| hexenreich . . . . . . . |
The Story
Historical Background
Following the
time-warp, the magical defence charms around Wizarding Germany disappeared, leaving them exposed to Nazi German Muggles. They joined forces, and so Muggle politics began to threaten the Wizarding World. Those witches and wizards who had conspired most deeply with German Nazis were the same who would eventually form the beginnings of the Hexenreich.
Wizarding France, whilst still defended, took to being Muggleborn sympathisers. Beauxbatons - previously an elitist school - began to positively discriminate Muggleborns, and the French were offended by Britain closing their borders. This led them to start researching into Time Warp Theory - which they begun to blame on the British Ministry of Magic - and they aligned with Wizarding Germany. This separated Muggle France - which was aligned with Britain - and Wizarding France. Beauxbatons Academy became a base for the Gestapo in Cannes.
The Hexenreich was officially formed in 1944, just after D-Day left the Axis powers crippled. Rolf Königsmann, an unassuming wizard with a penchant for pushing the limits of magical research, had been employed as one of the senior medical researchers for the Nazis. Because German wizards had broken the Statute of Secrecy by joining forces with muggles, Königsmann had been free to carry out his own magical experiments on the imprisoned muggles. Upon hearing news of the Germans' defeat in June, he immediately called together a tight-knit circle of wizards in high-ranking military positions, who collectively decided that it was no longer in their best interests to collude with Hitler's regime.
A patient man, Königsmann, as head of the newly-formed Hexenreich, slowly recruited German and French witches and wizards to his ranks. Hexenreich began carefully and selectively erasing the memories of those who had been aware of their existence and collusion with German authorities. The next step was to narrow the focus of their attacks - centering on the British Ministry of Magic.
The British Focus
For many, the British Focus happened just before supper on the seventh of June, 1945. The first sign of trouble was at the Ministry of Magic, where multiple explosions took place, resulting in the Ministry being locked down and the Aurors along with Merlin’s Order of Defense attempting to apprehend the perpetrators. Then, almost at the same time, trouble started brewing at Hogwarts, where Hexenreich members, assisted by two assistant professors they had on the inside, attempted to kidnap two students for leverage. They used this leverage to push the Hogwarts Headmistress, Anneka Ivanova, into removing the anti-apparition barriers which were preventing the Hexenreich from securing Hogwarts as their bargaining chip.
Once the Hexenreich had gained a foothold, they dug their feet in, taking over many institutions vital to Britain’s wizarding society. At Hogwarts, they installed Hexenreich representatives to observe both the professors and students and to squash any thoughts of resistance. At the Ministry, their takeover was less subtle. In the absence of Minister Hir, who was now a wanted man, the Hexenreich placed itself in a position to run the Ministry and Wizarding Britain from its government. The Hexenreich executed the takeover in a well planned and efficient manner, and some have even suggested that they had inside help.
The Reaction
The Resistance
The Hexenreich quickly dissolved Merlin's Order of Defense and from its ashes came a resistance movement to their takeover. The Resistance was made up of former soldiers and civilians united in their desire to expel the Hexenreich from Wizarding Britain. The main faces on the wanted posters the Hexenreich hung up were public enemies Pryce Hir, Aries Paladin, Alastríona Underwood, and an unnamed boy.
The Average Citizen
The average citizen was not only impacted by the new laws instilled by the Hexenreich occupiers (e.g. 10PM curfew, restricted Portkey use) but by their general presence. Normal functions that used to be carried out by the Auror Office had a Hexenreich representative, and the Hexenreich extensively patrolled areas of Wizarding Britain. All owl post was heavily monitored.
The Fall of the Magical Barriers
The takeover sparked fear and distrust, but as time went on, and nothing seemed to change, the acceptance of Hexenreich rule was necessary. No obvious changes were made to how the government was run. Many high ranking employees maintained their positions. No one quite knew what the Hexenreich goal was and many were forced to move on with their lives under new management. Of course, the Resistance still wreaked havoc when and where it could, but the organisation was alone in its fight. On September 1, 1948 one of the Hexenreich's goals became clear. Starting at 10:35 in the morning, a thunderous boom was heard piercing the silence, interrupting the clatter of everyday city noises and halting the lives of the unsuspecting. The boom was the most obvious physical consequence of the wizarding barrier as it failed. The second soon followed as Wizards, whom normally found refuge behind walls of misdirection, stood unconcealed near muggle populations.
Without the magical barriers separating the wizarding world from the Muggle world, confusion and fear reigned as the situation was being mitigated across Britain. Laws prohibiting spells and magical items near Muggle areas were quickly put into place. The complex web of arcane and new magic that wove to create barriers across Britain had to be studied and the creation of new barriers took great energy and time to develop. No one wanted to ever experience the vanishing of their borders again, and so time seemed to move slowly in correcting the devastation. It was only in December 1949 that the barriers were finally and wholly repaired. Much of the research and implementation of new barriers was funded by a new organisation that was rising in the Ministry: the
Social Reconstruction Committee. The Hexenreich's Decline
During the crisis involving the fallen magical barriers, the Hexenreich began to disappear into the woodwork, one by one. By January 1950, very few members were left out in the open. And with most members now gone, the Ministry could finally seize back control. Aurors immediately got to work on tracking down the remaining few members, convinced that the Hexenreich had been behind the incident. Yet they had limited success, for most of the group had gone into hiding or fled Britain, hidden beneath the chaos that the fall of the barriers had caused. Those members that were caught were promptly involved in a series of investigations and trials lasting all the way up until June 1950.
Eventually, the trials ended. Most of the captured Hexenreich had been sent to Azkaban, of course, but those in the Hexenreich that had held only the most trivial of positions within the group (the newcomers, the errand runners, the unlucky who hadn’t received the memo that day to flee Britain) got lucky with lighter sentences. By July 1950, the Hexenreich had finally been entirely defeated.
Other Information
- Even though, in the beginning, Hexenreich utilised the opportunities provided by Nazi Germany to survive and thrive, the Hexenreich was a separate movement from the Nazi Party and did not associate itself with such an embarrassing botched attempt.
- The Hexenreich targeted Wizarding Britain, and its movement was contained here. Other countries were reluctant to assist because most were struggling at rebuilding their own societies after the war.
- During the war, British Wizarding society was separated from Muggle society, as per the Statute of Secrecy. Thus, the British Muggles had no clue that a war raged on right under their noses.
- The majority of members of the Hexenreich were of German and French ancestry due to the origination of their movement. However, supporters of all ancestries existed.
- The Hexenreich as an organization had no position on blood status; nor were they researching scientific proof of related superiority.
- The Extraordinary Registry was destroyed in the Ministry attack, so the Hexenreich didn't know who in the population had a special ability.
Credit for compiling this guide goes to Oliver Razi! Updated by Calypso Ross, using information provided by Martin Hawksworth.