Category: Käthe Heusermann nee Reiss

POST 124: MY UNCLE’S FRIEND WOLFRAM VON PANNWITZ & HIS ROLE IN THE FAILED ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE HITLER

 

Note: In this lengthy post, I provide further details about the life of my uncle’s friend, the German Baron Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, and the tangential role he played in the failed attempt on Hitler’s life on July 20, 1944. Much of this information is derived from Sieghard von Pannwitz, Wolfram’s first cousin once removed who stumbled on my Blog, and on sources he directed me to.

Related Posts:
POST 31: WITNESS TO HISTORY, “PROOF” OF HITLER’S DEATH IN MY UNCLE FEDOR’S OWN WORDS
POST 84: MY UNCLE DR. FEDOR BRUCK’S FRIEND, WOLFRAM E. VON PANNWITZ, GERMAN BARON
POST 112: WOLFRAM E. VON PANNWITZ’S BEQUEST TO HIAS
POST 112, POSTSCRIPT: WOLFRAM E. VON PANNWITZ’S BEQUEST TO HIAS

Students of WWII military history may recognize July 20, 1944, as the day that Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other military and civilian officials attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, inside his Wolf’s Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia [today: Kętrzyn, Poland]. The plot’s apparent aim was to wrest political control of Germany and its armed forces from the Nazi Party (including the SS) and to make peace with the Western Allies as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the coup failed which resulted in the Gestapo arresting more than 7,000 people, of whom 4,980 were executed.

I recently discovered that my uncle’s friend, Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, subject of three previous Blog posts, played a secondary role in these events. While I was generally aware that Wolfram went into hiding following the July 20 Plot on Hitler, I was never entirely clear what role he played. Let me explain how I came to learn more details of Wolfram’s involvement in the failed attempt to eliminate Hitler, the facts of which were revealed mostly in his own words.

My family history Blog not only provides an opportunity to relate stories about my Jewish ancestors including the social milieu in which they lived, the political climate at the time, and the historical events they witnessed, but it has a side benefit of allowing the descendants of people who interacted with members of my family to occasionally find me. Invariably, when this happens, I find out more about the people my ancestors were connected to and come away with fodder for more Blog stories. Case in point.

In October 2022, I received an email through my Blog’s Webmail from a Mr. Sieghard von Pannwitz (Figure 1–REMOVED), Wolfram von Pannwitz’s first cousin once removed as it turns out. Prior to this message, I’d wondered after posting three articles about Wolfram whether any of his descendants might eventually stumble on my Blog. My patience was rewarded.

For intermittent readers of my Blog, let me briefly review how my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck (Figure 2) and Wolfram von Pannwitz met. The full details can be found in Post 84. Following the Fall of Berlin in early May 1945, my uncle who had miraculously survived 30 months in hiding made to his way to the apartment of Käthe Heusermann, a friend of 20 years who had once been his dental assistant when he had his own practice in Liegnitz, Germany [today: Legnica, Poland]. (Figure 3) After Hitler came to power on the 30th of January 1933, and legislation passed in April 1933 that sharply curtailed “Jewish activity” in the medical and legal professions and resulted in the closure of my uncle’s practice, both he and Käthe made their way to Berlin. Käthe Heusermann landed a position as dental assistant to Dr. Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist. (Figure 4) Inasmuch as I can tell, my uncle would occasionally shelter in Käthe’s apartment during his time in hiding. In any case, after the end of the war, Käthe suggested that he apply to the Russians to take over Dr. Blaschke’s intact dental office (Figure 5); my uncle’s request was granted. Käthe and Blaschke’s dental technician, Fritz Echtmann (Figure 6), were eventually spirited away by the Russians because of their knowledge of Adolf Hitler’s fate, a fact the Russians sought to conceal. Warned by the Americans that a similar fate awaited him, he abandoned Berlin in early 1947 and made his way to America.

 

Figure 2. My uncle, Dr. Fedor Bruck, in 1940

 

 

Figure 3. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck with a young Käthe Heusermann in his dental office in Liegnitz, Germany [today: Legnica, Poland]
Figure 4. Dr. Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s American-trained dentist 
Figure 5. The entrance of Dr. Blaschke’s former dental office as it looks today, located at Kurfurstendamm 213 in the Charlottenburg borough of Berlin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 6. Dr. Blaschke’s former dental technician, Fritz Echtmann 

 

The precise date on which my uncle left is unknown to me. However, he wrote an affidavit in November 1966 in the matter of a probate hearing on behalf of the estate of Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, the German Baron he met in June 1947 in West Berlin, providing a general timeframe for when he departed Germany. My uncle and Mr. von Pannwitz befriended one another that month in a displaced persons camp where they had been assembled awaiting passage to the United States. Both left for America on the 8th of July 1947 aboard the “Marine Marlin” from Bremen, Germany, and arrived in New York City on the 17th of July 1947; the two remained friends until von Pannwitz passed away in New York City in January 1966.

My uncle, known in America as Theodore A. Brook, and my aunt Verena H. Dick were married in New York on the 4th of March 1958. (Figure 7) Pannwitz was invited, and prior to my contact with Sieghard, the only picture I had of Wolfram was a side view of him at the far end of the dining table. (Figure 8) Immediately after hearing from Sieghard, I asked whether he had any photos of Wolfram and he graciously shared a few. In the process Sieghard also passed along other information which partially rounds out my understanding of Wolfram’s life.

 

Figure 7. My aunt and uncle on their wedding day on March 4, 1958

 

 

 

Figure 8. Wolfram von Pannwitz seated at the far end of the dining table to the right of my aunt and uncle (looking at the picture) on their wedding day, on March 4, 1958

 

Long before connecting with Sieghard von Pannwitz, on ancestry.com I had found the certificate for Wolfram’s marriage to his first wife, Argentinian-born Clara Virginia Rhode, showing they were wed on the 18th of October 1920 in Berlin. (Figures 9a-c) A notation in the upper righthand corner of the certificate indicates the union lasted only briefly until the 28th of February 1922 when they were officially divorced.

 

Figure 9a. Cover page of Wolfram von Pannwitz and Clara Virginia Rhode’s marriage certificate showing they were married in Berlin on the 18th of October 1920

 

Figure 9b. Page one Wolfram von Pannwitz and Clara Virginia Rhode’s 1920 marriage certificate with a notation in the upper righthand corner stating they were officially divorced on the 28th of February 1922
Figure 9c. Page two of Wolfram von Pannwitz and Clara Virginia Rhode’s 1920 marriage certificate with the names of the betrothed and the witnesses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In any case, one photo Sieghard shared was of Wolfram’s 1920 marriage to Virginia Rhode. (Figure 10) Seated second and third from the left in this picture are Wolfram’s parents, Gertrud Pannwitz née Scholz (1869-1957) and Eberhard von Pannwitz (1861-1923), in his military attire. Meanwhile, seated third and second from the right are Wolfram’s younger sister, Elsa Petrea and her husband Martin Reymann. More on Petrea later.

 

Figure 10. Photo of the wedding party at Wolfram von Pannwitz and Clara Virginia Rhode’s 1920 marriage; seated second and third from the left are Wolfram’s parents Gertrud and Eberhard von Pannwitz, and seated third from the right is Wolfram’s sister, Petrea Reymann née Pannwitz. Notice that Wolfram is bald-headed

 

In 1931, Wolfram got remarried to a woman named Frida Mueller, who by the time his niece wed in 1934 had already died from cancer earlier that same year. Neither of Wolfram’s marriages produced any children.

Another picture sent to me by Sieghard is dated to 1934 and shows the wedding of Wolfram’s niece and Petrea and Martin Reymann’s daughter, Gabriele Reymann to Joachim von Harbou. (Figure 11) A slightly older Petrea is seated in the front row next to the groom, while Wolfram is seated to the far right next to his sister’s husband, Martin Reymann. Readers will note that in both the 1920 and 1934 pictures, as well as in the photo taken at my uncle’s 1958 wedding, Wolfram stands out because he is distinctly bald. Sieghard explained this was the result of being contaminated by poison gas during WWI. Wolfram was a decorated fighter pilot and Captain during the “great war.” (Figure 12)

 

Figure 11. 1934 marriage photo of Wolfram’s niece Gabriele Reymann to Joachim von Harbou. Wolfram’s sister Petrea is seated next to the groom, Wolfram is seated to the far right in the front row (figures circled)

 

Figure 12. Wolfram von Pannwitz (right) as a WWI fighter pilot in a photo from “Der Welt Spiegel,” dated February 25, 1915

 

Sieghard also sent me a photo of a gold ring that once belonged to Wolfram that he inherited and had restyled for his wife to wear. (Figure 13) A story accompanies how he came to possess this ring. Sieghard currently lives in Osnabrück, a city in the German state of Lower Saxony, and attended school in Göttingen, a nearby university city in the same state; following his studies he immigrated to South Africa in 1966 and lived there in two stints for about 20 years. Around the time he first immigrated there in 1966 one of his female cousins married a Jürgen von Berkholz in Singapore. The couple apparently planned to spend their honeymoon in New York at the invitation and expense of Wolfram. Unfortunately, upon docking in New York they learned that Wolfram had died on the 28th of January 1966, thus a few days earlier, so, lacking funds they immediately returned home. Sieghard’s South African cousin inherited Wolfram’s ring and bequeathed it to Sieghard upon her own death. The ring is solid gold and has the von Pannwitz family coat of arms etched on it.

 

Figure 13. Wolfram’s gold ring with the von Pannwitz family coat of arms

 

During our very amiable conversations, Sieghard, who has written extensively about the 820-year history of his illustrious family, mentioned in passing that about 20 years ago he was in contact with a historian from the University of Hanover. At the time, this researcher sent Sieghard an article based on an interview with Wolfram discussing, among other things, his time in Paris until July 20, 1944, and his whereabouts in the immediate aftermath of the plot to assassinate Hitler, the failure of which forced him to go into hiding. Sieghard was unable to relocate the article though he thought it had been published in the New York Times. Eventually he remembered the historian’s name, Dr. Ines Katenhusen, retrieved her email, and we were able to obtain a copy of the article in question. As it turns out, the article appeared in “The Providence Sunday Journal” on the 28th of September 1947 and was titled “Underground Baron: Wolfram Von Pannwitz Was in Plot to Assassinate Hitler.” (Figure 14)

Figure 14. Cover page of the newspaper article from “The Providence Sunday Journal,” dated September 28, 1947, describing Wolfram von Pannwitz’s role in his own words in the July 20 Plot to assassinate Hitler

 

At the time Dr. Katenhusen originally contacted Sieghard she was researching the emigration to the United States of many of the famous people associated with Germany’s Bauhaus. According to Wikipedia, “The Staatliches Bauhaus, commonly known as the Bauhaus (German for ‘building house’), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts. The school became famous for its approach to design, which attempted to unify individual artistic vision with the principles of mass production and emphasis on function.”

Dr. Katenhusen is specifically interested in Dr. Alexander Dorner, a German American art historian and museum reformer, ergo the connection to people associated with the Bauhaus. According to German Wikipedia, since 2013 Ines has been working on a monograph and a documentary film about him. As it so happens, Dr. Dorner and his wife Lydia sponsored Wolfram von Pannwitz’s immigration to the United States and are the couple in whose home Wolfram lived during his years in Providence, Rhode Island.

Dr. Dorner, for his part, immigrated to the United States in 1937 because of his opposition to National Socialism. In Rhode Island, he was museum director of the Rhode Island School of Design from 1937 to 1941. From 1941 to 1948 he was professor of art history and aesthetics at Brown University in Providence. Dorner became a United States citizen in 1943, and from 1948 he taught at Bennington College in Vermont.

The article from “The Providence Sunday Journal” clarifies some episodes in Wolfram’s life. Regarding the events during WWI and how he came to be gassed, he tells the following:

“‘I learned aviation in 1912,’ he said, ‘I was among the first fliers, and when I was mobilized for the war, I was quickly promoted because there weren’t many fliers.’ Aviation was not secure then. I became a captain and a squadron commander. In 1916 I was shot down by French anti-aircraft fire. My observer was killed by the first fire, but I came down safely. However, I landed between the second and third French lines, and it happened that they withdrew the infantry and put out poison gas. Being an aviator I had no gas mask, of course, and I lay in a coma from 2 o’clock in the afternoon until 6 o’clock. How I am alive I do not know. But how I am alive several times I do not know.

They came with a stretcher and picked me up. I was nine months in a hospital in Lyons and two years a prisoner, finally exchanged through Switzerland as a badly wounded prisoner.’”

Regarding his life after the First World War until the Nazis came to power and how he knew the Dorners, Wolfram reveals the following:

“‘After the war I became an engineer, specializing in special fuels for automobiles, and for 25 years I was head of the biggest gasoline enterprise in western Berlin. When the Nazis came into power, I was not interested in joining them or their Arbeitsfront, an organization of workers and managers. I refused to join. Nothing happened for a while until the Gestapo found out that I was concealing anti-Nazis in my apartment; I had a cook who was a chatterbox. I helped some of my friends get to Switzerland and some to France. Finally the Nazis came and said I was either to join the party or give up my job. I had very good earning, but I gave up my job. That was in 1937. I went to Italy. I wrote to the Dorners ad asked them how to get to the United States, but I never got an answer. Perhaps the Italian Gestapo caught my letters. I knew the Dorners would answer. I was best man at their wedding. Mrs. Dorner was a close friend of my late wife.’”

Regarding how he wound up in Paris:

“‘I waited months and then I went to Berlin and then to Paris. I had passports and visas. There was no difficulty getting there. In Paris I imported gasoline pumps and compressors from Germany and had a wonderful time without much competition. I stayed until 1939. Several days before war broke out, France began to intern Germans. I went to the United States embassy to try and get a visa, but I was refused because I had no money there or anything else that would give an excuse. I didn’t want to go to Italy. Spain was full of troubles. So I went back to Berlin. I had kept a flat there all the time. My friends took care of it.’”

On how Wolfram wound up getting involved with the anti-Nazi opposition and assigned a role in the planned plot:

“‘I was walking one day when I happened to meet Field Marshall Erwin von Witzleben [EDITOR’S NOTE: Erwin von Witzleben was a German field marshal in the Wehrmacht during WWII. A leading conspirator in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, he was designated to become commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht in a post-Nazi regime had the plot succeeded.] He was an old friend from the first war. He was captain of artillery then. We spoke of the Nazis, and finally he invited me to come to tea the next day. There were several men in his flat, and we developed ideas about eliminating Hitler and the Nazis. We knew we had a long way to go and would need help. They asked me whether I would go back to Paris. I said I would: They procured a passport, and everything all legitimatized. Of course von Witzleben was able to do such things. It was all secret. “Don’t do anything until you are summoned,” I was told.

I go back. I wait one year. I wait two years. There is no communication. Then General Otto von Stülpnagel [EDITOR’S NOTE: The author of the article or Wolfram von Pannwitz has erroneously identified Otto von Stülpnagel as the German general with whom he collaborated in the July 20 Plot. The correct Stülpnagel was Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel who served as the military commander of German-occupied France. Increasingly unable to reconcile his military duties and his moral objections to the regime’s ideology, Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel joined the resistance. He was a member of the 20 July Plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, overseeing the conspirators’ actions in France. After the failure of the plot, he was recalled to Berlin and attempted to commit suicide en route but failed. Tried on 30 August 1944, he was convicted of treason and executed on the same day.], commander in Paris, summoned me for the first time. That is in 1943. He directed me to take voyages about France. My work was to investigate the Gestapo! I was to find out what they were doing against the German army and French civilians. Everything was at cross purposes, you understand, the army opposing the Gestapo, the SS against both, and so on.

I had no official position. I always went as a civilian. Sometimes I even went into Gestapo headquarters to ask questions. I used my own name. I picked up information in restaurants and places like that. The Gestapo never suspected anybody would dare do things like that. . .

I moved about in France as I wanted to and nobody ever said anything. It was very dangerous, but if one has resolved to go against scoundrels for the sake of one’s country, one must risk his life. He must know it in advance.’”

“On July 15, 1944, Baron von Pannwitz was summoned to the office of General von Stülpnagel in Paris, and without preliminaries, was acquainted with the proposed attempt against the life of Hitler. ‘Stülpnagel developed the whole plan for me. My duty was to arrest SS General Oberg [EDITOR’S NOTE: General Carl Oberg was the senior SS and police leader (HSSPF) in occupied France, from May 1942 to November 1944, during the second world war, who came to be known as the “Butcher of Paris.”], the head of the Gestapo who was residing in the Gestapo palais on Avenue Foch. First, he showed me a plan of Oberg’s office. Then he said, “On the day—I will tell you what day later on—two companies of the army will be sent before the Gestapo building. The you go behind the right wing of the soldiers, and if the company commander lifts his arms and regards his wrist watch, go into the building and up to the second floor and go into Oberg’s office and arrest him.” He gave me a pair of manacles and a revolver. I went home and slept well. I was glad to think of the finish of the Nazis and the end of the war.

On July 18, Stülpnagel sent for me again. He said, “Tomorrow at 11 o’clock. You know everything, Good bye. Get out. Good luck.” That was all.

The next day I punctually was there. It was like a performance on a stage. The two companies of the army march up. I stand behind the right wing. I watch the commander. He looks at his watch, like this. At once I enter the building and go to the second floor. There are two SS guards at the door, but they are so interested in the troops in the yard that they do not notice me. I knock at the door.

“Come in.”

I go in. General Oberg is standing behind his desk. He comes towards me. He does not suspect anything. I put out my hand and say, “I come with the regards of General von Stülpnagel. Heil Hitler!” He puts out his hand. Suddenly I seize his wrist, take out the manacles, and snap them on. Everything goes perfectly. At that moment, in come the soldiers and I deliver Oberg to them.

Then I go to the offices of Stülpnagel to report. “Well done” he says. “Many thanks. Everything runs after the plans” He is rubbing his hands, like this.

Then he says, “You are to go to Cologne.”’”

According to Wolfram von Pannwitz, he was tasked by Stülpnagel with taking a letter to the commander of the German home troops in the Rhineland telling him to mobilize his troops and march against the front troops. Stülpnagel had cut off all communications with Germany to do what he wanted in France so failed to learn that Hitler was not killed. Upon his arrival in Luxembourg aboard the night train, Pannwitz overheard travelers talking about the failed attempt on Hitler’s life. He nonetheless continued to Cologne and headed to the house he was ordered to go to, but quickly realized the plot had unraveled when he saw two SS guards patrolling the premises. Instead, he headed back to the railroad station, and spent the next four days in Cologne, Bonn, and Aix-la-Chapelle [Aachen, Germany]. (Figure 15)

 

Figure 1. Sieghard von Pannwitz, Wolfram von Pannwitz’s first cousin once removed
Figure 15. Present-day map of Germany showing the relationship of Bonn, Cologne, and Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), the places Wolfram traveled to following the failed attempt on Hitler’s life

 

On the 25th of April, it eventually occurred to Pannwitz to turn to the Catholic Church for help, specifically Bishop Van Dar Valdan of Aix-la-Chapelle. The Bishop had him admitted to St. Johannes Hospital in Bonn where he was hidden for three months under the guise of having had a hernia operation. Pannwitz credited the Catholic Church for saving his life which is undoubtedly why he left the Catholic Church and Cardinal Spellman in New York half his wealth upon his death.

While no longer in the hospital at the time, Pannwitz was in Bonn when the Americans bombed the city on October 18th and destroyed half of it. He took advantage of the confusion to claim his apartment had been destroyed and requested that the magistrate allow him to travel to Potsdam, outside Berlin, where his sister could take him in. It took Pannwitz four days to reach Potsdam, the bombing of the railroads having made travel almost impossible. Pannwitz didn’t tell his sister anything about his adventures, apparently seeking to protect her in case the Gestapo came looking for him, which they never did. Pannwitz stayed hidden in his sister’s free room until the Russians arrived.

After things had quieted down some, Pannwitz returned to Berlin hoping to rebuild his life. He lived in his former five-room flat that had been reduced to two rooms on account of Allied bombing. After two months Pannwitz realized it would be impossible to make a living there because no raw materials and tools were then available. By April 1946, postal communication abroad had been restored, so he was able to liaise with the Dorners. Through them he reached the United States under a special program established by President Truman that placed Pannwitz in the class of the persecuted; his role in the July 20 Plot no doubt helped his cause.

By the end of his life, Wolfram von Pannwitz had amassed a fortune of $500,000 which he bequeathed in equal portions to Cardinal Spellman of the Catholic Church in New York and to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Pannwitz had made it explicitly clear in his will that none of his family members should inherit any part of his estate. Nonetheless, his sister Petrea contested the will, and apparently reached an out-of-court settlement with the Catholic Church awarding her some money. Inasmuch as my Uncle Fedor knew, Wolfram apparently had been cheated out of his share of his mother’s inheritance upon her death causing him to become estranged from his German family.

Of particular personal interest in “The Providence Sunday Journal” article is the following written about my uncle, Dr. Fedor Bruck. I will quote the entire passage, then qualify and amend it based on my understanding of actual events:

“He [Pannwitz] said he was convinced that Hitler is now dead, and he related that a Jewish dentist, Fedor Bruck, had identified a skull as that of Hitler. Bruck and von Pannwitz were passengers on the same boat from Bremerhaven to New York.

‘Bruck took over the office and laboratory of Hitler’s dentist,’ Baron von Pannwitz said. ‘One day Bruck was summoned by the Russian military governor and told to bring the sketch of Hitler’s denture that his dentist had kept on file. In Bruck’s presence the sketch was checked with a dead body. There was something uncommon about Hitler’s teeth, cavities, or fillings in them. The sketch checked with the body. That is what Bruck said.’”

Dr. Hugo Blaschke was Hitler’s American-trained dentist. According to an account written by my uncle after the war and discussed at length in Post 31, the dental techniques Dr. Blaschke used on Hitler were “old fashioned,” ergo very distinctive. The knowledge that my uncle possessed as to Hitler’s fate and the identification of Hitler’s dental remains was derived exclusively from my uncle’s conversations with Käthe Heusermann, Blaschke’s dental assistant, immediately after the war. The sketch of the dental work done on Hitler was recreated from memory by Ms. Heusermann and the identifications of the remains hers; the original X-rays of Hitler’s teeth were either at the Reich Chancellery or had been taken by Blaschke when he fled to Obersalzberg. At no time did my uncle claim to have handled nor verified dental remains as belonging to Hitler, though it is true that he was visited by Russian authorities at Blaschke’s dental office looking for X-rays and people who could identify the dental work performed on Hitler. This ultimately led to Fritz Echtmann and Käthe Heusermann both being interrogated and detained in Russia for many years.

Finally, notwithstanding the coverage in “The Provience Sunday Journal” of Wolfram von Pannwitz’s self-described role in the July 20 Plot, according to Sieghard there is no mention in relevant literature of Wolfram’s involvement in the events. So, Sieghard is left to wonder whether this is an omission on the part of historians and/or what role, if any, Wolfram actually played in the leadup to the 20 July Plot? Also, curiously, Wolfram seems not to have told my uncle about his connection to the plot nor made him aware of the 1947 newspaper article describing his role. What to make of all this is unclear.

REFERENCES

“Bauhaus.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus

Loveridge, G.Y. (1947, September 28). Underground Baron: Wolfram von Pannwitz Was in Plot to Assassinate Hitler. The Providence Sunday Journal.

 

 

 

 

POST 120: FAMILY PHOTOS, DISCOVERING & DECODING THEM

 

Note: In this post, I discuss “stashes” of family photos I’ve uncovered, and the efforts I’ve undertaken with the help of near and distant relatives to identify people in some of those images even absent captions. In a few instances the photos are significant because they illustrate individuals renowned or notorious in history. In other cases, a good deal of sleuthing was required, including comparing the pictures of people in captioned versus uncaptioned images. On other occasions, I recognized portrayals of family members I knew growing up. And, in rare instances, I was able to determine a photographed person based on an educated guess.

 

Related Posts:

POST 15: BERLIN & MY GREAT-AUNTS FRANZISKA & ELSBETH BRUCK

POST 17: SURVIVING IN BERLIN IN THE TIME OF HITLER: MY UNCLE FEDOR’S STORY

POST 31: WITNESS TO HISTORY, “PROOF” OF HITLER’S DEATH IN MY UNCLE FEDOR’S OWN WORDS

POST 33: FINDING GREAT-UNCLE WILLY’S GRANDCHILDREN

POST 34: MARGARETH BERLINER, WRAITH OR BEING?

POST 41: DR. OTTO BERGER & OTHER “SILENT HEROES” WHO HELPED MY UNCLE DR. FEDOR BRUCK SURVIVE THE NAZI REGIME

POST 45: HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE: RECALLING MY PAULY ANCESTORS

POST 56: REFLECTIONS ON LIFE AND FAMILY BY THE PATERFAMILIAS, DR. JOSEF PAULY

POST 65: GERMANY’S LAST EMPEROR, WILHELM II, PICTURED WITH UNKNOWN FAMILY MEMBER

POST 99: THE ASTONISHING DISCOVERY OF SOME OF DR. WALTER WOLFGANG BRUCK’S PERSONAL EFFECTS

POST 100: DR. WALTER WOLFGANG BRUCK, DENTIST TO GERMANY’S LAST IMPERIAL FAMILY

 

The antisemitic and racist laws enacted by the Nazis short-circuited my father’s career as a dentist. Pursuant to his formal training at the University of Berlin, followed by an apprenticeship in Danzig (today: Gdansk, Poland), my father, Dr. Otto Bruck (Figure 1), opened his own dental practice in Tiegenhof in the Free City of Danzig (today: Nowy Dwór Gdański, Poland) in April 1932; by April 1937, my father was forced to flee Tiegenhof, and by March 1938 he had left Germany altogether, clearly seeing the handwriting on the wall. As an unmarried man with few family ties, this was an option open to him. My father would never again legally practice dentistry.

 

Figure 1. My father Dr. Otto Bruck as a dental apprentice in Danzig in 1931

 

My father considered the five years he spent in Tiegenhof to be the halcyon days of his life. Judging from the numerous photos of his days spent there, including those illustrating his active social life, his professional acquaintances, and recreational pursuits, I would be hard-pressed to argue otherwise.

I originally intended in this post to briefly discuss with readers the history of Polish Mennonites because Tiegenhof, the town where my father had his dental practice, was largely Mennonite when my father lived there. The Mennonites arrived in the Żuławy Wiślane region (i.e. “the Vistula fens,” plural from “żuława”), the alluvial delta area of the Vistula in the northern part of Poland, in the 17th century. They came to escape religious persecution in the Netherlands and Flanders. I have instead decided to devote the subsequent Blog post to discussing the history of Polish Mennonites, and briefly explore how the Mennonites, who are committed to pacifism, inexplicably, became strong adherents of Hitler. I intend in the following post to use photos from my father’s collection to focus on one Mennonite family, the Epp family, with whom my father was acquainted and friends with. They have a dark history related to their connection to the Nazi regime.

Getting back on track. Curious whether the office building where my father had both his dental practice and residence still existed (Figure 2), in 2013 my wife Ann Finan and I visited Nowy Dwór Gdański. We quickly oriented ourselves to the layout of the town, and promptly determined that his office and residential building no longer stands. I would later learn that the structure had been destroyed by Russian bombers when Nazi partisans shot at them from this location.

 

Figure 2. The office building in Tiegenhof in the Free City of Danzig in October 1934 where my father had his dental practice and residence, which no longer exists. Note the swastikas festooning the building

 

During our initial visit to Nowy Dwór Gdański, we were directed to the local museum, the Muzeum Żuławskie. The museum docent the day we visited spoke English, so I was able to communicate to her that my Jewish father had once been a dentist in the town and had taken many pictures when living there of Tiegenhof and the Żuławy Wiślane region. I offered to make the photos available, which I in fact did upon my return to the States.

In 2014, my wife Ann and I were invited to Nowy Dwór Gdański for an in-depth tour and a translated talk. Naturally, during my presentation, I used many of my father’s photos. There was a question-and-answer period following my talk, and one Polish gentleman of Jewish descent commented on how fortunate I am to have so many photographs of my father, family, and friends. I agreed. In the case of this gentleman, he remarked he has only seven family pictures, which I think is often true for descendants of Holocaust survivors. In my instance, my father’s seven albums of surviving photos, covering from the 1910’s until 1948 when my father came to America, are the reason I started researching and writing about my family.

Given the importance pictures have played in the stories I research and write about, and the development of this Blog, I thought I would highlight a few of the more interesting and historically significant pictures in my father’s collection, as well as discuss other “stashes” of photos I’ve uncovered. Obviously, it’s impossible and would be of scant interest to readers to discuss all the photos.

My father was a witness to the rise of National Socialism from the window of his dental office in Tiegenhof. On May 1, 1933, my father photographed a regiment of “SA Sturmabteilung,” literally “Storm Detachment,” known also as “Brownshirts” or “Storm Troopers,” marching down the nearby Schlosserstrasse, carrying Nazi flags, framed by the “Kreishaus” (courthouse) on one side. (Figure 3)

 

Figure 3. Father’s photograph of Nazis marching down Schlosserstrasse in Tiegenhof on May 1, 1933, taken from his dental office

 

Again, a year later to the day, on May 1, 1934, my father documented a parade of veterans and Brownshirts following the same path down Schlosserstrasse led by members of the Stahlhelm (“Steel Helmet”), a veterans’ organization that arose after the German defeat of WWI.  (Figures 4a-b) In 1934, the Stahlhelme were incorporated into the SA Sturmabteilung, the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party.

 

Figure 4a. A year later May 1, 1934, Nazi Storm Troopers and WWI veterans again marching down Schlosserstrasse in Tiegenhof

 

Figure 4b. WWI veterans, “Stahlhelme,” at the head of the Nazi parade on May 1, 1934, in Tiegenhof

 

Then again, the following year, on April 5, 1935, there was another Nazi parade. On this occasion Field Marshall Hermann Göring visited and participated in the march through Tiegenhof. The day prior, on April 4, 1935, Hermann Göring had visited the Free City of Danzig to influence the upcoming April 7th parliamentary elections in favor of Nazi candidates.  The visit to Tiegenhof the next day was merely an extension of this campaign to influence the Free City’s parliamentary elections.  In the photos that my father took on April 5th there can be seen a banner which in German reads “Danzig ist Deutsch wenn es nationalsozialistisch ist,” translated as “Danzig is German when it is National Socialist.”  (Figures 5a-b) It appears that along with everyday citizens of Tiegenhof and surrounding communities, members of the Hitler Youth, known in German as Hitlerjugend, also lined the street in large number.

 

Figure 5a. Nazi Field Marshall Hermann Göring standing in his open-air limousine on March 5, 1935, as he parades through Tiegenhof

 

Figure 5b. A Nazi banner reading “Danzig ist Deutsch wenn es nationalsozialistisch ist” (translated as “Danzig is German when it is National Socialist”) hung across the street that Field Marshall Hermann Göring traveled down on March 5, 1935, as he paraded through Tiegenhof

 

Students of history know about Hermann Göring but for those who are unfamiliar with him, let me say a few words. He would evolve to become the second-highest ranking Nazi after the Führer. Unlike many of Hitler’s sycophants and lieutenants, Göring was a veteran of WWI, having been an ace fighter pilot, a recipient of the prestigious Blue Max award, and a commander of the Jagdgeschwader a fighter group that had previously been led by the renowned Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. Göring was drawn to Hitler for his oratorical skills and became an early member of the Nazi Party. He participated with Hitler in the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, during which he was wounded in the groin. During his recovery he was regularly given morphine to which he became addicted for the remainder of his life.

Göring oversaw the creation of the Gestapo, an organization he later let Heinrich Himmler run. He was best known as the commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, although after the Nazi victory over France, he was made Reichsmarschall, head of all the German armed forces. He amassed great wealth for himself by stealing paintings, sculptures, jewelry, cash, and valuable artifacts not only from Jews and people whom Nazis had murdered but also by looting museums of defeated nations.

Towards the end of the war, following an awkward attempt to have Hitler appoint him head of the Third Reich and thereby drawing Hitler’s ire, he turned himself in to the Americans rather than risk being captured by the Russians. He eventually was indicted and stood trial at Nuremberg. The once obese Göring, who’d once weighed more than three hundred pounds, was a shadow of his former self at his trial. Expectedly, he was convicted on all counts, and sentenced to death by hanging. His request to be executed by firing squad was denied, but he was able to avoid the hangman’s noose by committing suicide using a potassium cyanide pill that had inexplicably been smuggled to him by an American soldier.

My uncle, Dr. Fedor Bruck, has been the subject of multiple previous posts (i.e., Post 17, Post 31, Post 41). My uncle, like my father was a dentist. He was educated at the University of Breslau (today: Wrocław, Poland) and had his dental practice in Liegnitz, Germany (today: Legnica, Poland) until around 1933 when he was forced to give it up due to the “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” passed by the Nazi regime on the 7th April 1933, two months after Adolf Hitler had attained power.  My uncle’s life is of interest because he miraculously survived the entire war hidden in Berlin by friends and non-Jewish family members. His story has also been of interest because he counted among his friends a woman named Käthe Heusermann-Reiss, who had been his dental assistant in Liegnitz.

Following the loss of his business my uncle relocated to Berlin hoping the anonymity of the larger city would afford him the possibility to continue working under the auspices of another dentist, which it did for a time. Käthe Heusermann also moved to Berlin and opportunistically landed herself a job as a dental assistant to Hitler’s American-trained dentist, Dr. Hugo Blaschke. In this capacity, she was always present when Dr. Blaschke treated Hitler. Following the end of the war, she was interrogated by the Russians and asked to identify dental remains which had been recovered in a burn pit outside the Reichstag. The bridgework performed by Dr. Blaschke on Hitler was outmoded so Käthe was easily able to recognize Blaschke’s work and Hitler’s teeth, a fact Stalin kept hidden from the world. Following Russia’s capture of Berlin at the end of the war, my uncle who’d temporarily been hiding in Käthe’s apartment learned from her that Hitler had committed suicide. This dangerous information resulted in Käthe being imprisoned in the USSR for many years, and my uncle barely escaping the same fate. Surviving among my father’s photographs is a noteworthy picture taken in Liegnitz of my uncle and Käthe Heusermann. Though uncaptioned, I have been able to compare it to known pictures of Käthe to confirm it is her. (Figure 6)

 

Figure 6. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck in his dental office in Liegnitz, Germany with his dental assistant Käthe Heusermann-Reiss who would later go on to become the dental assistant for Dr. Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist. Following the war, she would identify Hitler’s dental remains, a fact the Russians hid for many years

 

As I have told readers in multiple earlier posts my father was an active sportsman, and an excellent amateur tennis player. Among my father’s belongings I retain multiple of the prizes he was awarded for his achievements, including many newspaper clippings documenting his results. In August 1936, my father attended an International Tennis Tournament in Zoppot, Germany (today: Sopot, Poland), located a mere 32 miles from Tiegenhof. During his attendance there, he photographed the great German tennis player, Heinrich Ernst Otto “Henner” Henkel (Figure 7), whose biggest success was his singles title at the 1937 French Championships. Interestingly, Henkel learned to play tennis at the “Rot-Weiss” Tennis Club in Berlin. My father was a member of the “Schwarz-Weiss” Tennis Club in Berlin, so perhaps my father and Henner played one another and were acquainted. Henner Henkel was killed in action during WWII on the Eastern Front at Voronezh during the Battle of Stalingrad while serving in the Wehrmacht, the German Army.

 

Figure 7. The famous German tennis player, Henner Henkel, in August 1936 at the International Tennis Tournament in Zoppot, Germany

 

As I mentioned above, my father left Germany for good in March 1938. He was headed to stay with his sister Susanne and brother-in-law, then living in Fiesole, a small Tuscan town outside Florence, Italy. During his sojourn in Italy, before eventually joining the French Foreign Legion later in 1938, my father visited some of the tourist attractions in Italy, including the Colosseum in Rome. One of the images that my father took there has always stood out to me because of the paucity of people around what is today a very crowded and visited venue. (Figure 8)

 

Figure 8. The Colosseum in Rome in August 1938

 

My father’s collection of photos number in the hundreds but I’ve chosen to highlight only certain ones because they illustrate a few personages or places that may be known to readers. My father’s collection is merely one among several caches of images I was able to track down through family and acquaintances. I want to call attention to a few pictures of family members that grabbed my attention from these other hoards.

In Post 33, I explained to readers how I tracked down the grandchildren of my grandfather’s brother, Wilhelm “Willy” Bruck (1872-1952). Based on family correspondence, I knew my great-uncle Willy wound up in Barcelona after escaping Germany in the 1930’s and theorized his children and grandchildren may have continued to live there. Official vital documents I procured during a visit there convinced me otherwise, that at least his son returned to Germany after WWII. I was eventually able to track down both of my great-uncle’s grandchildren, that’s to say my second cousins Margarita and Antonio Bruck, to outside of Munich, Germany. (Figure 9) I have met both, and they’ve shared their family pictures, which again number in the hundreds.

 

Figure 9. My second cousins Margarita and Antonio Bruck from near Munich, Germany in May 2022, source of many family photos

 

The cache included many images of family members, but there are two pictures I was particularly thrilled to obtain copies of. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck (1895-1982), previously discussed, fought in WWI on the Eastern Front. (Figure 10) Among the family memorabilia I retain is a postcard he sent to his aunt Franziska Bruck on the 3rd of September 1916 coincidentally from the Ukraine announcing his promotion to Sergeant. (Figures 11a-b) The ongoing conflict between the Ukraine and Russia makes me realize how long the Ukraine has been a staging area for wars.

 

Figure 10. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck in his WWI uniform

 

Figure 11a. The front side of a postcard my uncle Fedor mailed to his aunt Franziska Bruck during WWI from the Eastern Front in Ukraine on the 3rd of September 1916

 

Figure 11b. The backside of the postcard my uncle mailed from the Ukraine on the 3rd of September 1916

 

Regular readers may recall that my father was born in Ratibor, Germany (today: Racibórz, Poland), in Upper Silesia. The family hotel there, owned through three generations between roughly 1850 and the early 1920’s, was known as the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel. Among my second cousins’ photos is a rare image of the entrance to this hotel, which no longer stands. (Figure 12)

 

Figure 12. The entrance to the family hotel in Ratibor, Germany (today: Racibórz, Poland), Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel circa. 1914. The hotel is no longer standing

 

I introduced readers to two of my grandfather’s renowned sisters, my great-aunts Franziska and Elsbeth Bruck, way back in Post 15. Their surviving personal papers are archived at the Stadtmuseum in Spandau, the westernmost of the twelve boroughs of Berlin; these files have been another source of family photographs. Franziska Bruck was an eminent florist, and it is reputed that one of her clients was the last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II (1859-1941). One undated photograph taken in my great-aunt’s flower shop shows Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886-1954), the last Crown Princess of Germany and Prussia, who was married to Kaiser Wilhelm II’s son, Wilhelm, the German Crown Prince. (Figure 13)

 

Figure 13. Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886-1954), the last Crown Princess of Germany and Prussia, married to Kaiser Wilhelm II’s son, visiting my great-aunt Franziska Bruck’s flower school in Berlin

 

My second cousins Margarita and Antonio Bruck introduced me to one of my third cousins, Andreas “Andi” Pauly, also living part-time in Munich, Germany. (Figure 14) The Pauly branch of my extended family, which originally hailed from Posen, Germany (today: Poznan, Poland) has been the subject of multiple blog posts, including Post 45 on Pauly family Holocaust victims and reflections in Post 56 by the paterfamilias, Dr. Josef Pauly (1843-1916), Andi Pauly’s great-grandfather. Josef Pauly and his wife Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer (1844-1927) had eight daughters and one son born between 1870 and 1885; thanks to photos provided by Andi Pauly, not only was I able to obtain images of all nine children but also some of Pauly cousins I knew of by name.

 

Figure 14. My third cousin Andreas “Andi” Pauly, source of many family photos

 

Again, it is not my intention to boggle readers’ minds by showing all these photos but I want to focus on one particular picture I originally obtained from Andi Pauly that was the subject of Post 65. The photo was taken in Doorn, Netherlands on the 28th of May 1926, and shows a then-unknown Bruck family member standing amidst a group that includes the last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, his second wife, Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz (1887-1947), and her youngest daughter by her first marriage, Princess Henriette of Schönaich-Carolath (1918-1972), and the Royal Family’s entourage. (Figure 15) At the time I wrote Post 65, I was unable to determine who the Bruck family member was, nor whom the initials “W.B.” stood for.

 

Figure 15. Postcard of the last German Emperor Wilhelm II, his second wife Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz (1887-1947), and her youngest daughter by her first marriage, Princess Henriette of Schönaich-Carolath (1918-1972), taken in 1926 in Doorn, the Netherlands. A then-unknown member of the Bruck family is surrounded by the Royal Family’s entourage

 

Fast forward. In early 2021, I was astonished to receive an email from a Dr. Tilo Wahl, a doctor from Köpenick in Berlin, who stumbled upon my Blog and contacted me. He shared copies of the extensive collection of personal papers and photographs he had copied from the grandson of one of my esteemed ancestors, Dr. Walter Bruck (1872-1937), from Breslau, Germany (today: Wrocław, Poland) Again, this relative and my findings related to Dr. Walter Bruck have been chronicled in multiple earlier posts. The very same image discussed in the previous paragraph I had obtained from Andi Pauly was included among Dr. Bruck’s images. It was then I realized the unidentified Bruck family member standing with Kaiser Wilhelm II, his family, and his entourage was none other than Dr. Bruck’s second wife, Johanna Elisabeth Margarethe Gräbsch (1884-1963). (Figure 16) I discussed these findings in Post 100.

 

Figure 16. Same photograph as Figure 15 that Dr. Walter Bruck took of his wife Johanna and the Kaiser’s entourage in September 1925 with identifications (photo courtesy of Dr. Tilo Wahl)

 

Dr. Walter Bruck’s collection of papers and photos yielded images of multiple family members about whom I was aware, including one of Dr. Walter Bruck’s three siblings. However, one that stands out amongst all these photos was the one of Dr. Walter Bruck’s grandfather Dr. Jonas Julius Bruck (1813-1883). (Figure 17) Dr. Jonas Bruck is buried along with his son, Dr. Julius Bruck, in the restored tombs at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław, Poland. (Figure 18) Dr. Jonas Bruck was a brother of my great-great-grandfather Samuel Bruck (1808-1863), the original owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel in Ratibor, Germany (today: Racibórz, Poland) I previously discussed.

 

Figure 17. Dr. Walter Bruck’s grandfather, Dr. Jonas Julius Bruck (1813-1883)

 

Figure 18. The restored gravestones of Dr. Jonas Julius Bruck, his son Dr. Julius Bruck, and their respective wives interred in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław, Poland

 

In various places, I found fleeting references that Dr. Walter Bruck and Johanna Elisabeth Margarethe Gräbsch had both previously been married. I eventually found historic documents, my gold standard, confirming this. Using educating guesses based on incomplete captions and estimating the timeframe a few pictures in Dr. Walter Bruck’s collection were taken, that’s to say during WWI and before, I was even able to find pictures of both of their previous spouses among his photos.

Dr. Walter Bruck’s album also contain multiple pictures of his daughter, Renate Bruck (1926-2013). She was married three times, with images of two of her husbands included. Thanks to Post 99 Renate’s twin daughters, whom I knew about but had no expectation of ever finding since they’d left England years ago, instead found me. From this, I learned that Walter Bruck’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren live in Sydney, Australia.

I suspect the story I’m about to relate may resonate with some readers, the topic of missing or incomplete captions on pictures of one’s ancestors. Let me provide some context. During the time that my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck was a dentist in Liegnitz, Germany he carried on an illicit affair with a married non-Jewish woman, Irmgard Lutze (Figure 19), with whom he had two children, my first cousins Wolfgang (Figure 20) and Wera Lutze. During the Nazi era time when it was prohibited and dangerous for an Aryan to have an affair with a Jew, the cuckolded husband nonetheless raised the children as his own. Therefore, they had the Lutze rather than the Bruck surname.

I knew both first cousins well, though both are now deceased. In any case, included among my cousin’s photographs was one that left me perplexed. It showed three generations, the eldest of whom was identified as “Tante Grete Brauer (mother’s sister).” (Figures 21a-b) The “Brauer” surname reverberated only because when perusing my great-aunt Elsbeth Bruck’s papers at the Stadtmuseum I discovered multiple letters written by Brauers. At the time I had no idea this represented another branch of my extended family.

 

Figure 19. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck standing next to Irmgard Lutze, the married Aryan woman with whom he fathered two children

 

Figure 20. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s now-deceased son and my first cousin, Wolfgang Lutze (1928-2014), in Hurghada, Egypt in October 2005

 

Figure 21a. Photo found among my first cousin’s pictures of my grandmother’s sister, Margarethe Brauer née Berliner (1872-1942) who was murdered in the Holocaust

 

Figure 21b. Caption on backside of Figure 21a.

 

As I discussed in Post 34, I would eventually work out that “Tante Grete Brauer” was my grandmother Else Bruck née Berliner’s sister, Margarethe Brauer née Berliner (1872-1942) who was murdered in the Holocaust. Prior to finding this isolated picture of my great-aunt, I was completely unaware of her existence. I’ve repeatedly told readers that my father had scant interest in family and rarely spoke of them to me growing up, so I was not surprised by this discovery.

I will give readers one last example of caches of family photos I’ve been able to recover by mentioning my third cousin once-removed, Larry Leyser (Figure 22), who very sadly passed away in 2021 due to complications from Covid. Over the years, Larry and I often shared family documents and photos. Several years ago, he borrowed and scanned a large collection of photos from one of his cousins named Michael Maleckar which he shared with me. As with any such trove, I found a few gems, including one of my own parents at a party they attended in Manhattan the early 1950’s. My father literally “robbed the cradle” when he married my mother as she was 22 years younger than him. This age difference is particularly pronounced in the one picture I show here. (Figure 23)

 

Figure 22. My third cousin once-removed, Larry Leyser, another source of many family photos

 

Figure 23. From left to right, my father (Dr. Otto Bruck), my mother (Paulette Bruck), my uncle (Dr. Fedor Bruck), and one of father’s cousins (Franz Kayser) at a party in Manhattan in the early 1950’s

 

I will merely say, in closing, that I am aware of other caches of family photos that unfortunately I have been unable to lay my hands on. I completely understand that some of my cousins are busy leading their lives and don’t share my passion for family history, so they are excused. One other thought. The longer I work on my family’s history, the more I realize how much I regret not talking with my relatives when they were alive about some of our ancestors as my stories would be broader and would then be grounded in truths rather veiled in so much conjecture.

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Sussman, Jeffrey. Holocaust Fighters: Boxers, Resisters, and Avengers. Roman & Littlefield, 2021.

 

 

POST 84: MY UNCLE DR. FEDOR BRUCK’S FRIEND, WOLFRAM E. VON PANNWITZ, GERMAN BARON

Note: In this post, I discuss a German Baron my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck befriended in a displaced persons camp in West Berlin while awaiting passage to America in 1947, a gentleman with whom my uncle had much in common and who went on to parlay a small investment in the stock market into more than $500,000 by the time he died. I also review the circumstances that led my uncle to immigrate to the United States after spending 30 months in hiding in Berlin eluding the Nazis, then being permitted to take over Hitler’s dentist’s office following WWII.

 

Related Posts:

Post 17: Surviving in Berlin in The Time of Hitler: My Uncle Fedor’s Story

Post 31: Witness to History, “Proof” of Hitler’s Death in My Uncle Fedor’s Own Words

Post 40: Elisabeth “Lisa” Pauly née Krüger, One of My Uncle Fedor’s “Silent Heroes”

Post 41: Dr. Otto Berger & Other “Silent Heroes” Who Helped My Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck Survive the Nazi Regime

 

Figure 1. My Uncle Fedor in his dental office in Liegnitz, Prussia

 

My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck has been the subject of multiple earlier posts which are among my most popular chronicles. I encourage interested readers to peruse these earlier written accounts to familiarize themselves with the broad outlines of my uncle’s life. For the purposes of this post, however, let me provide a brief review.

My uncle owned his own dental practice in Liegnitz, Germany [today: Legnica, Poland] (Figure 1), in the Prussian province of Silesia, until April 1936, when he was forced to shutter his business by the Nazis. He relocated to Berlin, where he was able to resume work for a time, initially working for himself (Figures 2a-b), then later working under the auspices of a non-Jewish dentist. In October 1942, my uncle was ordered by the Nazi authorities to report to an age transport; realizing this meant deportation to a concentration camp and eventual death, he went into hiding. With the help of non-Jewish relatives and acquaintances, “silent heroes,” my uncle survived underground for 30 months until the fall of Berlin in early May 1945. It is estimated that fewer than 5,000 Jews survived concealment in Germany during WWII.

 

Figure 2a. Ancestry.com cover page for a 1937 Berlin Address Book listing for my Uncle Fedor, showing him as a “Zahnarzt,” dentist, with an office at Fasasenstrasse 20 in the Charlottenburg District of Berlin
Figure 2b. 1937 Berlin Address Book listing for my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3. A young Käthe Heusermann née Reiss with my Uncle Fedor in his dental office in Liegnitz

 

When my uncle had his own dental practice in Liegnitz, one of his dental assistants was Käthe Heusermann née Reiss (Figure 3), a woman of some later recognition; after my uncle Fedor was forced to close his business, she too relocated to Berlin and wound up obtaining a similar position as dental assistant for Adolf Hitler’s American-trained dentist, Dr. Hugo Blaschke (Figure 4), an early member of the National Socialist party. As Dr. Blaschke’s assistant, Käthe Heusermann was always in attendance when der Führer had very distinctive yet outdated dental work performed on him at a special private office Dr. Blaschke was assigned in the Reich Chancellery; Dr. Blaschke’s private business office was located at Kurfürstendamm 213 in the district of  Charlottenburg, the boulevard considered the Champs-Élysées of Berlin; this building still stands today. (Figure 5)

 

Figure 4. Hitler’s American-trained dentist, Dr. Hugo Blaschke, an early member of the National Socialist Party
Figure 5. Entrance to Kurfürstendamm 213 in Charlottenburg, where Dr. Blaschke once had his dental practice that my Uncle Fedor took over after WWII, as it looks today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I explained to readers in Post 31, there is very clear evidence that because of their previous relationship and friendship Käthe Heusermann sheltered and hid my uncle for brief periods during his 30 months underground during WWII; she also gave him special rations and extra food vouchers she received as a member of the Führer’s extended staff, at great personal danger. Thus, throughout my uncle’s time in hiding during the war, he was periodically in touch with Käthe. This becomes relevant after the Russians occupied Berlin, and, by my uncle’s own account, he made his way to her apartment at Pariserstrasse 39-40 (Figures 6a-b):

“On April 26, 1945, Steglitz, in the southwestern part of the city [Berlin], was occupied by the Russians.  Behind the advancing troops, I arrived, on May 4th, in the apartment of my former assistant Käthe Heusermann. This apartment was situated at Pariserstrasse 39-40 near Kurfürstendamm. A friendship of twenty years tied my person and the family of Käthe Heusermann. Käthe was alone in the bomb-damaged apartment and was very upset and confused.  She had only returned to her apartment the day before, May 3rd, having spent the time before that in the Air Shelter in the Reich Chancellery.“

 

Figure 6a. Ancestry.com cover page for a 1938 Berlin Address Book listing for my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck, interestingly showing him living at Pariserstrasse 39-40, where Käthe Heusermann also lived
Figure 6b. 1938 Berlin Address Book listing for my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Käthe Heusermann related the events to my uncle of what had occurred at the Reich Chancellery as the Allies encircled Berlin in the waning days of the war, and how Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun had committed suicide (see Post 31 for the complete account in my uncle’s words). Following the fall of Berlin, Käthe Heusermann advised my uncle to obtain permission from the pertinent authorities to take over Dr. Blaschke’s dental practice.  His dental office was intact, and Dr. Blaschke had already fled to Obersalzburg, so was unlikely to return. As a person persecuted by the Nazis, my uncle had a right to make this claim. The authorities did in fact grant my uncle permission to take over Dr. Blaschke’s apartment and practice at Kurfürstendamm 213 in Charlottenburg; as discussed in Post 17, post-WWII Address Directories from 1946 (Figure 7), 1947, and 1948 locate my uncle at this address. My uncle’s knowledge of the events surrounding Hitler’s fate stem primarily from his friendship with Käthe Heusermann, but also from his occupancy of Dr. Blaschke’s dental office following WWII.

 

Figure 7. 1946 Berlin Address Book listing for my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck, showing him as a dentist at Kurfürstendamm 213 in Charlottenburg, the former office of Hitler’s dentist, Dr. Hugo Blaschke

 

According to my uncle’s account, following his tenancy of Dr. Blaschke’s dental premises, he was visited on a few occasions by Russian counter-intelligence agents: 

“. . .On Wednesday, May 9th, 1945, I met a Russian Lieutenant Colonel in the building, as well as woman in uniform and a gentleman in mufti, as they inquired from the Superintendent as to the whereabouts of Blaschke.  As I learned later, they were the deputy military governor of Berlin, a female agent of the Russian secret police, and a certain Doctor Arnaudow, who had been assistant at the Berlin Charité with “Geheimrat Sauerbruch” [“Geheimrat Sauerbruch” is a successful and respected physician].  The latter was a Bulgarian and had brought the Russians who were looking for Hitler’s dentist . . .; furthermore, he acted as interpreter, although the agent of the Russian Secret Police, who called herself “Lola,” spoke a little German.”

 

Figure 8. Yelena Rzhevskaya in 1943, a military interpreter for SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence agency

 

As I eventually learned, “Lola,” was a 26-year-old Jewish woman named Yelena Rzhevskaya (Figure 8), born Elena Moiseyevna Kagan in Belarus in 1919, who was travelling with the Soviet vanguard when they entered the center of Berlin on April 29, 1945. She was a military interpreter for SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence agency. Like my uncle, she was a witness to events and findings about Hitler’s fate, corroborating much of what my uncle knew and later reported.  As the Soviet forces advanced through Berlin, Rzhevskaya’s unit was tasked with finding people who could provide information on Hitler’s whereabouts. It is only in 2018 that an English version of Yelena Rzhevskaya’s memoir, “Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler’s Bunker,” was published and that mention of her role in helping identify Hitler’s teeth was made.

Thus, in 1945, what led “Lola,” Yelena Rzhevskaya, to visit my uncle Fedor at Dr. Blaschke’s former dental offices was her search for information about Hitler’s fate. While questioning my uncle, Elena and the Russian authorities would learn about and eventually interrogate Käthe Heusermann and Fritz Echtmann, Blaschke’s dental technician, about their respective roles during Hitler’s dental procedures and their knowledge of his whereabouts; Käthe identified Hitler’s dental bridge for the Russians confirming his death, a fact the Soviets kept hidden for many years. Käthe and Fritz’s familiarity with Hitler’s fate would eventually result in both being abducted by the Russians and imprisoned in Russia until around 1955, a few years after Stalin died in March 1953. It served Stalin’s expansionist goals to have the world believe that Hitler had survived WWII and was an existential danger to the world, thus the need to remove from the scene anyone who could refute his narrative. It is precisely for this same reason that my uncle was in danger of being spirited away by the Russians, namely, because of his indirect knowledge of Hitler’s fate.

My uncle was alerted by the American post-war occupation forces who now controlled Charlottenburg, the Berlin district where Dr. Blaschke had once had his dental practice and where my uncle now lived and worked, that he was in danger of being snatched by the Russian intelligence services. Realizing they would eventually track him down wherever he hid and having already received a visa for the United States, my uncle abandoned his profession. Like my father, he would never again practice dentistry. Thus, began the next phase in my uncle’s life.

The precise date on which my uncle left Berlin is unknown to me. However, he wrote an affidavit in November 1966 in the matter of a probate hearing on behalf of the estate of Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, a German Baron he met in June 1947 in West Berlin, providing a general timeframe for when he departed Germany. My uncle and Mr. von Pannwitz befriended one another that month in a displaced persons camp where they had been assembled awaiting passage to the United States.  Both left for America on the 8th of July 1947 aboard the “Marine Marlin” from Bremen, Germany, and arrived in New York City on the 17th of July 1947 (Figures 9-10a-b); the two would remain friends until von Pannwitz died in New York City in 1966. (Figure 11)

 

Figure 9. “Alien Passenger Manifest” for the “Marine Marlin” with my uncle Fedor Bruck’s name showing he departed Bremen, Germany on July 8, 1947 and arrived in New York City on July 17, 1947

 

Figure 10a. Cover page for the Passenger List with Wolfram von Pannwitz’s name showing he traveled aboard the same ship and left at the same time from Bremen, Germany as my uncle
Figure 10b. Passenger List for the “Marine Marlin” with Wolfram von Pannwitz’s name showing he left Bremen, Germany the same date as my uncle, the 8th of July 1947

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 11. Wolfram E. von Pannwitz, far right, at my aunt and uncle’s wedding on March 4, 1958 in New York

 

Wolfram E. von Pannwitz was born on the 7th of July 1889 in Botzanowitz, Prussia [today: Bodzanowice, Poland], approximately 84 miles northeast of Leobschutz, Prussia [today: Głubczyce, Poland], where my uncle was born in 1895. Beyond both having been born in Upper Silesia, my uncle and von Pannwitz shared other things in common; they were close in age, only six years separated them; both were from the upper class; both were veterans of WW; both were victims of the Nazis; and both were anti-fascist.

Von Pannwitz was a Lutheran member of the Prussian nobility, who had been a captain in the German Army during WWI. In the early 1930’s, von Pannwitz operated a large garage business and dealt in fuel in Berlin. Not wishing to join the Nazi party, he went to Paris to live between 1937 and 1939. He was forced to return to Berlin, having been declared an “enemy alien” by the French, although he was able to use family influence to return to Paris. Once returned, he became involved with the movement that attempted to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944, an ultimately unsuccessful effort that forced him to go into hiding.

 

Figure 12. Else Petrea von Pannwitz’s baptismal record showing she was born on the 19th of February 1893 in Botzanowitz, Prussia

 

Wolfram von Pannwitz had a younger sister, “Else Petrea, Magda, Ernestine, Ottilie, Leonie, Gertrud,” born on the 19th of February 1893, also in Botzanowitz, Prussia. (Figure 12) He married Clara Virginia Rohde on the 18th of October 1920 in Berlin, a short-lived marriage that ended on the 28th of February 1922 and produced no children. (Figures 13a-b) He remarried Frida Mueller in 1931, who died of cancer in 1934, another childless marriage.

 

Figure 13a. Page 1 of Wolfram E. von Pannwitz and Clara Rohde’s marriage certificate showing they married on the 18th of October 1920 in Berlin with a notation in the upper right-hand corner indicating they divorced on the 28th of February 1922
Figure 13b. Page 2 of Wolfram E. von Pannwitz and Clara Rohde’s 1920 marriage certificate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me briefly digress. During this Covid-19 pandemic we are currently living through that requires most of us to self-quarantine, I have spent countless hours listening to webinars on an investment service to which I am subscribed. In this context, an interesting fact about Mr. von Pannwitz caught my attention. Investing largely in aircraft stocks, he parlayed $15,000 he saved in 1948 and 1949 into $500,000 by the time he died in 1966. I find this interesting on multiple levels. He was heavily invested in the stock market long before this was commonplace, and seemingly followed a path to building his wealth by buying and holding stocks, a strategy the investment service I follow also subscribes to. He was also invested in a segment of the market, airlines, which have largely fallen out of favor, for obvious reasons, during the current pandemic.

 

Figure 14. The Hotel Seville where Wolfram E. von Pannwitz rented modest accommodations for $23 a week

 

Figure 15. Contemporary newspaper account from a New York daily discussing Wolfram E. von Pannwitz’s $500,000 bequest, split equally between Cardinal Spellman and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society

Wolfram von Pannwitz died on the 28th of January 1966 in St. Vincent’s Hospital. At the time he lived modestly in a $23-a-week 9-by 12-foot room in the Hotel Seville on Madison Avenue (Figure 14), known today as the “James New York-NoMad.” His death made the news (Figure 15), including the New York Times, because he left his $500,000 estate equally to Cardinal Spellman of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, “HIAS.” While Mr. Pannwitz was not Jewish, his bestowal to HIAS was his way of showing gratitude to his Jewish friends for their professional and personal help during his life. His bequest to the St. Patrick’s Cathedral was, in his own words, to thank them for the “. . .strength and power [they gave him] to accomplish the hard struggle for this life.”

Interestingly, Mr. von Pannwitz typed his will, dated the 4th of September 1958, on a conventional printed form. In the will, he stated “all my relatives, near or remote, shall be excluded from my inheritance, there being special reasons for this direction.” While none of the contemporary newspaper accounts discuss these “special reasons,” I know from my uncle’s November 1966 affidavit that upon Mr. von Pannwitz’s mother’s death, Gertrud von Pannwitz née Scholz in 1957, he was cheated out of his inheritance by his younger sister.

Based on surviving correspondence in my possession, sadly, Cardinal Spellman and the Catholic Church reached an out-of-court settlement with Wolfram’s sister, Elsa Petrea Reymann née von Pannwitz, after she contested the will. In the back-and-forth correspondence between my uncle Fedor and one of Mr. von Pannwitz’s friends in California, both expressed outrage that she managed to obtain any part of her brother’s estate.

Figure 16. German General Helmuth von Pannwitz in 1941, one of Wolfram von Pannwitz’s cousins, who fought for the German Army in the Battle of Stalingrad and later against Tito’s partisans in then-Yugoslavia

This would likely have been particularly galling to Mr. von Pannwitz given that he was estranged from his sister and because of his family’s connections to the Nazi regime. A certain Helmuth von Pannwitz (14th October 1898-16th January 1947) (Figure 16), also born in Botzwanowitz, Prussia and likely one of Wolfram’s cousins, was a German general; he fought in both world wars. In WWII, he was in command of a battle group assigned to cover the southern flank in the battle of Stalingrad, where he wiped out a Soviet cavalry brigade, a Soviet cavalry division, and an enemy infantry division. Later, Helmuth von Pannwitz established a Cossack volunteer force, the 1st Cossack Division, which fought against freedom fighters in the Ukraine and Belorussia, before eventually fighting partisans commanded by Tito in Yugoslavia. During punitive operations in Serbia and Croatia, the Cossack regiments under Pannwitz’s command committed several atrocities against the civilian population, including mass rapes and routine summary executions. In 1947, the same year that Wolfram immigrated to America, Helmuth was executed by the Russians for these war crimes.

 

REFERENCE

Rzhevskaya, Yelena. “Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler’s Bunker.” 2018. Greenhill Books. London.

POST 41: DR. OTTO BERGER & OTHER “SILENT HEROES” WHO HELPED MY UNCLE DR. FEDOR BRUCK SURVIVE THE NAZI REGIME

Note:  This post is about a handful of righteous Germans who provided life-saving support to my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck during the 30 months he lived “underground” in Berlin during WWII, hiding from the Nazis.  I relate the little I’ve been able to uncover about these “silent heroes.”

There exists in Berlin a museum, the “Silent Heroes Memorial Center,” dedicated to the resistance to persecution of the Jews between 1933 and 1945.  A catalog developed by the Memorial Center describes the heroic role played by some people who resisted Nazi persecution of the Jews and provides some statistics about German Jews worth citing.  At the time the Nazis assumed power on January 30, 1933, there were roughly 500,000 German Jews.  This date marked the beginning of the ostracism, defamation and disenfranchisement of these Jews, key stages of which were the boycott of Jewish-owned businesses beginning on April 1, 1933; the Nuremberg race-laws of September 1935; and the pogroms of November 9, 1938.  More than 30,000 Jewish men were imprisoned in concentration camps following the pogroms in 1938.

Of the 500,000 Jews in Germany when the Nazis assumed power, roughly 300,000 of them were able to flee Germany before the war began in the fall of 1939.  Of the 6 million Jews murdered during the Nazi genocide, more than 160,000 of them were German Jews.  Between 10,000 and 12,000 German Jews tried to escape deportation to extermination camps and other killing sites by fleeing underground, since emigration by 1942 was prohibited and virtually impossible even through illegal means.  About half this number did so in Berlin, including my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck, subject of multiple earlier Blog posts.  Fleeing underground required that hiding places be found and frequently changed because of the danger of being denounced or discovered.  Of the Jews who went “into hiding” in Germany, about 5,000 of them survived, more than 1,700 of them in Berlin.  The chances of survival were indeed small, yet my uncle managed it with the help of multiple silent heroes.  An interesting quote from the Memorial Center’s publication speaks to the network of non-Jewish supporters required to protect a solitary Jewish fugitive: “In the course of attempts to save Jews, networks of helpers often developed.  For every Jew who went underground, up to ten, and sometimes even more, non-Jewish supporters were involved . . .”  Clearly, multiple non-Jews placed themselves at risk to try and shelter a single Jew.

 

Figure 1a. Affidavit written by Elisabeth “Lisa” Pauly née Krüger on February 3, 1947, on behalf of my Uncle Fedor, intended for the American Embassy

 

Figure 1b. Translation of affidavit written by Lisa Pauly

 

 

In the previous post, Blog Post 40, I discussed Elisabeth “Lisa” Pauly née Krüger and how I discovered she was the wife of my Uncle Fedor’s second cousin, Franz Pincus/Pauly.  In a declaration, pledged under oath on February 3, 1947 (Figures 1a-b), Lisa provided a chronology of the timeframes and enumerated the network of helpers who enabled my uncle to survive in Berlin during his odyssey underground: 

October 1942            Hidden by Dr. Wolfgang Sieber & Frau von Werner

February 1943          Dr. Wolfgang Sieber arrested by the Gestapo; my uncle hidden by Lisa Pauly

July 1943                    My uncle finds refuge with Dr. Otto Berger

March 24, 1944       Dr. Otto Berger’s building bombed; my uncle again hidden by Lisa Pauly

May 1944                   Dr. Otto Berger again provided accommodation to my uncle in his new home

December 1944       Dr. Otto Berger found yet another home, and hid my uncle until the capture of Berlin by the Red Army

Figure 2. Letter dated October 12, 1942 sent to my Uncle Fedor by the “Jüdische Kultusvereinigung zu Berlin e.V.,” Berlin’s Jewish Cultural Association, telling him to report to an “age-transport.” Letter was signed by Philipp Israel Kozower who was murdered at Auschwitz, two years later to the day

My uncle’s trying ordeal began in October 1942 when friends warned him the Gestapo was preparing to pick him up for “questioning.”  In a letter dated October 12, 1942, he was informed he should present himself to a so-called “age-transport.” (Figure 2)  Interestingly, this letter was sent to my uncle by the “Jüdische Kultusvereinigung zu Berlin e.V.,” Berlin’s Jewish Cultural Association, and signed by a “Philipp Israel Kozower,” who two years later to the day, October 12, 1944, would himself be murdered in Auschwitz.

Knowing that an “age-transport” meant deportation to a concentration camp, my Uncle Fedor immediately fled to a good friend in Berlin-Dahlem, Dr. Wolfgang Sieber.  He, along with a Frau von Werner, provided refuge for a time.  However, on February 15, 1943, Dr. Sieber was arrested by the Gestapo in the very presence of my uncle; miraculously, my uncle escaped.  In the ensuing months, Lisa Pauly and other friends sheltered him, in-between periods spent hiding in greenways, coal cellars, and in secluded areas around Berlin.

 

Figure 3. Dr. Otto Berger (b. 15 April 1900-d. 22 May 1985), as a young man

 

During my uncle’s underground odyssey, the dentist Dr. Otto Berger (b. 4/15/1900-d. 5/22/1985) (Figure 3), was especially helpful.  Among all the righteous Germans who aided my uncle, Dr. Berger placed himself at risk for the longest time.   In a letter my Uncle Fedor wrote in 1964, he described his initial contact with Dr. Berger:

 

“I met Mr. Otto Berger in the spring of 1943. When he learned on this occasion that I lead an illegal life as a persecuted Jew, he provided me with food at that first meeting and offered to take me in. This happened a short time later and I moved in early July 1943 into the apartment of Otto Berger.”

Figure 4a. “Kennkarte,” Identity Card, in the name of Dr. Friedrich Burkhardt, that Dr. Berger was able to procure for my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck, matching his own initials
Figure 4b. “Kennkarte,” Identity Card, in the name of Dr. Friedrich Burkhardt, that Dr. Berger was able to procure for my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck, matching his own initials

Not only did Dr. Berger provide food and shelter to my uncle, but, perhaps most critically, he obtained illegal papers for him under the false identity of Dr. Friedrich Burkhardt, matching my uncle’s own initials. (Figures 4a-b, 5a-b) The identity cards for “Dr. Burkhardt” show he was born on July 18, 1890 in Jägerndorf, Upper Silesia, today Krnov, an Upper Silesian city in the northeastern Czech Republic.  Why my uncle selected this alias and location are unknown.

Figure 5a. False “Postal Identity Card” Dr. Berger was able to obtain for my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck in the name of Dr. Friedrich Burkhardt
Figure 5b. False “Postal Identity Card” Dr. Berger was able to obtain for my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck in the name of Dr. Friedrich Burkhardt
Figure 6. 1941 Berlin Phone Directory showing Dr. Berger lived at Händelplatz 1 in “Lfe” (=Lichterfelde) at the time, same place where he originally hid my uncle beginning in July 1943

In July 1943, Dr. Berger lived at Händelplatz 1 in Berlin-Lichterfelde (Figure 6), in southwestern Berlin, but on March 24, 1944, aerial bombardment by the Allies resulted in destruction of the building where Dr. Berger and my uncle lived.  Both barely managed to escape; of the 44 people cloistered in the bomb shelter, only nine survived.  Following this close call, my uncle temporarily again found refuge with his second cousin’s wife, Lisa Pauly, until Dr. Berger was able to secure new lodgings, a house with a garden in Berlin-Zehlendorf.  Here he spent the summer of 1944.  By this time, my uncle had lost all his personal property, given to friends for safe-keeping but incinerated, as well as his dental equipment, placed in a dental depot but likewise destroyed during aerial bombing; all he had left were a few items of clothing and a portfolio with his most important papers.  In December 1944, Dr. Berger was assigned new living quarters in Berlin-Steglitz, to which he and my uncle moved, a place fire-bombed on April 25, 1945, a day before Steglitz was conquered by the advancing Russians.

 

Figure 7. 1974 Berlin Phone Directory showing Dr. Berger’s address at the time

Dr. Otto Berger received various awards for his courageous commitment to helping those persecuted by the Nazi regime.  In 1964, he was honored by Berlin’s mayor Willi Brandt for his outstanding human commitment, followed in 1974 (Figure 7) by an invitation from the Federal President to the Bellevue Palace in order, as the President of the Confederation wrote, “. . .to get acquainted with Otto Berger, the man who gave unselfish help to the persecuted during the Nazi era.”

 

Posthumously, in 2008, Dr. Otto Berger was awarded the “Ewald-Harndt Medal” by the Dental Association of Berlin, a medal to “. . .honor colleagues who have made outstanding contributions to the dental profession.”  In bestowing this award, the Dental Association recognized “. . . Otto Berger, who in a selfless and exemplary manner, courageously and at the risk of his own life in the time of National Socialism. . .” actively helped my uncle and others persecuted by the Nazi regime.

Figure 8. Page from Yad Vashem website recognizing Dr. Otto Berger as “Righteous Among the Nations,” listing the type of aid he provided to my Uncle Fedor and other persecuted individuals

Then, again posthumously, in 2009 Dr. Berger was recognized by Yad Vashem as “Righteous Among the Nations” (Figure 8), an honor the State of Israel gives to non-Jewish individuals and organizations who opposed the Nazi regime to save Jews.

 

Figure 9a. The “Ewald Harndt-Medaille” posthumously presented to Dr. Otto Berger in 2008 by the Dental Association of Berlin
Figure 9b. The “Ewald Harndt-Medaille” posthumously presented to Dr. Otto Berger in 2008 by the Dental Association of Berlin

With the assistance of one of my German cousins, I was able to establish contact with Dr. Otto Berger’s grandson, Dr. Oliver Speyer, like his grandfather also a dentist.  Ostensibly, my reason for contacting him was to obtain a few photos of Dr. Berger for use in this post.  Much to my delight, Dr. Speyer sent me photos of the Ewald-Harndt and Yad Vashem awards given to his grandfather, awards prominently on display in Dr. Speyer’s dental office. (Figures 9a-b, 10)

Figure 10. The “Certificate of Honour” posthumously given to Dr. Otto Berger in 2009 by Yad Vashem
Figure 11. 1941 Berlin Phone Directory listing Dr. Wolfgang Sieber who hid my Uncle Fedor from around October 1942 until his arrest by the Gestapo in February 1943

Briefly, let me say a few words about some other silent heroes who played a role in my uncle’s survival, limited only because I’ve uncovered very little about them.  My uncle’s friend, Dr. Wolfgang Sieber, with whom my uncle straightaway sought safety in October 1942, was, as previously mentioned, arrested by the Gestapo in February 1943.  His name appears in Berlin Address Books only in 1940 and 1941 (Figure 11); what to make of this is not entirely clear but depending on the extent of Dr. Sieber’s involvement in sheltering other persecuted persons, he may have been incarcerated and not have survived the war. 

 

Figure 12. 1928 Berlin Phone Directory listing Lise Lotte von Werner shown living in Berlin-Wannsee at the time and showing her maiden name as “Tiemann”; Frau von Werner hid my uncle for periods between October 1942 and July 1943
Figure 13. Page from 1978 Berlin Phone Directory, last year Lise Lotte von Werner is listed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the case of two other known silent heroes, specifically, Lisa Pauly and Frau von Werner, both survived into the late 1970’s, at least.  Because both Lisa and Frau von Werner’s addresses are provided in Lisa’s 1947 affidavit, I was able to track them through Berlin Address Books.  Frau von Werner’s full name was Lisa Lotte von Werner.  She is first found in a 1928 Berlin Phone Directory (Figure 12), then, again between 1951 and 1978 listed in Berlin Phone Directories at Petzower Straße 7 (Figure 13), the address in Lisa Pauly’s affidavit.  Similarly, Lisa Pauly is living at Massmannstraße 11 in Steglitz between 1966 and 1977, the address shown in her affidavit of 1947.   It is safe to assume both died of natural causes sometime after 1977-1978.

Let me briefly pick up the narrative as to where my uncle went following the capture of Berlin by the Russians, in his own words, cited only because it provides the identity of another, entirely unexpected, person who assisted my uncle during his underground odyssey:

 

“On April 26, 1945, Steglitz, in the southwestern part of the city, was occupied by the Russians.  Behind the advancing troops, I arrived, on May 4th, in the apartment of my former assistant Käthe Heusermann.  This apartment was situated at Pariserstraße 39-40 near Kurfürstendamm [in Berlin-Charlottenburg].  A friendship of twenty years tied my person and the family of Käthe Heusermann. . .”

Figure 14. My Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck with a young Kathe Heusermann in his dental office in Liegnitz in Silesia, in the early 1930’s

 

To remind readers what I wrote in Blog Post 31, Käthe Heusermann (Figure 14), who’d once been my Uncle Fedor’s dental assistant in Liegnitz in Silesia [today: Legnica, Poland], eventually became Dr. Hugo Blaschke’s dental assistant; Dr. Blaschke was Hitler’s dentist.  Almost immediately after the end of WWII, Käthe Heusermann, who’d known Hitler had killed himself, a fact Stalin sought to conceal from the world, was arrested by the Russians and detained for many years.  Käthe Heusermann told her captors she’d occasionally supported my uncle during his time underground.  Quoting from Yelena Rzhevskaya’s book, “Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler’s Bunker”:

 

“I liked everything about her [Käthe]: the lightness with which she walked on high heels, her voice, her womanly stoicism even in her present unclear situation.  Käthe was just somebody people liked, I sensed; she was a splendid person.  For many years she had supported Dr. Bruck.  Käthe got food vouchers for him in the Reich Chancellery, in Berchtesgaden, and at the Führer’s headquarters in East Prussia, it could, as Dr. Bruck pointed out to me, have been fatal.  Käthe herself never once spoke about that.” (p. 265)

 

This is difficult to wrap one’s head around that the dental assistant to Hitler’s dentist provided aid to my Jewish uncle during the war, a most unlikely ally.

 

There may have been other individuals, whose names are lost to us, who played lesser roles in keeping my uncle from being deported.  Perhaps, they were former dental patients of his who recognized him or army veterans with whom he fought during WWI who passed him on the street?  We will never know.  We only know the names of the people who provided most active support. 

 

The motivations for people to help persecuted Jews were obviously varied.  A few felt an obligation as family or friends, some probably did it out of human compassion, and others for religious or political reasons, but whatever their rationale, they placed themselves at risk and for this reason alone should be recognized.

 

REFERENCES

 

Lutze, Kay

2006    Die Lebensgeschichte des jüdischen Zahnarztes Fedor Bruck (1895-1982) Von Liegnitz nach New York.  Zahnärzttliche Mitteilungen 96, Nr. 10, 16.5 (p. 124-127)

Rzhevskaya, Yelena

2018    Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler’s Bunker. Greenhill Books. London.

Silent Heroes Memorial Center

N.D.    Catalog: Resistance to Persecution of the Jews 1933-1945.  For detailed bibliographic data online, go to http://dnb.d-nb.de

POST 40: ELISABETH “LISA” PAULY NÉE KRÜGER, ONE OF MY UNCLE FEDOR’S “SILENT HEROES”

Note:  This post is about Elisabeth “Lisa” Pauly née Krüger, one of my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s “silent heroes,” who hid him in Berlin during WWII for periods of his 30-month survival “underground.”  Having learned she was married to my uncle’s cousin, I discuss how I worked out their exact relationship in what was on my part a clear case of over-thinking their consanguinity.

Related Post: POST 39:  An Imperfect Analogy: Family Trees And Dendrochronology

Figure 1. My Uncle Fedor in 1940, two years before he fled “underground”

Among my uncle’s surviving papers are two declarations, pledged under oath, identifying people who provided life-saving support to my Uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck (Figure 1) during the 30 months he lived “underground” in Berlin during WWII.  My uncle’s trying ordeal began in October 1942 when friends warned him the Gestapo was preparing to pick him up for “questioning,” detainment which would have led to his deportation to a concentration camp and certain death; straightaway, he went into hiding to avoid arrest.  The declarations written, respectively, on January 19, 1947 and February 3, 1947, were basically intended as letters of reference for the Americans.  They attested to my uncle’s “good character” and provided a brief chronology of how and with whose help he’d survived underground.  A little context is necessary.

Figure 2. Entrance to Kurfürstendamm 213, in Berlin’s Charlottenburg borough, where Hitler’s dentist, Dr. Blaschke, once had his office, as it looks today

As discussed in previous Blog posts, almost immediately after the war ended, my Uncle Fedor applied to what he described as the “pertinent authorities,” presumably the Russians in this case, for permission to take over the office and apartment of Hitler’s former dentist, Dr. Hugo Blaschke, which had survived the war unscathed. (Figure 2)  Permission was granted in early May 1945.  While my uncle’s situation may have seemed comparatively secure at the time, he’d apparently been warned by the Americans that he was at risk of being kidnapped by the Russians on account of his knowledge of Hitler’s fate, which Stalin sought to conceal.  My uncle no doubt realized his danger since both Blaschke’s dental assistant, Käthe Heusermann, and Blaschke’s dental technician, Fritz Echmann, both of whom he knew, had been taken away by the Russians in 1945, not to reappear again in the West for many years.  While my uncle maintained his dental practice in Blaschke’s former office until around July 1947, the declarations written in January and February 1947 strongly suggest my uncle was, so to speak, working on an exit strategy earlier.

Figure 3a. Affidavit written by Elisabeth “Lisa” Pauly née Krüger on February 3, 1947, on behalf of my Uncle Fedor, intended for the American Embassy
Figure 3b. Translation of affidavit written by Lisa Pauly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the two affidavits provided to the American authorities on behalf of my Uncle Fedor was written by Elisabeth “Lisa” Pauly née Krüger. (Figures 3a-b)  She mentioned how she hid him in her home for brief periods during the war and described her kinship as the wife of my uncle’s cousin; Lisa did not provide her husband’s name but only wrote he died in 1941, cause unknown.  I first came across Lisa Pauly’s name in 2014 when I visited the Stadtmuseum in Spandau, outside Berlin, to examine the archived papers of two of my renowned great-aunts, Elsbeth Bruck and Franziska Bruck.  There, I discovered a letter written by my grandmother, Else Bruck née Berliner, on February 2, 1947, mailed from Fayence, France to my great-aunt Elsbeth in Berlin care-of Lisa Pauly living at Maßmannstraße 11 in the Steglitz borough of Berlin. (Figure 4)  Ultimately, this address proved to be useful for learning how long Lisa Pauly may have lived; more on this later.

Figure 4. Envelope containing letter my grandmother Else Bruck wrote in February 1947 to my great-aunt Elsbeth Bruck sent to her care-of Lisa Pauly living at Massmannstraße 11 in the Steglitz borough of Berlin

Let me digress for a moment.  In Post 33, I discussed the extraordinary lengths to which I went to finding two of my second cousins, born in Barcelona, but living outside Munich, Germany.  Once I had established contact with one of these second cousins, Antonio Bruck, he connected me to a third cousin, Anna Rothholz, who in turn put me in touch with yet other third cousins, brothers Peter and Andreas “Andi” Pauly.  This was a fortuitous development.  Peter and Andi gave me a detailed hand-drawn Pauly family “Stammbaum,” family tree, developed by their father years before these could be created on-line.  While I was still a long way from figuring out the hereditary connection between Lisa Pauly’s husband and my Uncle Fedor, this Stammbaum eventually paved the way for working this out, although not without some missteps.

Figure 5. Section of Pauly “Stammbaum,” family tree, with “Franz” and “Lisa” circled; Franz is shown as Dr. Oscar Pincus and Paula Pauly’s son

 

Figure 6. Page from “Schlesische Jüdische Familien,” Silesian Jewish Families tree, with Lisa Krüger’s name showing she was married to Franz Pincus, born in Posen on October 23, 1898, with notation that he went by the surname “Pauly”

As readers can see in Figure 5, a “Lisa” is highlighted, shown married to a “Franz” who died in 1941.  Based on the affidavit Lisa Pauly had written in 1947, logically, I knew this was she and her husband.  My confusion stemmed from the fact that Lisa’s husband was the son of Dr. Oscar Pincus and Paulina Charlotte Pauly, presumably named Franz Pincus.  I continued my search, convinced there had to be a different Lisa who’d married a Pauly.  After many fruitless months, I eventually began looking for her in Family Trees in ancestry.com.  I finally found her on a tree listed as “Lisa Krüger,” born in the year 1890. (Figure 6)  As discussed in Post 39, the tree is entitled “Schlesische Jüdische Familien,” Silesian Jewish Families.  There is a notation in German on this tree that Lisa Krüger was married to a Franz Pincus, born in Posen [today: Poznan, Poland] on October 23, 1898, and that he went by the surname “Pauly.”  I then realized my Uncle Fedor and Franz Pauly were second cousins, grandsons of sisters (Figures 7 & 8), and understood how badly I’d misconstrued their kinship.  This was clearly a case of my over-thinking things and ignoring what the Pauly Stammbaum had clearly indicated.

Figure 7. Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer (1844-1927), Franz Pincus/Pauly’s grandmother, sister of Friederike Bruck née Mockrauer
Figure 8. Friederike Bruck née Mockrauer (1836-1924), Fedor Bruck’s grandmother, sister of Rosalie Pauly née Mockrauer; Friederike Bruck is my great-grandmother

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Franz Pincus decided to change surnames and take his mother’s maiden name is unknown.  Since both names are clearly Jewish and neither would have afforded an advantage in the Nazi era, I assumed Franz’s decision was made before the Nazis ever came to power.  And, I was able to prove this using Berlin Phone Directories available on ancestry.com.  Franz Pincus apparently changed his surname to “Pauly” between 1928 and 1930.  A 1928 Berlin Phone Directory (Figure 9) lists a “Franz Pincus” living at Deidesheimer Str. 25 in Friedenau in the southwestern suburbs of Berlin, but by 1930 “Franz Pauly” is living at this address. (Figure 10)

Figure 9. 1928 Berlin Phone Directory showing “Franz Pincus” living at Deidesheimer Str. 25 in Friedenau, a southwestern suburb of Berlin
Figure 10. 1930 Berlin Phone Directory listing “Franz Pauly” at Deidesheimer Str. 25 in Friedenau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, I knew from the affidavit Lisa had written and the letter my grandmother had written to my great-aunt in 1947, addressed to Lisa, that she resided at Maßmannstraße 11 in the Steglitz borough of Berlin.  I searched both Lisa and Franz’s names in ancestry.com and found him listed at this address in Berlin Phone Directories between 1936 and 1940 (Figure 11), the year before he died.  Beginning in 1966 and continuing through 1977 (Figure 12), Lisa’s name appears at the same address, suggesting the apartment building survived the war and that Lisa had lived there continuously, possibly from 1936 onwards.  The disappearance of Lisa Pauly’s name from Berlin Phone Directories after 1977 may coincide with her approximate year of death.  As we speak, I’m working to obtain Lisa’s death certificate from the Bürgeramt Steglitz to confirm when she died.

Figure 11. 1940 Berlin Phone Directory listing Franz Pauly living at Maßmannstr. 11 in Steglitz
Figure 12. 1977 Berlin Phone Directory listing Elisabeth Pauly living at Maßmannstr. 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been able to learn almost nothing more about Lisa and Franz Pauly.  While Peter and Andi Pauly have numerous Pauly family photos, they have none of either of them.  It’s an enduring mystery to me how Lisa Pauly avoided deportation to a concentration camp given that at least three of her husband’s Pauly aunts were murdered in the camps along with their husbands and some of their children.

In the subsequent post, I will tell readers about other silent heroes who enabled my uncle to survive his 30 months underground in Berlin during WWII, inasmuch as I’ve been able to work this out.

POST 31: WITNESS TO HISTORY, “PROOF” OF HITLER’S DEATH IN MY UNCLE FEDOR’S OWN WORDS

Note:   In this post, I relate the story of my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s knowledge of Adolf Hitler’s fate at the end of WWII, and how my uncle came in possession of this information.  The story is told in my uncle’s own words borrowing liberally from his first-hand account of these events and describes briefly where I obtained his story.  Recent discoveries and publications are also discussed.

Related Post

POST 17: SURVIVING IN BERLIN IN THE TIME OF HITLER: MY UNCLE FEDOR’S STORY

Post 17 chronicled my uncle’s survival in Berlin during WWII, touching briefly on the post-war events that ultimately led him to flee Germany and immigrate to America.  Thanks to two first-hand accounts written by my uncle following WWII, one a brief biography of his life, the second a compelling account he theatrically entitled “Former Berlin Dentist Proves Hitler is Dead,” I can now flesh out considerably more of my uncle’s life story and detail his knowledge of Hitler’s death.  My uncle’s first-hand accounts were given to his illegitimate son who died in 2014 and have since passed into the estate of his son, from whom I obtained copies.

Below, I review some of what was discussed in Post 17, but most of this post deals with newly uncovered facts from my uncle Fedor’s writings and elsewhere; they add considerably more texture to my uncle’s story and provide some detail on his role as a witness to an important historical event.  I also describe how my uncle came to be in possession of his information on Hitler’s fate.  I can imagine dubious readers scoffing at the notion that a Jewish dentist, a recently-persecuted one at that, would be in the right place at the right time in Berlin immediately after WWII to “prove” that Hitler had indeed died at the end of the war.  But, the facts are what they are as readers will learn.

The following narrative is unquestionably one my uncle would have told with more elan and precision.  Regrettably, my uncle is no longer here, so I must rely on his narrative to relate how he might have told his own story.  Regardless, since my uncle’s tale is also a part of my family’s overall story, I think it is important I tell it and tell it without embellishments and half-truths; enough of these already surround the topic of Hitler’s death.  As my uncle’s narrative makes clear, many writers, newspapers, and parties of his day sought to distort and discredit my uncle’s story, intentionally and unintentionally; some had broader political, social, or economic imperatives in mind, notably, Joseph Stalin.  My uncle lost control of his narrative, so it is my intention with this post to reestablish dominion over the story and refer to other recent sources which corroborate my uncle’s tale.

Figure 1. My Uncle Fedor Bruck in his WWI uniform

My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck was born on August 17, 1895, in Leobschütz, Upper Silesia, Germany (today: Głubczyce, Poland).  My uncle’s three siblings, including a younger brother who died in infancy, were all born in near-by Ratibor (today: Racibórz, Poland); according to my uncle’s first-hand account, my grandparents moved from Leobschütz to Ratibor when my uncle was three years old to run the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel, subject of Post 11.  During WWI, my uncle fought in Ukraine on the Eastern Front. (Figure 1) He studied dentistry at the University of Breslau (today: Wrocław, Poland), passed the State Board Examination in 1921, and eventually set up his own practice in 1924 in Liegnitz, Upper Silesia (today: Legnica, Poland). (Figure 2)

Figure 2. My Uncle Fedor in his dental office in Liegnitz

He owned his practice in Liegnitz from November 1924 through April 1936, when he was forced out of business by the National Socialists.  Already, by March 1932, the Nazis had relieved my uncle of his responsibilities as municipal school dentist (“Schulzahnarzt“) for schools in small communities surrounding Liegnitz; a Schulzahnarzt examined pupils‘ teeth, advising them on whether a followup with a dentist was required.  There was widespread support among German dentists for the National Socialist ideology, so in expectation of their rise to power many dental organizations displaced their Jewish colleagues as a sign of “anticipatory obedience.“  Since my uncle could no longer practice dentistry in Liegnitz, he left.  In his own words:

Figure 3. My Uncle Fedor in 1936, the year he moved from Liegnitz to Berlin

“In 1936 (Figure 3), I moved to Berlin, where I continued practicing as a dentist until October 1942.  In that month I went underground to escape arrest, deportation to a concentration camp and even death, after having been warned that the Gestapo was preparing to pick me up. . .After thirty months of a trying ordeal, Berlin was occupied and the Nazi regime was brought to an end.“

 

 

 

In my uncle’s account of the events following the end of the war, the chronicle previously alluded to entitled “Former Berlin Dentist Proves that Hitler is Dead,“ my uncle explains the circumstances that put him in a position to be a witness to history:

“By reason of an interlocking of events, I believe that I am the only person on the Western Hemisphere to bring proof that Hitler is actually dead, as far as such is possible at all for someone who has not seen the corpse.  However, if the corpse has been cremated, and the remains of the teeth are the only thing left, then only the dentist is able to make an identification.

All reports of the finding and identification of Hitler’s jaws are the result of my information given to correspondents or members of the occupying armies after the occupation of Berlin by the Allies.  Since my statements were only repeated in part, or were misquoted or reported not in their correct sequence, they lack any proof.  I therefore believe that the time has come to publish my knowledge of the identification of the jaws of Hitler and Eva Braun, which took place between May 9th and 13th, 1945.

Figure 4. A young Käthe Heusermann, née Reiss, with my Uncle Fedor in his dental office in Liegnitz

The main person in this connection is Mrs. Käthe Heusermann, née Reiss regarding whom I must mention more details, because of the importance attached to her in this matter.  She was born in 1909, and I trained her as a dental assistant in my office in Liegnitz, Silesia, in the year 1926 (Figure 4).  She practiced in this profession until 1945, at least 15 years.  Over this time, she worked with me for three-and-a-half years, and from 1937 on, that is for over eight years, she worked with Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist.  She quickly advanced to the position of first assistant and, during the last years, she was mostly present during Hitler’s treatments, whether they took place in the Reich Chancellery or on the Obersalzberg estate.  She was very much interested in her profession and possessed great experience.  She had the special gift to remember very well the peculiarities of the patients’ mouths . . .”

Figure 5. Hitler’s American-trained dentist, Dr. Hugo Blaschke

Regarding Hitler’s American-trained dentist, Professor Hugo Blaschke (Figure 5), my uncle made the following observations:

“. . .He [Blaschke] studied at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia before the first World War, from which he graduated.  Since he had not passed any examination in Germany, he was only rated a dental technician there.  Having joined the [Nazi] Party early, he had a membership number below 40,000.  He had already treated Hitler before 1933.  Upon a decree by Goebbels, he was awarded the title of dentist, without having to pass any examination, and was later given the professor title by Hitler.  His knowledge was that of an average dentist . . .“

It is important to emphasize the point my uncle Fedor was making about Hitler’s dentist.  In former times, there were two types of German dentists which were distinctly different, one called a “zahnarzt,” the other a “dentist,” confusingly, both of which translate as dentist in English.  Dr. Blaschke would today be called a “zahntechniker,” a non-academically trained dental technician primarily responsible for producing bridges and dentures, or “zahnbehandler,” dental practitioner.  A “zahnarzt” in today’s parlance is an academically-trained dentist.  This distinction as it relates to Dr. Blaschke becomes important later, insofar as the technical work he performed on Hitler.

Continuing with my uncle’s story:

“On April 26, 1945, Steglitz, in the southwestern part of the city [Berlin], was occupied by the Russians.  Behind the advancing troops, I arrived, on May 4th, in the apartment of my former assistant Käthe Heusermann.  This apartment was situated at Pariserstrasse 39-40 near Kurfürstendamm.  A friendship of twenty years tied my person and the family of Käthe Heusermann.  Käthe was alone in the bomb-damaged apartment and was very upset and confused.  She had only returned to her apartment the day before, May 3rd, having spent the time before that in the Air Shelter in the Reich Chancellery.“

My uncle recounted what Käthe told him:

“When the bombardment of Berlin became disagreeable, she went to the Reich Chancellery for reasons of safety, where she worked as a nurse in the hospital shelter.  On April 20th, Hitler’s birthday, Blaschke fled to Obersalzburg by plane.  She was almost punished for disobedience by the SS for her refusal to go along.  On April 28, Hitler and Eva Braun got married.  Upon having received the news of Himmler’s offer of negotiations with the Allies, and when the army which was supposed to liberate Berlin did not arrive, which was to have been led by Wenck, Hitler had temper tantrums, but then calmed down, but was depressed and personally distributed cyanide capsules to everybody present.  Käthe herself showed me—while relating the events—the capsule she had received.

On April 30th, Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide, he by taking a cyanide capsule between his teeth, and shooting himself in the head.  The corpses were then taken into the Reich Chancellery garden by the SS, drenched in gasoline and burned.

Goebbels and his wife also committed suicide, his children having previously been given injections with poison, by doctors.

Käthe’s reports with respect to these happenings coincides almost completely with statements made later by other witnesses . . .”

Following Hitler’s death, the staff in the Reich Chancellery divided themselves into smaller groups, hoping to break through the Russian lines, and get to the West.  Resuming:

“The group which Mrs. Heusermann has joined, came to heavy combat with the Russians at the Weidendamm Bridge.  In this battle, Deputy Leader [Martin] Bormann died . . .Of about 80 persons, only 30 were left, and these fled into the subway shaft.  They hoped to get somewhere behind the Russians but were caught by the Russians at a station.  The men were deported, while Mrs. Heusermann was taken along by a soldier and raped by him.  Then he let her go, and she had to take the long walk home, through debris and corpses, always in fear of new insults.”

Figure 6. Entrance to Kurfürstendamm 213 in Charlottenburg, where Dr. Blaschke had his dental practice, as it looks today

After recounting these events to my uncle, Käthe Heusermann advised my uncle to obtain permission from the pertinent authorities to take over Dr. Blaschke’s dental practice.  The dental office was intact, and Dr. Blaschke had already fled to Obersalzburg, as previously mentioned, and was hardly likely to return.  As a person persecuted by the Nazis, my uncle had a right to make this claim.  The authorities did in fact grant my uncle permission to take over Dr. Blaschke’s apartment and practice at Kurfürstendamm 213 in Charlottenburg (Figure 6); as discussed in Post 17, post-WWII Address Directories locate my uncle at this address. (Figure 7) My uncle’s knowledge of the events surrounding Hitler’s fate, thus, stem both from his friendship with Käthe Heusermann, as well as his occupancy of Dr. Blaschke’s dental office.

Figure 7. Page from 1946 Berlin Phone Directory listing my Uncle Fedor as a “zahnarzt” at Kurfürstendamm 213 in Charlottenburg, the former dental office of Hitler’s dentist

Continuing with my uncle’s narrative:

“Then, during the days following . . . happenings took place which I believe to be proof that Hitler actually died.  On Wednesday, May 9th, 1945, I met a Russian Lieutenant Colonel in the building, as well as woman in uniform and a gentleman in mufti, as they inquired from the Superintendent as to the whereabouts of Blaschke.  As I learned later, they were the deputy military governor of Berlin, a female agent of the Russian secret police, and a certain Doctor Arnaudow, who had been assistant at the Berlin Charité with “Geheimrat Sauerbruch” [“Geheimrat Sauerbruch” is a successful and respected physician].  The latter was a Bulgarian and had brought the Russians who were looking for Hitler’s dentist . . .; furthermore, he acted as interpreter, although the agent of the Russian Secret Police, who called herself “Lola,” spoke a little German.

Since the Superintendent could give them no information, I declared that Blaschke had fled and that I now had his practice.  Then they asked me for written details regarding the treatments which Hitler had received.  Upon my remark that I presumed they wanted to identify parts of corpses found, the Lieutenant Colonel made a sour face and put his finger to his mouth, from which I assumed that my suspicion had been correct.  Then they came to the office, where we looked for reference cards as well as X-rays of Hitler.  However, only those of Göring, Goebbels, Himmler, Ley and other high-ranking party members could be found, which the Russians took with them.  Upon their question whether anybody knew about Hitler’s teeth, I called in the former technician of Blaschke, Fritz Echtmann, who lived with his family in the same apartment [building].  He could not give them any information, since he never was present at a treatment, and since the technical work had been done before his time.  When it was found that Käthe Heusermann had been present for many years at all treatments of Hitler, I was asked to get her. “

My uncle found Käthe at the home of a neighboring doctor’s.  She was apparently very hesitant to come with my uncle because of her previous experience with the Russians and her fear she would be considered a prominent Nazi.  However, feeling she had no choice, she came along and was questioned by the Russians about Hitler’s mouth and provided the following information:

“On a front tooth there was a so-called rim-crown, furthermore there was a cut-off bridge in his mouth, since the molar, which would have served as support, had to be removed.  She gave them more details regarding some crowns and other treatments . . .She furthermore declared that the written data regarding Hitler’s treatments were kept in a box which was either still at the Chancellery, or which Blaschke had taken with him to Obersalzberg.

Then the Lieutenant Colonel asked her to come along with him to the Chancellery, to look for the box . . .”

Figure 8. Page from a 1941 Berlin Phone Directory listing Dr. Blaschke’s dental technician, Fritz Echtmann, as a “dentist”

Käthe was not returned to her apartment until two days later, on Friday, May 11th, at which point the Russians then took the technician Fritz Echtmann. (Figure 8) My uncle visited her on Saturday, and she painted the following picture of what had transpired:

 

“First of all, they asked that she give as detailed as possible a description of Hitler’s teeth, with pertinent sketches.  Then she was shown a number of skulls and parts of jaws, on which there was still some flesh, which in some instances were charred or burned.  Among these, she definitely recognized the jaws of Hitler, with the aid of the details written down, and the peculiarities she had noted.  One jaw, which contained a bridge made from Palapont (i.e., artificial colophonium on a colloidal base), was identified as that of Eva Braun, who had received this bridge only a few weeks previously.  She declared, upon questioning that the technical work had been done by Fritz Echtmann, Blaschke’s technician.  This fact most probably was the reason for later on picking up Fritz Echtmann.

During the entire time, the Russians took down in writing the proceedings, which Käthe had to sign on each page.  She also had to swear that she would not speak of the identification of the remains of Hitler, until the Russian Press and the Radio would have published same.  Lola, of whom Käthe only had heard . . . that she was an agent of the Russian Secret Service, said to her ‘Mrs. Käthe, you will be a very famous woman, you are the only person who not only knows, but also can prove that Hitler is really dead’”

My uncle learned from Fritz Echtmann’s wife that her husband came home on Sunday, May 13, 1945, accompanied by two Russian Officers, and was given about two hours to pack his suitcases before again being taken away.  Käthe was also taken away at the same time, told she would be needed for longer but not to be afraid.  From that time on, my uncle did not learn of their whereabouts for many years.

The above were the facts as reported by my uncle insofar as the days in May 1945 are concerned, but my uncle also wrote about happenings thereafter, specifically related to news correspondents and writers and the inaccurate accounts they published:

“In the beginning of July 1945, the Allied occupation forces arrived in Berlin.  The U.S. Correspondent Sigrid Schulz met with Käthe Heusermann’s doctor . . .and this doctor told her that the Russians had taken Käthe along.  She [Sigrid Schulz] came to me with a few American Correspondents on July 5, 1945, to my practice, in order to find out whether Käthe had come back.  On this occasion I told her about the identification of Hitler’s teeth, but I noticed from the questions that my report was regarded as fantastic and not believed.  On July 7th, three English correspondents, lead by William Forrest of the London’News Chronicle‘ came to me.  I gave them the report of what had happened, and within the next few days, a story appeared in the English newspapers, without any commentary and so distorted that no burden of proof could be put on these reports.  However, this publication of my name and address made it possible to contact my family in England again, who believed me dead as victim of the Nazis.“

It is clear from the above that because my uncle’s story was so seemingly preposterous and unbelievable, news correspondents took the opportunity to weave their own tales.  Consequently, my uncle almost immediately lost control of the story he had to tell and its factual basis.  Continuing:

“Thereafter, I was frequently called upon by correspondents who, however, greatly doubted my stories, and therefore most of those reports showed incorrect facts.  One paper said I was the Führer’s dentist, another one said that I had identified the corpse.  Aside from many strange statements, the identification of Hitler’s jaws was branded as false.  ‘France-Soir,’ on January 1, 1946, reported that the corpse had been discovered on December 19, 1945 by the Russians and that Hitler’s dentist, who [they claimed, albeit falsely] was a captive of the Russians, had identified the corpse.  However, Blaschke is a prisoner of the Americans . . .Even the publication in ‘Oral Hygiene,’ 35th year, page 1540, September 1945, is very incomplete and distorted . . .how little importance was given to my knowledge regarding the circumstances, is shown by the fact that no mention was made in Trevor-Roper’s book at all [1947 Edition].”

Hugh Trevor-Roper was the author of “The Last Days of Hitler,” initially published in 1947.  More will be said on Trevor-Roper below.

In his account, my uncle addresses some objections raised by correspondents.  A few claimed that everyone in the Reich Chancellery could have been told that Hitler committed suicide when in fact he didn’t, but how then does one explain the existence of jaws for a non-existent corpse? 

Alternatively, Selkirk Paton of the “Daily Express” wondered how my uncle knew that Hitler was really in the Reich Chancellery, suggesting the jaws found there might have been that of one of Hitler’s doubles.  Beyond the fact that Käthe Heusermann would have noticed a double, the conditions for this scenario to have played out are practically inconceivable.  At the least, this would have required that the dental work done on the double correspond with the work known to have been done on Hitler, that the double then shoot himself or be shot, the body burned, and the jaws or another prepared skull left in a place where the Russians could find it, an implausible sequence of events.  Only Dr. Blaschke and Käthe Heusermann knew anything about Hitler’s teeth, so one or both of them would have had to be party to the deception.  To believe the jaws found at the Reich Chancellery belonged to a double requires too lengthy a list of suppositions to merit serious consideration.

Yet another objection to my uncle’s explanation of events was that with the amount of gasoline employed, no remains would have been left to find.  My uncle was easily able to refute this:

“This assumption is erroneous; I myself have seen many charred corpses during the last fighting days in Berlin, where parts were undamaged or could be recognized in part.  I myself am astonished that the bridge of Eva Braun made of Palapont material, which is easily combustible, was not destroyed, but I could imagine that the entire body was not enveloped by gasoline, especially, since Käthe mentioned explicitly that some flesh, either charred burned or raw, was still on the bones.”

Returning to a subject I alluded to earlier, regarding the rim-crowns and cut-off bridges with which Hitler was fitted by Dr. Blaschke, my uncle made a few interesting observations related to this work:

“. . .The peculiarities of Hitler’s jaws are very extraordinary ones.  Rim-crowns are seen very rarely only, since present-day dentists do not make them any longer, and cut-off bridges are not frequent either . . .

I had pointed out to correspondents a rim-crown as being ‘old-fashioned’ which, because of its comparative rarity, necessarily constituted an important factor [in the identification of Hitler’s jaws].

The fact that Dr. Blaschke knowingly performed ‘old-fashioned work’ on ‘his Führer,’ seems to me, as expert, rather ridiculous.  On the other hand, he does not owe his title of professor, nor his various other titles, to the fact that he was an ace in his profession, but only to the fact that he was a faithful Nazi having a party membership number somewhere around 36,000 . . .”

After immigrating to America in July 1947, my uncle continued to follow news reports of Hitler’s fate.  My uncle remarked on a series of six articles published by the “New York World-Telegram,” between July 19 and July 24, 1948, entitled “Is Adolf Hitler Dead or Alive?” written by Capt. Michael A. Musmanno, USNR, Judge International War Crimes Trials, Nuremberg. 

The fifth article in this series, dated July 23, 1948, was of particular interest to my uncle since it dealt with the testimony of a Hans Fritzsche, who, as it turns out, had been in a Russian prison with Fritz Echtmann, Blaschke’s dental technician.  My uncle surmised they were imprisoned together at the Lubyanka prison in Moscow, where Fritzsche was held by the Russians before he was brought to Nuremberg for trial.  In any case, Fritzsche testified that Echtmann claimed he turned over X-rays of Hitler’s teeth to the Russians, and that together with Käthe Heusermann had identified a jaw shown to him as that of Hitler.  My uncle knew this was not true.  In his own words:

“Echtmann was Blaschke’s dental technician, but never his assistant; moreover, he had never done any technical work for Hitler, was never present at any treatment, and had no opportunity to gain any knowledge regarding the Führer’s mouth.  While Hitler’s jaw had already been identified by Käthe Heusermann between May 9th and May 11th, 1945, Echtmann was not questioned by the Russians before May 11, when they [the Russians] brought back Mrs. Heusermann.

Echtmann could not have given the Russians the X-rays of Hitler’s teeth, since these were not in his possession.  They were actually in a case which either remained on the Obersalzberg, or whom Blaschke took with him when he fled.  When the Russians appeared for the first time in my office in Berlin, and questioned Echtmann about Hitler’s teeth, X-rays, etc., in my presence, he declared that he knew nothing whatsoever about these things . . .He had far too great a craving for importance to make plausible any such hiding of his knowledge.  It was probably this same desire to prove himself important that explains his version of the story as told to Fritzsche . . .”

Clearly, in my uncle’s opinion, Echtmann was nothing but a self-aggrandizer, although my uncle left open the faint possibility that Echtmann had taken a few X-rays from the files at an earlier date as souvenirs, which he produced when questioned by the Russians.

Figure 9. Page from a 1956 Berlin Phone Directory showing that Fritz Echtmann resumed his career as “dentist” following his release by the Soviets in 1954 at the same address as before, Kurfürstendamm 212 in Charlottenburg

From Fritzsche’s testimony, as described in the New York World-Telegram, my uncle, however, was able to learn about Echtmann’s more recent fate.  Echtmann was finally released by the Russians in the spring of 1954 (Figure 9), while Käthe Heusermann returned to her family in 1955, after having been declared dead in 1950.

 

 

 

 

 

My uncle lamented his inability to parlay his knowledge of Hitler’s fate into something marketable:

Figure 10. Rejection letter from “Life” magazine sent to my Uncle Fedor’s agent, regarding his story about Hitler’s fate

“I tried very hard to interest some magazines in my story, among them Colliers, Life, Time, Newsreel, and Saturday Evening Post, but was not successful.  My story appeared so fantastic that nobody believed it was true.  Some editors advised me that they were publishing only staff-written manuscripts (Figure 10), others that my story did not correspond with the tenor of their magazines or that there was no public interest anymore in a story about Hitler.  Finally, the time element diminished the possibilities to develop my story into a saleable manuscript.”

Hugh Trevor-Roper, following the release by the Russians of Fritz Echtmann, Käthe Heusermann, and others, published a Third Edition in 1956 of his book “The Last Days of Hitler.”  My uncle remarked about this:

“Professor H. R. Trevor-Roper . . .refers in the Introduction . . . of his book to the fact that two Russian officers, a man and a woman, called on May 9, 1945 at the surgery of Dr. Hugo Blaschke, Hitler’s dentist, which was then carried on by me, and asked for Hitler’s dental records.  Apart from newspaper reports, this was the first time, that the names of Fritz Echtmann, Käthe Heusermann, as well as my name were mentioned in a book of historical importance and value.  Though Trevor-Roper’s story contains many inaccuracies, it generally covers what happened on and after May 9, 1945 with respect to the identification of Hitler’s jaws.”

My uncle Fedor passed away in February 1982, too soon to see himself vindicated and have his account of events in May 1945 validated.  But validation has come, and, interestingly, in just the past few years and months.

Travelling with the Soviet vanguard when they entered the center of Berlin on April 29, 1945, was a 26-year-old Jewish woman named Elena Rzhevskaya, born Elena Moiseyevna Kagan in Belarus in 1919.  She was a military interpreter for SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence agency.  Like my uncle, she was a witness to events and findings about Hitler’s fate, corroborating much of what my uncle reported.  As the Soviet forces advanced through Berlin, Rzhevskaya’s unit was tasked with finding people who could provide information on Hitler’s whereabouts.

Let me provide a little more context.  The Soviets entered Hitler’s underground command center, the Führerbunker under the Reich Chancellery, on May 2nd.  The next day, they apparently discovered the bodies of Joseph and Magda Goebbels’ six children in their bunk beds.  Then, on May 5th, some charred human remains, including parts of a skull, some jawbones, and some teeth, were found in a shell crater in the Reich Chancellery garden.  These were apparently taken to SMERSH headquarters in the north of Berlin and given to pathologists under strict instructions to keep their work under wraps.

Rzhevskaya was summoned to the pathology lab, and entrusted by her boss, Colonel Vassily Gorbushin, with a large, satin-lined, dark-red cigar box, containing what he believed to be Hitler’s remains.  Ms. Rzhevskaya was asked to verify this.  As my uncle recorded, the Soviets eventually learned about Käthe Heusermann when they visited Dr. Blaschke’s practice where my uncle had taken up residence.  It is my very strong belief that “Lola . . .the female agent of the Soviet secret police,” referred to in my uncle’s account of events, was in fact Elena Rzhevskaya.  In any case, after locating and interrogating Käthe Heusermann, as my uncle reported, Käthe confirmed the teeth were Hitler’s.

According to Elena Rzhevskaya’s memoir, Käthe Heusermann lead the Soviets to a special office that Blaschke kept at the Reich Chancellery where Hitler was treated; it was a dental office, fully stocked with dental tools and reclining chair, where Hitler’s dental X-rays were also discovered, the irrefutable evidence identifying Hitler’s teeth.  Either Käthe never mentioned to my uncle that the X-rays of Hitler’s teeth had been found in the Reich Chancellery, had been instructed by the Russians not to discuss this, or he oddly failed to make note of this important fact in his account; we may never know.  Regardless, the Soviets knew all along that Hitler was dead but, Stalin, for reasons we can only guess at, likely believed that if Hitler was alive, then Nazism was an ever-present danger; his desire to conceal the truth may also have been his opening salvo in the nascent Cold War.  Consequently, Stalin squelched the truth and detained those who could prove Hitler was dead.  Heusermann and Echtmann were arrested and secretly moved to Moscow, an eventuality my uncle was alerted to by American authorities, explaining why he decamped to America in 1947.  Heusermann was held in solitary confinement for six years without trial, eventually charged, and sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag in 1951.  However, her release was negotiated in 1955 by the West Germans, a few years after Stalin’s death.

In 1965, 12 years after Stalin’s death, during the comparatively liberal Khruschev years, Ms. Rzhevskaya was permitted to publish some of her notes on “Berlin, May 1945,” in the Russian literary magazine “Znayma.”  During the Gorbachev era in 1986, she published her first memoir, “Berlin, May 1945: Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter,” but the editor removed any mention of the identification of Hitler’s teeth.  It is only in 2017 that an English version of her memoir, “Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle of Rzhev to Hitler’s Bunker,” was published and that mention of Ms. Rzhevskaya’s role in helping identify Hitler’s teeth was made.

There’s an interesting and personal family anecdote to this story.  As mentioned, the English-language version of Ms. Rzhevskaya’s book was published only in 2017, shortly after her death.  In connection with the release, “The Times of Israel” published an article entitled, “The woman who carried Hitler’s teeth on V-Day,” and interviewed her grand-daughter Liubov Summ.  According to Ms. Summ, Käthe Heusermann and Elena Rzhevskaya bonded during questioning and Käthe shared personal stories with Elena.  Among them, Käthe told Ms. Rzhevskaya that at various times she had hidden in her home a Jewish dentist for whom she had worked before the war, the dentist obviously being my uncle Fedor.  According to Ms. Rzhevskaya, my uncle showed up in late April 1945 and asked whether Käthe could hide him in her apartment, this when she was still reporting for work at the Führerbunker.  While I have no doubt my uncle occasionally sought refuge with Käthe in his 30 months underground, I sincerely doubt this happened in April or May 1945.

A very recent development also warrants mention.  An article was published on May 21, 2018 in “Deutsche Welle,” entitled “Hitler’s teeth analysis dispels myths of Nazi leader’s survival.”  A team of French pathologists was recently allowed to examine a set of teeth kept in Moscow that were recovered in Berlin in May 1945.  According to the article, this is the first time the Russian authorities had allowed anyone to examine these remains in over 70 years.  The researchers’ conclusions, published in May 2018, in the “European Journal of Internal Medicine,” unambiguously concluded the teeth belonged to Hitler and proved he died in 1945.

My uncle certainly would have felt some measure of satisfaction in having the naysayers, self-aggrandizers, and purveyors of half-truths get their comeuppance as to the facts of Hitler’s fate.  But, my uncle was a boundless optimist, not a vengeful man and certainly not one to dwell on “what-might-have-been,” and would have been happy that the truth of what happened to Hitler in the waning days of WWII eventually came out.  A confirmation of the role he played in bringing facts to light and acknowledgement that his story was true would have brought him enormous pleasure.  So, in some small way, I hope this Blog post accomplishes this.

REFERENCES

Charlier, P., Well, R., Rainsard, P., Poupon, J., and Brisard, J.C.

2018    The remains of Adolf Hitler: A biomedical analysis and definitive identification.  European Journal of Internal Medicine.

Chase, Jefferson

2018    Hitler’s teeth analysis dispels myths of Nazi leader’s survival.  Deutsche Welle (May 21, 2018).

Linge, Mary Kay

2018    How the woman who identified Hitler’s dental remains ended up in prison.  New York Post (July 16, 2018).

Masis, Julie

2017    The woman who carried Hitler’s teeth on V-Day.  The Times of Israel (September 6, 2017)

Rzhevskaya, Elena

2018    Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter: From the Battle of Rzhev to Hitler’s Bunker. Greenhill Books. London.

Trevor, Roper, H.R.

1947    The Last Days of Hitler.  The Macmillan Company. New York.

1987    The Last Days of Hitler (Sixth Edition).  The University of Chicago Press. Chicago (p. 32-33)