From
Kittay News 1/2002
Jean Mar (Ilse Marx)
“Eyewitness to History: Germany in Two World Wars
I was born in Germany, the village of Buttenhausen, the eldest
of three girls. When my youngest sister was born, I was 3 years
and 3 months of age. I clearly remember the midwife picking
up the newborn, saying, ‘Ilse, would you like to see your new
sister?’ I looked curiously and happily at my newborn sister.
Skipping to the adjoining room, to my surprise, I saw my father
with a worried expression. At three years of age I could not
understand why, but in later years it became clear. My father’s
mother had died giving birth when he was one year old, and the
common saying was, ‘A woman is with one foot in the grave by
giving birth.’ He had been worried about my mother. Would she
be OK? Thankfully, she was and the worried expression passed.
Four years later, in August, 1914, in the public square, I watched
as the only policeman of the village rang a cowbell summoning
everybody to come to the school yard to hear the mayor speak.
The war, which was to become the First World War, had begun.
The mayor’s closing words were, ‘All our men will be home for
Christmas and we will be victorious.’ We, of course, believed
him, this belief later bolstered by the newspapers which were
the only source of information and which reported only that
we were winning every battle. A few years later, a French prisoner
of war was sent to the village to help the farmers. All were
astounded to hear him say that we, Germany, were losing the
war and would never be told the truth about what really was
happening. Eventually, of course, the truth had to be told.
Wars are expensive. The government had asked all to buy War
Bonds and everybody had trusted their Fatherland. After 1918,
times went from bad to worse and three years later inflation
reached its high point. One million marks equalled one dollar.
I overheard my grandfather saying, ‘Mathilde, we are millionaires.’
Under her breath, I heard my grandmother saying, ‘Let him be
happy for one day.’ Ironically, the Kaiser did not have to suffer
through all this, as after the war he left Germany and spent
the rest of his days in The Hague. I have some additional clear
memories of that period.
After the war ended, a friend of the family, an army officer,
called my uncle and asked him to bring him civilian clothes.
The officer was literally afraid to come home in his military
uniform. Feelings against the military, which could become violent,
were high, as they were blamed for losing the war.
Many years later, when I was about twenty years of age, I moved
to Munich and worked in a retail store, owned by my relatives.*
The place was near the former King’s residence and the back
entrance was the former King’s garden called Hofgarden. The
front was on Odeonsplatz. The store was visited by many entertainers,
writers, actors, and such.
One day, a very tall, heavyset person came in and I greeted
him saying, ‘We are honored to greet you, Dr. Eckener.’* I recognized
him as the man who brought the Zeppelin to America. His answer,
in a crumbly tone was, ‘I don’t want to be recognized. Just
give me what I ask you.’ The opposite in temperament was Thomas
Mann, very friendly and polite, who paid many visits to the
store. Many of his books could be found in our relative’s bookcase,
like Joseph and his Brothers.
A special remembrance was Cosima Wagner, then, in 1930, 90 years
old.* I never forgot her. She was a straight tall lady, with
white hair and beautiful features and outstanding personality.
She was the daughter of Franz Liszt, married to Hans von Bülow
and later married to Richard Wagner.
Another customer at the Munich store was a speechwriter for
von Hindenburg.* It was one day in 1933 that I heard him saying,
‘I am ashamed of being a German and seeing what is going on
in Berlin.’ A few days later he was shot by a firing squad.*
Another customer, an ordinary German citizen, one who had lived
among Jews and had learned some of their expressions, gazing
at the rows of SS men in front of the store, remarked, ‘G. N.’
(Goyim Nachas).* This was an ironic Jewish expression to describe
the repressive and oppressive actions of the SS. A few days
later he came to the store in a SS uniform himself, saying,
‘One has to make a living.’
An incident in the mid-1930’s sticks in my memory. I went to
a nearby post office on an ordinary errand. On my way back crossing
a large square in front of the royal palace, I found myself
all alone. I looked to my right and there, a few steps next
to me, was Hermann Göring in full uniform. There was no mistaking
who he was, 6 feet 4 inches and 350 pounds of flesh and muscle,
and that emotionless face. I had seen his picture many times.
I forced myself not to look and to continue walking normally
until he was no longer in sight. Little did I know that the
memory of this encounter would be engraved indelibly on my mind.
In 1938, when Chamberlain visited Hitler,* I saw them together
at Odeonsplatz, where my relative had the store. Because of
their being there, all stores had to close all windows. A row
of SS men faced the building and another row of SS men faced
Hitler and Chamberlain. I took the ladder in back of the showcase,
and climbed to the top step to watch.
Later that year, it was November 9, 1938, now remembered as
Kristallnacht. Everybody knew a day before that all Jewish men
would be taken to the concentration camp. A few people, my aunt,
my uncle and I went tho the English Garden to be out of sight.
Since I was not known as Jewish, I went the next morning to
Odeonsplatz. As I had expected, the store was ransacked, windows
and doors were broken, furniture and merchandise had been stomped
on. All the lights were on. I was not allowed into the store
to turn the lights out. They burned until the following May
and my relatives had to pay the electric bill for the entire
time. A young man, not from our town, was ordered by the Gestapo
to watch. The entire store was blocked off and nobody could
enter. The young man asked me, ‘Are you insured?’ Two days later
my uncle was picked up and sent to Dachau concentration camp.
Two weeks later two policemen came to my aunt’s apartment and
told her that her husband had died.
My own father was still living in the village of Buttenhausen,
the village of my birth in the south of Germany. SS men came
to take away all the Jews. The young Burgomeister (mayor)* stepped
in and said to the SS, ‘You can take the young men, but all
those over 60 you only can take over my dead body. They will
not be able to take what you have in mind for them.’ Due to
that mayor’s courage, my father was saved.
The next step was to get all the papers together and go to America.
This took until July 1939. My relatives escaped separately and
I went first to England, where I was a guest until my departure
from Southampton. The departure took place at night. There were
no lights anywhere except flashlights on board the ship ‘Washington,’
which landed in New York on August 31, 1939. Seeing the Statue
of Liberty was the most exciting moment of my life.
January 2002.”
Notes
Relatives: Ludwig Gruber, a brother of Ilse’s
mother, and his wife, Erna. The couple owned a tobacco store
at Odeonsplatz in Munich. Ilse’s brother, Werner Marx, has described
the store: “It was an exquisite store with the finest hand-crafted
wall-lined mahogany shelves and showcases, with oriental rugs
covering the floors. In a corner of the store were several lounge
chairs where their favorite customers were treated to freshly
brewed coffee.” (Werner L. Marx, “Buttenhausen:” The History
of a Former German-Jewish Community. Personal Recollections
and Reflections, [Baltimore, Maryland] 1996, pp. 80–81.)
Ludwig perished in Dachau concentration camp in November 1938.
Erna emigrated to England in 1939 and, after the war, to the
USA.
Dr. Eckener: Hugo Eckener (1868–1954), who
had taken over the Zeppelin company in 1917, piloted a “reparations
airship” from the Bodensee (Southern Germany) to New York in
1924; it was the third transatlantic flight of an airship.
Cosima Wagner: The widow of Richard Wagner
was born in 1837 and died on April 1, 1930.
A speechwriter for von Hindenburg: not yet
identified. The reference might be to Edgar Julius Jung (1894–1934),
who wrote speeches for Franz von Papen and was shot in Oranienburg
concentration camp at the end of June 1934.
Goyim Nachas: gentile (non-Jewish) pleasures.
Chamberlain: Neville Chamberlain, the British
Prime Minister, arrived in Munich on September 29, 1938, in
order to attend an international conference. As a result, he
signed the Munich Agreement.
Burgomeister: Johannes (“Hans”) Hirrle (1897–1988)
was the “Bürgermeister” of Buttenhausen from 1933 to 1945. He
was a member of the NSDAP; however, he tried to prevent the
most severe excesses against Jews and helped many Jews to get
their documents for emigration. See Werner L. Marx, “Buttenhausen”
(as above), pp. 32 and 35. The participants of a history course
of the “Gymnasium Münsingen” made an interview with Hans Hirrle
in 1976/77; the interview was published by Joachim Wilhelmy
on a double CD, Interviews mit Zeitzeugen: Antisemitismus,
Juden, Buttenhausen. The double CD is available from Wilhelmy’s
website:
http://www.coacoa.de/TheaterA.G/startseite_theater_ag.html. |