Adolf Hitler was born in Austria in 1889. After his parents died, he emigrated to Bavaria, where in 1914 he volunteered for the Bavarian Army. After World War I, he joined the German Political Intelligence Bureau and became a member of the German Worker’s Party, later the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP), called the “Brown Shirts” from their uniforms.
In 1923, Hitler was involved in an uprising in a Munich beer hall and was sent to prison, where he served ten months. During his imprisonment he wrote Mien Kampf, which became a blueprint for his world conquest.
He became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, and in 1934, when President Paul von Hindenburg died, Hitler became president. In 1933, Germany was in economic turmoil as it struggled with a high unemployment rate, but Hitler had plans, and the changes he had promised were already taking place.
I started school in 1935. I was an excellent student. When Dad was home, he would make it a point to broaden and add to every subject I was being taught. Also, when he was at home, he would invite some of my classmates over for the afternoon and we would all play with toy trains. At other times he read stories to us, and sometimes he would play the violin and we would all sing. My friend Walter Guggenheimer was always included. He lived down the street, and his and my parents had been close for many, many years.
While Dad worked as a letter carrier he wore a uniform, and when he started working in the mail railroad cars he had a different, much more handsome one to wear. I always felt so proud to be walking with him when he was in his uniform but I could not understand why we sometimes quickly hid in front entrances to apartment buildings, stayed there for a short time, doing nothing, and then went outside again, continuing our walk home or to the railroad station.
Another change took place: Dad stopped wearing his uniform. He started wearing his civilian clothes to work, which upset my mom and, of course, I was disappointed not to see him looking so handsome in his uniform. After all, so many other men were dressed in different uniforms. And why would he wear his civilian clothes for work, which would certainly shorten their usefulness? He finally explained that he knew he would have to replace his clothes sooner and said, “When I am in uniform I have to salute everyone else in any type of uniform with ‘Heil Hitler,’ and I just cannot make myself do it when I really feel no respect for those who are so proud to be involved in the Nazi Party or in any part of Hitler’s regime. It is obvious where he leading our country, and yet no one seems to care. So, enough said about uniforms, I shall not be wearing it again.” But he did end up having to wear and die in a soldier’s uniform.
The family gatherings also changed. Instead of the fun and closeness we had had in the past, most times they ended up in heated discussions about Hitler and his plans for Germany and even the world. One of the uncles used to say to my dad, “What is wrong with you? Don’t you understand what the rest of the world did to Germany with the Treaty of Versailles after the war? Much of our country was taken away from us; we were not allowed to rebuild our armed forces to defend ourselves, and on top of it all, we are to pay so-called reparations. It’s time for you to join the Nazi Party so you will learn how good Hitler had been for us. You can’t tell us that deep down inside you are not glad that Mother was not willing to sign the paper for your emigration to America when you were nineteen years old. You are a German, you are a member of the Master Race, how could you even consider leaving it all for America? Are you aware that we had seven million unemployed workers after the war, and now, under Hitler, unemployment is no longer a problem?”
“That’s right,” Dad would answer. “You are working now. May I ask you what you are doing? Some of you are employed in factories where tanks, artillery, or rifles are being built. Have you asked yourselves for what use they are being manufactured other than war? And those of you who are working on constructing the Autobahn. Do you know anyone who owns a car? Do you really believe that it is being built for us ordinary citizens, or will it be used by the armed forces in the war Hitler is already planning? Just think how quickly he will be able to send the army from one end of the country to the other.”
“Erich,” they would answer, “you are showing your ignorance again. Hitler has promised us a car for every family. As a matter of fact, we are already making monthly payments for our car.”
Dad asked, “Which of you has seen one of these cars, these Volkswagens? Isn’t it a fact that it has not even been designed? But believe me, your payments are helping our economy grow by preparing us for the war Hitler wrote about in his book Mien Kampf.”
It seems the gatherings always broke up in anger. The only relative Dad could talk to without arguing was Uncle Ewald. He had served in the Great War and he agreed with Dad calling Hitler bad news. There were never any disagreements with Uncle Ewald and Aunt Else, and I always looked forward to visiting them. They lived in a more country-like area on the outskirts of Berlin and had lots of chickens, ducks and rabbits. That’s when I learned to love animals by having my pet friends, but it also just about broke my heart when I realized one of my favorite rabbits had been cooked and served for Sunday dinner.
Dad and Uncle Ewald probably did not realize that I was able to overhear a conversation they had when Dad told him about his experience a few days earlier. Dad’s train had returned to Berlin and as he was walking along the platform towards the main building of the station, he noticed Hitler’s train at the next platform. Suddenly Hitler and his entourage came walking out of the building headed towards his train. Dad turned around and walked very quickly, without raising suspicion, back to mail car. He went inside, grabbed his pistol and stepped back to the door. His mind was made up to shoot Hitler, but he as a couple of seconds too late. Hitler had just stepped inside his train and was out of sight.
Uncle Ewald asked Dad if he really would have killed Hitler, because it certainly would have meant the end of his own life. Dad said that they all would end up having to put their lives on the line in on way or another. He would gladly have given his life at that point to save his family and country from the madness of Hitler and the consequences which would have to be paid for by not fighting the plague now, before Hitler would start aggressive actions toward other countries and bring about another war.
I was now being taught in school about all the wonderful things Hitler and the Nazis had done and were continuing to do for Germany and the great plans Hitler had for us. I asked Dad why he wanted to see Hitler dead. After all, it was Hitler who had planned the Autobahn, and set up a network for very high speed trains to crisscross the country and was making so much progress in so many different areas. Dad explained how all those wonderful accomplishments would be used to facilitate the arming and moving of soldiers when the war started. “Daddy, why will there be a war?” I asked. “The Führer only wants other countries to give back to us the areas taken from Germany after the war. He says we have over 80 million Germans trying to live in too small a space. He says we need more Lebesraum, living space for our people. It makes sense to me.”
Dad listened to me, I am certain, with much pain in his heart and soul. He obviously could not protect me from other students and teachers who were spouting all of Hitler’s nonsense, which would destroy them all in one way or another in the future. “Tell me, Edith,” Dad asked, “if we have too little space for our people, why is Hitler trying so hard to create more and more citizens? Why are mothers given bronze, silver, or gold stars for having as many children as possible with awards of money and benefits for each child? If we are in such need for Lebesraum, why doe the Führer want us to have more and more children and why does he give the largest awards to the biggest families? Does all this make sense to you?” I thought maybe it did not, but I was quite sure that Hitler knew what he was doing.
Uncle Hubert, Dad’s youngest brother, had joined the Brown Shirts when Hitler first became Reich Chancellor of Germany. By 1934 Uncle Herbert became a member of the Nazi party and had become a high-ranking officer very quickly. He and Dad carried on the longest and loudest arguments, with Dad trying to tell him about the evils of Hitler’s regime, and Uncle Herbert trying to convince Dad to join the party.
Their relationship came to an end when Uncle Herbert and three other Nazi officials met Dad on his way home from the railroad station. After a short argument they proceeded to beat up my dad and left him unconscious on the sidewalk. One of our neighbors happened to walk by, and he helped him get home. Dad’s face was swollen, his eyes almost closed, most of his upper and lower teeth had been knocked out, and there was blood all over him. Dr. Malzart, who was one of our Jewish neighbors, came to see Dad every day until he was able to go back to work. Dad lost one of the brothers he loved, and I lost an aunt and uncle and two cousins with whom I had been very close.
A change had taken place for me in school. I graduated from grammar school after attending it for two and a half years and was accepted into middle school. On my first day I met Miss von Helbig when I entered the classroom to which I was assigned. She smiled at me and told me to find a seat. While we sat waiting for all the students to arrive I looked around and realized that I did not know any of the other students. I also noticed that Miss von Helbig was wearing the biggest gold Nazi Party pin I had ever seen. Yes, all the teachers I had seen were wearing Nazi pins, but none were as big as Miss von Helbig’s.
When the bell rang, we all knew to be sitting silently in our seats. Miss von Helbig greeted the class with “Heil Hitler!” We answered, and then she introduced herself. We took turns standing up and introducing ourselves, When she pointed at me I stood up and said, “My name is Edith Kanter.”
The smile left her face, and while staring at me she said, “That’s a Jewish name! Are you Aryan?” I had no idea what she was talking about, so I had no answer. She told me to take my belongings and go to the principal’s office. “Tell him I sent you and tell him what your name is.”
The principle asked me the same question, “Was I Jewish or was I Aryan?” I had to give him the same answer: I did not know. He wrote a note for my parents and sent me home.
When my mom read the note, she started crying; nothing I did or said seemed to console her. My dad came home from work later in the afternoon and found both of us upset and crying. After he read the note, he tried to reassure Mom that it was no big problem for him to get the necessary documents such as baptismal, confirmation or church marriage records for our ancestors. “I already had to show those of my parents and grandparents when I went to work for the Mail Transportation Department. Please do not worry. All I will have to do is get the records back one more generation on my side, and work on getting the information about all your ancestors.”
Mom answered, “But my name having been Salzmann, which sometimes is a Jewish name, is not going to help, is it?” Dad sounded very sure that it would all work out and for her not to keep worrying. And besides, since I was not allowed to go back to school until he could show them all the required records, she would have me at home with her all day.
I did not mind having to stay at home. Dad had bought a piano for me and without school, which usually did not end until 4 o’clock or later, I could practice as long as I wanted. My piano teacher was a famous but retired concert pianist who had great expectations of me. She told my dad she could see a lot of talent, ability and desire in me. As long as I worked hard and practiced, she intended to extend her career through me.
How perfect! No school and time for practice all day long. I accomplished a lot very quickly. My teacher would ask me to come and play when her friends, all of them well-known musicians, would get together at her home. She would ask them for their opinions about my playing, and they would all affirm that if I continued to practice, I would have a great future as a pianist.
We went to visit my dad’s parents while I was out of school to find out if they had the family records we needed for me to go back to school. I did not get to see them very often since they lived quite a distance from Berlin. Their home was out in the country. They asked my dad and mom to let me stay with them for a while and my parents agreed. It turned out to be a wonderful experience for me.
My grandmother’s name was Auguste, and she was a very quiet lady. She was always knitting, and while I was with them, she taught me how to knit. My grandfather, Reinhold, was an outdoor man. He would take me into the woods to gather mushrooms, and he knew exactly where to look for deer. They seemed to recognize him; they did not run away even though we came quite close to them.
One morning we walked beside a field with a large herd of sheep and two shepherds in it. We sat down and watched and Grandpa explained all about sheep to me. He had been a shepherd for many years when he was young and I came to understand that sheep are not very smart; they needed shepherds to guide and protect them.
Another time he pointed to the sky and told me, “Look at those small clouds that resemble the backs of a herd of sheep. It usually is a sign that rain is coming. When I was a shepherd, I would start looking for cover for the sheep and for me to go to when the rain would start. Our saying ‘Erst schopft es, dann tropft es’ means first the water is scooped up and then it trickles down.”
One evening, when there were no clouds in the sky and the stars were very bright, Grandpa pointed out and told me the names of countless stars and constellations. He then asked me if I knew which way North was; I had no idea. He explained, “See those stars that make up a configuration that looks like a big dipping ladle? Don’t pay any attention to the stars that make up the handle, but look at the two stars which are at the end of the ladle. Check the distance between those two stars, add five times that distance to the top star, and you will have found the North Star. When you bring your sight straight down to earth you will know that you are facing North. Stretch out your right arm and it will point East, your left arm will point West, and South is behind you.” Little did we know then how helpful this knowledge would be for me in years to come.
I spent a lot of time with Grandma Salzmann. She lived within walking distance or our home, which made it easy to spend a lot of time with her. She lived by herself; her husband had left her at the end of the war. I learned a lot about the Bible from her because she read it every day, sometimes for more than two hours. IShe would read it out loud if I asked her to, and then I would have lots of question for her.
If ever there was someone who tried to spoil me, it was she. I had been her first grandchild, and she tried to give me anything I wanted and tried take me anyplace I wanted to go. She had open ulcers on one leg, which sometimes made it difficult for her to walk any distance, but she always tried to make me happy.
It took almost three months for my dad to get all the requested records to prove that there had not been on Jew in our ancestry. I asked Dad many times to explain to me the difference between Jew and Aryan, but I had a hard time grasping it. We were all Germans first and foremost, weren’t we?
Finally my dad took me and all the requested proof to the principal’s office at school. He studied all the records Dad had accumulated and, after a long wait, he finally said I could attend school again starting the following Monday.
On my first day back, Miss von Helbig was asking students about first names. Which were German names and which were not. When she reached my name she said, “Edith is not a German name, but there are German girls’ names that start with E. Let me hear some of them.” On the blackboard she wrote Edith, crossed it out and then listed the names called out by the students, starting with Edeltraud. She did say that my middle name, Hildegard, would qualify as a somewhat German-sounding name.
Finally my first day back to school ended. I could hardly wait to get out of there, but my trouble was just starting. Some of my classmates were following me, laughing at me, and, since I was younger and smaller, they started pushing me back and forth saying, “You were smart enough to skip grades in grammar school but you did not know if you were Jewish or Aryan? And with a name like Edith you can’t be Aryan. Edith, Edith you are nothing but a dirty Jew. Jew-girl, Jew-girl, get away from us Aryans.” Oh how I wished I did not have to go to school! Why couldn’t I just stay home and practice piano? Dad would accompany me with the violin when he was at home and I would love every minute of it.
In 1935 Hitler introduced conscription, and young men were drafted into the Army, the Navy and the Air Force in numbers far greater than the Versailles Treaty had allowed. In the spring of 1936 Hitler gave the order for 30,000 soldiers to occupy the Rhineland, which Germany had lost after World War I.
Hitler wanted his homeland, Austria, to be part of Germany and he saw to it that Benito Mussolini, Il Duce, would be willing to remove his protection from Austria by assisting Mussolini with his war on Abyssinia. Germany and Italy were on the verge of forming an axis.
On March 12, 1938, Hitler’s troops crossed the border and were welcomed into Austria. He really did not expect to be able to annex the country so easily, but since there were no outcries from other countries, Austria became part of Germany. Even though the West was uneasy about Hitler’s moves, no steps were taken to stop him. On April 10, 1938, when the Germans and the Austrians voted “Ja” for the annexation, Hitler removed Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg from office and replaced him with one of his own people, Arthur Seiss-Inquart.
One of Hitler’s first moves was to “throw out” all Jews from Austria, and the deportation began in October 1938 when I was nine years old. Persecution of the Jews had already been taking place in Germany. On the evening of November 9, 1938, and lasting well into the morning of the tenth, there took place in Berlin what became known as the Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. Shops owned by Jewish people had already been marked with the Star of David or the written sign Jude painted on the display windows and the entrance door. All those shops were destroyed during Kristallnacht, and many Jews disappeared from the city. We lived in a Southwestern suburb called Lankwitz, which was located near Tempelhof and next to Lichterfelde, and did not see what had taken place in the city, but my dad saw the destruction on his way to work.
The Sudeten Germans lived in a part of Czechoslovakia called the Sudentenland, which was located in the northern mountain range of Czechoslovakia along the border with Germany. Hitler wanted the Sudeten Germans and their land to be part of Germany. Negotiations began with Great Britain, France, and Czechoslovakia on September 29, 1938. Within a few days, Great Britain were willing to give the Sudetenland to Hitler. But Hitler wanted to start the war for which he had been preparing Germany for years, and when the Sudetenland was offered to him he decided that he wanted all of Czechoslovakia to be turned over to him. The negotiations ended with Edouard Daladier of France and Neville Chamberlain of England agreeing to his taking Czechoslovakia. Daladier was greeted with cheers upon his return to France, and Chamberlain told his people there would be peace for the next thousand years.
Edvard Benes, the leader of Czechoslovakia, felt betrayed by the West, but, like Daladier and Chamberlain, he thought that the agreement would appease Hitler. On the third of October Hitler’s troops occupied the Sudetenland, and all of Czechoslovakia had been taken over by March 15, 1939. By March 1939, Hitler had subjugated a foreign people and their country, and the West did nothing.
My Father's Legacy 