大象传媒

The von-Thadden family in Pomerania (part three)

Continued from part two 鈥�
鈥淚n the autumn of this year 1943 my sister was given some leave and during this time the disastrous tea party took place, which gave the cause for the accusations in the Volksgerichtshof {People鈥檚 Court}. One day a quiet pleasant young man called at Carmerstrasse, introducing himself as Dr. Reckzeh, who produced a letter from Frau Maria Segantini, a Swiss friend of my sister鈥檚. The letter asked if the bearer might be introduced into the Christian-conservative circles in Berlin. He claimed to have experienced dreadful things under the Nazis, and now he was longing to 鈥榖reathe decent, intelligent, spiritual air鈥� which he hoped to find here. My sister invited him to a tea party, which was planned for the next day. Several diplomats and other well informed personalities had been invited.鈥�

鈥淭he previous night news arrived about the fall of Italy, and the conversations among the guests were entirely dominated by this event. Ambassador Kiep expounded the idea that the war was now as good as lost. One wondered whether one could do anything that might help, like contacting sympathetic circles abroad in order to prevent total chaos. Here the young man interrupted and explained that he had to go to Switzerland quite often, and that he would be glad to take letters as he was never controlled. In the end my sister gave him a few lines of introduction to the Swiss family friend of hers. A few days later a gentleman from the OKW {Ober Kommando der Wehrmacht = High Command of the Armed Forces} telephoned to tell her that she had fallen into the hands of an informer who had betrayed everything.鈥�

鈥淗ow could it have been possible? The parents of Reckzeh lived near Frau Segantini鈥檚 home. One day in 1943 he rang her from Zurich, saying that he would love her to meet his young wife. The conversation turned to the political conditions in Germany. He said that he had been a Nazis but that he was heartily sick of all that. The regime was criminal; you could no longer open your mouth without the fear that some informer might report you. His wife said she could not bear it any longer; this life in a house full of slaves 鈥� .she would act now. If one day Frau Segantini would hear that Hitler was alive no more, she should remember this conversation. There followed again the complaint by the young man about the difficulty of getting back on the right path once one had been known as a Nazi. Nobody would trust you again, least of all the Christians. Could she not help him, perhaps, she who had known him since his childhood etc.鈥�

鈥淭his is the background to the letter of recommendation to my sister. We do not know if the young wife was part of the plot.鈥�

鈥淟ikewise the German 茅migr茅 to whom my sister sent Dr. Reckzeh and who ought really to have had enough knowledge about the activities of the Gestapo in Switzerland, did not suspect the young man quickly enough. He facilitated or did not prevent Dr. Reckzeh from going straight from his house to the former Reichschancellor Wirth, who without any inhibitions elaborated to him his plans for the new order in Germany once Hitler had been assassinated. With this loot Reckzeh returned to Berlin and then looked for my sister in Elmau (her favourite holiday place in the Alps) to find out how far she was involved in Wirth鈥檚 plans.鈥�

鈥淏ut in the meantime she had been warned and she told him to his face that he was an informer and a provocateur. Incidentally she had never seen Wirth, and she had no idea about his plans, but this did not stop the Volksgerichtshof at the trial assuming that her complicity was a fact and her death sentence was substantially based on that assumption.鈥�

鈥淭he Gestapo had organised a well planned hunt and had cornered their victim. For the first time I saw real fear in my sister鈥檚 face. It certainly was not fear for her own life, but the fear for the other people who were brought into this danger through her, and among whom there were three fathers of families. She felt the guilt.鈥�

鈥淭his was the last time that I was able to speak to my sister in freedom and at length. All the guests at the tea party, including our second sister Frau (Anza) Braune, had been arrested and they have told us about the methods used during interrogations. The ordeal after the arrest on 12 January 1944 started with an interrogation of 24 hours. Shortly before her death my sister said that nobody who had not experienced it could imagine how wearing that was, especially when they (the interrogators) were for ever insisting that one had said things which in fact one never said.鈥�

鈥淪he was taken to Ravensbrueck, the largest detention centre which was connected to the women鈥檚 concentration camp. The investigation lay in the hands of an awful man, SS-Hauptstammfuehrer Lange. I have seen him myself, and I can understand the horror with which my sister spoke of him. The lives of countless people are on his conscience. He was not stupid; he had a precise understanding of the conduct of good, noble people. He adjusted the mental thumbscrews accordingly. He did not need the use of physical torture. The other means were sufficient.鈥�

鈥淭he treatment in Ravensbruck was still bearable. For this group of prisoners special carers had been provided, professionals from the secret police who were responsible for the physical well being of the prisoners but of course they had also been told to obtain confessions. One of these women was on the side of the prisoners in her heart, she came from our neighbourhood in Pomerania, and she cared for my sister with loving devotion. She warned her of possible traps in the interrogations and she was able to give her real pastoral support when the psychological weight of the whole situation was almost crushing the prisoner. Soon after her arrest my sister learnt that one of her guests, Staatssekretaer Zarden, had committed suicide and that Ambassador Kiep would probably be given the death sentence.鈥�

鈥淭he year was 1944, in which the might of the Reich was crumbling fast. One could hope that the terrible man at the top, Adolf Hitler, would soon succumb, and perhaps then everything would get well again, generally and also in one鈥檚 own life. One could start again.鈥�

鈥淲hen Elisabeth von Thadden appeared before the Volksgericht in Berlin, on 1. July 1944. She had aged by many years. But she was still an unbroken, lucid, upright woman. She had not been given time to even read her indictment, and she had never seen her defence lawyer before. It was a mockery to call this a court of justice. It was a performance, conducted by the satanic Roland Freisler, in front of an auditorium consisting of army officers who happened to be on leave in Berlin, and who had been forced to attend. The indictment was read out: attempted high treason because of the assumed connection with Reichchancellor Wirth and his circle, and the destruction of the army鈥檚 morale {Wehrkraftzersetzung} through the conversations about hopelessness of the state of war. The outcome for both the principal accused was of course fixed beforehand: the death penalty. In spite of it my sister defended herself, as did Ambassador Kiep. We felt strongly that the weight of the accusation, betrayal of the fatherland, lay heavily on both of them. Rationally they knew that exactly the opposite was true, but the people still suffer under insults, even when they are quite unjust and when they are being hurled at them by people with the lowest attitudes.鈥�

鈥淒uring a pause my brother, sisters and I found an opportunity to speak with her briefly. She was still full of courage. She only asked us one thing: if the judgment should include handcuffs, could we please try our utmost to save her from that, it would be so awful that one would not be able to bear it. An hour later we had to witness that she was being led away in handcuffs. And we were unable to help her.鈥�

鈥淥f course much was tried to change the death sentence to lifelong imprisonment. We were fairly close to being successful. But then came the failed assassination attempt on Hitler鈥檚 life on 20 July, and after that all was in vain. Two long months they waited before judgment was carried out. The prisoner was taken to the penal institution in the Barnimstrasse which, just like the buildings of the Volksgerichtshof and symbol of the whole state, even in its collapse and in blind fury did not cease to annihilate good people.鈥�

鈥淒uring these weeks Elizabeth von Thadden went through the longest part of her way through life. Day and night she wore the metal handcuffs, which ultimately caused a painful eczema that kept her awake. With her in the same cell was always another woman prisoner who had been sentenced for criminal offences, and who had to assist my sister when necessary. During bombing raids the condemned prisoners had to stay alone in the cells, while the others were allowed to go to the shelter. The companions in the cell were changed quite often and a closer contact with them did not happen. Thus the prisoner was led into a deep silence, and slowly she began to understand that her fate would be sealed sooner than that of the Reich, and that there was no hope left for her on earth. She never heard of the execution of Ambassador Kiep on 26 July 1944, but she felt very acutely that this worst cup was not going to be taken away from her. She did not break down under this. Pastor Ohm, who stood by her right up to the end, has confirmed it. The two prison social workers, who were able to offer her some small kindnesses, told us that right up to the end of her life the prisoner never lost her sense of humour nor her awareness of comic situations, that her eyes remained alert and bright for everything humane around her. We too knew that from the rare visits we were permitted to make.鈥�

鈥淪he used her time to read some books from the prison library, but she also learnt by heart long passages from the Bible. She no longer wanted us to ask how she was. Her pale face showed an expression of kindness and nobility which none of us will ever forget. She left no notes. But among the few things, which she still possessed, we found a small booklet by Reinhold Schneider, a well-known Catholic Christian, which contains a few short chapters on 鈥淐hrist鈥檚 Stations of the Cross鈥�, in the form of prayers. Elizabeth von Thadden had marked some of the passages which must have been important to her.鈥�

鈥淭he day when Elizabeth von Thadden was executed in Berlin-Ploetzense was the 8th of September 1944. We heard about it from Pastor Ohm and much more through some other circumstances. A simple woman, Frau Jarius, typist in a Berlin police station, who never before had had anything to do with prisons, suddenly received the order to accompany prisoners from the women鈥檚 prison in the Barnimstrasse to the prison in Ploetzensee. Only when she got there did she hear that these prisoners were to be taken to their execution. She stayed with her, together with Pastor Ohm, for the whole of the eight heavy hours, until the Volksrichter [people鈥檚 judge] entered the sell and proclaimed the carrying out of the execution. In these hours they were very close. An aura of love surrounded both.鈥�

鈥淎t midday Pastor Ohm celebrated communion with her, but because there were so many executions of prisoners from July 20th, the waiting time lasted until 4pm. Oddly enough, letters were given to her, and she was allowed to write replies. The farewell letter which she wrote to our family in a firm hand, started with a verse from the Bible: 鈥楾his is my command, that you shall love one another as I have loved you鈥�.鈥�

鈥淭hen finally the last moments arrived. Pastor Ohm was only allowed to accompany her along the passage. He confirmed that she walked with steady steps, saying the words of Paul Gerhard鈥檚 (translation) 鈥�
鈥淢ake an end Lord, to all our cares, strengthen our feet and hands and let us always be in your care and faithfulness until death. Then our way will lead us surely into heaven.鈥�
鈥淪he went the way in a brave fight against her enemies, but without rebellion against God. She completed the journey on which she had started.鈥�

To follow in Part four - The attack on Russia 1941

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