The Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy 1933-1945 (33 page)

4. REJECTION OF AND RESISTANCE TO NAZI ANTI-SEMITISM

Care must be taken not to underestimate the number of people who at one point or another may have offered aid and comfort to the Jews. If they were never caught, hence never turned over to the Gestapo, there would be no official record of their activities. In addition, most of the files of those who were caught were destroyed. There is oral testimony, but this kind of documentation is limited, not least because some of the people who provided
assistance would have perished along with those whom they had helped. The combination of these factors means that unknown numbers of stories of resistance to the persecution of the Jews have been lost to history. What is known from survivors is that any Jews who went underground could not have lasted for long without the help of non-Jews.'"
In the Wurzburg Gestapo materials one particularly courageous case has come to light, and is worth reviewing, not only because it shows that some people rejected Nazi antiSemitism and sought to do something about it, but also because it suggests something about the possibilities and limitations of opposition in the dictatorship.

use Sonja Totzke was born in 1913 in Strasburg, then capital of imperial Germany's conquered province of Alsace. When Germany lost the war this area came under the control of France, and her father Ernst, a German citizen (born in Prussia) and music conductor, was forced to leave; young Ilse went with him, first to Mannheim and later to Ludwigshafen, where he subsequently opened his own music school. Ilse's wealthy mother joined them subsequently, but she died in 1921. Although Ilse was supposed to inherit money from her mother's estate, her father, who had remarried in 1924, refused to give up the money; and some time between 1929 and 1931, while at a boarding school in Bamberg, she won a court case against him. On 17 November 1935, as a music student in Wurzburg, she was involved in a serious motor-cycle accident in which she suffered a fractured skull, and was hospitalized in Wiirzburg's Juliusspital until Christmas. In her first interrogation by the Gestapo, on 5 September 1941, she said that after the accident, recurring, week-long headaches had prevented her from finishing her music studies, begun in 1932. Though in 1934, at the age of 21, she had inherited a considerable sum of money (some 42,000 marks), her inability to take up regular employment, the costs of medical care, and her contribution to her stepsisters' schooling had eaten away at her inheritance, so that by 1941 most of it was spent.

Alone and without regular employment, but yet with some means of support, Totzke had stood out from her neighbours, and her suspicious behaviour was subject to repeated, unsolicited denunciations. In her first interrogation she said that she did not particularly care from whom she rented her flat, nor who else lived in the house; she had often sublet from Jewish families, and had been acquainted with a number of Jewish women in Wurzburg. For example, she had visits from a Jewish woman and her family whom she had met in 1934-5. She had also socialized with other Jewish women. In the file there is no evidence that she had any association with Jewish men. Had she befriended males, she would have run the risk of being charged with the very serious crime of 'race defilement', an allegation that could not be brought against the women use befriended.

Totzke's brushes with the Wurzburg Gestapo began in 1936, when, for reasons that are not made clear in the file, her letters were placed under surveillance. In all likelihood this began when a neighbour tipped off the Gestapo that something suspicious was afoot. On 3 April 1939 a neighbour of Totzke's (she lived somewhat on the outskirts of Wurzburg), Studienrat Dr Ludwig Kneisel, attached to the local university, made a personal appearance at Gestapo headquarters to report a conversation he had had with a neighbour who mentioned her `suspicious behaviour'. Dr Kneisel said that he `felt bound by his duty as a reserve officer' to inform the Gestapo, which could contact additional (named) persons for further information. (The same man wrote to the police again in mid-1940 to report that Totzke had been seen near troop movements.) The Gestapo questioned neighbours about Totzke, and, though some had a number of potentially damaging things to say, there was little on which to base a case. One neighbour was specifically asked to keep watch and to telephone the Gestapo if anything turned up.

On 29 July 1940 yet another denouncer appeared at Gestapo headquarters, this time a 22-year-old clerical worker, Gertrud Weiss, who reported that on the numerous occasions on which she and Totzke had spoken to each other Totzke had never used the 'Heil Hitler!' greeting. (As is clear from numerous other files, failure to give this 'German greeting' was taken to indicate reservations about Hitler's Germany, and could be used as evidence of political views.) Weiss said that Totzke seemed always anti-German, pro-French, and sympathetic towards the Jews-and, moreover, claimed to know a lot about armies and such things. While she apparently had no job, she had plenty of money; she stayed home all day, did little shopping, went out at dusk, and returned only at dawn. (The Weiss family's shepherd dog, it was alleged, always barked upon Totzke's return!) Weiss also said that Totzke occasionally had a woman visitor (about 36 years old) who 'looked Jewish'.

All of the above denunciations could be reduced to one or two points. Totzke did not fit into the pattern of the neighbourhood, and had no regular job or family; she was unconventional, did not show any zeal for the Nazi regime, and was reluctant to accept the official line on Jews, the French, or much else. She thus earned the continuing attention of her neighbours, who kept trying to pin something on her. Early in 1941 she was once more denounced, this time by an anonymous letter from 'a close neighbour', who alleged that Totzke visited a young Jewish woman. The note is full of spelling and grammatical errors, but, instructively, ends by saying that `every German can and must know the laws; only for Miss T. they seem not to exist'.

For whatever reason, the Gestapo waited until August 194 Ito bring Totzke in for questioning. Her signed statement is a remarkable document. Apart from some of the personal matters summarized above, Totzke was asked several pointed questions which related to the series of denunciations over the previous years. The most important matter put to her concerned the extent to which she socialized with Jews. Totzke made no effort to deny that since coming to Wurzburg she had befriended three Jewish women: all are named, with their dates of birth. When the Gestapo pointed out that this kind of behaviour might show a failure to comply with the regime's official antiSemitism, she answered:

If it is concluded on the basis of my Jewish acquaintances that I do not have much use for National Socialism, I would say that I do not concern myself with politics. The action against the Jews, however, I believe is not right. I cannot declare myself in agreement with these measures. To that I would add that I am not a Communist. Every decent person is fine with me, regardless of nationality. I chose my livingquarters outside Wurzburg in order to be by myself and to hear nothing of the world. My doctor also advised me to live in the open as much as possible.

Totzke was brought in again on 28 October 1941, when she was again formally warned to avoid all Jews or face a spell in a concentration camp. By the time of her interrogation, racial persecution had been very much stepped up, not only in the East but on the home front as well (Jews in Germany had to wear the yellow star on their clothing, even when they were at home, from September 1941).

On 24 November 1941 it officially became a crime for Jews and non-Jews to show friendship for one another by appearing in public together; if they were spotted the Jewish person 'in every case' was to be sent to a concentration camp for an indefinite period, while the 'German-blooded' person who 'still did not seem to grasp the most elementary essential concepts of National Socialism' was to be placed in protective custody and, in the most serious cases, sent to a concentration camp for up to three months for 'educative purposes'.60
Jews became the more easily identified as social outcasts after they were forced to wear the yellow star. No doubt there was an increased official (and civilian) sensitivity in late November 1941, when the deportations of the Jews from Wurzburg and Lower Franconia began.

Not until a year later, in December 1942, was Totzke summoned to the Gestapo headquarters in Wurzburg. She later said that she knew what was in store for her, precisely because she had maintained the forbidden relations. Upon receiving the summons, she left town immediately for Berlin, where she had some contacts. She renewed a friendship (from a visit there in September 1942) with a Jewish woman, Ruth Basinsky. Totzke stayed in Basinky's apartment for a few days, but for some reason returned to Wii.rz- burg, where she managed to elude the police. By early 1943 she was back in Berlin, and learnt that Basinksy was in a 'Jewish camp' in the August Strasse. Totzke sought out Basinsky, whom she persuaded to flee with her to Switzerland. Jews were being systematically rounded up in Berlin at this time and assigned to 'the lists' of those who were to be shipped to the east. In early 1943 no Jew in Berlin was unaware that momentous consequences were involved in the deportations, though few anticipated mass murder. Totzke later remarked to the Gestapo that 'I played with the idea of leaving Germany for a long time, because I do not feel good under the government of Adolf Hitler. More than anything else I find the Nuremberg Laws incomprehensible, and it was because of that that I maintained the relationships with the Jews I knew.'

On 12 or 13 February 1943 she left Berlin with Basinsky for Heidelberg, where they stayed for a week, each renting a different room and trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. From there they went on to Strasburg, and, after a number of other stops, to Durmenach-an area known to Totzke-near the Swiss border. They crossed the border illegally into Switzerland on the night of 26-7 February 1943, but were caught almost immediately by Swiss border-guards. Having been detained for several hours until dusk, when they were released at the border area, they tried their luck once again, at a different place. After a few hours of freedom in Switzerland, they were caught and this time turned over by the Swiss to the German customs and to a death sentence. From her signed statement taken down at the German border Totzke stated her primary motive:

I was not ordered by anyone to bring the Jewish person Ruth Sara Basinsky to Switzerland. I simply had pity for the latter and wanted to protect her from the evacuation. I also admit that I was the one who persuaded her to flee. For my efforts I have received compensation neither from Basinsky nor from other persons. I deny that I had previously helped Jews to leave illegally. The escape plan was totally my own, and I was supported by no one ... I would like to mention once again that I wanted to leave Germany because I reject National Socialism. More than anything else, I cannot agree with the Nuremberg Laws. I planned to get myself interned in Switzerland. I do not want to live further in Germany under any circumstances.

Basinsky was sent back to Berlin and Totzke to Wurzburg, where she arrived on 1o March 1943. The Gestapo in Wurzburg placed Totzke in 'protective custody', and eventually she was sent to Ravensbriick concentration camp in accordance with the provisions of the decree of 24 September 1941, which prohibited Jews and non-Jews from appearing in public together. The Gestapo concluded the dossier by saying that

Totzke justified her activities on the basis of the fact that she rejected National Socialism, did not feel well under the government of Adolf Hitler, and also found the Nuremberg Laws incomprehensible. She wanted to find refuge for herself and to protect the Jew Basinsky from evacuation, because she felt sorry for the Jews ... As is evident from the foregoing, Totzke is a person who rejects National Socialism and
makes no bones about it. She is a woman of the Jews [Judenweib] and according to her revealed behaviour is beyond redemption [nicht mehr besserungsfdhig]."

use Totzke never returned from the concentration camp. That she could tell Gestapo officials to their face in September 1941 that she did not agree with Nazi anti-Semitism betokens great courage. The 'good neighbours' who kept turning her in on the flimsiest of grounds demonstrate the pronounced role of denunciations in the policing of Nazi Germany. Motives for the tip-offs were mixed; some justified their accusations by claiming that they made them out of a sense of 'duty'. It can hardly be doubted that there was also a great deal of envy, resentment, and pettiness.

5. CONCLUSION

Gestapo files registered a network of personal, friendly, sexual, and also business relations between Jews and non-Jews as these had developed over generations. It was precisely this network that the regime sought to dismantle as part of the effort to implement racist ideology. The enforcement of racial policy was heavily dependent upon the voluntary provision of information. Different degrees of co-operation were required to enforce different kinds of policies. Those that pertained to the private and intimate spheres were especially removed from the gaze of the police, and without denunciations from the population the 'crimes' would almost certainly have gone undetected. The process by which the Gestapo, with the help of some 'ordinary citizens', enforced policy simultaneously eliminated the 'more or less protected enclaves' required for people to gather, mobilize, and give expression to disobedience. In spite of the odds, however, some refused to comply with Nazi teaching on race, kept up contacts, and offered help even when it became life-threatening to do so. False accusations, including the exploitation of the situation for private purposes, helped to build barriers between the Jews and everyone else in the country. In this and other chapters of the book an effort has been made to remove the abstract character of the persecution and to show the significance of widespread social co-operation, collaboration, accommodation, and adjustment. Without social co-operation of various kinds, irrespective of motives, the anti-Semitic policies would have remained so many idle fantasies.