On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler, one of the most notorious mass-murderers in history, retires to his room in his bunker, 25 feet beneath the old Reich Chancery garden. Above him, the Red Army encircles Berlin as his dream of a thousand-year Aryan empire lays in ruins. Hitler places a glass cyanide capsule between his teeth and points a loaded service pistol at his right temple. Then, smugly believing he has both evaded capture and escaped all accountability for his crimes, he bites down and pulls the trigger. He is wrong!
The Last Way Station begins moments after Hitler's successful suicide, when the Fuhrer finds himself mysteriously transported to a numbingly cold, solitary holding cell in the afterworld. There, he meets his caseworker, a supernatural being tasked with helping him face, and work through, his sins. The caseworker explains that Hitler will remain in solitary confinement indefinitely, as he prepares his soul for eventual return to the material world. The method, Hitler learns, involves seeking enlightenment through physically embodying his victims and then personally reliving the atrocities committed against them in his name.
This speculative, historical fantasy narrative explores Hitler's psychology, the psychology of evil and asks, "What, if anything, constitutes fitting punishment for the 'super evil?'"
This book had its origins in a simple, but nagging question I asked myself. When someone commits crimes against humanity on the scale of a Hitler, or a Stalin or a Mao, murdering tens of millions, can any punishment be adequate? And, if he or she escapes punishment here, what punishment might be waiting in the world to come? What, if anything, would constitute 'fitting' divine retribution? In attempting to answer that question, I wrote this book which speculates not only about the nature of Hitler's evil but of evil in general. (It also has a bit of a surprise ending.)
"The Last Way Station is a cleverly written allegory about Hitler's final journey to hell. It is an eerie, but instructive, tale with a killer ending! Highly recommended."
Mark Woodburn, UK, author of Winston and Me.
Evil Stops at The Last Way Station