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When I Was A German, 1934-1945
An Englishwoman In Nazi Germanyby Christabel Bielenberg$21.55 new if you follow the buymycrap link to amazon.com, or, free at your library.This was such a great story it consumed my entire weekend. It is an autobiographical account of a British woman who married a German law student, changed citizenship, moved to Germany, and started a family. That's timing for you, and it makes for an intriguing read.
Early on, she tells the story of her neighborhood gardener, who painstakingly saved his meager earnings to buy his own house and marry. Then the Weimar inflation struck, savings were lost, unemployment hit hard, there was no money to marry, and Jewish business owners moved in. Can you imagine how the gardener might have felt about his new customers? Multiply that by many, many Germans. (Who will be moving into our repossessed McMansions and strip malls?)The author also talks about the increasing tightening, the imposition of more and more rules and laws. Five years prison, and up to the death penalty if you're found listening to a foreign broadcast. "Voluntary" contributions that must be made to support the party.
And the food? "(a)s soon as food rationing was introduced, everything that was not on the ration cards disappeared like magic from every shop counter and out of every shop window. . . ."German women, your Leader and your country trust you." Such pious slogans. . . made no impression whatsoever on the agile Hausfrau hell-bent on a fruitful scavenge."Imagine your life, with food rationing. How would that work here? Debit cards? Implanted chips? Drivers licenses? Can we assume the same level of black marketeering? How long do you think your beans and rice are going to tide you over? For eleven years? And that assumes no confiscations, no tattletales, no blackmail, and no sympathy for anyone else.Frau Dokter Bielenberg (Christabel) also tells about how difficult it is to hold views that differ from the view of the official government, the papers that must be signed vowing loyalty so that you can obtain employment, the compromises that have to be made in order to live.
Somehow, this reminds me of work, where you have to be careful to keep your radical mouth shut. She does find her "group", the people she can safely talk to and share her political opinions, and they work together to keep each other safe, and promote the idea that not all Germans support Hitler. And in another exercise, what would you do if a fugitive from the government came to your house begging for food and shelter? Knowing that if you provide that, it could cost you your life, and the lives of your family? How are you going to decide? What does Christabel choose to do? The daily struggles of Christabel and her family are remarkable, and when you pair those up with the larger background of the turmoil in Germany, it makes for an amazing story. After you read the library's copy, seriously consider buying your own. It will earn a place on your bookshelf because by the time you finish her account, you will be convinced of the necessity and value of finding your tribe, your village, of having people who are completely worthy of trust and who are genuinely concerned for your survival.