Gertrud Draber

Petrol Gessler : Nazi Germany

Gertrud Draber attended an elite bridal school in Schwanenwerder and was selected to marry an Schutzstaffel (SS) officer. "I wanted to be a perfect housewife. And I wanted to do something different with my life, not just be a working girl in an office... None of us had a clue about running a household. So we were taught everything that was necessary to be a woman; house-keeping, being a mother, and being a good wife... My main aim as a woman was above all, and as soon as possible... to become a mother. That was my main ambition." (1)

Draber later worked at the Siemens factory in Berlin, which still employed Jewish women. One morning she arrived at work and witnessed a terrible scene: "It was early in the morning before eight o'clock, before we started our shifts. People were flooding by, on their way to their offices. And I saw not one, at least two lorries had turned up and they were open, with no covers. Many women were there being herded towards the open trucks and pushed up - hauled - on to them. These women were wearing the Jewish Star."

Draber heard the women screaming for their children. "I have to get back to my children!" "I have to fetch my children!" "I have to go home to my children!" The women were forced to get in the trucks that were to take them to a concentration camp: "They were packed like sardines on to these lorries, and they were crying and yelling and fighting it and they were in such pain and sorrow. But nobody in charge took any notice of them. For me, for all of us, it was horrific. We were so sad and disbelieving, you couldn't believe it could happen, that it was real.... That's how it was. And we had to walk on. Once you've seen it, you can't forget something like that. It burned itself into my mind."

 

Primary Sources

(1) Gertrud Draber, interviewed by Cate Haste for the book Nazi Women (2001)

Young girls from the age of ten onward were taken into organizations where they were taught only two things: to take care of their bodies so they could bear as many children as the state needed and to be loyal to National Socialism. Though the Nazis have been forced to recognize, through the lack of men, that not all women can get married. Huge marriage loans are floated every year whereby the contracting parties can borrow substantial sums from the government to be repaid slowly or to be cancelled entirely upon the birth of enough children. Birth control information is frowned on and practically forbidden.

(2) Gertrud Draber, interviewed by Cate Haste for the book Nazi Women (2001)

It was early in the morning before eight o'clock, before we started our shifts. People were flooding by, on their way to their offices. And I saw not one, at least two lorries had turned up and they were open, with no covers. Many women were there being herded towards the open trucks and pushed up - hauled - on to them. These women were wearing the Jewish Star.

They were yelling, and crying. And I heard all the women screaming for their children. "I have to get back to my children!" "I have to fetch my children!" "I have to go home to my children!" They were packed like sardines on to these lorries, and they were crying and yelling and fighting it and they were in such pain and sorrow. But nobody in charge took any notice of them. For me, for all of us, it was horrific. We were so sad and disbelieving, you couldn't believe it could happen, that it was real. Then we were ordered, "Keep walking! Don't stand here!" That's how it was. And we had to walk on. Once you've seen it, you can't forget something like that. It burned itself into my mind.

Student Activities

Hitler's Volkswagen (The People's Car) (Answer Commentary)

Adolf Hitler's Early Life (Answer Commentary)

The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich (Answer Commentary)

Heinrich Himmler and the SS (Answer Commentary)

The Last Days of Adolf Hitler (Answer Commentary)

Trade Unions in Nazi Germany (Answer Commentary)

References

(1) Gertrud Draber, interviewed by Cate Haste for the book Nazi Women (2001) pages 91-92

(2) Gertrud Draber, interviewed by Cate Haste for the book Nazi Women (2001) page 190