Children to a Degree - Growing Up Under the Third Reich
Read Children to a Degree - Growing Up Under the Third Reich Online
Authors: Horst Christian
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Dramas & Plays, #Regional & Cultural, #European, #German, #History, #Europe, #Germany, #Drama & Plays, #Continental European
CHILDREN TO A DEGREE
Growing Up Under the Third Reich
BASED ON A TRUE STORY
Horst Christian
ALSO BY HORST CHRISTIAN
Loyal To A Degree
Trust To A Degree
Partners To A Degree
To my classmates and campmates,
who did not survive to tell their own stories about these times
Contents
Additional Books in the Series
Preface
Although this book is based on a true story, the names of the characters have been changed. However, the people the characters are based on were real, the locations existed, the events actually took place, and the story captures the factual experiences of a young boy growing up under the Third Reich.
Foreword
Children To A Degree was originally published as the third book in the series and was written in response to questions I received from readers who had read Loyal To A Degree and Trust To A Degree. They were interested in knowing more about Karl, the main character and Harold, his best friend, and what their lives were like prior to World War II. Having been born in Germany in 1930 and raised under the influence of the Third Reich, I have firsthand knowledge of how children were raised during that time. However, the questions I received from readers made me realize many people are unaware of how different our lives were from those of children in other countries. Inspired by the questions readers asked, I decided to write Children To A Degree. Because it serves as a prequel to the other books in the series, it makes more sense label it as Book 1.
All of the characters in Children To A Degree are based on real-life people and so, the book is based on true events. More specifically, the book provides greater detail about the two main characters, Karl and Harold, and their lives as they grew up under the Third Reich and eventually became members of the Hitler Youth. It not only provides a background to their lives in particular, but also paints a picture of how children in general were raised in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s and what was expected of them.
I hope that providing this background about Karl and Harold, readers have a better understanding of how their lives were influenced by the Third Reich and how they came to their own conclusions and ultimately, the reasons behind the choices they made in the other books in the series.
Horst Christian, November 2013
One
1940 - Two days after the Easter holidays.
The beginning of a new school year in Berlin, Germany.
Karl Veth was entering for the first time, his new classroom of class Nr. 4 in the Pfalzburger Elementary School. He looked around the room, which featured huge windows that opened to a wide schoolyard and permitted a lot of natural light to enter.
The German elementary school year started with class Nr. 8 every year at Easter and went up to class Nr. 1, which was the 8th school year for the 13 and 14-year old children. (The numbers were opposite from the USA school system. A “first grader” was a student in his last year at an elementary school) Once you were 13 years old, you were not considered to be a child anymore, you were a “young adult”, and at the latest, at the age of 14, you had to decide on the trade you wanted to learn in order to earn a living.
However, if the parents decided that their child was smart enough for a higher education, the child could enter a middle school, or high school between the ages of eleven and fourteen.
Karl had entered the German elementary school system at Easter, 1936 before his 6th birthday, which was in July. Due to the wartime shortage of suitable buildings, his previous school was now used to serve as a State Police barrack. The original police barrack was being converted into a military training and command center.
Karl tried to find his friend Harold, who had also been transferred with him and about twenty other children to the school in the Pfalzburger Strasse. It was an all-boy school. There were no integrated classes in Berlin in 1940.
Harold was standing in front of the large double blackboard on the front wall. In their previous school, the blackboard had been very small. The sidewalls of their new classroom were covered with maps of Germany, Poland, and France. He could see that behind the map of France were charts of Holland and of the Scandinavian countries.
In one of the corners was a tall cabinet, which contained teaching aids and material. It also held the feared Rohrstocks (Bamboos or Willow sticks) used to enforce the correct behavior of the students, as well as silence in the 5-minute breaks between the hourly class sessions. Karl wanted to go and greet his friend when the door opened and a male teacher, about 40 years old, entered the classroom.
Instantly the room went quiet. Everybody stood still, hands to their sides, heels together and the big toes about 4-inches apart. Nobody moved as much as an inch; only the eyes of the students followed the teacher, who went to his stand-up desk in front of the room.
“You will address me as Herr Halama.”
He opened a folder on his desk and looked at the students. His eyes were gray and hard. There was no smile around his lips, and Karl noted immediately the impeccable suit of the teacher. Not a single wrinkle in the dark blue jacket, and the pants featured a crease, which was as sharp as it possibly could be. He wore a spotless white shirt with a light blue tie.
“First rule. You will not talk unless I ask you. This applies to your 5-minute breaks as well. You are allowed to go to the rest room during the break but never, under any circumstances during the session.”
Herr Halama pointed to the boy nearest to him, “You, what is your name?”
“Albert,” came the answer.
“Albert what? I want your full name. Don’t look down when I talk to you. Look me in the eye. You are not a dog. You are a human being, and I will teach you how to be an adult. So stand straight. What is your full name?”
“Albert Schroeder,” the boy answered.
“Alright, Albert Schroeder. Go to the wall cabinet and select a Rohrstock for me.”
Albert did not know which one to select, so he took the longest one and handed the stick to Herr Halama.
“This is a pointing stick,” Halama announced, “I will use it to point at cities on the maps and to maintain discipline in the class room.”
He raised the tip of the stick and whipped it with full force on the top of his stand-up desk. It triggered a sound like a gunshot.
“Second rule. You will rise and stand at attention when I enter the room. You will not sit down until I permit you to sit.”
He hit the desk again.
“My folder shows that this is a class of 64 students. I will call out your name and you will answer immediately with ‘Present’. Not with ‘Here’ or ‘Ja’. After you answered ‘Present’ you are allowed to sit. If you don’t answer instantly or use any other word than ‘Present’, you will remain standing during the remainder of session.”
Once more the desk reverberated from the hard hit with the stick.
“Gerhard Bruns!” Halama shouted out.
“Present,” came a call back.
“Sit!” shouted the teacher.
It was surprising for Karl how fast this teacher established order. Within minutes everyone was seated. Halama scanned the students and continued his first hour of teaching.
“From now on, we will greet each other with ‘Heil Hitler’. No more ‘Good morning, or ‘Good day’, and also no more ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ (Good Bye). These are greetings of the past and for the uninspired, and will not be tolerated. If you want to be a German, then your greeting is ‘Heil Hitler’.
“This includes your greetings when you enter a store, or come home. It is possible that your parents did not receive this latest order from our beloved Fuehrer. So I expect you to teach your parents that we are marching into a new time period. If your parents object to the new greeting, I expect you to report them to me and I will report them to the local SS service. They will visit your parents once, to warn them. If a second report occurs ……..the SS will teach them proper behavior.”
Halama was walking back and forth in front of the class, erect and proud and serious.
“I also expect you to report to me any store owner who does not reply with ‘Heil Hitler’ to your greeting. As of next week, the Hitler Youth (HJ, boys the ages 14 to 17) will initiate a Streifendienst (control service), which will watch you and the different stores you are visiting. Should they see that you don’t use ‘Heil Hitler’ as your greeting, they will report you to me. Should this happen you will be sorry.”
Halama raised his stick again and this time he hit his desk several times on the sides. He hit it so hard that the wood on the corners splintered. The boys were shocked. Some of them feared that Halama would lose control and hit them instead the desk. They lowered their heads and kept their eyes down.
The teacher almost went furious, “Heads up. Look at me when I am talking. You have nothing to fear if you follow orders. It is when you don’t follow orders ……….” He did not finish his sentence. He walked to the first row of students and laid the stick across their desks and lifted the head of the first student forcing him to look at his face, “Now feel the stick and then look at me.”
He took his time locking eyes with every one of his students and every one had to feel the Rohrstock.
“Now, let me sum it up, in case one of you is an idiot and did not clearly understand me. You will not talk unless you are spoken to. You will always face me and your greeting will be ‘Heil Hitler’. You will report your parents and report merchants and others who don’t return your greeting. Or……..” he lifted the stick, “the next time you feel the stick it will be on your behind.”
The remainder of the first hour of the new school year was filled with similar instructions. Karl had heard most of them before from his father, who had told him about Herr Hitler’s latest orders to the school officials and the Neues Reich (New Empire).
In reality, neither Karl nor Harold knew what all the talk regarding a 1000-year Neues Reich was about. But they were eager to learn. Upon their 10th birthdays, they would be required (under the Berlin school system) to enter the Jungvolk, (forerunner of the Hitler Youth, which was mandatory at age 14).
Harold was captivated by the discipline, and Karl liked any and all opportunities to increase his knowledge. The only thing he did not like about the ‘Jungvolk and the Hitler Youth’, was their emphasis on sports. Karl was very small for his age, and it was more than hard for him to run as fast as other boys in his age group. But, he was sure that he would find a way around the test requirements. His grandfather had taught him that whatever he was unable to do with his body, he had the ability to make up with his mind. This was, however, subject to whether he was willing to use it constructively.