Inge Auerbacher Read online

  On November 8, 1923, Hitler held a rally in a Munich beer hall and called for a Nazi revolution against the Bavarian government. The following day he attempted to seize power. This event became known as the Beer Hall Putsch, which means revolution. Hitler was arrested for treason and sentenced to five years in prison. He only served nine months of his prison term. During his time in prison, he put his ideas into a book called Mein Kampf, or My Struggle.

  Many Germans were enchanted by Hitler’s magnetism and regarded him as their savior. He made it clear in Mein Kampf what he would do to create a new Germany. He intended to establish a New Order (the Third Reich) that would last a thousand years. Hitler said that Germany must rid itself of all Communists and Jews, whom he considered enemies of the state. He held a special hatred for the Jews and singled them out to bear the blame for all of Germany’s troubles. Hitler believed the Jews as a race were inferior to the Aryan (German) “Master Race.” Pure Aryans, he contended, were large-boned, blond, and blue-eyed, although Hitler himself was short and dark-haired. He believed that all Jews had to be eliminated because their blood was inferior to that of the German Aryans. He said Jewish blood would pollute the “master race.” The truth is all blood types occur in all races and all nations. Hitler’s brand of anti-Semitism would be the worst ever seen anywhere.

  After Hitler was released from prison, he convinced the government that his party would respect the law. He rose steadily to power and gained support from labor unions, business, industry, and agriculture. In the New Order the swastika, or twisted cross, became the symbol of the Nazi Party.

  In 1930 Hitler’s brown-shirted storm troopers, or Sturmabteilung (SA), marched through the streets with the Nazi swastika flag, singing, “Today we rule Germany, tomorrow the world!”

  On January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the ailing President von Hindenburg, who died eighteen months later. After von Hindenburg’s death, Hitler abolished the presidency and made himself the absolute ruler, or Fuehrer, of the nation. Crowds cheered him with cries of “Heil, Hitler,” which means Hail, Hitler. The Weimar Republic, which had lasted from 1918 to 1933, was over.

  From the start, Hitler’s government was based on lies and deception. Hitler had a secret police called the Gestapo and a special security force known as the SS, for Schutzstaffel, also called the Blackshirts. He named Josef Goebbels chief of propaganda, assigning him to spread his doctrine, but Hitler himself was an excellent speaker and influenced both young and old. Hermann Goering became second in command to Hitler. Rudolf Hess was Hitler’s secretary, and Heinrich Himmler became the party’s chief executioner.

  Two themes dominated Hitler’s dictatorship from beginning to end: Lebensraum, the belief that Germany needed more land and was entitled to invade her neighbors in order to get it; and Judenfrage, the theory that the entire Jewish race had to be eliminated. During the Hitler regime, the Nazis did their best to carry these ideas to their murderous extremes. Anti-Semitism became official government policy.

  CHAPTER 4

  The Stages of Destruction

  The first stage in Hitler’s plahned destruction of the Jews, from 1933 to 1938, was to deprive Jews in Germany of all rights. Decrees followed one another in rapid succession. The first decree was for a one-day boycott of Jewish shops and businesses. Then the ritual slaughter of animals in accordance with Jewish dietary laws was forbidden. There were public burnings of books written by Jews. The first German concentration camp—Dachau, located near Munich—was established in 1933.

  Between 1933 and 1935 most Jewish teachers, public servants, and professionals lost their jobs. On August 2, 1934, Hitler was named president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The Third Reich had become a reality. On September 15, 1935, the so-called Nuremberg Laws, which were anti-Jewish racial laws, came into effect. Jews could no longer be German citizens. Those of mixed Jewish and Aryan backgrounds were called Mischlinge, or half-breeds, and were subjected to the same harsh laws. Jews were no longer permitted to fly the German flag. In 1938, Germany put its dream of world domination into action by annexing Austria. The takeover of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia followed soon afterward.

  On July 6, 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States of America invited people from thirty-three nations to meet at Evian, France. Thirty-two nations sent representatives to this conference to discuss how they could aid political refugees who wanted to emigrate from Germany and Austria. These refugees were mainly Jews, whose lives were becoming unbearable in those countries. The Evian Conference failed. A German newspaper ran this headline: “Jews for Sale—Who Wants Them? No One!”

  IF ONLY

  They met at Evian on Geneva’s shore,

  Holding the key to freedom’s door.

  Thirty-two nations claimed open mind,

  They saw the light; yet acted blind.

  If only!

  Talking for days; finding excuse,

  Leaving us prey to mounting abuse.

  In humanity’s sea we were adrift,

  Our doom would be violent and swift.

  If only!

  How many lives could have been spared,

  Had one FREE nation really cared?

  Human beings offered for sale,

  Our cries rose up to no avail.

  If only!

  We still feel the pain and we weep,

  This nightmare will not let us sleep.

  A page in history; one must learn,

  Yesterday us, tomorrow your turn?

  If only, if only!

  On November 7, 1938, Herschel Grynszpan, a seventeen-year-old Polish Jewish student, walked into the German embassy in Paris and shot Ernst vom Rath, a minor German official. Grynszpan had been angered by the forced deportation of his parents from Germany to Poland. The Grynszpans, like many other Polish Jews, had lived in Germany for a long time without seeking citizenship and now were mercilessly thrown out of the country. Vom Rath died two days later on November 9, 1938.

  This incident triggered a nationwide riot in Germany and Austria on the night of November 9, 1938. Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, continued for two days. Almost all Jewish houses of worship were put to the torch. Jewish homes and businesses were looted and destroyed. Many Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Those who resisted were shot.

  Soon afterward, Jews were forbidden to attend German schools and to own property or businesses. The Nazi scheme was to make conditions for the Jews impossible by keeping them from making a living. This tactic, they hoped, would drive the Jews out of Germany.

  Many Jews managed to leave Germany and Austria, but most of those who lived in Eastern Europe were stranded. Those Jews who remained in Germany, in spite of all humiliation, were still attached to the country they had lived in for so many years. Most of them thought this, too, would pass, not recognizing the danger they were facing. When they finally were ready to leave, they found that the doors of the outside world would not open. Escape routes were blocked because of immigration quota systems, unemployment, and general apathy in the countries of the free world.

  On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. World War II had begun. Hitler, drunk with power, told his soldiers: “Close your eyes to pity! Act brutally!” His armies would conquer many countries in Europe before his defeat by the Allies in 1945. The fate of the remaining Jews in Europe was sealed. The Nazis were planning total extermination. The term Holocaust, which means complete destruction by fire, is often used when speaking of this period of slaughter and brutality.

  The extermination of the Jews took place in stages. At first the Nazis resettled the Jews into ghettos and concentration camps, where many died of starvation and disease. The able-bodied were often forced to perform slave labor. The largest ghettos were in Poland, where many of Europe’s Jews lived. On November 15, 1940, the Warsaw Ghetto, containing approximately 500,000 Jews, was sealed off from the outside world.

  Map of Europe sho
wing how far Nazi power extended.

  Map of Europe showing the position of some of the concentration and extermination camps.

  In March 1941, Adolf Eichmann was appointed head of the Gestapo section for Jewish affairs. His job was to speed up the extermination. After September 1941, all German Jews over the age of six were required to sew a large yellow Star of David on the left breast of their clothing, and were forbidden to walk in public without it.

  As the Nazi hordes marched farther east, more Jews came under their control. Special death squads called Einsatzgruppen rounded up the Jews, forced them to dig their own graves, and then shot them. By the beginning of 1942, these squads had killed close to 1.4 million people.

  Prisoners arrive at the Small Fortress at Terezin. They must pass through the gate with the inscription—“Arbeit macht Frei.”

  The elimination of the Jews was not going fast enough for Hitler, however. Cheaper and quicker methods of killing were needed. At the Wannsee Conference of January 20, 1942, the Nazi leaders worked on the details of the Final Solution, the plan to kill all of Europe’s Jews. The concentration camps and ghettos were eventually to be liquidated. Their surviving population would be sent to extermination camps. The largest of these was Auschwitz in Poland. This camp was equipped with poison-gas chambers and crematoria, ovens in which the bodies were burned. Four million people died in Auschwitz. Most of them were Jews.

  The Germans tried to hide their intention of murder. They used terms like umgesiedelt (resettled) instead of deported, and they hung signs saying “Arbeit macht Frei” (work means freedom), over the gates of the camps. When prisoners entered an extermination camp, a flick of a finger by a Nazi doctor selected an individual for a life of hard labor and starvation or for immediate death. Those who were sentenced to die were forced to enter the “showers,” which actually were gas chambers. They were given a piece of soap and an SS officer told them to breathe deeply. He said it would help their lungs to stay healthy by disinfecting them and would keep them from getting sick. Within a short time only their ashes would remain.

  CHAPTER 5

  My Story

  I remember well that November day when Papa and Grandpa were sent to the Dachau concentration camp. It was Kristallnacht. Grandma and Grandpa had come to visit us in Kippenheim and were caught with us in the unforgettable terror. How thankful we were to welcome my father and grandfather home again a few weeks later. They spoke quietly about having been beaten and mistreated in that awful place, saying, “The child must not hear these things.” Soon afterward, Papa lost his textile business.

  It was time to leave Germany, but where could we go? Most nations of the free world were closing their doors. In May 1939, we packed our belongings and sold our house. We left our village and moved in with my grandparents in Jebenhausen. This was meant to be a short stay, since we still hoped to find a way of leaving Germany. Grandpa soon succumbed to a broken heart. He died from a combination of illness and a disappointment in the country he loved.

  The village of Jebenhausen.

  Inge’s grandparents’ house in Jebenhausen.

  Grandma, Inge and Mama at Grandpa’s grave in Jebenhausen, 1940.

  Inge with doll Marlene and girlfriend in Jebenhausen, 1940.

  Inge with her grandparents and favorite doll carriage.

  Even so, some of my happiest memories of my childhood go back to the two years we spent in Jebenhausen. My grandparents were the only remaining Jewish family in this village of one thousand inhabitants. The other children were friendly and had no bad feelings toward me. I became their leader as we marched up and down the street singing the popular songs of this time, which often contained Nazi propaganda. The frenzy of the day was infectious. We did not understand the implications of these songs in our childhood innocence.

  Even though there was little anti-Jewish feeling in Jebenhausen, my grandparents had always practiced religion with caution. According to the Jewish religion, the forty year period during which Moses and his flock wandered in the desert is commemorated through the Feast of the Tabernacles, or Succos. This festival calls for a symbolic hut (a succo) to be built of reeds, tree branches, and grass. The interior is decorated with colorful ornaments and the fruits, vegetables, and flowers of fall. The roof of the attic room in my grandparents’ house was lifted off and the room converted into a succo. Although the room could not be seen, after my grandpa died, we did not dare to celebrate even in this secret way.

  Every day new restrictive decrees were announced. Jews were compelled to give up all their gold and silver. They had to take Israel or Sara as a middle name to make them recognizable as Jews. My name became Inge Sara Auerbacher. Some of the villagers of Jebenhausen were not alarmed by these anti-Semitic laws and continued their friendship with us, even though Christians were forbidden to associate with Jews. A few of the farmers continued to give us food.

  Our beloved Christian friend, Therese, who had worked as a servant in my grandparents’ house for over twenty years, placed food behind my grandfather’s gravestone at night for us to pick up in the morning. She was able to save a few of our things until after the war, including two family photo albums and some of our prayer books. The pictures shown in this book were among the items she kept for us. By associating with us, the people who helped us risked their lives. They were very brave.

  The Jewish school at the Jewish Community Center in Stuttgart.

  Jewish children were no longer permitted to attend regular schools. I had to walk two miles to Goeppingen, a larger neighboring town, and then travel one hour by train to attend classes in Stuttgart. This was the only Jewish school in the province. I needed special travel permission papers for this trip, since Jews were no longer allowed to move freely.

  This trip became even more hazardous, when, on September 1, 1941, Jews were made to sew the yellow Star of David on their clothes as a distinguishing mark. On the star the word Jude, which means Jew in German, was written in Hebrew-like letters. Papa told me to sit in such a position on the train so as to “naturally” cover my yellow badge, even though it was strictly forbidden to hide that “mark of shame.” This was not always possible, and other children taunted and heckled me. Some people took pity on me, though. One day a Christian woman left a bag of rolls next to my seat. She must have felt sorry for the little Jewish six-year-old child traveling such a long distance by herself.

  The yellow Star of David with the word Jude meaning Jew in German.

  The “Final Solution,” the Nazi plan to liquidate all the Jews in Europe, began for us in 1941. Rumors of our “resettlement” were the talk of the day. Many people made frantic attempts to leave Germany, but to no avail. All borders were closed to us.

  Deportations to the “East” began in late 1941. One morning, my grandmother, my parents, and I received our orders for transport. Papa was a disabled veteran of World War I and used this as a plea for us to be spared. He succeeded, but we were not able to help my grandmother. She and most of my classmates were sent to Riga, Latvia. I shall never forget our tearful good-byes as we watched her descend the stairs in the Stuttgart railroad station until she was out of view. I would never see her again. Almost all of these unfortunate people became victims of the Einsatzgruppen, in a forest near Riga. They had to dig their own graves before they were shot.

  We were forced out of my grandparents’ home in Jebenhausen and relocated in one of the “Jewish houses” in Goeppingen. My parents were sent to work for very little money in a women’s undergarment factory. My school in Stuttgart was closed before I completed the first grade.

  The war was in full gear in 1941. We were awakened many nights by the screaming air raid sirens, which always badly frightened me. Most of the Allied bombs at this time were dropped far from where we were living, however.

  DEPORTATION

  It was a morning like no other,

  The deadly letter was opened by Mother.

  She screamed out with a loud cry:

  “It is
true, we can no more deny,

  We are no longer citizens with a name,

  Now a transport number replaces the same.”

  Too long we had closed danger’s door,

  Hoping for life as it was before.

  The document showed no cause or reason,

  Mama packed up clothes for every season.

  No statement of where we were going,

  Rumors of shipment to a camp were growing.

  We were herded to a gathering place,

  For resettlement designated for our “race,”

  Packed together on the sealed train,

  Would we ever see our home again?

  We passed through an unfamiliar countryside,

  Two days later loud shouts ended our ride.

  We had arrived at the Bohušovice station,

  “Drop everything—march—no confrontation!”

  Guards surrounded us with whip and gun,

  Fatigue and fear plagued everyone.

  The old and infirm fell to the ground,

  And pierced the air with a shrieking sound.

  Two miles later Terezin was in sight,

  Its high walls would soon shut out the light.

  Searched and left with only one dress,

  We were sent to the Dresden Fortress.

  Here we bedded down on the bare floor,

  Wondering what else was for us in store.

  Night had come with its enveloping curtain,