Hedwig Ertl
Hedwig Ertl was born in 1923. At school she was encouraged to be hostile to Jews. She celebrated when Adolf Hitler came to power on 30th January, 1933, and brought home a copy of Der Stürmer. There was a lot of singing and shouting in the streets. I come home inspired by these events, with my copy of Der Stürmer in my hand." She said to her father, "The Jews are our misfortune". She later recalled: "He looked at me in horror and slapped me in the face. It was the first and only time he hit me. And I didn't understand." Hedwig claimed that her father did failed to grasp the significance of "this great movement". (1)
Hedwig joined the German Girls' League (BDM). "There were no class differences. You went on trips together without paying for it, and you were given exactly the same amount of pocket money as those who had lots of money and now you could go riding and skating and so on, when before you couldn't afford it. You could go to the cinema for 30 pfennings. We could never go to the cinema before, and suddenly things that had been impossible were there for us. That was incredible, those beautiful Nazi movies." (2)
German Girls League
Hitler made it clear about how young women should behave. The American journalist, Wallace R. Deuel, pointed out that he read in the Völkischer Beobachter, a newspaper controlled by the Nazi Party, that: "The most unnatural thing we can encounter in the streets is a German woman, who, disregarding all laws of beauty, has painted her face with Oriental warpaint." (3)
There was also a campaign against young women who smoked in public. If caught, members of the BDM were in danger of being expelled. (4) Hedwig Ertl fully supported these values: "The German woman must be faithful. She must not wear make-up and she should not smoke. She must be industrious and honest and she must want to have lots of children and be motherly." (5)
Hedwig Ertl became convinced that the Germans were the master race. The school she attended was an important factor in this: "We had a history teacher who was a very committed National Socialist, and we had four Jewish pupils. And they had to stand up during the class, they weren't allowed to sit down. And one after the other they disappeared, until none were left, but nobody thought much about it. We were told they had moved.... We were told all the time that first the Jews are a lower kind of human being, and then the Poles are inferior, and anyone who wasn't Nordic was worthless." (6)
Invasion of Poland
On 23rd August, 1939, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact. A week later, on 1st September, the two countries invaded Poland. Within 48 hours the Polish Air Force was destroyed, most of its 500 first-line planes having been blown up by German bombing on their home airfields before they could take off. Most of the ground crews were killed or wounded. In the first week of fighting the Polish Army had been destroyed. On 6th September the Polish government fled from Warsaw. (7)
After the government surrendered later that month, Poland was designated as an area for "colonization" by ethnic Germans. On 21st September, 1939, Reinhard Heydrich issued an order authorizing the ghettoization of Jews in Poland. They were expelled from their homes, their land was expropriated and they were deported to the eastern areas of Poland or to ghettos in the cities. (8)
An estimated 500,000 Germans, many living in territories in the Soviet sphere of influence, were now offered land in central Poland. It was decided to send members of the German Girls' League (BDM), under Schutzstaffel (SS) control, to "feminize and domesticate the conquest". Their task was to "Germanize" them, "teaching German culture and customs to the families, many of whom didn't even speak the language." (9)
Hedwig Ertl was recruited to be a teacher at a German school in Poland: "The Poles were told that they had a short time to get out and they could take with them a few possessions... They didn't want to be resettled, they were really fed up, because they had very bad quality land and they couldn't get along with... I would say they were bitter, but I never experienced anyone who fought it, or threw stones or showed outrage. They went in silence... Looking back, I never had the feeling of doing something that wasn't right." (10)
During the Second World War Hedwig Ertl wrote to many soldiers: "It was a very emotional thing. It didn't matter whether it was someone close to you. We were writing a lot of letters to unknown soldiers, soldiers who otherwise wouldn't receive letters from anyone else, soldiers who didn't have any relatives. And they would reply, and sometimes very beautiful relationships grew out of that. And most of them ended on the battlefield, but that was the way it was. The letters were very important." (11)
Primary Sources
(1) Hedwig Ertl, interviewed by Cate Haste, for her book, Nazi Women (2001)
We had a history teacher who was a very committed National Socialist, and we had four Jewish pupils. And they had to stand up during the class, they weren't allowed to sit down. And one after the other they disappeared, until none were left, but nobody thought much about it. We were told they had moved.... We were told all the time that first the Jews are a lower kind of human being, and then the Poles are inferior, and anyone who wasn't Nordic was worthless.
(2) Hedwig Ertl, interviewed by Cate Haste, for her book, Nazi Women (2001)
There were no class differences. You went on trips together without paying for it, and you were given exactly the same amount of pocket money as those who had lots of money and now you could go riding and skating and so on, when before you couldn't afford it. You could go to the cinema for 30 pfennings. We could never go to the cinema before, and suddenly things that had been impossible were there for us. That was incredible, those beautiful Nazi movies."
(3) Hedwig Ertl, interviewed by Cate Haste, for her book, Nazi Women (2001)
It was a very emotional thing. It didn't matter whether it was someone close to you. We were writing a lot of letters to unknown soldiers, soldiers who otherwise wouldn't receive letters from anyone else, soldiers who didn't have any relatives. And they would reply, and sometimes very beautiful relationships grew out of that. And most of them ended on the battlefield, but that was the way it was. The letters were very important.
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)