by Erich Topp
Hitler enjoyed further successes, as we saw them. In the spring of 1938 Austria was added to the Reich. In the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938, Hitler induced England, France, and Italy to grant his request for one-third of Czechoslovakia's population, the Germans of the Sudetenland, along with important industrial and strategic areas. When Hitler occupied the rest of the country, the western powers did nothing to prevent it. Later in 1939 Hitler forced Lithuania to return the Memel district to the Reich, and on August 23 he concluded the Hitler-Stalin Pact.
Skillful propaganda prepared the German public for these actions in the arena of foreign policy. I vividly recall a poster you could see everywhere, in train stations, in public buildings, in hotels and restaurants. It showed profiles of Frederick the Great and Bismarck, both overshadowed by a profile of Hitler. The poster symbolized the notion of historical continuity. It was not difficult for us to come to the conclusion that Hitler's successes in foreign affairs also involved a strategic dimension, namely, a united Europe under German leadership. If this was indeed the case, how could we possibly withstand the attractiveness and momentum that such a vision entailed? Doubts first arose when this strategic dimension became intertwined with ideological pseudo-values, such as the idea of the master race. But such doubts did not go so far as to make us reject force as a political means. Had not at all times invaders exhibited brutality to intimidate the attacked people and to force it to surrender? We did not necessarily feel uncomfortable in this atmosphere of anti-intellectualism and meved around in a fog of political ignorance. Struggle was glorified as a desirable, manly experience; war was seen as a perfectly legitimate instrument in international relations.
In the beginning, actions against Jews stayed within publicly accepted bounds. Only some of them had to give up their positions in the civil service without losing pension benefits. These measures intensified with the Nuremberg Laws of September 1935. Now marriages between Germans and Jews were outlawed, Jews could no longer hold public office, and in addition they lost the right to vote. But at this time they were still legally protected in their persons and possessions. Jewish officials who had been fired could draw their pensions.
The idea of dividing human beings into superior and inferior races struck me as absurd. I neither believed in any special quality of the German or English races nor in a divinely chosen Jewish one. The painter Oskar Kokoschka once observed, "There are only two races: one characterized by spirituality, the other not." I agreed. The mixture of different races had blessed Europe with the most beautiful achievements in culture and art.
After witnessing the hate campaign of Jewish newspapers against Germany on our visits abroad, we were prepared to interpret the Nuremberg Laws as political countermeasures without realizing the consequences they entailed. In November 1938, after the crisis over the Sudetenland, the illegal seizure of Jewish property began. Only in November 1941 did the government draw up the formal legal regulations that allowed for the seizure and confiscation of Jewish property. Now not only Jews who had emigrated abroad but also those deported to concentration camps outside the borders of the Reich lost their citizenship and their possessions. But beyond all such legal and legalistic measures lay the activities of the Gestapo. Already in the fall of 1938 its men torched synagogues in the infamous "Night of Crystal"; plundered Jewish stores; beat, tormented and killed Jewish people; and forced German Jews to pay a collective fine of one billion reichsmark. We were at sea and only received news filtered by the Propaganda Ministry. If we had doubts about these activities we were quite prepared to rationalize them by suggesting, for example, that these were transitional problems, or that all revolutionary movements sometimes get out of hand.
The creation of concentration camps was made possible by a govern mental decree on February 28, 1933, one day after the Reichstag Fire. It laid the foundation for arrests without subsequent trials and due process of law. The decree was still signed by Hindenburg. It was primarily aimed at curtailing communist activities. Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution provided for the restriction of basic rights in case public law and order were being seriously disturbed or threatened. Even the U.S. Constitution allows for such measures in the event of domestic unrest or war. Under the National Socialist regime, the method of arresting citizens without judicial review developed into a political terror weapon not only against communists but against any opposition elements. The conservative wing of the Nazi Party, some sections of the armed forces, representatives of the diplomatic service, as well as certain industrial leaders spoke up against the boycott and confiscation of Jewish property. Given the diminishing influence of these groups in Germany's public life, such protests enjoyed only limited success. Leading echelons of the Wehrmacht opposed the development of the SS into an armed force and the political indoctrination and infiltration of the officer corps by the Party.
In view of such muted protest, one must assume that any such activities under a totalitarian regime had to remain submerged below the level of everyday affairs. One must know that no open protest could succeed once the National Socialist regime became entrenched. The print and broadcast media would never have published pieces critical of the regime because editors and interviewers knew full well that it would have meant the end of their professional careers. Many Germans ended up in concentration camps because they spoke up openly or even clandestinely against the government. One must be clear in one's mind that the terror was not restricted to Jews and foreigners but likewise was directed against all German political opposition.
About 2 million Germans fell victim to the regime, among them women and young people whose "crimes" consisted of little more than admitting fear and despair. The woman and mother who loses her child in an Allied aerial bombardment releases her pain and terror in the cry: "The Fiihrer is responsible for all this!" She is denounced and executed. For protest to be effective requires organization. But all existing organizations in Germany were disbanded as early as the spring of 1933. This included professional groups like labor unions or the association of medical doctors. Or the old, independent organizations were merged with their National Socialist counterparts, as in the case of student fraternities. Associations with international connections, for instance the Rotary Club or the Freemasons, were suppressed altogether.
A frequent accusation holds that Germany's collective conscience should have been awakened in view of mass murder in the concentration camps. But today we cannot even begin to imagine the curtain of silence that shielded the concentration camps against curious eyes and minds. Neither I nor any of my acquaintances recall a single case where a released concentration camp inmate dared tell others about his or her suffering. Of course, silence can be eloquent, but it cannot tell you much about cruel reality.
The Red Cross visited the camps and reported about conditions inside them. But these visits were rigged, the inspectors seeing merely the spruced-up facades while falling victim to a brilliant system of deception whose cleverness was revealed only after the war by surviving inmates. The controlled German press, for instance, carried articles from time to time in which authorities were praised for stopping "excesses" in the concentration camps. At the same time foreign propaganda, to which few had access, often disseminated deliberately exaggerated or outright false information. It was easy for the German propaganda to expose such stories as lies.
Even for the most critical minds during the war, let alone the masses, knowledge about the regime's excesses remained very limited. It was known that one could be arrested without due process of law and that Jews had been systematically deported since the fall of 1938. Neither the approximate number of inmates nor the organized mistreatment and mass murders in the concentration camps were generally known. The mass murders, as we know today, fell primarily into that phase of the war when Hitler had realized that he could not conquer Russia and instead devoted his attention to his other goal, the destruction of the Jews. One must also bear in mind that during this time of massive aeria
l bombardments it was not uncommon for Germans to live for weeks and months without knowing the fate of their own closest relatives. Under the pressure of constant air raids, they found their lives in permanent danger and were less disposed than normally to pay attention to the suffering of others.
I should also stress that the National Socialist movement would have been unthinkable without the social upheaval that World War I brought to Germany. The majority of the people had lost faith in the traditionally leading social and political circles to solve the problems of the time. The democratic center had lost power politically, socially, and economically. Newly emerging groups slowly pushed the remaining conservative forces from power. These emerging groups, however, lacked both political knowledge and experience, while thriving on ruthless vitality and a lust for power. One cannot properly understand the ascendency of National Socialism as a historical and psychological phenomenon without seeing it as a part of a broader social revolution.
Today's popular view of equating National Socialism alone with the misdeeds of the regime during the war and in the concentration camps stands to be revised by future historians. Whether we like it or not, National Socialism represented a popular movement. Hitler knew how to bind the hopes and interests of the overwhelming majority of Germans to his movement. In the beginning, his successes met the expectations he had raised. Soon after Hitler's seizure of power, over the span of six months, the number of unemployed workers dropped by 50 percent from its peak of 7 million. Businesses prospered again. The new staterun or semi-official organizations revitalized previously idle economic forces. For example, the autobahns, the building boom in the housing industry, and the Volkswagen project all proved that the long years of depression were over. After 1936 Germany enjoyed, for all practical purposes, full employment. With the sad exception of Jewish citizens, everyone who wanted work and was able to work found a job. Average wages kept up with the cost of living. There were paid vacations. Recreational time off was supervised by the "Strength through Joy" organization. Passenger liners undertook cruises for the workers down to Gran Canaria or up to the Norwegian fjords. This method of regulating vacations also enabled the regime to exercise means of ideological manipulation, something people were prepared to endure and in some cases actually welcomed. Workers and peasants became fully integrated into the people's community. The old demand for the equality of classes and estates was transmuted into a quest for equality of opportunity. Such demands rested, of course, to a great extent on political opportunism.
In the eyes of many Germans Hitler became a man of mythical qualities. One Reich, one People, one Fuhrer! At first this was not just an empty phrase. And how did foreign countries react? Even Hitler's critics abroad had to acknowledge his diplomatic successes. Churchill admired the way Hitler had rekindled German patriotism. The Swedish legal authority Nyren promised he would "help reevaluate the new Germany and the man who as Fuhrer is providing such great leadership." There were many such positive assessments.
This was one side of the National Socialist regime. The other showed the totalitarian state. By 1934 the foundations of this totalitarianism were in place everywhere. In February 1933 the so-called Law for the Protection of State and People gave the National Socialist ministers of the interior in the various German states complete freedom of action and practically abolished guarantees of citizens' individual liberties. The "Enabling Act" of March 23, 1933, in effect set aside the constitution and gave the government the right to enact legislation by decree without any of the traditional guidelines and constitutional restrictions. The regime also manipulated the formerly independent legal system, and not only after creating in 1936 its chief instrument of legal terror, the People's Tribunal. Already by mid-1933 all rival political parties had been outlawed. As of July 14, 1933, the Nazi Party was the only legal one in Germany.
The next step came on January 30, 1934, when the "Law concerning the Reorganization of the Reich" delivered the coup de grace to Ger many's tried and popular federal system. In its place Hitler created his totalitarian state of national centralization. To perfect this system the Fuhrer had to accomplish two more things: rid the Party of internal dissenters, especially the proponents of a permanent revolution; and gain the loyalty of the armed forces. The supposed "mutineers and traitors" within the Party were executed without trial in the course of the infamous Rohm Putsch in late June 1934. To integrate the Wehrmacht into the system did not require bloodshed. When Hindenburg died, Hitler simply combined the offices of Reich President and Chancellor in his person. On August 2, 1934, the entire Wehrmacht swore a personal oath of loyalty to the Fuhrer.
In a democratic society even criminals enjoy an alternative, a fair punishment based on legal prescription and enforced by the proper authorities. This alternative does not exist in a totalitarian state. Here the legal system becomes the regime's slave. Without the possibility of redress it deprives its victims of their freedom, their property, and their lives. Only complete association with the regime or complete self-denial prevent people from ending up as victims. One could even argue that those who are forced to take the lives of others are among the victims.
Hitler did not exercise a monopoly over totalitarianism, but his variety certainly attained a high degree of perfection. It makes little sense to establish a relative ranking of totalitarian experiences. Totalitarianism existed before Hitler and there has been totalitarianism since the war, not just in Europe but everywhere in the world in all kinds of ideological disguises, even religious ones. Every totalitarian regime has its own unique humanity-despising characteristics. Neither the number of victims nor the methods used are ultimately crucial for the totalitarian experience, but rather the principle of unlimited, institutionally exercised power against which the individual is impotent.
Illegality and inhumane totalitarianism also touched our family. My aunt Anna Topp and her daughter Else became its victims. When the National Socialists seized power on January 30, 1933, their lives changed forever. Neighbors and friends, except for very close ones, now avoided them. After Else Topp had been employed for a while by the New York Herald Tribune, she changed jobs to work for a construction firm. Her boss knew that she was half Jewish. A fellow worker tried to blackmail her. "Either you turn your coat and your camera over to me, or I will report to the police that you are Jewish." The boss came to Else's rescue and offered continued protection.
The firm did construction work in connection with the fortified lines of the "Westwall" and later the "Atlantikwall." One day it received instructions to do work in Auschwitz as well. The firm sent a delegation to Auschwitz to find out more about the project. It came back with the warning, "Terrible things are going on there!" The firm declined the contract with the excuse of being overburdened by other projects. In this way Else and her mother learned for the first time about a termination camp. They now stood on the edge of the abyss that threatened to swallow them at any moment.
Anna Topp, virtually penniless after her family had lost all they had in the great inflation of the 1920s, and too proud to accept handouts from her relatives, used her knowledge of Hungarian and French to become a telephone operator for international calls. Throughout those years she knew that her deportation to a concentration camp could come at any time. When Berlin suffered its first air attacks, Else and Anna Topp, as Jews, were forbidden to seek refuge in air raid shelters. Instead they hid in the backyard of the little house that Else, being only "half Jewish," had been allowed to rent. Her mother, "fully Jewish," could stay with her. Oddly, their house was the only one in the Kaiserallee to survive the bombardment intact.
In May 1943 Else was in her office when her terror-stricken mother called with the long-feared news. The abyss had opened its chasm at last. Anna Topp was to report immediately to the central assembly point for the transportation of Jews in the Grosse Hamburger Strasse. Else ran home, helped pack the suitcase, especially warm clothing, and then took her mother to the collection point. A train stood ready. Its
cars carried the instruction, "6 Horses or 40 Persons." A huge crowd had assembled alongside the train: men, women, and children. Heart-rending farewell scenes were everywhere. Then orders were shouted, the doors to the cattle cars opened, and the people were pushed inside. In the confusion Else lost sight of her mother. All she could remember for the next two years was her face-stoic, as if etched in stone.
The lexicon tells us about Theresienstadt: "In Czech: Teresien. A town in northern Bohemia in the administrative district of Aussig. Population 2,500 (1948); 6,800 (1938). Between 1780 and 1882 a military fortress; from 1941 to 1945 a concentration camp for Jews." The town was named after Empress Maria Theresa. Theresa is a name that reminds us of women who brought love and care to their fellow human beings-St. Theresa of Avila, the greatest of Christian mystics, for example, or Therese de Livieux, canonized in 1925. The Nazis rendered the name into a symbol for hatred, human degradation, suffering, and death.
As of February 16, 1942, the chief of the security police in the Reich Protectorate "Bohemia and Moravia" decreed that Theresienstadt henceforth become a ghetto for Jews. One paragraph of the decree reads: "All measures necessary to construct the Jewish settlement are to be taken through administrative channels." The Nazis would develop Theresienstadt into a showpiece camp to fool foreign visitors, including Red Cross delegations, about the true treatment of Jews. One witness, Jochen von Lang, remembers: "According to Nazi terminology it was not a concen tration camp. There were no gas chambers. But its inmates, crowded together in incredibly confined quarters, were unfree like criminals, exposed to any kind of arbitrary chicanery, and constantly under the threat of death." Many inmates had used up their life's savings for a place in the so-called Retirement Home for Jews. It was anything but a retirement home. The inmates lived and ate under the most miserable conditions. Thousands of the "retirees" were deported to death camps. For those fortunate enough to stay, a Jewish Council oversaw all daily activities. In the town, the stone barracks were so overcrowded that many inmates had to sleep on the ground. In the winter months, given inadequate heating, this led to painful bladder and kidney infections.
