Kestenberg Archive

Frau R was born in Göttingen in 1926 to an Evangelist family. When she was ten years old, she joined the BDM and enjoyed it very much. Around age 14 she became more critical and started to like it less. She began missing meetings. However, since meetings were compulsory, people checked up on her and as a result she started attending again. Her opinions and feelings on Hitler and the war changed a number of times during her youth. She had little contact with Jews as a child. Once she saw concentration camp inmates on their way to work and was horrified by the sight, but no one could express their pity openly. After finishing school at the age of 14 she spent a year working on a farm for compulsory national service. Following this she spent two years at a trade school. In June 1944 she began her selective service, about which she was very excited. Frau R was sent to Upper Silesia near Katowice where she remained until November 1944. From there she was sent to work in a factory producing synthetic fuel, where she remained until January 1945. At this point she was sent home for three weeks. She did not believe that the Russians would win, but she never returned to the factory. Frau R recounts many difficulties with the occupying American soldiers, including sexual harassment and frequent searches for her father who had served in the German army. Regarding the Holocaust she thinks it has been talked about enough and that Nazis should not be hunted any more. She has no personal regrets.