But for one woman, the name Adolf Hitler evokes a smile not a shudder. She is Rosa Mitterer, who worked as a maid for the Fuhrer at his mountain retreat in Bavaria in the 1930s.
I am happy to inform you about our life in Hitler’s time, for today’s politicians and mass media are purposefully untruthful about that time. I am a Thüringer who grew up in a farming family with seven children, and I have vividly experienced Hitler’s time. My profession is that of certified engineer, for which I began my studies in Thüringen. I had a scholarship, since my mother could not provide money for tuition after my father was killed by lightning. Under National Socialism, it was no problem for a member of a numerous family to obtain a scholarship plus living expenses. One had merely to fill out an application.
Ίσως επειδή, η μητέρα του πέθανε από καρκίνο, ο Αδόλφος Χίτλερ, ανέπτυξε ένα βαθύ ενδιαφέρον για τα σχετιζόμενα με την υγεία θέματα – ιδιαίτερα, όσον αφορά τον καρκίνο.
By Dr. Walter Gross Head of the Reich Bureau for Enlightenment on Population Policy and Racial Welfare
Of all the measures introduced in the new Germany those bearing on National Socialist racial policy caused the greatest stir internationally, for here was a State setting its feet upon paths hitherto almost untrodden and leading through untouched preserves, whose aims were in many respects liable to clash with established Liberal views. Relevant legislation served to corroborate and achieve these aims and it was no wonder, therefore, that – in the beginning at least – this particular phase of National Socialist reconstruction met with universal misunderstanding and prejudice. We are happy meanwhile to be able to discern that other nations have come to realise that Germany is, indeed, taking to new paths, but they are right ones and are necessary and, more than that, Germany is in many respects blazing a trail for others; mention need only be made of our law for the prevention of the transmission of hereditary diseases (Sterilisation Law) which has been followed in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland by similar laws or draft proposals. However, no one will wholly understand or sympathise with our legislation who is not wholly familiar with the fundamental change in the philosophical. conception . of life which has come with National Socialism in the light of history.
Πρόνοια Για Την Μητρότητα Και Τα Παιδιά Στο Τρίτο Ράιχ
Η οργάνωση, “Μητέρα και Παιδί”, διαμορφώθηκε για να παρέχει ευημερία, υγεία, ασφάλεια, οικονομική προστασία και αναψυχή στις μητέρες, τα παιδιά ακόμη και στις μελλοντικές μητέρες. Τα 26.000 τοπικά κέντρα που δημιουργήθηκαν μέχρι το 1937, παρείχαν διακοπές σε 1.800.000 παιδιά. Επιπλέον, δημιουργήθηκαν 4.319 νέοι βρεφικοί σταθμοί και παιδικοί σταθμοί.
By Dr. Hans Friedrich Blunc Honorary President of the Reich Chamber of Literature, Member of the Reich Culture Senate and of the Senate of the Academy of Literature
At first glance it may seem strange that a poet and writer of fairy-tales has been chosen to write this article on German culture policy, when so wide a choice from among leading politicians was available. Perhaps, however, the selection was symbolic, because creative artists in Germany to-day are concerning themselves, as never before, with the rising and falling fortunes of their fellow-countrymen. Certainly that romantic age which consigned the writer to an isolated garret existence has gone for ever. If only in this respect, we, in Germany, have turned from the romantic period of Europe to the classic, when some of the great creative thinkers were also leading personalities in the State.
Στις αρχές της δεκαετίας του ’30, τα εργοστάσια ήταν παγκοσμίως αποκλειστικά ανθυγεινά και εχθρικά για το ανθρώπινο σώμα και πνεύμα. Σκοτεινοί και δύσοσμοι λειτουργικοί χώροι-γούρνες κοπιαστικού ιδρώτα.
Αλλά, το 1933, η νομοθεσία ανάγκασε τα Γερμανικά εργοστάσια, να προσαρμοστούν σε υψηλά πρότυπα υγιεινής και καθαριότητας. Οι εσωτερικοί χώροι, έπρεπε να ανοίξουν στο φυσικό φως. Τα μεγαλύτερα εργοστάσια, έπρεπε να παρέχουν χώρους ξεκούρασης, καφετέριες, αναγνωστήρια, κατάλληλα αποδυτήρια και ακόμη γήπεδα ή πισίνες. Μέσα σε τρία χρόνια, 17.000 καφετέριες είχαν προστεθεί στα εργοστάσια. Επιπλέον, 13.000 εγκαταστάσεις υγιεινής με τρεχούμενο νερό διατέθηκαν στους εργαζομένους, που μέχρι τότε, έπρεπε να αρκεσθούν στις πρωτόγονες τουαλέτες και τα λαβομάνα.
Presented by videotape at the Eleventh IHR Conference, 1992.
When my father flew to Scotland on May 10, 1941, I was three-and-a-half years old. As a result, I have only very few personal memories of him in freedom. One of them is a memory of him pulling me out of the garden pond. On another occasion, when I was screaming because a bat had somehow gotten into the house. I can still recall his comforting voice as he carried it to the window and released it into the night.
In the years that followed, I learned who my father was, and about his role in history, only bit by bit. Slowly, I came to understand the martyrdom he urged as a prisoner in the Allied Military Prison in Berlin-Spandau for 40 long years — half a life-time.