The birth of Irmtraud
On March15, 1938, my parents, Karlheinz and Ottie were cheering in an immense crowd on the Viennese Heldenplatz. The Führer, Adolf Hitler, announced from the balcony of the imperial palace Austria’s union with the German Reich. Karlheinz had been already several years a member of the prohibited Nazi Party. Jubilantly he said: ”Life will now improve like in the Reich! The Nazis will create plenty of jobs and our country will progress.”
Ottie laughed triumphantly:” When I apply now for a job, I don´t need anymore a testimony of confession from a priest, in order to have some chance to succeed.”
“Yes, my dear, the oppressing, hypocritical Roman Catholic regime is gone now for ever!”
The couple continued its life with a lot of hope. Karlheinz studied veterinary medicine and got an assistantship at the faculty to write his PHD thesis. Ottie had finished her education as social worker and found work in her field.
Ottie laughed triumphantly:” When I apply now for a job, I don´t need anymore a testimony of confession from a priest, in order to have some chance to succeed.”
“Yes, my dear, the oppressing, hypocritical Roman Catholic regime is gone now for ever!”
The couple continued its life with a lot of hope. Karlheinz studied veterinary medicine and got an assistantship at the faculty to write his PHD thesis. Ottie had finished her education as social worker and found work in her field.
As they had nothing against Jews, they were bewildered about what happened to them: public humiliations, confiscations of goods and people disappeared, as they would have never existed. Although Karlheinz had read “Mein Kampf”, he was naïve and thought that these excesses were unknown to the Führer and he would forbid it, when he became aware about it.
But this did not happen and things grew worse, even for ordinary Austrians. The Nazis suppressed all opposition, controlled people´s daily life and used the country as a supplier for war material and soldiers. In 1939 Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and then Poland. As a consequence France and Britain declared war on Germany. Still more Austrians were conscripted into the army, also Ottie´s brother Hans. With tears in his eyes Hans said them good-bye. They never saw him again. Karlheinz escaped the conscription as he became severely ill. During his recuperation, which took almost a year, he had plenty of time to rethink his political convictions. He regretted his blind faith in the Führer, who turned out to be a merciless dictator. He also consulted his father in law about giving up his party membership. The latter kept him from doing it: “Yes, you made a mistake in the past. But now it is too late. The Nazis would send you as a traitor in a concentration camp and you never would see your wife again! Try to survive this ordeal like a lot of us!” And so he did.
In February 1943, after the defeat of the German army in Stalingrad, it became clear to most of the people that Hitler would loose the war. Uncertainty and fear about the future spread over the German Reich.
Karlheinz continued working at the University. One day he was approached secretly by his professor, also a disappointed Nazi member, whether he would help him to hide two Jewish students in the cellar of the institute so that they could continue with their studies, since they thought that the Reich would not last too long anymore. For some months the project went well. But one day the Secret Police awaited the professor and his assistant in the office and arrested them. The professor was sent to a concentration camp, while Karlheinz was forced to practice as veterinarian in a village in Southern Styria. The policeman cynically remarked: “There you will get acquainted with the war since Yugoslavian partisans daily raid the area.”
But this did not happen and things grew worse, even for ordinary Austrians. The Nazis suppressed all opposition, controlled people´s daily life and used the country as a supplier for war material and soldiers. In 1939 Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and then Poland. As a consequence France and Britain declared war on Germany. Still more Austrians were conscripted into the army, also Ottie´s brother Hans. With tears in his eyes Hans said them good-bye. They never saw him again. Karlheinz escaped the conscription as he became severely ill. During his recuperation, which took almost a year, he had plenty of time to rethink his political convictions. He regretted his blind faith in the Führer, who turned out to be a merciless dictator. He also consulted his father in law about giving up his party membership. The latter kept him from doing it: “Yes, you made a mistake in the past. But now it is too late. The Nazis would send you as a traitor in a concentration camp and you never would see your wife again! Try to survive this ordeal like a lot of us!” And so he did.
In February 1943, after the defeat of the German army in Stalingrad, it became clear to most of the people that Hitler would loose the war. Uncertainty and fear about the future spread over the German Reich.
Karlheinz continued working at the University. One day he was approached secretly by his professor, also a disappointed Nazi member, whether he would help him to hide two Jewish students in the cellar of the institute so that they could continue with their studies, since they thought that the Reich would not last too long anymore. For some months the project went well. But one day the Secret Police awaited the professor and his assistant in the office and arrested them. The professor was sent to a concentration camp, while Karlheinz was forced to practice as veterinarian in a village in Southern Styria. The policeman cynically remarked: “There you will get acquainted with the war since Yugoslavian partisans daily raid the area.”
For both, Ottie and Karlheinz this forced move was an ordeal. Karlheinz lost his carrier at the University and Ottie had no job at all. What kind of life could she expect in this hostile village, deprived from her friends and relatives in Vienna? Karlheinz as veterinarian had a lot of work to do and was depending on the protection of Slovene farmers who had secret connections with their partisan relatives. On the other side the veterinarian couple had to be cautions with some fanatic Nazis, who run the village council .
At the end of 1944 when Slovenian partisans and Bulgarian soldiers increased raiding the area, Ottie discovered that she was pregnant.
After the Bulgarians retreated, the Russians entered the area and stayed on till June 1945. They raped, robbed and killed whenever they liked. Karlheinz was forced to take care of the Russian horses and had for some time a less vulnerable status, since he was useful. A Russian groom was his aid and also stayed the evenings with Ottie, when Karlheinz had to visit other sick animals in the farms outside of the village. In some way Ottie felt protected by the Russian groom, but the fear of unpredictable events was her daily companion.
When the Russian groom heard that they would move out of the village, since the British were assigned to occupy Styria, he advised Karlheinz to flee to the mountains and hide at a farmer friend because his commander wanted to take him with them. Again Ottie was scared to death to never see her husband again. But fortunately he returned.
Thereafter the British occupiers moved in and extreme fear vanished. Finally, on August16, 1945 after suffering strong labour pains, Ottie gave birth to her unwanted daughter, Irmtraud.
Why was I born?
I wondered why people made children in this time of war. Probably it was an accident, since for years Karlheinz and Ottie were able to prevent getting children. Their decision to keep the baby is guesswork. Did only Ottie want an abortion and Karlheinz not? Or did they not succeed to get help? Anyway, here I was a little girl called Irmtraud.
At the end of 1944 when Slovenian partisans and Bulgarian soldiers increased raiding the area, Ottie discovered that she was pregnant.
After the Bulgarians retreated, the Russians entered the area and stayed on till June 1945. They raped, robbed and killed whenever they liked. Karlheinz was forced to take care of the Russian horses and had for some time a less vulnerable status, since he was useful. A Russian groom was his aid and also stayed the evenings with Ottie, when Karlheinz had to visit other sick animals in the farms outside of the village. In some way Ottie felt protected by the Russian groom, but the fear of unpredictable events was her daily companion.
When the Russian groom heard that they would move out of the village, since the British were assigned to occupy Styria, he advised Karlheinz to flee to the mountains and hide at a farmer friend because his commander wanted to take him with them. Again Ottie was scared to death to never see her husband again. But fortunately he returned.
Thereafter the British occupiers moved in and extreme fear vanished. Finally, on August16, 1945 after suffering strong labour pains, Ottie gave birth to her unwanted daughter, Irmtraud.
Why was I born?
I wondered why people made children in this time of war. Probably it was an accident, since for years Karlheinz and Ottie were able to prevent getting children. Their decision to keep the baby is guesswork. Did only Ottie want an abortion and Karlheinz not? Or did they not succeed to get help? Anyway, here I was a little girl called Irmtraud.