The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

according to Nazi law. ‘There are lots of women left for younger girls
today,’ a kindly doctor had told her. ‘I know it’s part of the superman idea.’
As a result, she had been forced to go back to work and to place the
older boy, Wolfgang, in the care of her cousin and his wife, and baby Klaus
with foster parents until she could afford to look after them herself once
more. Both could have been placed in a Kinderheim – a state children’s
home – but the thought of having them raised by party members and
becoming institutionalized did not appeal to her at all.
Else worked in the Department of Art in the Kraft durch Freude (KdF)
– Strength Through Joy – organization, based at the Headquarters of the
German Labour Front, in two large, four-storeyed houses in the Kaiserallee
in west Berlin. She worked directly for one man, Herr Wolter, and their job
was to organize art exhibitions in factories – part of the Nazi cultural plan to
make workers more interested in art. Else had been lucky to get a job in a
government institution without being a Party member, but because of a
shortage of suitable staff she had been given a temporary post and then
proved so adept they kept her on. Her boss was a Party man, however,
although this did not stop him making numerous jokes about the leading
Nazis. Nonetheless, like Else, Herr Wolter was a great admirer of Hitler and
all his achievements and he certainly believed that the German invasion of
Poland had been entirely justified.
‘But up until now,’ Else had retorted, ‘Hitler has done everything
peacefully. I do admire his foresight and diplomacy, as long as it means
peace. But this is war!’ In this she was reflecting the view of the vast
majority; very few wished to risk a repeat of the disastrous 1914–18 war.
There was certainly no euphoria as there had been in 1914. Herr Wolter had
laughed, however. The war, he assured her, would be over in a flash.
A few days later, Else had been at her parents’ house with her younger
sister, Hilde, and brother Rudolf, helping her mother fit blackout sheets
across their windows. Hilde had worried that the war might last longer than
they all thought.
‘Nonsense,’ said their mother. ‘Of course it will be over. Surely the
Führer knows what he is talking about.’
Most people, on the whole, tend to accept the decisions of their leaders,
assuming, as Else’s mother did, that they are informed by a great deal more
information than a member of the public can ever know. Faith in Hitler
remained widespread through the first nine months of the war. When in