twins, despite her extreme weakness, Anna manages to run away through the facility's air vent, only to see her water shortly after.
In Prague, Anna gives birth to her twins - a girl and a boy. Bonaparta keeps her under his watch for some time. The scientist starts drawing sketches of the babies.
While Çapek admiringly watches the wins (convinced that they keep the "keys of mankind's future"), Bonaparta denies Anna's wish to give them names, because he claims they don't need any.
Anna and her twins move in the Three Frogs building, in Mulinsky street, in Prague, probably in hiding of Bonaparta. Anna is extremely careful : she rarely gets out and uses a false name. The family will live in the Three Frogs until 1981.
Halenka changes her name to Margot Langer and starts working as a luxurious excort based in Munich. She goes out with famous politicians and businessmen, among wich Hans Georg Schuwald.
Fritz Verdemann accidentally discovers his father's spy notebook, proving irrevocably than Stefan Verdeman was indeed a spy. The notebooks contains multiple informations regarding the StB and the Red Rose Mansion. Fritz will always keep silent on his discovery and claim his father's innocence.
Tenma is amazed by a medical paper signed by Dr. Heinemann. He moves to Germany to meet him, "full of ambition and eager for medical researches".
Tenma studies in a famous medical university. Brilliant and appreciated by his fellow peers, the young Japanese student is very popular... except for Rudy Gillen, envious of his success.
Both Rudy and Tenma cheat during their final exam. Gillen, noticing that Tenma is watching him, will be convinced for years that the japanese student caught him and despised him for cheating, without realizing that he was cheating at the same time.
Margot Langer makes night confessions to Schuwald. She mentions the letter she has just received from her friend who didn't have the chance to cross the border with her in 1970. Anna invites Halenka to visit her at the Three Frogs.
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