Stanford Student Letters and Memoirs

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The first case was a man and his grown daughter; the family had been operating a private laundry business in the suburbs of east Berlin. A couple of years ago, in order to put greater economic pressure on such private businesses (enforce them to form larger "people's factories") the State passed a law that a factory would now be any business employing mroe than 3 people (previously the number had been 11). Thus, the family had to begin paying factory as well as personal taxes; over the years these tazes [taxes] were raised to even more pressing levels. Also there are laws restricting the amount people can pay such private businesses (i.e. price controls to eliminate friendly assistance from neighbors and make profits impossible) and also restricting where their goods can be sold. Such economic pressures as this were eventually supplemented by direct threats that the business would be closed and the people forced to work in the "people's factories". At this point they fled as refugees.

The second man was a lawyer, had been working as a tax advisor in a town in east Germany. The State had, over the years, been collectivising farm and hand workers in his community, thus eliminating his clientele (who must then deal with the State's tax advisors). As a more imminent personal distress, one of the sons( there were 2 sons and wife who had fled with him) had been detected unfavorable comments in private letters to a freiend in the western zone. When this was somehow discovered he was brought up for punishment, given an alternative of joining the Secret Police and spying on his schoolmates (really this is no fictional horror story- it happened!!!) With the threats on his son and the pressure on the father to become a State lawyer (which means joining the party too), the family fled to west Berlin, will go on to Stuttgart where the man has a job arranged through friends.

The third and fourth cases were both farmers fleeing in face of the pressure to give up their private farms and join the Collective farms as I already mentioned. Here we observed, the stress has been more openly political. They (the party organization) call meetings in each town, request that the farmers voluntarily sign up for the party and collectiveization [collectivization] (thus they can say in propaganda that it was "voluntary") and had the peoples' support; Those who don't sign are then pressured to sign ("voluntarily", mind you) by city officials, visits from party people, even liud [loud] speakers going through the streats screaming the man's name as a "friend of Adenauer". If the "Voluntary" appeal doesn't work, the man is, I think, then required to join anyway, and of course his stalling makes him the less popular in the government's eyes. As one side note on the dangers involved in a refugee's flight to the west, one of these farmers came by train with his wife. He and his son ( with the son's wife and two Young children) had arranged to leave at the same time and travel seperately (for greater safety in smaller numbers). They were to meet in Berlin. But there is so far no sign of the son and grandchildren. They were either delayed or picked up by the Police. It is illegal to flee, try to flee, or even to know of someone's feelings without reporting it to the police! As I realized the torment this couple must be suffering, not knowing their son's fate, the personal brutality of the Totalitarian system really hit me, and I felt liberally almost like crying in sympathy.

March 6, 1960

Yesterday I spoke for several hours with the mayor of Beutelsbach, Herr Plessing, and his wife. Our discussion turned among other things, to the war and to current political attitudes, and was, in addition a chance for me to think out several impressions that I have picked up as to American misconceptions about Germany. I am going to set these thoughts down in disjointed fashion so that I may have a record of them and you may share in the insights of my experience here.

#1- It is, as many of us, surely realize, simply impossible for Americans who have not seen it to imagine the destructive power of war. Even being here and seeing what ruins remain (not very many!) we cannot visualize a city 90% bombed out. And even less, could we understand the way this damage was experienced by the people, how they lived during the war. Frau Plessing described to me one very minor incident, the bombing of her small village just outside Stuttgart. In a matter of munites [minutes] there fell on this village of 2000 people 980 fire bombs and 190 explosive bombs. In her home, nine fire bombs hit simultaneously. They were very luck though and saved all but one bedroom. Many of the houses were built of straw. Of 89 of these, 2 remained standing. This in perhaps fifteen minutes, mostly with small fire bombs. I myself cannot imagine what it must have been in the big cities where the effort was concentrated and repeated. She also described living under air raid conditions (going 3 or 4 times in the night on the run with a suitcase of the most important clothes) to the shelter- there to stand perhaps for hours- silent (to cinserve [conserve] air) and motionless against the wall. This perhaps until 4 AM, and then at 6 every day to catch a train for work at Stuttgart (which might also be stopped for an airraid alert) without having eaten to put in a long day's work. Back again at night to have sleep broken again by the sirens.

#2- A second thing many Americans have trouble understanding is how could Hitler have become so powerful, and how could the people have committed such actions and ideas as he accried out? I surely don't claim to have the answers to this but some factors do loom out as important. In the early 30's there were in Germany millions of unemployed, and such a time is receptive to radical proposals. Hitler took several strong actions to mobilize resources- building autobahns, etc. Took thousands into the army to give them purpose and activity again and money to send home to pump into the sagging economy. And, too, Germans were often caught up in the appeal of a "New Germany", a "Glorious Fatherland" etc.- a sort of nationalism which has touched many counties in the last hundred years. As time progressed, however, another factor came forth which we Americans almost always forget, I think. Hitler's regime soon became an internal dictatorship with suppression of news, immiedtae [immediate] police retaliation (away to a work camp) for giving aid to a Jew or speaking against the government etc. It was on this reign of fear that most of Hitler's atricities were built and not on a nationalism ot [or] enthusiasm of the people (though those made his power possible).

Frau Plessing tells of having given food or clothing to Jews as much to get them to leave the shop as to help them. Fear was a very important reality and it effectively destroyed resistance.

Impressions- page 2

#3 Post-war conditions here were almost as severe as those of the war itself. Thousands of people pired in from bombed out cities or from lands controlled by the Russians- poured into small villages like Beutelsbach where bomb damage was not severe. But Beutelsbach was already overcrowded by people who had come from Stuttgart earily in the war and where could a tow] of 2000 find room for 30 people every day? (they came in truckloads on an hours notice). There was a housing commission which, with police aid made people give up rooms for new arrivals, until several families would be sleeping together, often on the floor. There no clothes, very little to eat, and there were no goods in the stores to be bought. Three stoves would come from Waibligen as aid gifts and 50 families would beg to have them. One very dramatic incident marks a turning point for these people: The Marshall Plan gave (on April 29, 1946- and every German knows the date by heart) to every man, woman, and child in Germany a gift of $10.00! This money acted apparently as a catalyst for the recovery of the economy and soon goods became available and the long road for recovery and rebuilding began.

#4- One very important factor in understanding political life in modern Europe is the realization that present national boundaries as very recent. We think of America as a young nation but most of Europe (Italy and Germany is younger). Thus this area of Baden (Wurttenberg) was a kingdom (several small ones actually) even after World War I. Many people here are far more "Schwabisch" (the folk culture of the area) than they are "German". And many remember in their own lives the whole history of the modern state of Germany. Consequently local areas are very important and each of these sections is quite different than the others. This may help explain some of the lack of deep interest which observers see in German National politics.

#5- One of my first observations here was that Germans rarely talk politics, show no particular sign of interest in political matters. Naturally this was very disturbing because it would seem to be just such disinterest that made Hitler possible. I raised the question with the Mayor and he provided a somewhat different picture: First of all, as a matter of information, virtually every home in Beutelsbach takes a daily newspaper, many two. Every family also has a radio and this often runs a good part of the day. A fact that will probably shock you- in Beutelsbach, population 3100- there are only 180-200 television sets- virtually all bought in the last 2-3 years. As to the political significance of this, they Mayor says that people read the paper carefully and thoroughly and that they get a large amount of news on radio or TV. He says that all citizens, peasant farmers included, are well informed on political matters. How all I don't know, but he himself certainly is. So apparenyl [apparently] people are interested and informed about political matters. Why then so little talk and activity?? One important answer is that many people don't want to be identified with a party. There are two reasons given for this: 1- People remember well the Nazi party experience- what it produced, and what a shadow it could leave on one's postwar record to belong. They distruct open membership in parties-fearing later consequences of this sort. 2- In the small towns especially, it is economically unwise to be an enthusiastic supporter of one party or the other. If a shopkeeper is a rabid supporter og [of] the S.P.D. (Social Democratic Party) conservative peasants who favor almost always the C.D.U. (Christian Democratic Union- Adenauer's party) may supposedly boycott his store. So why should he speak out and lose business? Such "radicalism" is viewed unfavorably and people would rather go silently to the elections, cast their vote, and otherwise remain cautiously silent.

This is the short paper for Anthropology, analyzing and describing a family which I have visited several times:

The Krauters are a family of four. Herr Krauter, about 50, Frau Krauter, 40; Dorothy 13, and Fritz 9. they live in a stucco finished house on the edge of Beutelabach, about 10 years old. It has 3 bedrooms, living room, dining-sitting room, and kitchen. They have only cold running water and no plumbing for the toilet, only a pipe to a hole several feet below with a vakve [valve] arrangement yo [to] close the pipe except when flushed. The house is comfortably furnished, if simply, with furniture about like inexpensive styles in America. Most of it is 10-15 years old. They are presently redecorating the dining-sitting room with new wall paper and a new walnut china cabinet. They only appliances I have seen are a gas stove, a gas oven-heater, a small refrigerator and a radio-phonograph combination. The family has no car. Herr Krauter takes the train to work each day.

Herr Krauter works five days a week as a bookkeeper for a Stuttgart firm which makes leather shoe lining material. The family also owns a single piece of Weinberg property) acreage on which to grow grapes, a very small piece, proably about 1 acre on a hillside close by). This was inherited by Frau Krauter on the death of her father. The family tends the plot itself, mainly the parents, with some added help from the family of Frau Krauter's sister, a local fulltime Weinberg family. The annual yield is about 200-250 liters (equals quarts) of wine which is said to be of good quality and whose excess above family use is sold to one of the best local inns. A further family economy comes from the growing of fruit and vegetables in a garden behind the house.

The family's inter-personal relationships are, of course, difficult to assess especially under conditions of social visits of not more than six or eight hours. I have spent more time with Frau Krauter and know her much better. She lived in Beutelsbach as a child, had 3 sisters who also still live here, and a brother who was killed in Russia in the war. Her mother is still alive and lives with one of the sisters whose husband also died in Russia. She describes as strict, at least in matters of morals (drinking, dancing, and movies were all disapproved). yet she too favors very similar behavior for her children though less dogmatically justified. Her main role is naturally that of housewife and mother and she has no outside activities that I know of. She takes pride in her cooking and baking, looks on food as a large part of hospitality, often insists that I take "kuchen" (cake) etc with me back to the burg. The house was not spotlessly clean on those occassions when I have dropped in unannounced, and this does not seem to disturb her particularly. Cooking and raising her children seem to be her main concerns. She is interested in music and listens to concerts and operas over the radio (they rarely get to concerts or operas in Stuttgart because of no car and the desire to be with the children.)

Herr Krauter is difficult for me to describe since I have only spent a few hours with him. He is more outgoing than his wife, more self-confident appearing. He speaks a little English, reads it fairly well, and is eager to learn more. This eagerness is to me a manifestation of his need to make friends, to be sociable, although it also has some overt use in his job.

I have made no direct observations of the division of labor. Frau Krauter says that her husband helps her with the housework when she needs it. She cited wiping dishes as an example. But in discussing American vs German marriage roles, she expressed the belief that, in America, a wife is [illegible?] than here, that in Germany a wife has a more distinct role as housewife

Krauters- page 4

this is said to be better for a good night's sleep and both children go to bed early (about 7PM) to get about 10 hours sleep each night.

Religion, too, seems to be of an important value, at least for Frau Krauter. She talks often directly on the subject and expresses pleasure that some of the Stanford students go very regularly to church in Beutelsbach, are serious about religion. But a better indication of the importance of this thought framework is its frequent appearance in conversations about other things. Two examples may illustrate the integration of religious thought throughout the world view. In outlining her reasons for welcoming all Stanford students to her home, Frau K. sees this as her Christian "duty" to do as Jesus did for the Samaritan. Again, in admitting that the conflict between hospitality and raising a good family seemed to have no ready solution, she found mental comfort in a hymn which sayd [said] roughly that "God knows the way if man doesn't" and even brought out the hymnal to see if I know the song.

Kinchip patterns in the extended family have already been mentioned for Frau Krauter. Herr Krauter is apparently also from this area since his mother lives in a small house in Stuttgart. The two extended families i.e. including aunts, uncles etc.) are apparently both old timers locally. And this naturally affects the Krauter's social relations to Beutelsbach. Thus, for example, they themselves own Weinberg property and are in close contact with actual Weingarten families. Frau Krauter does much of her baking in old backhaus (community baking house) on a baking team (assigned hours each week to bake together) with her sisters. Yet, in spite of this seemingly central position in Beutelsbach "core" culture, the Krauters appear but loosely tied to the community. They go out for social evenings only rarely and then usually with families who happen to be old school friends of Herr or Frau Krauter. They do not apparently play any special role in the church or community groups. The family unit is thus the most important for them and they spend most of their evenings at home.