Growing up in spite of Hitler

By Peter Grabow

Many books have been written about the brutality and atrocities committed by the unbelievably evil government of Nazi Germany. The author of this book, born three years before Hitler and his henchmen came to power has now reached the age of 82 and is therefore part of a generation inexorably and seriously reducing in numbers. He feels compelled to recount his experiences of living through one of history's most traumatic epochs, not only in his own, largely dysfunctional family with dangerously anti-Nazi tendencies but somehow surviving the horrific terror-bombing of his own city, Hamburg, (the 'Hiroshima' of Germany) -which was one of the direct consequences of Hitler's brutal and merciless actions.
He bears no animosity towards such retaliatory action by allied forces but would like to document that the great majority of the German civilian population, at the time unaware of the horrendous massacres perpetrated by the SS and other organisations, suffered immeasurably large loss of life.
In a conflagration such as WW II, unleashed by a criminal and unscrupulous regime, no one emerges without blame for the 50 million souls that were lost! The author survived the inferno in his own way and is thankful for any day still given him.
Therefore, this is the story of one innocent child being born into and living through the whole of the tumultuous era of Nazi Germany, avoiding being contaminated by the evil around him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Grabow
• Release date: Mar 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476059112

Peter Grabow

I was born in Hamburg, Germany three years before Hitler and his henchmen came to power and, therefore, had the misfortune of having to spend my formative years under the Nazi regime lasting 12 years. Another calamity I endured was the fact that I grew up in a somewhat dysfunctional family. My father, an extremely self-centered man, passionately opposed the regime, thereby causing a fair amount of bedlam in my family, and eventually divorced my mother. I soon was compelled to face the utter chaos surrounding me on my own. A great number of books have been written about the brutality and the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis. Although not being personally pursued or harassed by them I, like the vast majority of the civilian population, suffered from the consequences of the inhumanity of the regime. From the age of ten years to the end of war at fifteen I had experienced the horrific and disastrous area bombing, somehow survived the infamous firestorm of Hamburg, saw untold dismembered and burned corpses of all ages lying in the streets, and witnessing other unspeakable misery. Therefore, now, at the fair old age of 82, I feel justified to put pen to paper to write about these experiences and of life in war-torn Germany, recounting what it was like to desperately (and largely on my own) fight for survival in those utterly chaotic times. After the war, I married one of my supposed "enemies", emigrated into enemy territory to live in England for twenty years, migrated to New Zealand for thirty, and was unfortunately widowed after 50 years of marriage. Now, seventy or more years later, I live very happily re-married to Mary ("Queen of Scots"), in Queensland, Australia where we intend to spend a peaceful and happy life for a little while longer.

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Growing up in spite of Hitler

By

Peter Grabow

Published by Peter Grabow at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Peter Grabow

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter 1 The Treaty of Versailles made World War II inevitable

Chapter 2 My Arrival

Chapter 3 Meet the Family

Chapter 4 The Early Years

Chapter 5 School begins

Chapter 6 Face to Face with Hitler

Chapter 7 One War Ends, - Another Begins

Chapter 8 My Phoney War

Chapter 9 The Hiroshima of Germany

Chapter 10 What Now?

Chapter 11 Totally Lost, Confused and Homeless

Chapter 12 The End is nigh!

Chapter 13 The End has come!

Chapter 14 Peace at Last!

Chapter 15 Accusation of Anti-Semitism!??

Chapter 16 Working for the Enemy

Chapter 17 The Epilogue

FOREWORD

A great many books have been written about how Hitler managed to get the enormous power he eventually exercised even though his party never got more than 43% of the popular vote. The unbelievable brutality and the mindboggling atrocities that were perpetrated are well documented. However, very little has been written about the effect this had on the average citizen.

Although much too young to fully comprehend what was happening around me, I still have very vivid memories of the mainly indirect consequences resulting from their repugnant activities. I remember the earlier good years when all seemed to be well with the world but those days soon ended when our Jewish friends were being harassed, the invasion of Poland started World War II and the allied terror-bombing turned us into homeless refugees.

Now, at age 82, I am inevitably part of a generation, inexorably and seriously diminishing in numbers. Therefore, being one of the relatively few still alive to tell my side of the story, I feel compelled to put pen to paper to write about my experiences of life in war-torn Germany and describe what it was like to try to survive in the utter chaos of the time.

My basic instinct of survival was not helped by the fact that my parental home was severely dysfunctional, eventually resulting in the divorce of my parents when I was nine years old.

It is not my intention to claim brutality, hostility or cruelty, because that never happened to me personally. I aim to tell honestly what it was like to grow up and fight for survival at a very early stage in my life, in a country perverted, dominated and run by a fascist regime.

The Treaty of Versailles made World War II inevitable.

At the end of World War I Germany was singled out and, she alone, blamed for having started the war. When it ended, she was not only totally humiliated by this treaty, but forced to accept and acknowledge full and sole responsibility for the conflagration. She was compelled to pay gigantic reparations to the Western alliance and cede some of her territory and colonies, which impoverished the nation.

The Treaty imposed democracy in the form of the Weimar Republic on Germany, a country which had no deep-seated tradition of democracy. Ex-enemy governments and foreign money were involved in propping up this new Republic and that resulted in establishing devastatingly unstable governments for the next 15 years! No one party could ever rule!

By 1929 the worldwide economic depression of the 1920s, put the Weimar Republic under further gigantic strain resulting in a Hyperinflation from which it would never recover. The instability of the Weimar Republic became more and more obvious and disconcerting when in the four-year period February 1929 to January 1933 Germany had 12 chancellors and 2l governments thus leading to totally ineffectual government, and absolute disillusionment of the population.

A great many Germans were now ready, (eager even) to believe the frenzied ranting and raving of Adolf Hitler, the Austrian-born demagogue, when he vociferously pledged to give them back their pride, thus alleviating their humiliation. He promised that he would not only ignore the Treaty but to reject it. Unemployment was exceedingly high, and he pledged to eradicate that condition as well.

The way for Hitler was now wide open!

The main adverse effect all this had on me was the way my education and therefore my potential in life was severely and detrimentally affected because it was non-existent and just did not happen. The most distressing, sad, and agonizing consequence for me was the indirect result of Nazi activities.

Early in the war the Nazi war machine bombed Britain, altogether killing 60,000 innocent civilians (60,000 too many!). In the later course of the war, both sides in the conflict committed what I, and I am sure most human beings would regard as crimes against humanity. One of these was the 1943 firebombing of Hamburg by the British air force, which turned the mass killings of civilian populations in Germany into an acceptable and legitimate method of war finally killing more than 3 million German civilians, -losses higher in fact than those of German armed forces.

I will say no more on this subject but it is a fact that the fascination with this era, seems to continue unabated, and I find that to be an odd phenomenon. The most likely reason may be the fading of memories of what led to this horrendous disaster. It is a fact that since this historically unequalled cataclysm, many more episodes of genocide, mostly in underdeveloped nations, have come to pass, but it will forever remain a mystery how a highly educated, cultured, and successful nation such as Germany could sink to such horrendous depths. If one thinks of it, nobody came out of this period with glory.

Before I began to write, I reflected on the task ahead of me and faced a quandary because, at the beginning the Nazi era, they were not my real problem! A more immediate, personal dilemma was the fact that, even at this very early stage my family life was badly disturbed by constant, serious, marital conflicts between my parents until they divorced in 1939 when I was nine years of age.

In addition, I gave serious consideration to our domestic situation at the time, and was reluctant to proceed because essentially our lives, with the exception of parental feuding, were neither unpleasant nor unbearable at the early stages of life under the Nazis. It should be remembered that it was Hitler's genuine aim to put Germany back on her feet and there was no intention to terrorise the general population of the country.

The situation only became critical and desperate after four years of Nazi rule in 1937.Such as experiencing the 'Kristallnacht' (Night of Broken Glass), the persecution our Jewish friends who were subjected to harrassment by Gestapo and later committed suicide; then came the horrific and relentless terror-bombing of the Allies from 1942. As a direct result of this, our schools were permanently closed and our education disrupted. Although the massive area-bombing of civilians was an act against humanity, we must remember that the German Luftwaffe were first to commit this kind of atrocity against Britain.

By the age of 15, I had also witnessed many other acts of Nazi violence and atrocities, such as the arrest of entire families by the Gestapo because the father had listened to enemy broadcasts by the BBC, even on-the-spot executions, and other scenes of carnage. I had seen too many burnt corpses of men, women and children and horrendously distressed animals covered in phosphor dying a horrible death because nobody could put them out of their misery. Enough to last anyone for a lifetime!

In spite of it I managed to:

Grow up in spite of Hitler!

****

My Arrival

(March 04, 1930)

In the early hours of a bitterly cold morning in early March, 1930, about a month after my parents' wedding, I was born in Hamburg. At that time Germany had become a complete and utter political basket case and under these circumstances I immediately expressed my umbrage over having to leave my comfort zone of the past nine months, by relieving myself into the midwifes apron pocket (so I was later told). In this way, I almost certainly foreshadowed my attitude to, and opinion of things to come.

A few weeks before my expected arrival, my parents decided to get married. Soon it became obvious however that this was not the basis for a steady, loving family environment in which I could grow up. A further outcome of this decision was that my parents' respective families acquired a common interest i.e. me, although