She survived Hitler and wants to warn America
posted by Rob Kerby, Senior
Editor
Kitty
Werthmann
Kitty Werthmann
survived Hitler.
“What I am about to
tell you is something you’ve probably never heard or read in history books,” she
likes to tell audiences.
“I am a witness to
history.
“I cannot tell you
that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort
history.
Adolph
Hitler
“We voted him
in.”
If you remember the
plot of the Sound of
Music, the Von Trapp family escaped over the Alps rather than
submit to the Nazis. Kitty wasn’t so lucky. Her family chose to stay in her
native Austria. She was 10 years old, but bright and aware. And she was
watching.
“We elected him by a
landslide – 98 percent of the vote,” she recalls.
She wasn’t old
enough to vote in 1938 – approaching her 11th birthday. But she
remembers.
“Everyone thinks
that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by
force.”
No
so.
Hitler is welcomed
to Austria
“In 1938, Austria
was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had
25 percent inflation and 25 percent bank loan interest
rates.
Farmers and business
people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to
house begging for food. Not that they didn’t want to work; there simply weren’t
any jobs.
“My mother was a
Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a
big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people – about 30
daily.’
“We looked to our
neighbor on the north, Germany, where Hitler had been in power since 1933.” she
recalls. “We had been told that they didn’t have unemployment or crime, and they
had a high standard of living.
Austrian girls
welcome Hitler
“Nothing was ever
said about persecution of any group – Jewish or otherwise. We were led to
believe that everyone in Germany was happy. We wanted the same way of life in
Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of
unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be
assisted, and farmers would get their farms back.
“Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to
annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our
ruler.
“We were overjoyed,”
remembers Kitty, “and for three days we danced in the streets and had
candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and
everyone was fed.
Austrians
saluting
“After the election,
German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and
order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made
sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work
Service.
“Hitler decided we
should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married
Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be
looked down on if he couldn’t support his family. Many women in the teaching
profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been
required to give up for marriage.
“Then we lost
religious education for kids
Poster promoting
"Hitler Youth"
“Our education was
nationalized. I attended a very good public school.. The population was
predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected
Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix
replaced by Hitler’s picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very
devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn’t pray or have religion
anymore. Instead, we sang ‘Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles,’ and had
physical education.
“Sunday became
National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about
the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us,
they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time
they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be
subject to jail.”
And then things got
worse.
“The first two hours
consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As
time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports
equipment free.
“We would go home
and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we
had.
“My mother was very
unhappy,” remembers Kitty. “When the next term started, she took me out of
public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn’t do that and she
told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good
curriculum, but hardly any fun – no sports, and no political
indoctrination.
“I hated it at first
but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I
would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were
doing.
A pro-Hitler
rally
“Their loose
lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time,
unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for
Hitler.
“It seemed strange
to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what
a great deed my mother did so that I wasn’t exposed to that kind of humanistic
philosophy.
“Then food rationing
began
“In 1939, the war
started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be
purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed
which meant if you didn’t work, you didn’t get a ration card, and if you didn’t
have a card, you starved to death.
“Women who stayed
home to raise their families didn’t have any marketable skills and often had to
take jobs more suited for men.
“Soon after this,
the draft was implemented.
Young
Austrians
“It was compulsory
for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps,”
remembers Kitty. “During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night
they returned to their barracks for military training just like the
boys.
“They were trained
to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the
labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front
lines.
“When I go back to
Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional
cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of
combat.
“Three months before
I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg
amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military
service.
“When the mothers
had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child
care centers.
“You could take your
children ages four weeks old to school age and leave them there
around-the-clock, seven days a week, under the total care of the
government.
“The state raised a
whole generation of children. There were no motherly women to take care of the
children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one
talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
“Before Hitler, we
had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of
Vienna..
“After Hitler,
health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the
government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the
doctors for everything.
“When the good
doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at
the same time, the hospitals were full.
“If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year
or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into
socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the
best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other
countries.
“As
for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80 percent of our income. Newlyweds
immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household.
We had big programs for families.
“All day care and
education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college
tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food
stamps, clothing, and housing.
“We had another
agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that
had square tables.
“ Government
officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might
bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional
bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He
couldn’t meet all the demands.
“Soon, he went out
of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small
ones existed, it could be in control.
“We had consumer
protection, too
Austrian kids loyal
to Hitler
“We were told how to
shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a
planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the
farms, count the live-stock, and then tell the farmers what to produce, and how
to produce it.
“In 1944, I was a
student teacher in a small village in the Alps. The villagers were surrounded by
mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people
to be isolated.
“So people
intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told
there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good
manual work.
“I knew one, named
Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the
window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van.
“I asked my superior
where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health
Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were
required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6
months.
“They were told
visits would interfere with the program and might cause
homesickness.
“As time passed,
letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful
death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those
people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called
this euthanasia.
“Then they took our
guns
“Next came gun
registration. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way
to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns.
Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to
register their firearms. Not long afterwards, the police said that it was best
for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them,
so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.
Kitty
Werthmann
“No more freedom of
speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew
many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who
spoke up.
“Totalitarianism
didn’t come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full
dictatorship in Austria. Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have
fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism.
Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost
unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our
freedom.”
“This is my
eye-witness account.
“It’s true. Those of
us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable
freedom and opportunity.
“America is truly is
the greatest country in the world.
“Don’t let freedom
slip away.
“After America,
there is no place to go.”
The above is happening to us at this very
time.
WAKE UP AMERICA !!!
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