At the end of Worlds War II in 1945, the last person to be seen wearing the Teutonic Knight armor was Nazi Captain Friedrick Fausbaum of the SS Corp and Axis Force. just prior to this, Hitler had recalled all of Axis Force to his bunker and charged each Axis Force member, including Fausbaum, with conspiracy against the Fuhrer.  Fausbaum was stripped of his armor and executed minutes after the charges were stated. Fausbaum's armor's engineers were also executed.  The armor, along with the engineers' blueprints, notes and designs for a new version of the armor, were placed in a hermetically sealed hardened steel crate and eventually taken to a secret underground site in Nuremberg, Germany, where for decades they rested. Only one person left alive knew of the secret underground base in Nuremberg and he was one of the troopers that unloaded the crate back in 1945.  This man secreted his way to Switzerland at war's end and took on a fake identity there as a an ex-Austrian mechanic. It would be decades later before this man's secrets were revealed.

 

In 1968 in Switzerland, a repatriated German engineer who was helping build Switzerland's first new smelting factory (since World War II), arrived at a tavern to have a drink. His name was Hans Freber.  As a baby, Hans and his mother were spirited away from Nazi Germany in 1939 and hid in Lithuania with relatives there. Months later, however, Lithuania itself became occupied by Nazi Germany, leaving the small Baltic nation under Nazi control. In a mad attempt to get her baby out of the war, she was able to get a Swedish dock worker, Johanne Sabon, to take her son, Hans, and take care of it in hopes of one day being reunited.

 

That day never came.

 

Hans' mother was killed in Lithuania in 1940.

 

Hans new merchant marine foster father brought him home to Sweden where he and his wife, Ingrid, raised Hans.  Luckily, the war never touched them in Sweden and as such, Hans grew up quite nicely.  At age 15, Hans was told by his foster parents of his mother's fate (after trying for years to track down Hans' mother). Lucky for Hans, he was allowed to regain his German heritage and citizenship, and as such, when he was old enough, went to college in Germany to become an engineer. He graduated summa cum laude and make his foster parents very happy.

 

With plenty of jobs in Germany for rebuilding the nation, Hans became a very busy guy, but always spent time learning...and practicing sword fighting, as his foster brother, Corbin Sabon, did, with a sword. Hans' foster brother was a stage actor who did Shakespeare plays and was used primarily as the 'stand-in' guard and/or swordsman in the plays. Corbin and Hans grew up together well, however, Hans skills in engineering made Corbin quite jealous, especially when actors like Corbin got paid little and engineers like Hans got paid a lot. Regardless, Hans work look him all over Europe...and eventually to one particular place in Switzerland where we continue our story from earlier.

​

While eating and drinking at the Swiss tavern, a drunk old man, dressed like a mechanic, was ranting to a couple of teens about 'being careful around him' and that he was a 'dangerous man' who knew where he'd hidden priceless Nazi treasures, but was unable to cross the border into Germany to get at it due to his 'fake Swiss citizenship'. Initially, Hans didn't think much about what the man said in his rantings...until the old man mentioned the building where the 'secret' treasures were hidden. It was a building that was next on Hans' list of derelict buildings that was to be torn down and rebuilt in Nuremberg.

 

Intrigued over this claim, Hans went and bought the old man a beer and a bowl of soup. The old man was more than happy to carry on in more detail about the treasure's location and what was in the secret locked chamber. He even pulled out a key from his pocket and told Hans that 'this key is the only key left to open the vault of treasures'.  Hans was even more excited of the prospect of unveiling this stolen Nazi treasure, but wasn't about to steal a key from the old man; it wasn't right...well, it wasn't right, until the old man uttered what he was during the war - a Nazi soldier.  With that, Hans decided that he needed to be the one to find this treasure before some ex-Nazi did and ensure those stolen treasures got back to where they belonged...and maybe earn a reward in the process.

​

After a dozen more steins of beer, the old man was passed out in the nearly vacant tavern, allowing Hans to easily take the key from the old man (it was easy...the old man left the key on the table, after all).  With that, Hans paid the bill and immediately drove to Nuremberg, Germany...in search of treasure.

 

After a few calls and getting a hotel room, Hans drove to the place the old man had mentioned; the one due for demolition. Hans, as part of his actual job and duties, was to survey the place, although officially he was over 3 weeks early. Regardless, he surveyed the site anyway. It took him two days to finally find a way to the secret underground location the old man had mentioned. Once there, Hans used the old man's key, and although the lock and vault door were a bit rusty, the lock unlocked and the vault was opened to reveal...TREASURE. LOTS OF TREASURE.

 

Over 100 million Marks of valuable art, relics, antiques and precious metals were found in the abandoned concrete underground Nazi lab and workshop...including the case the old man talked about - the case with the the Nazi Teutonic Knight's armor and engineering documents. When Hans opened the case, he found the armor, weapons and plans in perfect condition.

 

Before Hans notified the authorities about the rest of the Nazi stolen treasures, he hauled off the case with the Teutonic Knight's armor, weapons and plans and decided he was going to keep that for himself...just in case he didn't get the reward or recognition was hoping to get.  No one else other than Hans knew about the case.  Hans himself drove it to his home in Berlin and placed the case in his garage under a cover.  He then drove back to Nuremberg to alert the authorities of his 'treasure find'.  Amazingly, the German chancellery awarded Hans 5% of the value of the find; a whopping 5 million Marks, all paid by the German government (and the United Nations).  Hans was now a millionaire overnight.  As such, Hans no longer needed to work...however, he now decided to use part of his new money to restore the Teutonic Knight's armor and maybe sell that to a museum...for a price.

 

Hans worked for months on the armor, using the revised design documents and plans left in the crate. Using his knowledge of engineering, he started adding improvements to the armor's design, making it more durable, lighter and far more agile to wear.  Hans regaled in  working the armor into a new, updated version, even so much so that he even painted over the old Nazi paint and gave it a modern look with the colors of their new, modern German flag. No longer desiring to give it to a museum, he now considered this a 'work of art' and a 'personal masterpiece' of modern engineering.  As such, he wore the armor routinely and even started practicing with the armor's original sword.  Although heavy, the armor helped augment the weight. As a result, Hans' swordsmanship actually got pretty good. He trained for weeks with the old sword, as well as the newly updated shield he'd built, using books to aid him in how to be a better armored swordsman.

 

One night, Hans got a crazy idea: he wanted to wear the armor out on Halloween and show off in it to others. That particular forthcoming Halloween night, Hans was about to become a new German superhero.

 

At a high--end Halloween party at a rich neighbor's house, Hans wore his Teutonic Knight armor and was the center of attention.  Everyone kept asking who he was under the mask, and Hans told them he'd tell them at the end of the night's festivities. As such, he made a huge impression, with lots of photographs taken of his with the party guests. While everyone was cavorting, a gunshot went off with a man in a Halloween mask breaking away from the crowd, all with a woman yelling calling him an assassin. Hans, near the door, stepped in front of the assassin and in one swing of his arm, knocked the assassin back almost six feet. The assassin took out his gun and shot at Hans' armor, but the bullets bounced off the armor. Hans reached out, grabbed the gun from the assassin and lifted him up, with the assassin's mask and wig dropping to the floor. The assassin, dressed as a man, was actually a woman; a woman who began yelling in Russian. Hans kept her restrained until the police showed up.  When asked who Hans was behind the helmet, Hans said 'The NEW Teutonic Knight', to which the crowd cheered him. Hans left the party and walked into the woods, taking the long walk home. Luckily, no one followed him...all except one person - Damon Kaufmann.

​

Damon Kaufmann was a rich government employee for what was called the West German Ministry of Agriculture, Division 8. In all actuality, Damon Kaufmann was a manager of a secret organization of West German superheroes; superheroes that were considered 'illegal' in West (and East) Germany. These superheroes he managed performed classified missions for the West German government that no other 'legal' organization could. There heroes were obviously considered classified and covert and as such, were kept hidden in their government HQ basement, only coming out in public in disguise or under classified aliases.  For years, Kaufmann ran this group, and now, during one Halloween night in 1969, he was about to recruit one more.

​

Hans arrived home that Halloween night, followed shortly by a knock on his door. Damon Kaufmann introduced himself, and hours later, after a long introduction and discussion about Division 8, Hans agreed to 'see what this is all about' before he committed to it.  Days later, Hans and Damon met at Division 8 where Hans was introduced to what was unofficially called "The Teutonic League". Being the "Teutonic Knight", they all agreed that the fit was perfect and that using the upgraded and converted WWII armor would be a good vehicle to usher in a new German symbol that, one day, might better signify a bridge between German history and real modern day heroes rather than a reintroduction of a Nazi propaganda machine, which was considered illegal in modern Germany. Nonetheless, Hans was happy to join Division 8 as thenew Teutonic Knight and quickly became one of the team's most iconic fighters.

 

For the next few decades, Hans worked with Division 8 and Damon at the 'Teutonic Knight (II)' performing hundreds of classified and secretive missions for West Germany, sometimes working with other international organizations such as the CIA, MI-6 and/or Interpol, but all on a 'must know' classified level, swearing others they'd encountered to secrecy. During the time, he'd had his armor and weapons upgraded several times, allowing for dozens of new technical abilities with his armor. At times, he became team leader, but for the most part, he disliked leading his team on covert missions, especially after losing a few men and women on missions he was in charge of. Couple that with being married, having children and trying to raise them while keeping a secret identity made for an even more stressful life than a normal man would desire. Regardless, he kept on with being the Teutonic Knight in the hope of continuing to do 'the right thing' and help his nation move forward, covering the sins of the armor's past...and trying to make his foster parents proud of the man he'd become, even though they knew nothing of his secret in being the new Teutonic Knight. Even though there any hundreds of exquisite stories about his and his team's experiences during the Cold War, we'll leave FUTURE storytelling to fill in the gaps where needed there!

 

During the Cold War, random reports and sightings led to media speculation that there were German superheroes about, working in the shadows, however nothing tied Hans, the Teutonic Knight or these other West German 'heroes' to the German government or Division 8.  Eventually, the day arrived when West and East Germany's walls came down and the reunification of Germany became a new reality.

​

By 1990, Division 8, just like the East German's STASI police, were deemed untenable in light of German unification. As such, Division 8 was shutdown and with it, a well needed return to normal life for Hans, who was now 52 years old, but felt 65 thanks to the stressful secretive hero life he'd led. With that, Hans went back to engineering school and earned his professorship in Architectural Engineering and Metallurgic Processing, getting a job with the new reunified German government as a building design manager for the devastated and dilapidated ex-East German side of the nation; an area that was over 40 years behind the rest of the world's technology and design. Hans worked on literally rebuilding his newly reunified German nation but still was not allowed to tell anyone of his secret involvement with Division 8 or that he was the Teutonic Knight. Because of all the government modification the government had done to Hans' Teutonic Knight armor, it became government property and as such was vaulted in the old Division 8's sub-basement that had been locked up since 1990. Hans was happy to not have to wear it again and continued to enjoy a life with his family...that is, until the the Soltan Star Empire decided to invade Earth in January 2000.

​

The Soltan Invasion of 2000 was devastating to Germany. It's major cities were immediately occupied by tens of thousands of Soltan troops. The meager NATO-provided German military was decimated in mere minutes into the invasion and thanks to the German law still in effect of 'no superheroes or super-powered beings', there was nothing prepared or organized to defend against anything of this caliber in Germany...except those that were once part of Division 8.  Damon Kaufmann, long since retired, recalled any Division 8 hero or worker back to service (or that was still alive) to go to an old off-the-books safehouse located deep in the Black Forest. From there, Hans and the remaining ex-Division 8 personnel and heroes mounted a resistance against the Soltans, attacking their forces, attempting to take back Germany. Hans, reunited with his Teutonic Knight armor (the ex-Division 8 personnel brought it back with them and upgraded the armor significantly to take on the Soltans) and fought hard. Hans son, Heinrich Freber, also fought with him especially when Hans' wife, Heinrich's mother, Agnes, died at the hands of the Soltans.  Hans as the Teutonic Knight fought long and hard over the next few months against the Soltans, however, before the invasion ended, Hans died protecting his son from a Soltan trooper.

​

After the Soltans were driven off of Earth, the world was told of the sacrifices of Division 8 and the heroes that were unofficially called the "Teutonic League".  Hans identity as the Teutonic Knight was made public and a massive memorial was made in honor of his service to Germany. During the ceremony, Hans' foster parents were in attendance as was Hans' only remaining child, Heinrich.  The Teutonic Knight armor that Hans wore is, today, in a special museum dedicated to Division 8 in Berlin, Germany. The Teutonic Knight's legacy, however, would live on for another generation.

​