Interview with Elke Mecklenburg, who worked in SS administration and was the widow of SS officer Otto Mecklenburg. Berlin, 1990.

Thank you for agreeing to a visit. As was mentioned, I am curious of your experiences before and during the war. Could I start by asking what you remember of the times before Hitler came to power, maybe what you remember of your early life?

Elke: Yes my sir, I am from what was once East Prussia but was moved to Berlin in 1924 as my father took a job in the city. When we arrived I was 15 years old and not aware of politics at all. In fact the SA was not openly active here yet, but the reds were. I would see the posters they put up all over the city. Berlin was a strange place back then, like a different world. It was made into a world hub where people of every nation gathered for various reasons. My father worked in the health ministry and complained about the foreigners and drug users who were a burden on services, I remember. We came from a quiet town and I was not prepared to see so many people in Berlin, it was a bustling city with lots of cars and commotion. I settled down into what was left of school going into clerking. Times were hard on families then and instead of thinking of being a housewife I wanted to work to buy nice things. I had not heard of Hitler until 1925, when I started to see posters being hung up for his men running for positions on councils. The reds would often tear them down or set them on fire. I remember I had a dislike for the reds. I had known Polish friends who told of the bad things they heard from when the reds attacked Poland.

In my school there were many students whose families were Red Front members, I was again, not political but I found them mostly detestable, some behaved like wild animals, and the girls were like whores. They would wear made-up fashions that looked like prostitutes, and I am sure some were. I quickly made friends with girls who were like me, only wanting to be left alone and finish school. These reds took over Berlin and would hold parades often. I went to one in the summer of 1927 and saw signs that read "God is dead", "Nationalism is a sin", "Religion is a drug for the people", and "Germany does not exist". I thought to myself even back then that these people served a foreign master, and were trying to destroy my homeland and its proud past. That was the day I became political. There were so many parties in Germany then. And I leaned to what my father liked, anything not Red Front related. I also started to see the Nazis. I will tell you, I remember there was girl in my school whose father was a convert to Hitler and was in the party. She was bullied and harassed, I think one time they pulled down her skirt in the hall to embarrass her. The head master did nothing as the parents of the boys must have threatened him. We felt sorry for her and so we went to her to make friends.

We saw the Red Front for what it was, against Germany, God, and our people. I really started to get to know the girl, her name I have lost, but we would run together and spend time at the library. On one of those occasions I was able to watch a march by the Berlin SA. I was impressed to see real German men, with nice uniforms, medals, and smart marching. They were being booed and had things thrown at them from the occasional Red Front member, yet the police did nothing. You know I must tell you the reasons so many of us were attracted to Hitler and his ideas was not because he was well-spoken and told the truth, it was how his people were treated. The police would come to a fight and arrest the SA men, and let the reds go. They would arrest people and fine them for putting up posters and such, but leave the Red Front ones up. We saw how unfair it all was, my father would say big money was behind the persecution. But all this did was fuel the quiet German to support Hitler; they saw this injustice and expressed their rage with the vote. More and more came to see this political landscape was being leveled. Only one political party was emerging that seemed capable of fixing our situation. You were either for Germany or for a one world order. I was being pulled further into the Hitler side each day. I finished school and started working as a clerk for a small firm that sold tires. This was in 1928 and I was lucky here, the crash came in November but tire sales were still strong as anything with cars was safe from the financial collapse.

This year the SA grew by leaps and bounds as more people were coming over to Hitler. They would have more marches, and street fights with the Red Front. Some of the SA were killed as well. I worked with a man who was in the Red Front and would brag about fighting them and throwing bricks from windows at their heads. I was afraid to talk politics, but inside I was full of disgust at this man who called himself a German, yet fought men who sought to save Germany. Also while all this was going on Berlin was like an open drug and sex market. There were a few streets you dared not go down. They were full of pimps, dealers, and prostitutes. The mafia even had street battles with rival gangs here to secure their crime bases. The man I worked with often bragged about knowing these vermin, and tried to drag me out with him, I would refuse each time to his disdain. I would see some of the girls he would bring by and they looked dead to the world. Life zest and morality were sucked out of their souls. Here I must tell you I had my eyes opened to the Jewish problem as well. I started to notice that many of the pimps and drug dealers who rode around in nice cars did not really look German. They had large, hooked noses, black kinky hair, high foreheads, and black beady eyes. Rats I always said. My friend, who was now a National Socialist Party member, would often talk about the Jewish take over of German society.

She enlightened me to how they were over represented in the legal sector, media, banking, arts, entertainment, and the very wealthy. This was eye-opening to me, and to many other Germans. They were a very tiny percentage of our population, yet dominated some areas, and not in a good way. By far I noticed it was the lewd and immoral trades that they dominated. Pornography books and movies all had Jewish names, as did homosexual promotions. So you could say that when Hitler ran for chancellor, I voted for him with a firm conviction. That was how I remember this city before he came, it was so full of life and culture, but had a poison living in it.

[Above: 'Unsere Hoffnung' (Our Hope)]

I understand your husband was in the SS, could I ask how you met?

Elke: Yes, my Otto was in the Totenkopf units, and was an early supporter of Hitler. He was actually in a few of the later street battles with the Red Front. He would talk about the dirty tricks they would use on the SA, and how the SA retaliated. He was with Hitler at Braunschweig in 1931 and I remember him saying he was in a fight with a young red that had those brass knuckles. He took them away as he won the fight, and kept them. They were illegal to own as they could break a jaw. He would keep them in his pocket so if he needed them he had them, but he was strong and muscular so did well.

He was accepted into the SS after his time in the SA, they helped him finish his schooling in behavioral science. He was sent to officer school, and I met him at a club when he graduated. I was then working for a large company making paper as a phone operator and clerk. I was with a girlfriend and I remember we were talking about how we needed to find us good men and think about marriage. Just then he approached me and asked to buy me a cocktail. I said yes and the rest is history. We courted for a while, and he asked my father for my hand. We had a very nice private SS ceremony that his commander oversaw, and then the official marriage at Mary's Church in middle Berlin.

What did your husband do in the SS?

Elke: Yes, he was in the main SS office attached to the rehabilitation of political prisoners. He would often visit the political camps to see if prisoners were working towards their release. He would interview them to see if they would be a good fit to return to the society. He would say many were eager to jump on the coat tails of the new state and acted as if they never resisted it. Others were repeat offenders. They would be released, and then get themselves in trouble again, which brought longer sentences. Hitler granted a wide ranging clemency, but many went right to work opposing him. He would get so frustrated that these people could not see that National Socialism was a healthy vision for Germany. It was all about taking care of you, family, neighbors, and nation. Loving your people is the highest virtue one can possess. The SS was set above normal German society, as it had a higher calling to bring about a racial awareness that many ordinary people lacked.

He would often argue with prisoners on this subject, as liberalism and greed made people not see that race is everything in the world of political survival. He would say they were bent on a one world, one race ideology coming straight from [Karl] Marx and [Peter] Kropotkin. The Jews who created and united the reds of the world made sure race was seen as an unimportant illusion. Otto would often say that it was the devil's work to make the most important thing in the world look so unimportant. I really started to understand this, it makes so much sense, and I can see it today more than ever. I am afraid this is a far bigger fight than even Hitler could have imagined. Many brave souls were taken away, and my belief is that someday soon they will return as has been foretold. The world will see we were correct.

The world enemy struck at the one thing that was the most important to creation, and the weakest. There were so many people who just could not see that to have a healthy society you can not have a mixed or impure society. The same with politics, only one party should rule a society via the will and vote of the people. My man was able to have me placed on the SS main office secretarial staff in the Office of Education and Heritage. You might like to know I was sent to Wewelsburg Castle in 1939 to tour the library there. The SS made sure educating Germans about our past was at the forefront. I was greeted by the head of the research institute and treated to a tour of wonderful museum pieces.

[Above: Wewelsburg Castle interior and Himmler laying a wreath in Wewelsburg Castle, July 1938.]

Can I ask what your office did, or was responsible for?

Elke: Yes, the office was a unity of authors, researchers, and educators pertaining to Germanic and European history. The focus was to promote a new idea on the Germanic genetic heritage of Europe, and where it came from. There were studies that suggested that what is called Northern Europeans, or Nordics, or Germanics, were in other parts of the world. There were some clues that our people were all over the world and responsible for the founding and creation of advanced societies like Atlantis. This is real, you know, it has just not been definitively found yet. Any great civilization became great only because of the genetic marker of blood. I was very interested in this even though I was not a researcher, I liked reading the books I would be sent. My Otto was in love with this idea as well as it was a fascinating study of ancient history and archaeology. You would have liked to meet him, and he likewise. I am still missing him. The SS had groups of scholars who would go out to far-reaching places and study finds and digs.

This goes on even today and some great finds have actually proven some of what the SS researchers claimed about the origins of Europe and the people who arrived here thousands of years ago. It is an interesting question to ask, if one people created and built all the great civilizations and societies in the world. That was what our research office was all about. There were other little projects like documenting German cultural differences into regions and so forth. There were many small pet projects that the leaders authorized. I kept the files neat and orderly so if they needed to see expenses or summaries they were organized and complete.

That is interesting. Today the SS is seen as some kind of evil, dark, sinister force of the devil. Did the SS ever swear obedience to evil or worship dark forces?

Elke: I do not know of what you are asking? Did the SS belong to evil forces, is that it? My god, no. I do not know why they say these things today but the SS was not for anything like that. A regular German looked up at the stars and only wanted to feel safe and secure. In the SS life was deeper; we could look up at the stars and see our past and our eternity. The black uniform was worn only to symbolize the past of the Lifeguard Hussars who guarded German kings. The skull was also from the Lifeguard Hussars, it signified loyalty until death released you. The SS was formed to guard Hitler at his speeches early on when the Red Front would try to prevent him from doing so. They grew into a bodyguard force for all leaders of the party. They adorned themselves with the trappings of the old history of German Hussars, who had a grand place in German history.

Himmler wanted the same of his SS men, a grand place in German history. The SS was to be a model for all Germans of pure Germanic blood to follow. You know one had to be of non-mixed blood to belong. Even I had to be tested before we could marry; no foreign non-European blood could be part of your genetics. This was unbendable, I know it caused issues with some who accused the SS of being elitists, but that was the point was it not? The SS was created to be something new to Germany, built on old traditions yet meant to be a new form of the community. There were going to be areas just for SS families to live together to bring up our children in the teachings of the old ways. Some did not understand why this was important, but SS families did. We wanted our children to be raised where they understood just how important their racial heritage was, and to save it. It is not a mistruth that the creation of a blonde hair and blue-eyed child was of the utmost importance. Even back then this type of Germanic blood was only a small percentage of the population. That was alarming to genetic scientists and researchers, as they believed this was the pure form of creation, which ended up being poisoned. In this way they were doing the Lord's work in trying to repair what evil people caused to be tainted.

I must say of course, that we did not look down on anyone different, you must be thinking that, since you have brown hair. It only meant that the lighter features were disappearing and we sought to reverse this. There was nothing wrong with people of other features, but this feature needed to be protected, as it was dying. To some of those who, as I said, do not understand race, and its importance, then this cause would seem dark, or sinister. The Jews are the ones who poison the great races. They and their father know how to destroy those of the enlightened ones, by tainting and poisoning the blood that was meant to be kept pure from mixing. I see this today in the media, every time I see some promotion of new music, fashions, or entertainment they push this destruction. They target you young ones with this as they know we have been inoculated against it and can see it. There is nothing evil or sinister about wanting to protect your blood and heritage. Nothing at all.

[Above: The Fourteen Words of David Lane: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.]

How do you think Hitler was able to turn Germany around from the chaos it was in?

Elke: Well, I am not an economist so I am sure I can only give you a very basic explanation. As you know Germany was in a bad way in the early 1930s. There was runaway inflation, unemployment, sickness, and depression. It was a sad state of affairs, and the people had lived enough of this. We wanted a change and Hitler seemed to be the man who could make it happen. From what I know, he threw off the Versailles Treaty rules, dismissed everyone who was feeding on the German people like leeches, and created jobs. The labor service was ingenious as it gave work to anyone needing it. He made it so that Germans would produce goods for Germany first, then for export when we had abundance. I know there were price controls placed on goods and services. The capitalists hated this move, arguing that one should be able to charge whatever someone is willing to pay. This type of thinking made it possible for inflation, where prices just kept going up due to greed.

There was to be an agreed upon price for goods and services but at no time could one be taken advantage of. An example would be a plumber who had to go to school to learn the trade. His skill was vital and special and not many could do it. He charged a fee for his service to make it worthwhile to have this career. The fee charged had to also be fair and not to where a person could not afford a plumber. It was the same with gadgets and clothes, it was all and well that someone could create something in the mind, but it was not okay to make a shoe that cost a few pfennigs [cents] to produce, and then charge 20 marks to buy. That was unfair to the buyer, and gave the maker too much for the end product. I see this today with the shoes made in China, it will cost a maker a few pfennigs to produce, as their labor is cheap, yet they charge 50 or more marks as a mark up. That is feeding on the people, and Hitler stopped this. There was nothing wrong with getting rich and having a good financial future, it was encouraged. It was not okay to get rich unfairly off your people. Understand? He also returned a sense of honor to work, where the rich city people always looked down on manual workers. Thinking them dumb or too lazy to go to school for a trade or advanced education. Everyone had to go to the labor service, in this they learned manual work is a vital part of any community, and should never be looked down on.

Of course this was all possible with perhaps the most important thing he did, remove any opposition. He was in a unique position where he was a revolutionary, and other revolutionaries wanted to also step in. He was able to either get them to submit to his party, or he banished them away. Some went on to later work against him and attack him from afar. He also removed the Jewish influence in politics and society, that alone accounts for a big part of the revival. He removed the influences that were draining the life blood out of German society. The drugs, crime, and immorality were gone it seemed like overnight. Those who were responsible were arrested or they fled to other countries. This had never happened in our history, so it was all new. It took time for everything to fall into place, but it slowly did, with some bumps in the road like the [Ernst] Röhm incident. He was a revolutionary who wanted to use the SA for more than just to fight the Red Front and bring Hitler to power. He wanted a Leninist-style national revolution, where the entire nation was ruled by the SA and industrialists were deposed. Hitler was against this as he knew it was not the way to do it. National Socialism was a blend of racial socialism, mixed with the good parts of capitalism. It made for a competitive, yet controlled society that benefited the whole.

The proof is in the pudding; very quickly Germany emerged far stronger than our rivals. Even America copied the labor service idea, and other nations followed to try to dig out from the depression. Germany was a changed society under Hitler; I lived it firsthand and saw it. He had to act against Röhm who helped form the SA into a good fighting force. Yet he also had no qualms in undermining Hitler to advance his own agenda, and many of his men joined him in this sentiment. My brother was in the SA, and I remember he was not happy when this went down. The SS was tasked with purging the SA, and they did so with iron will to make sure things were set right and only Hitler ruled the party. It stepped on some toes, but in the interest of saving the nation, it was necessary to do. It is interesting that the new Red Front likes to portray the SA men who were purged, as victims. I say they knew what they were sticking their foot into; they agreed to follow Röhm, and not Hitler.

For either their treachery, or at best their blind obedience, they paid a price. Hitler showed that an ordinary man could rise up and become something great with this movement. Sadly other less loyal men tried to move in on what he had fought to build. This is why he needed the SS, to protect him and his power. Himmler used this prominence to build the SS into a new way of thinking about life and race. If the SS had been given control of the war early on, I believe in my heart it would have ended differently. There are rumored to have been weapons like no other that had just been tested and proofed in 1945. All behind Hitler's back as he refused to allow their research until it was then too late. At the end there was much infighting and betrayal that it became impossible to win. Hitler did not seem to want to unleash wonder weapons that would wipe cities away. He was a racialist for much of the war and sought to protect Europe as best he could, even when it wanted him destroyed. He paid the price for this mindset, and it cost us the war I believe.

Why do you believe the war started since Germany had it so good? It seems like it was all thrown away.

Elke: That is a great question and I have my opinion on it that was certainly shared by my man. Hitler was not a politician, he really never wanted a war, but didn't understand the scheming global elites arrayed against him. No one wanted a war in Poland; it was not worth it no matter what the reason. The point became that Germans in Poland were complaining in every corner that there was abuse. Hitler believed this, and I know it was true, and wanted to stop it. The added benefit was we wanted a return of all the lost land Poland received after the first war. He negotiated and allowed allies to step in to send signals to Poland that Germany wanted to get a solution to the problem, but not war. The Poles were guided by Britain and were goaded into provoking a German attack, so they became irrational.

Hitler only wanted to keep Germany safe by refusing to allow the global cliques to start involving themselves in Germany's political sphere. He thought the attack on Poland would just be a quick local affair that would prove his point that peace could only be achieved when all German land was returned. From here the war spiraled out of control, as more nations began to pick sides, and stir the pot of politics. Hitler was drawn into the war, and then was not able to turn it off, short of a full surrender. That was out of the question, and unrealistic when Germany was winning. The later goal was the complete destruction of Germany by the Allies, and it caused us to fight until the very bitter end. There could have been hegemony in Europe where Germany was allowed to be a key player on the world stage, but the cliques that run the world would not allow this, Hitler provoked them by going after their power and exposing them to the world. They gambled on a war and Hitler was drawn into it thinking it would be a short limited action.

I really believe he wanted peace at every turn, but the Allies would not let him out of it no matter what. I know the Greens have even started a rumor that Hitler was in the pocket of these people, and they used him to destroy old power bases that were in their way. They say he caused the war to make the elites even richer and have more power. It all stems from the fact that he was a spy for the army right after the war. He might have been, but I believe he saw what the problem was and attacked it as best he knew how. He was a lover of Germany and German culture. Mein Kampf spells this out. He was in no way in the hands of the world enemy. He tried to destroy it.

[Above: Our Hope.]

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