Hiding and Surviving - Growing Up under National Socialism | DW Documentary

Nov 6, 2024 | "Everyone who survived has a story that you simply can't believe.” Charlotte Knobloch survived the Holocaust - because farmer's wife Kreszentia Hummel passed her off as her own, illegitimate child and kept her hidden on her farm.

Charlotte Neuland was born on 29 October 1932. She was born into a dark time: Just three months after her birth, Adolf Hitler came to power. Once the National Socialists were in charge, years of terror ensued. Boycotts against Jewish businesses and professional bans on Jews, including Charlotte's father, the established Munich lawyer Siegfried "Fritz” Neuland, were just the beginning. As time went on, life for Jewish people became increasingly threatened. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 denounced and banned relationships between Jews and non-Jews. Charlotte's mother, Margarethe Neuland, left the family. She had converted to Judaism but could not withstand the pressure from the Gestapo. Charlotte's grandmother, Albertine Neuland, now became the girl's most important caregiver. On the night of 9-10 November 1938, six-year-old Charlotte witnessed the November pogroms: Jewish stores were destroyed and looted in front of her eyes, people were beaten, abused and taken away.

When the first deportations from Munich to the concentration camps began in 1941, Siegfried "Fritz” Neuland took his daughter to the deeply religious Catholic farmer's wife Kreszentia Hummel in Middle Franconia. With her help, Charlotte Neuland survived the National Socialist dictatorship.

Now Charlotte Knobloch, she’s President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria and former President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. In this film, she tells viewers about her own life - and a past that is full of fear and loss. Despite all her devastating experiences, she would go on to become one of the most important figures representing Jewish life in the German-speaking world. She has dedicated her life to the fight for peace, equality and democracy.

Rise Of The Fourth Reich

Marine Le Pen embarrassée par la "mauvaise blague" de son père
REUTERS FRANCE: PARIS - Marine Le Pen voit une mauvaise blague dans les propos de son père liant les initiales de Nicolas Sarkozy au national socialisme et comparant le meeting de la Concorde de l'UMP aux rassemblements nazis de Nuremberg.

Invitée vendredi sur BFM-TV/RMC, la candidate à la présidentielle du Front national a dit regretter cette déclaration, tout en rappelant que le ministre de l'Intérieur, Claude Guéant, fidèle du président sortant, l'avait traitée de "nationale et socialiste." » | Gérard Bon, édité par Gilles Trequesser | vendredi 20 avril 2012

Hugo Boss Apologises for Founder's Nazi Past

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: German fashion house Hugo Boss has apologised for its Nazi connections as details of the strength of its support for the Third Reich emerge in a new biography of the company.

Designer Hugo Boss was the favoured tailor of Hitler and won the contract to supply Nazi forces with their uniforms.

After the war he argued that he had supported Hitler "to save the company" rather than because of any National Socialism ideology, but new research shows that he was in fact a loyal Nazi.

A new book publishes records that show that during the second world war [sic] the company used 140 forced workers kidnapped by the Gestapo from Poland.

At its clothes factory based in Metzingen, Baden-Wurttemberg the work force also included 40 French prisoners of war in its production of Wehrmacht uniforms.

"It is clear that Hugo F Boss did not only join the party because it led to contracts for uniform production, but also because he was a follower of National Socialism," wrote Roman Koester, an economic historian at the Bundeswehr University in Munich in his book Hugo Boss, 1924-1945. Read on and comment » | Fiona Govan | Wednesday, September 21, 2011

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: A Third Reich Past: Why I Cannot Answer Questions about My Grandfather » | An Essay by Ferdinand von Schirach | Friday, September 23, 2011

Pope Reflects on Life Under Nazi Rule As a Youth

Barack Obama Compared to Hitler and Lenin in Tea Party Billboard
THE TELEGRAPH: A roadside billboard created by a branch of the Tea Party in Iowa comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin has been condemned by other groups in the movement.

North Iowa Tea Party co-founder Bob Johnson said the sign highlighted what the group argues is Mr Obama's support for socialism. Photograph: The Telegraph
The North Iowa Tea Party began displaying the sign in Mason City last week. It shows photographs of Mr Obama, the German Nazi leader and Russian communist with the statement: "Radical leaders prey on the fearful & naive."

The words "Democratic Socialism" are featured over Mr Obama's picture, over Hitler's photo is "National Socialism" and over Lenin's head is "Marxist Socialism." The word "Change" – Mr Obama's campaign slogan – is included on each photo.

North Iowa Tea Party co-founder Bob Johnson said the sign highlighted what the group argues is Mr Obama's support for socialism. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Greece: Bail-out Money Is 'Reparation' for Second World War
THE TELEGRAPH: While high-finance will – or maybe not – save Greece, it is the low-ground that people both there and in Germany are scrabbling over to play the blame game.

Greece is already into a boycott of German goods and services, ranging from Miele fridges to VW cars to pharmaceutical products.

But it is the war, and the brutal German occupation of Greece, that really gets up the noses of Teutons whose leader pledged 22 billion euros this week to save them from themselves.

An altered picture from the 'Eleftheros Typos' newspaper showing the statue of Victoria in Berlin holding a swastika was the forerunner for Greeks to mention the war.

The mayor of Athens, Nikitas Kaklamanis, led the call for Germany to pay reparations for the conquest and occupation, saying; "You owe us 70 billion euros for the ruins you left behind."

Greece's deputy prime minister, Theodoros Pangalos, also dragged up the war, stating; "The Nazis took away the Greek gold that was in the Bank of Greece, they took away the Greek money and they never gave it back."

A Greek magazine also last month carried a 10-page article detailing for its readers Germany's Nazi past. >>> | Wednesday, May 05, 2010

The stones that were allegedly taken from the Berghof are thought by some to have been re-used in the construction of this roadside chapel. Others think they are not the same stones -- and are hoping the debate dies down soon. Photograph: Spiegel Online International
The Führer’s Flagstones: The Twisted Legacy of Hitler's Mountain Retreat
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: They may be simple flagstones, but they were once part of Adolf Hitler's mountain retreat in Obersalzberg. Now, a historian's claim that stones from the dictator's villa were used for the construction of a local chapel has many in the region up in arms.

It was a pleasant, dignified and very Bavarian celebration. There was a brass band, a group in lederhosen and dirndls, local dignitaries and even a close associate of the pope. All of them were there to attend the dedication of the Wegmacher chapel, a small roadside chapel in Obersalzberg, Adolf Hitler's mountain headquarters in the southeast corner of Germany.

Matthias Ferwagner, head of the building authority in the nearby town of Traunstein, told a touching story about a girl named Sophia who had cancer and placed daisies on the chapel's walls as a way of comforting her parents and how, shortly thereafter, the chapel was able to open its doors and fulfill its purpose of bestowing divine protection on Bavaria's road-construction workers and drivers.

Now, 13 years on, many of the guests who attended the dedication are starting to wish the chapel had never been built. It is difficult to ascertain, of course, whether the building is fulfilling is sacred function of protecting travelers. What is clear, however, is that the chapel is causing nothing but trouble in the secular world.

The red marble flagstones on the chapel's floor are now rumored to have an unpleasant past, and many locals fear that the nearly 10 square meters (108 square feet) of stone used to build it could become a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis and National Socialist die-hards, thereby creating a problem for the tourist industry serving the surrounding area.

The reason for this apprehension is a belief held by some that these flagstones may once have adorned the terrace of the Berghof, Adolf Hitler's mountainside retreat on the Obersalzberg, towering above the town of Berchtesgaden. Florian Beierl, a historian who has been looking into the history of the Berghof, is one of those who adheres to this idea.

Since Beierl went public with his theory in the International Herald Tribune in February, the chapel has been a major topic of discussion in the region. And now that some people are calling for the chapel to be demolished, local newspapers, Bavarian television stations and the online media have been debating whether Beierl should have just kept his mouth shut. In his defense, Beierl says that sweeping his suspicions under the rug would have gone against the seriousness called for when dealing with Germany's Nazi past. >>> Connie Neumann | Thursday, April 01, 2010

Nazi Victims' Mass Graves Found in Austria Under Football Pitch
THE TELEGRAPH: Two mass graves containing scores of people murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War have been found underneath an army football pitch in Austria, government officials said on Friday.

Some of the remains may be the bodies of US pilots shot down and imprisoned during the war.

Police Col. Rudolf Gollia, an interior ministry spokesman, said his ministry plans talks with the owners of the site to discuss exhumation.

The mass graves are located in bomb craters underneath the army sports field in the southern city of Graz. Officials said they contain about 70 bodies of victims killed by the SS to eliminate witnesses to Nazi atrocities shortly before Soviet troops arrived. >>> | Friday, March 12, 2010

The Mystery of Hitler's 'Spyclists'
Photo: BBC
BBC – Today Programme: Summer 1937. What could be more fitting in the cool afternoon of an English country lane than a group of cycling tourists steadily pedalling their way from one historic site to another, stopping to camp overnight in fields along the way.

The only problem was, that summer, some of those groups of teenage boys were Hitler Youth.

In an era without satellite photography, when detailed ordnance survey maps could be hard to come by and when tension in Europe was rising, MI5 were worried that this innocent cyclo-tourism was a cover for spying.

MI5 had been told that Hitler Youth groups visiting abroad were asked to complete a detailed questionnaire, including questions on terrain, population, and political views of the population.

They were asked to take photographs, especially of industry, and to get lists of names of all those taking part in anti-German movements. Read on (with audio) >>> Sanchia Berg | Monday, March 08, 2010

'Closet-Nazi' in Running for Austrian Presidency
THE TELEGRAPH: A far-Right candidate for Austria's presidential election has brought the country's dark past to the surface again, by denouncing a law banning Nazi groups and Holocaust denial.

Barbara Rosenkranz, a far-Right candidate for the upcoming Austrian presidential election. Photo: The Telegraph
Barbara Rosenkranz, 51, a regional leader of the Freedom Party (FPOe), looks likely to be the only candidate to run against the incumbent, President Heinz Fischer, on April 25.

But her comments supporting the scrapping of the tough prohibition law have renewed the debate about a heritage with which the country, which was under Nazi rule from 1938 to 1945, has never fully come to terms.

Austrian leaders and the press already fear for the country's image abroad.

Under the 1947 Verbotsgesetz law, anyone who seeks to set up a Nazi organisation, propagates Nazi ideology or denies Nazi crimes can be jailed for up to 20 years.

But Rosenkranz, a mother of 10 and the wife of an outspoken figure in Austria's far-Right scene, insists the law constitutes "an unnecessary restriction" and that, on the contrary, people should be allowed freedom of opinion.

In 2003, the European Court of Human Rights already allowed a journalist's description of her as a "closet-Nazi", noting that her attitude towards Nazism was ambiguous.

Such comments from a woman running for the country's highest office prompted scorching criticism from politicians of all colours, civil groups and the Catholic church.

Rosenkranz's own supporters did what they could to limit the damage.
"Somebody like this is not eligible for election," said Vienna's Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, while the Jewish community described her as "an embarrassment for Austria".

"Rosenkranz challenges the Republic's anti-Fascist foundation. That is unacceptable," added Norbert Darabos, the social democratic defence minister.

Meanwhile, Hans Dichand, publisher of the influential tabloid Kronen Zeitung, reversed his earlier position and urged Rosenkranz to "distance herself from all national socialist ideas", just days after he had called on voters to support her.

On Monday, Rosenkranz issued an affidavit saying, "I condemn outright the crimes of national socialism and categorically distance myself from the ideology of national socialism."

Nevertheless, she refused to answer journalists' questions on statements she had made last week in which she affirmed that denying the Holocaust came under "freedom of expression".

Last week, the leader of the FPOe, Heinz-Christian Strache, also attempted some damage control.

"Nobody in our party is talking about scrapping the prohibition law", he said. >>> Sim Sim Wissgott in Vienna for AFP | Monday, March 08, 2010

KRONEN ZEITUNG: Video anschauen – Barbara Rosenkranz distanziert sich von NS-Ideologie >>>

Barbara Rosenkranz distanziert sich von NS-Ideologie
KRONEN ZEITUNG: Präsidentschaftskandidatin Barbara Rosenkranz hat sich am Montagvormittag nach ihren umstrittenen Aussagen zum Verbotsgesetz öffentlich von der NS-Ideologie distanziert. In einer eidesstattlichen Erklärung beteuerte sie, "zu keinem Zeitpunkt die Grundwerte unserer Republik infrage gestellt" zu haben.

"So habe ich auch das Verbotsgesetz als Symbol für die Abgrenzung vom Nationalsozialismus niemals infrage gestellt und werde es auch nicht infrage stellen", sagte Rosenkranz in der eidesstattlichen Erklärung, zu der sie in der vergangenen Woche in einem "Krone"-Kommentar (siehe Infobox) aufgefordert worden war, weiter.

Die FPÖ-Kandidatin wies in ihrer Erklärung "jede Interpretation, dass ich dieses Gesetz abschaffen wolle, mit aller Entschiedenheit zurück. Für mich sind Demokratie, Freiheit und Menschenwürde die Fundamente meines Welt- und Menschenbildes und meiner politischen Arbeit. Ich verurteile daher aus Überzeugung die Verbrechen des Nationalsozialismus und distanziere mich entschieden von der Ideologie des Nationalsozialismus." "Sehr betroffen" über Wirbel über ihre Kandidatur >>> | Montag, 08. März 2010

Reaktionen: Rosenkranz-Erklärung "wertlos"
DIE PRESSE: Als "wertlos" und "Nicht-Erklärung" werten die anderen Parteien die eidesstattliche Erklärung der freiheitlichen Hofburg-Kandidatin, in der diese sich von der NS-Ideologie distanziert.

Die freiheitliche Kandidatin für die Hofburg-Wahl, Barbara Rosenkranz, hat sich am Montag mit einer eidesstattlichen Erklärung von der NS-Ideologie distanziert. Bei den anderen Parteien stößt ihre Erklärung durchwegs auf Ablehnung.

Klubchef Josef Cap vermisst im Gespräch mit Ö1 zwei Punkte: Erstens, Rosenkranz müsse ganz klar festhalten, dass sie nichts am Verbotsgesetz ändern will, auch nicht einzelne Paragraphen. Und zweitens, sie müsse eindeutig sagen, dass es während der Nazi-Zeit Gaskammern gegeben habe und dass sie dies verurteile. >>> APA/Red. | Montag, 08. März 2010

Dutch Prince Bernhard 'Was Member of Nazi Party'
THE TELEGRAPH: Prince Bernhard, the father of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, was a member of the Nazi party, a new book has claimed, contracting the German-born Dutch war hero's life-long denials.

Prince Bernhard and his daughter Queen Beatrix. Photo: The Telegraph
"Bernhard, a secret history" has revealed that the prince was a member of the German Nazi party until 1934, three years before he married Princess Juliana, the future queen of the Netherlands.

Annejet van der Zijl, a Dutch historian, has found membership documents in Berlin's Humboldt University that prove Prince Bernhard, who studied there, had joined Deutsche Studentenschaft, a National Socialist student fraternity, as well as the Nazi NSDAP and its paramilitary wing, the Sturmabteilung.

He left all the groups on leaving university in December 1934, when he went to work for the German chemical giant, IG Farben. >>> Bruno Waterfield in Brussels | Friday, March 05, 2010

Greek Rescue in Danger as Deputy Prime Minister Attacks 'Nazi' Germany
THE TELEGRAPH: Greece has greatly damaged its chances of an EU bail-out by lashing out at Germany over war-time atrocities and accusing Italy of cooking its books to hide public debt.

The escalating dispute came as a general strike in Greece spilled over into violent clashes between hooded youths and riot police in Athens. Chants of "burn the banks" are a foretaste of tensions once austerity measures bite in earnest later this year.

Public and private sector unions joined forces to bring the country to a standstill for 24 hours, halting flights, trains, and shipping, and shutting schools and hospitals.

Theodoros Pangalos, deputy prime minister, said Germany had no right to reproach Greece for anything after it devastated the country under the Nazi occupation, which left 300,000 dead. "They took away the gold that was in the Bank of Greece, and they never gave it back. They shouldn't complain so much about stealing and not being very specific about economic dealings," he told the BBC.

Twisting the knife further, he said the current crop of EU leaders were of "very poor quality" and had botched this month's crisis summit in Brussels. "The people who are managing the fortunes of Europe were not up to the task," he said.

One banker said the situation was surreal. "How can they call the Germans incompetent Nazis and still expect a bail-out?"

Mr Panagalos has gone even further than premier George Papandreou, who said Greece had become a "guinea pig" for squabbling eurocracts playing power games.

Athenian rhetoric has confirmed fears in North Europe that the ruling PASOK party is still in denial about the crisis and will not deliver on promises. The insults have caused bitterness in Germany, increasing the possibility that Europe's paymaster will lose patience and leave Greece to its fate after all. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor | Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Related:

Greece Grinds to a Halt Amid Strikes (Video) / Scharfe Attacke aus Griechenland gegen Deutschland / In Krise wollen Griechen deutsches Geld wegen Nazi-Besatzung / La Grèce paralysée par la grève générale >>> | Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Touring the Horrible: A Guide to Germany's Darkest Places
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL : Beer, bratwurst and lederhosen are an undeniable part of German culture. But so too is the country's brutal 20th century history. SPIEGEL ONLINE takes you to 11 of the country's most unsettling sites.

The Vogelsang Fortress -- Ideology Cast in Stone

Bundestrasse 266, starting at the German town of Gemünd not far from the border with Belgium, winds out of the town and up onto a high plateau. Before long, past a small town called Morsbach, you will come to an inconspicuous turnoff. The drive takes you through beautiful woodland past bright blue lakes. But it is a beauty that lies in direct contrast with the journey's endpoint: Vogelsang Castle, one of the Nazis' elite training schools.

Open to the public only since January 2006, the complex is sprawling and confusing, the fortification full of nooks and crannies. Indeed, most opt for a guide to point out the most important sights.

Photo Gallery: Germany's Darkest Places >>>

Under the direction of Robert Ley's German Workers Front (DAF), one of three elite training centers took shape on the Eifel Ridge beginning in 1934. It was designed as an investment in the Nazi party's future, where the next generation of Hitlers was to be formed. Sport formed an important part of the curriculum, as did racial theory and geo-politics.

The 500 students -- a number which eventually grew to 1,000 -- were known as "NS-Junkers", and were housed in sparsely furnished barracks. The complex was taken over by the armed forces at the outbreak of war and subsequently used to accommodate the troops during the Ardennes Offensive and the push into France.

The differing national attitudes towards a place that is connected with National Socialism is rarely as obvious as here. While the English, say tour guides, are most concerned with understanding the complex from a pragmatic viewpoint, and the Americans are the first to ask how often the "German Führer" visited Vogelsang, the Germans on the other hand feel duty bound to find a politically correct justification for their own curiosity. They say they feel "committed to the past, … >>> | Friday, October 23, 2009

Sir Ian Kershaw on the Rise of Hitler
In the same way as the Guardian and Observer misjudged the dangers of the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany, so, too, are the MSM misjudging the rise of radical Islam. As I, and many others have said, this is the nineteen thirties all over again! "Blind optimism" is exactly what we are experiencing today with the rise of Islam!

Photo of Hitler at the Nuremberg rally in September 1933 courtesy of The Guardian

THE GUARDIAN: As Hitler shouted his way up the political ranks in Germany, the Guardian and Observer misjudged the extent of his early influence, writes Sir Ian Kershaw

By the time the Nazi party came to prominence by winning 107 seats (18.3% of the votes) in the Reichstag election of September 14 1930, British newspapers could not ignore Hitler and his movement. But, as Brigitte Granzow showed long ago in her book, A mirror of Nazism, the reportage was replete with distortions and misinterpretation.

In an article on September 21 that year, the Observer echoed the widely held belief on the left that Hitler was the creature of big capital. It saw the real dangerman not as Hitler, but as the media tycoon and leader of the German National People's party, Alfred Hugenberg. The "Hugenberg manoeuvres", it stated, had aimed to promote both Communists and Nazis as a vehicle to weaken the organised working classes. "Hugenberg, and not Hitler, will ultimately call the Nazi tune."

A week later, the newspaper dismissed Hitler as "dramatic, violent and shallow", and "a lightweight", seeing him as "not a man, but a megaphone" of the prevailing discontent, fronting a militarist reaction, which would mean the destruction of peace. The newspaper went on to claim, remarkably, that Hitler was "definitely Christian in his ideals", and, even more strangely, that these matched the ideals of German Catholics.

The Guardian thought on September 25 1930 that the exclusion of the Nazi party from Reich government, given its electoral success, was not in the best interests of German democracy and that their involvement would "in the long run ... help to perpetuate this democracy". Blind optimism (more)

YNETNEWS.COM:
Germans don’t owe us a dime: Where’s our pride? Campaign for more German compensation money shameful By Yoram Kaniuk

YNETNEWS.COM:
Germany: No additional reparations for Holocaust survivors By Gil Yaron

Mark Alexander

Poll Shows Quarter of Germans Believe National Socialism Had a Positive Side
Photo of Hitler courtesy of YNet News
YNET NEWS: Talk show host fired for praising Nazi Germany's attitude toward motherhood; poll conducted later shows quarter of Germans believe National Socialism also had some 'good sides'

A German talk show host was fired for praising Nazi Germany's attitude toward motherhood. After that a poll showed that a quarter of Germans believe there were at least some positive aspects to Nazi rule.

Pollsters for the Forsa agency, commissioned by the weekly Stern magazine, asked whether National Socialism also had some "good sides (such as) the construction of the highway system, the elimination of unemployment, the low criminality rate (and) the encouragement of the family."

Forsa said 25 percent responded "yes" - but 70 percent said "no." Germans believe in positive aspects to Nazi rule (more)

Mark Alexander

Soldiers Found Guilty of Treason in Hitler’s Germany May Soon Be Pardoned

Swastika courtesy of Google Images

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Most of the 30,000 Germans sentenced to death by Nazi Germany's military courts have been rehabilitated. So far, however, soldiers found guilty of treason -- in many cases unjustly, have been excluded. Now, though, Germany's parliament may be prepared to do just that. Germany Considers Rehabilitating Soldiers Executed for 'Treason' (more) By Charles Hawley

SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL:
Holocaust Survivors Still Owed Up to $175 Billion

Mark Alexander