Mars

Mars is the most prominent symbol of Nazi Germany's technological and ideological ambition in the novel's alternate history. While the Japanese Empire remains bogged down in terrestrial colonial ventures in South America, the Reich has successfully launched interplanetary rockets to Mars, establishing a colony. This achievement is not merely a scientific triumph but a central pillar of Nazi propaganda, a diversion from economic and moral catastrophes, and a domain promised to the SS as a reward for their support of Operation Dandelion. The planet thus represents the terrifying, psychotic scale of Nazi ambition, a cosmic stage for their madness that leaves the rest of the world, including the Japanese, in a state of technological and psychological awe and dread.

Nazi Colonization and Technological Superiority

The novel establishes Mars as a realm of exclusive German achievement. The Reich's interplanetary rockets, which leave from "Festung Europa," are made of advanced, heat-resistant plastics developed by I.G. Farben, a technology the Japanese desperately seek but cannot replicate. The Pacific States of America, by contrast, have nothing of this sort, relying on natural fibers and pot metals. This technological gap is a source of profound anxiety for characters like Nobusuke Tagomi, who cringes at the thought of the German all-synthetic automobile, the D.S.S., which sells for a mere six hundred dollars in PSA currency. The German rockets are a common sight, with Juliana Frink watching one shoot across the Colorado sky, a daily reminder of the Reich's power and the insignificance of her own life in Canon City. The rockets are also a mode of transport for the elite, as seen when Mr. Baynes arrives in San Francisco on a Lufthansa rocket from Stockholm, a journey of only forty-five minutes.

A Diversion from Economic and Moral Ruin

The Martian colonization is portrayed as a grand, frenzied diversion from the Reich's internal problems. The Japanese Foreign Office analysis, as relayed to Tagomi, points out that for all their thrilling import, the rocket voyages to Mars and Venus have yielded nothing of economic worth. The program is a "sleight-of-hand business" that keeps the German economy together by distracting the populace with "circus-like" achievements. This is contrasted with the horrific "Final Solution of the African Problem," a genocidal project that has left the continent a "huge empty ruin." The Martian adventure is thus a tool to divert world attention from the catastrophic failure of Nazi racial policy in Africa. Frank Frink, in his bitter satire, imagines German officials on Mars complaining about the weather and looking for a place to build a concentration camp, directly linking the space program to the regime's murderous ideology.

The Domain of the SS and a Prize in Internal Power Struggles

Mars is not just a scientific outpost but a political prize. In the internal power struggle following Martin Bormann's death, the administration of space colonization—Mars, Luna, and Venus—is promised to the SS and SD as their exclusive domain. This is a key concession to win their support for Operation Dandelion, the planned nuclear attack on Japan. Rudolf Wegener reveals that the police, led by Reinhard Heydrich, were turned down for authority over the East but were given the space program to manage. This makes Mars a symbol of the cynical, bureaucratic division of the spoils of a future war, a reward for the most malignant elements of German society. The planet is thus a stage for the Reich's psychotic ambitions, a place where the abstract, cosmic madness of the Nazi leadership is made manifest, as Wegener reflects on the "dreadful waste of humans" and the "frenzied and demented" plans to conquer the planets.

Narrative and Thematic Significance

Mars functions as a constant, distant counterpoint to the terrestrial struggles of the characters. For Frank Frink, the German rockets represent a terrifying future where the "ancient gigantic cannibal near-man" rules the world once more, a master of the universe. For Juliana, the rockets are a symbol of a world that has passed her by, a frontier for the "pale skinny Nordic SS fairies" she despises. The planet is the ultimate expression of the Nazi ideology that Robert Childan admires—the "dream that stirs one," the "oldest yearning of mankind" for glory. Yet, the novel undercuts this admiration by revealing the Martian project as a hollow, destructive fantasy. The planet is a place where the Reich's madness is projected onto a cosmic scale, a final, terrifying destination for the ideology that has already devastated Earth. The oracle's consultation by Frank Frink, which connects the fate of his small jewelry business to the vast, interconnected universe, includes the exploration of the planets as part of the same moment, linking the personal to the cosmic and the terrifying.