Germany

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

- Captain America to Loki

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in west-central Europe. The country consists of 16 states, and its capital and largest city is Berlin.

Birth of Abraham Erskine
"This is from Augsburg, my city."

- Abraham Erskine

On September 14, 1869, the city of Augsburg was the birthplace of Abraham Erskine, who went on to become one the most renowned scientists of his time.

Erskine reflected upon his origins in Augsburg while talking to Steve Rogers about how Adolf Hitler took over Germany, and the reasons to develop Project Rebirth for the Allies and for choosing Rogers as a candidate. As it was the night before the official fulfillment of Project Rebirth, Erskine intended to celebrate the event with a bottle of from Augsburg, before realizing that Rogers could not drink before the procedure, and therefore, Erskine drank the two glasses.

Birth of Werner Reinhardt
In 1904, the city of Arnsberg was the birthplace of Werner Reinhardt, who went on to become an Obergruppenführer of the Schutzstaffel and a member of HYDRA, the special science division led by Johann Schmidt.

Reinhardt's files, collected by the Strategic Scientific Reserve, reflected his birthplace, such as the file stored in the Playground when investigating Daniel Whitehall's true identity as Werner Reinhardt.

Rise of Adolf Hitler
"So many people forget that the first country the Nazis invaded was their own. You know, after the last war, they... my people struggled. They... they felt weak... they felt small. Then Hitler comes along with the marching, and the big show, and the flags, and the, and the..."

- Abraham Erskine to Steve Rogers

The devastation caused by greatly destabilized Europe. Adolf Hitler managed to raise to power given the political and economic instability in Germany, and a lingering resentment over the terms imposed by the following the Great War.

Deutsches Opernhaus
In February 1934, Adolf Hitler attended a representation of Richard Wagner's opera  at the Deutsches Opernhaus in Berlin, with all the audience waiting to see Hitler's reactions before applauding the performance.

During the ensuing gala dinner, Hitler praised some aspects of the play that linked to his own line of thought, such as celebrating the purity of blood that must be safeguarded, while constructing a new aristocracy based on it. Johann Schmidt, a university researcher in the field of physics, interrupted Hitler, saying that the old ways should not be disposed, as they could prove to be more than they appeared. After apologizing, Schmidt revealed that Wagner's music had influenced his work just as it "inspired" Hitler to set Germany back on a path of greatness.

Hitler asked for the link between Wagner and physics, and Schmidt answered that the "magic" from the that Wagner adapted into his operas could simply be the oldest science ever known. Intrigued by Schmidt's ideas, Hitler asked Ernst Kaufmann to arrange a lunch between Hitler and Schmidt to discuss the ideas.

Schmidt asked Kaufmann, leader of the special weapons division, to continue his research in his division, but Kaufmann, displeased with Schmidt's interruption, was threatened and warned not to come near Hitler again. However, Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, overheard Schmidt's theories, and took him under his wing.

Night of the Long Knives
On the 30th of June, 1934, Ernst Kaufmann and other leaders of the Sturmabteilung were hosted at the Hanselbauer Hotel in Bad Wiessee. In order to gain support from the German Army for his regime, Adolf Hitler ordered the assassinations of all higher officers of the SA, in a purge that later became known as the.

Johann Schmidt, having become Heinrich Himmler's protege, told Kauffmann that the only way the German Army would support Hitler's regime was if Kaufmann's stormtroopers were eliminated, and as Himmler and the Schutzstaffel shared Schmidt's interest in Norse mythology, Schmidt would take leadership of Kaufmann's weapons program.

Schmidt assassinated Kaufmann by throwing a knife into his throat as the other leaders of the Sturmabteilung were killed.

Takeover
In June, 1934, Johann Schmidt led a takeover in the SA Weapons Testing Ground in Kummersdorf, where troops loyal to Ernst Kaufmann and the Sturmabteilung shoot the members of the Schutzstaffel on sight, as they had not received orders of that the Sturmabteilung was dismantled following the.

As the troops had been handpicked by Kaufmann and were loyal to him to the death, Schmidt decided to kill all the soldiers in the facility. He came across scientist Arnim Zola, who was working on developing an Exo-skeleton battle armor, to make a soldier stronger.

On the other hand, Schmidt wanted to transform soldiers themselves into weapons, and he informed Zola that all his budget was going to be rerouted for that project, something Zola, fearing for his life, agreed to.

Nuremberg Laws
On the 14th of September, 1935, Doctor Abraham Erskine, his wife Greta, and their sons Klaus and Marlene, boarded a train to Geneva in hopes of avoiding a group of anti-Semitic laws known as the that Adolf Hitler would approve the following day in Nuremberg.

Upon arriving to the German/Swiss border, the train was stopped by Johann Schmidt. Schmidt's troops began looking for Erskine, and, although his wife begged him not to, Erskine turned himself in to avoid other people suffering because of him.

Erskine was taken to Schmidt's presence, where they discussed Erksine's attempt to leave the country at the last time, given his research at the university went so well he was reluctant to leave it. Schmidt had been monitoring Erskine's progress in a project that increased the molecular density of cellular fibers through synthetic proteins of his own devising. However, a warning of the announce of laws against Jews that would happen in Nuremberg, and given his wife's Jewish heritage, made Erskine decide to leave the country for the well-being of his family. Schmidt disregarded the purpose of those laws, as he was not interested in Nazi ideology, and his only goal was to create an actual "superior man" that would be a race unto himself. For that goal, he coerced Erskine into helping him, but threatening the lives of his wife and sons, that were sent to a in Dachau.

Beginning of the War
In 1939, Adolf Hitler began a conflict later denominated World War II, with the intention of creating a German Empire that would last for a thousand years. Germany was considered the center of Axis powers after the official outbreak of the war, with its capital, Berlin, housing the headquarters of the Nazi Third Reich government, the German Armed Forces and the Schutzstaffel.

Birth of the Red Skull
By 1940, Johann Schmidt had moved to Ernst Kaufmann's castle, now abandoned after Kaufmann was murdered by Schmidt during the.

Schmidt tested Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Serum upon himself, and spent the following two days secluded in a room suffering the side effects of the serum as, according to Erskine, the serum was not ready yet. Schmidt' maid, Eva, tried to bring food to Schmidt, who angrily threw a wardrobe against the door in a feat of the strength granted by the serum, demanding to be alone to contemplate the meaning of his fate.

In the dungeons, Arnim Zola visited a chained Erskine, to announce that the failure of the "Übermensch" soldier program would grant Zola an opportunity to provide a technological alternative for Schmidt's goals. Erskine answered that it was not the serum who failed, as Schmidt was the one who failed at being human. Zola mocked that the disfigurement inflicted upon Schmidt would result in an order of execution against Erskine, and against his family held in Dachau. Eva came looking for Zola, as the dinner was served, and all the dinner guests fell unconscious, Zola included. Eva seized the opportunity to free Erskine, revealing herself as Agent Peggy Carter of the British Secret Intelligence.

Carter cleared the path, killing some of the men who were not unconscious. Erskine asked to free his family from the concentration camp in Dachau, but Carter informed him that his family died in 1937, in a typhus outbreak that killed thousands of inmates. Schmidt never informed Erskine of the deaths to continue using the family as leverage.

Erskine, enraged, tried to kill Schmidt in revenge for the deaths of his wife and sons, but Carter convinced him that the best way to get revenge on Schmidt and HYDRA was to take his serum to the Allies, as Schmidt's strength was now unbelievable, and a direct confrontation would result in a meaningless death.

Erskine and Carter ascended to the roof of the castle, where a plane extracted them. Colonel Chester Phillips and Howard Stark greeted Erskine and welcomed him to join the Strategic Scientific Reserve.

HYDRA Desertion
In March 1942, Johann Schmidt and his HYDRA division went rogue, separating themselves from the Nazi regime and intended to nuke the capitals of all countries that resist his conquest, including Berlin, even though by that time, German troops had conquered many countries in Europe.

Battle of Finow
General John McGinnis ordered to steal Howard Stark's samples and research a gas called Midnight Oil, intended to keep soldiers awake for days. McGinnis deployed the gas over the Soviet 478th Rifle Division in order to help them take the city of Finow. However, the gas caused symptoms such as anger, hallucinations and psychosis, making the Soviet soldiers brutally slaughter each other. Doctor Johann Fennhoff, a member of the Soviet Armed Forces, managed to use a gas mask to protect himself, and survived the whole massacre. Fennhoff found his own brother brutally killed in the battlefield, with his eyes having been removed from his face, and pieces of his flesh having been bitten off.

Leet Brannis and Sasha Demidov were also members of the 478th Rifle Division, and were declared deceased with the rest of their comrades. Fennhoff performed emergency laryngotomy procedures on Brannis and Demidov, removing their voice boxes, but allowing them to survive the effects of Midnight Oil.

German Arrival
"There was no battle of Finow." "Because you Nazis ambushed the Russians at night." "No German fought any Russian at Finow."

- Ernst Mueller and Roger Dooley

A Wehrmacht squad led by Colonel Ernst Mueller arrived at Finow, finding the massacred bodies of the members of the Soviet 478th Rifle Division. Despite the things he had done during the war, Mueller could only describe the event as a massacre, with the bodies having being piled high and ripped apart.

Not knowing the truth about the event, Mueller thought the ones who attacked the Russian soldiers had already left the scene during their arrival, and the United States Armed Forces blamed the German Soldiers commanded by Mueller as the ones who fought against and massacred the Russians.

Howard Stark's Arrival
The following day, Howard Stark took a plane and landed in Finow, in order to witness the effects of Midnight Oil, and was horrified by the brutality of the massacre. Stark went to confront General John McGinnis and started a fight, despite that McGinnis was physically superior to Stark, and McGinnis retaliated easily knocking Stark out.

McGinnis wrote an official report about the Battle of Finow, blaming German soldiers led by Colonel Ernst Mueller for the massacre.

The events at Finow left Stark distressed and he began the construction of a vault under his mansion to store his most dangerous inventions, including Midnight Oil.

The End of the War
On April 30, 1945, in his bunker in Berlin, Adolf Hitler appointed, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, as his successor. Hitler then committed a suicide in order to evade capture after Nazi Germany's defeat. The Nazi propaganda attempted to present his death as a heroic fall in the struggle against Bolshevism. On May 9, 1945, the German Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel had to sign the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany at Soviet headquarters in Berlin.

Allied Occupation
"You're going all the way to Germany?"

- Jack Thompson to Roger Dooley

One year after the war, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, American, British, French, and Soviet.

Wilhelm Keitel Execution
Wilhelm Keitel was arrested and tried at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, ending up being sentenced to death and hanged at the Nuremberg Prison. Keitel spent twenty-five minutes struggling for his life until he ultimately died on the gallows.

Ernst Mueller Trial
Colonel Ernst Mueller was tried and sentenced to death for his role as a Nazi regiment leader during World War II, accused of murder, extermination, enslavement and deportation, among other crimes.

Last Visit
Roger Dooley arrived at Nuremberg in order to speak to Ernst Mueller about the truth behind the battle in Finow, where allegedly all the members of the Soviet 478th Rifle Division were slaughtered, despite at least two of its members, Leet Brannis and Sasha Demidov, were related to the theft of Howard Stark's technology. Dooley was taken to Mueller's room, where two soldiers were measuring him for the noose, and Mueller received Dooley joking about the fact, subsequently apologizing for his "gallows humor". Dooley showed him two pictures, one of Brannis and of Demidov, and asked if he knew them.

Mueller seemingly did not recognize them, as he asked if they were German. Dooley revealed they were Russians, and reportedly died during the battle of Finow, though he omitted that they survived the battle. Mueller acknowledged he was in Finow, and seeing Mueller was not going to answer anything about it, Dooley offered to help him "escape".

Dooley explained how Wilhelm Keitel was hanged the day before, agonizing for 25 minutes before he finally died, as they did not take into account the condemned's weight when designing the gallows and the noose, only its height.

Dooley opened a hidden compartment in his watch and offered Mueller a breath mint, claiming it was a Cyanide Pill that would grant him a painless death and would deny his enemies the satisfaction of watching him die.

Mueller accepted Dooley's offer, and explained that there was no battle in Finow; once the German forces arrived, they found a massacre, with bodies piled high and ripped apart, and whoever was responsible for it was long gone.

Dooley did not believe Mueller's story, but Mueller claimed he had no reason to lie, as he recognized he had killed men, women and even children, but nobody died by their hands at Finow. Seeing that he could not obtain more information from Mueller, he gave him the pill and left the cell.

Dooley told one of the guards outside that he needed a phone, and offered him one of the breath mints he gave to Mueller.

Ernst Mueller Execution
Ernst Mueller was hanged as scheduled inside the Nuremberg Prison, despite thinking the breath mint that Roger Dooley gave him was a Cyanide Pill. By the time Dooley returned to New York City, he guessed that Mueller should be "two inches taller", meaning that he had been already hanged.

Cold War
"Something's come up. We're sending a covert op into East Berlin."

- Howard Stark to Hank Pym

During the Cold War the capital of Germany, Berlin, was divided by a barrier called the Berlin Wall. The eastern part of the city was controlled by the Soviets, while the western part was controlled by the NATO. During the 1980s, the terrorist organization HYDRA, thought to be disbanded at the end of World War II, managed to infiltrate the Soviet power structures, establishing a secret laboratory in East Berlin. They continued their memory suppression experiments from World War II with the goal to create an army of brainwashed soldiers who would follow every order. Their human lab rat managed to escape but was quickly caught by the Soviet patrol near the Berlin Wall.

A few days later, the HYDRA laboratory was infiltrated by Henry Pym, a S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist who was sent by his superiors to stop what they thought to be Soviet radicals from reverse-engineering an old piece of HYDRA technology. Using his size-changing Ant-Man Suit, Pym managed to ruin the laboratory, destroy the Memory Suppressing Machine, free the prisoner and knock down all the guards. The mission in Berlin convinced Pym's superiors Howard Stark and Peggy Carter that Pym would be a great operative for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Gorani Insurance
"Beautiful country, here. You should see it."

- Tony Stark to Pepper Potts

Tony Stark came to Germany for a business meeting with the representatives of Gorani Insurance, a company which backed most of his foreign factories, in order to negotiate new rates for their insurance policies. While he was driving his Audi through the Autobahn, Stark encountered a road blockade. The police was searching for thieves who stole impressionist paintings worth over a hundred million dollars from the Maltese Museum, and they had to check all cars, including Stark's, finding a Repulsor Gauntlet for his new armor, and delaying him long enough to worry Pepper Potts on the other side of the phone.

Stark next encountered a beautiful woman, helping her to change a flat tire on her car. Though he asked her for her phone number, she did not give it to him, instead prompting him to wait until fate brought them back together.

Upon returning to his car, Stark came across the a lair of thieves who stole the paintings, recognizing the red SUV described by the police. He got close to investigate, finding the paintings, but the thieves opened fired in order to make him flee. Though he was not carrying the whole Iron Man armor, he had still had the Repulsor Gauntlet in his trunk, and he used it to attack and capture all the thieves.

One hour later, Stark arrived at the meeting with the representatives of Gorani Insurance, where he once again encountered the woman he met on the highway, and discovered that she was Evetta Gorani, the vice president of the company. The president, Michael Gorani, congratulated Stark for the recovery of the paintings, which saved them over one hundred million dollars. In light of the events, Gorani assured that Stark would find the new rates for Stark Industries quite pleasing, while Stark was more worried about obtaining Evetta Gorani's phone number.

Stuttgart
"Location?" "Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Königstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

- Phil Coulson and Jasper Sitwell

Loki traveled to the city of Stuttgart in Germany to find Heinrich Schafer, a scientist with access to a warehouse containing Iridium, an element Erik Selvig needed to stabilize the interdimensional portals created by the Tesseract.

Loki attended a gala where Schafer went as a guest, and personally attacked him to create a diversion while Clint Barton raided the secure installation where Iridium was contained. Loki used a device to transport Schafer's eye to Barton's location, and opened the warehouse using the eye to pass a retina scanner.

The other guests, frightened by the attack, came out to the streets, trying to escape from Loki, but he surrounded them with a series of illusions of himself. Loki demanded the crowd to kneel before him, as Loki stated, "Man's only purpose was to be governed". A single man challenged him and his intentions, telling him that there have always been men like him. Loki prepared to kill the man as an example, but his attack was deflected by Captain America, sent by S.H.I.E.L.D. after having located Loki at Stuttgart.

Captain America challenged Loki, supported by a Quinjet piloted by Black Widow, who ordered Loki to surrender. Captain America fought Loki to allow the crowd to escape, but Loki proved to be superior to Rogers, barely being able to hold against Loki.

Iron Man arrived and knocked Loki down with a single shot, threatening to fire with all his weapons if he dared to make a wrong move. Outnumbered, Loki allowed himself to be captured, secretly plotting to use this to his advantage.

Thor's Arrival
Agent Natasha Romanoff contacted Nick Fury following Loki's capture in Stuttgart, briefing him that Loki did not reveal anything about his plans or the location of the Tesseract.

Iron Man and Captain America, responsible for capturing Loki, argued inside the Quinjet about Loki's capture when a thunderstorm caught them by surprise. Loki, knowing that it heralded the arrival of his brother Thor, was concerned about his safety, when Thor himself landed on the Quinjet.

Iron Man opened the cargo door of the plane, and Thor easily subdued Iron Man and Captain America to take Loki from their custody. Iron Man flew to chase them, and Captain America took a parachute to follow them.

Thor and Loki landed on a hill, where Thor demanded to know the location of the Tesseract. Loki told Thor that he should be thankful, as with the Bifrost Bridge gone, the All-Father was forced to use dark energy to bring Thor to his beloved Earth.

Thor told his brother that everyone believed him dead, and all Asgard cried for his loss. Thor tried to reason with Loki about their childhood together, and the times they played and fought as brothers, and if nothing of them mattered to Loki. Loki coldly answered that all he remembered was the shadow of Thor's greatness, and how Thor let him fall to an abyss while he was the king of Asgard.

Thor asked if Loki invaded Earth as recompense for his imagined slights, and warned that Earth was under his protection. Loki sarcastically congratulated him, as humans slaughter each other, and Loki wanted to rule them as he thought himself to be superior. However, Thor told Loki that he did not understand the truth of ruling, but Loki replied that he had seen worlds that Asgardians did not know, and that he grew during his exile, having watched the true power of the Tesseract.

Thor plead with Loki to abandon his quest, return the Tesseract and come home together, but Loki had sent the Tesseract to a remote place and he did not know where. When Thor was about to threaten Loki, Iron Man appeared, catching Thor by surprise, and knocking him off the hill.

Battle in the Black Forest
Iron Man tried to stop Thor from taking Loki away, as either Thor was friend or foe, they would lose the Tesseract. Thor threatened Iron Man, as he was dealing with forces he did not fully comprehend.

Thor started fighting Iron Man, in an even fight that Loki watched amused. Thor's lightning had the unwilling effect of powering the Iron Man Armor to the 400% percent of its capacity, greatly improving the firepower of its repulsors. Each one tried to use their respective strength and speed to gain the upper hand during the fight, but only Captain America's intervention made them stop. Captain America tried to persuade Thor into dropping his weapon to demonstrate his intentions of helping thwart Loki's plans, but angered, Thor attacked Captain America.

Captain America's Shield absorbed the attack, but created a strong shockwave that knocked Thor down. Realizing the destruction they had caused, the three stopped their fight and returned to the Quinjet to take Loki to the Helicarrier.

Wanted List
John Garrett and his team were tasked with apprehending Ian Quinn following the kidnapping of Franklin Hall and his seeming death in Malta.

However, Quinn was able to kill at least three agents with the Clairvoyant's guidance, killing an agent in Berlin inside his own black sedan.

Hidden Vault
"I lied. Strucker has many vaults. I know them all. Just didn't know Zepkow was the one I needed."

- Grant Ward

HYDRA's leader Wolfgang von Strucker had a secret vault buried in the town of Zepkow. The vault contained numerous mysterious artifacts, including a piece of the Monolith that was used by the Inhumans to banish HYDRA's ancient Inhuman leader to the planet Maveth thousands of years ago. Six months after Strucker's death, another HYDRA head Gideon Malick entered the vault, followed by Grant Ward. Though Ward wanted to kill him, Malick showed him Strucker's piece of the Monolith and told him the legend of HYDRA's origin and its true purpose. They eventually agreed to join forces so they could destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. and finish Project Distant Star Return.

Sokovia Accords
In May 2016, Germany was one of the many countries who subscribed the Sokovia Accords for the registration of superpowered individuals.

Trivia

 * In the comics, Helmut Zemo is a nobleman born in Germany.