Interview with the extraordinary Frieda Moser, member of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (League of German Girls) and wife of a German soldier who was murdered by the Allies after surrendering. Mannheim, 1989.
[Above: Faces of the League of German Girls.]
Frieda: Yes, I am happy to help you in your endeavors my friend. I must say it is rare these days for someone young to be so interested in that so distant time. It is hard for me to speak about in some ways as it was painful, but time has healed many wounds. So, let us get down to it. I was born in the west of Germany in 1918 in a place called Borken [North Rhine-Westphalia], during the harsh war winter where food was scarce. My father was a mechanic in the air service and survived the war, coming home in 1919. I even survived the flu epidemic right after [the 'Spanish flu', which killed an estimated 500 million people. More deaths than WWI, WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined!-Ed.]. You see, the English kept up a blockade of Germany which I am told killed many due to sickness caused by starvation. I was lucky. My family never stayed bitter from the war or any of these things. Life moved on. My father went to work for a Dutch company and could often work close to home so he was often with us. I had a brother born in 1921. He would eventually become a good runner and he said this helped him survive harsh Russian captivity after the war.
Growing up I liked to ride my bike to the canal and fish or look for water creatures. As for coming to the BDM, I can remember in 1928 the political mood in Germany was dismal. I remember my parents speaking about all the infighting and confusion going on. This area seemed to be very loyal to the old Kaiser or the Red Front, which was popular among the working class. Hitler started to get attention after the economic collapse in 1929, things became bad for many people. Even in our small part of the world, there were beggars and those who really struggled. My mother even had to seek work to help with money. I remember that more and more people started to see Hitler as the answer to the problems that afflicted Germany. It was in 1932 that I met a girl whose parents were from Berlin, they moved due to political unrest. She was bullied in school because her father was a party member [NSDAP] and in the SA, Hitler's Stormtroopers. He moved the family to keep them safe. She was in with a group of girls that looked happy, clean, and had that the love of life in their eyes. I knew whatever they were doing, I wanted to be a part of it.
I asked her about it one day and she told me it was a new group for girls and I should join. I asked my parents, who were not opposed, but worried about the money it would cost to get the uniform. I remember I told her leader that I would like to join but we did not have the money. This was in 1933, right when Hitler won the election. There was an air of uncertainty in Germany then, no one knew what the future would bring us. I was quite surprised when the leader and my friend showed up to our home with a box. Inside was a full uniform for me. They were able to get me everything I needed free of charge. They said since Hitler was in charge now the mood was changing in Germany, everyone wanted to help each other. This was a great day for a 15-year-old, as I looked at the BDM as a fun place where girls could be girls. It was not all fun and games however, let me tell you. They did not let us be sloths, we had to work hard to earn skill sets, like sewing, cooking, housekeeping, female hygiene, first aid, planting, outdoor activities, and mental well-being. We had to run, hike, exercise, and be well-groomed.
Our leaders had us meet and we would have either indoor or outdoor fitness tests. They did not want weak, lazy, and unfit girls in the BDM. Which I will add due to the depression and the lack of good food, there were not many unfit and overweight people in Germany at this time. We had a joke that anyone who was fat was either lazy rich or Jewish, or both.
And so that is how I came to be in the BDM. You could enter and stay until you turned 18 then off you went on to a career or whatever your dream was. It was encouraged for a German girl to strive to make a legacy, a family, that was the highest goal. However, if you felt a different calling, that was promoted as well, one girl went on to be test pilot for the Luftwaffe. I was out of the BDM by 1936 and went to school for office work.
You lived during the early part of the beginning of the National Socialist time, were there any major changes you saw? Did it seem oppressive?
Frieda: I can tell you that when Hitler was elected, nothing really changed overnight, but it seemed that by 1934 more people found good jobs. I remember my father saying Germany had been put in a very bad spot after the war. Hitler reversed a lot of the constraints that were put on us.
He worked out trade deals that created jobs, and more and more people's lives began to get better. My father was given a job as an aircraft mechanic for Lufthansa and then was promoted to an instructor, where his pay was almost tripled. He was able to buy a car and suddenly we had good money.
My mother quit working but volunteered for the Red Cross. For us the National Socialist time was a very good time, the quality of living improved greatly in just two short years. Now when you say oppressive, I can also understand how some would see it that way. One complaint my father had was carrying a pass or permit for everything.
He would say Hitler spoke of freedoms but put strict controls on the people. I remember I posed this question in school and still remember the teacher giving the class a lesson. Speaking of this I must tell you after Hitler came in, the schools were purged of any Jews or left-leaning people. We had a party member as our head teacher.
The lesson was "What right did the government have to force people to carry IDs", it was because for the first time it was understood there was a war on us and people would come to feed off the German people, to defraud us, and a system had to be created to manage this. She pointed out that of course the anarchists screamed at this and opposed it. They were Marxists at heart and look at what they did in Spain and Russia regarding oppression. Every modern nation makes its citizens conform and carry ID.
I remember when the war started is when the passes became prevalent, you had to have an identity pass, travel passes, and driving license. They caught many spies early on with this. Some passes were for conservation as well. You had to have a pass to hunt certain animals, my grandfather was an avid hunter from the Black Forest. He would complain he had to pay money to hunt, but it was trophy hunting he did.
I smartly told him once that if you are going to kill for fun, you need to pay so that more can be done to regenerate what you destroy. He did not like that comment. But I think it shows what was behind some of the rules and laws that some might have found intrusive or excessive. All nations do this, and Germany was no different, but we understood a war was being waged that many could not see. So tight controls had to be set up to stop enemies from using our freedoms to fight us.
[Above: An array of IDs used in National Socialist Germany.]
[Above: A NSDAP hunting license!]
I understand you were married to a soldier. Can I ask about that, and how you felt when war was declared?
Frieda: Yes, my first husband was named Karl Heinz, and he was in the Wehrmacht in the 18th Infantry Division. I have a few photos of him still from those good times. We met when I was working for a book company, and he came to ask about getting a regimental book published.
It was suggested by my boss that he should take me out for a movie sometime, which he promptly asked me. The rest is history, we ended up courting each other and in 1941 we were married, right before his unit moved to the east. I can remember that when war was declared I was terrified, I think we all were.
We remembered what our parents said about how bad the first war was and no one wanted to go through that again. We were not married yet, but he was deployed in the west to face a French attack. I remember he wrote to me and said he could not say much but the French did break through and took German territory.
I remember feeling scared that they would roll up the west and defeat us. However, I was assured that that would not happen. The mood was very stern and determined that 1918 would not repeat itself, I heard that often in the papers. When Poland was beaten, I felt better, but was sad that war had to come to us.
Did he ever tell you what the war was like, or speak of the front? Do you remember where he served?
Frieda: Yes, he would tell me things, I think to try to make me not worry about him or his comrades. He came home for Christmas in 1939 and spoke of how Poland was not very modern in some parts, and how they were improving the roads and waterways, so it was easier to get food and goods to hard-to-reach areas.
I asked him, I remember, if the Poles did not like them there, and he said some did and some did not. They were doing everything they could to help the people rebuild and adjust to life under German administration. He never spoke of anything negative with the Poles, only saying it was war, and some Poles did bad things to Germans that they were punished for. I read about a town called Bromberg and I wonder if he knew of it.
The Poles killed several German families who stayed behind when the attack on Poland happened. The Poles took out their anger on German families, killing even innocent children who had nothing to do with the war. I remember the papers showing pictures of the dead and their burned down homes. I felt glad we lived far away from this.
He then came to the west here and went into France. He said the French were very docile and did not give them many problems as they did not want to fight. He told me he got into trouble with the police as he was going to bring me back a French helmet he found, but it was forbidden to take souvenirs from the soldiers.
He received a punishment for it I remember, but he laughed about it, saying he had no idea they would do that. He stayed in France after the surrender, and I remember he sent us a French basket with wine and food stuff he bought. He even bought me some clothing in Paris that was trendy.
It did not seem like the fighting was very bad, unless he just did not speak of it. He was later back there in Normandy with a new regiment. He had been to many fronts and it was hard for a girl to keep track of it all. He served in the east and west. I know he hated the east front; he was there in the winter of '41. We had been married right before the war in the east, on Easter.
He would write to me about the heat and dust on the long dirt roads they were on. He would say the enemy was strong, but they had far better weapons. He would say they routed the Russians more than once, forcing many large armies to surrender. He sent back a few photos that I still have, showing them fraternizing with Russian soldiers who surrendered.
I remember him telling me that many Russians were happy to have been liberated from Stalin. They not only had to fight the war but had to also repair a lot of what Stalin had ordered destroyed. He said it was bad where Stalin tried to deny Germans food, water, and shelter [scorched-earth policy]. This also made it hard on the people even more.
Did he say what the fighting in Normandy was like?
Frieda: He came home a few times and was wounded in 1943, after which he was then patched up and sent to France. I was able to go stay with him for a while before he was sent to Normandy. I remember seeing the French and speaking to them. For the French they were just wanting the war to be over I felt. The Americans bombed them by day and the British at night. They just wanted it to be over, no matter who won, is my opinion from speaking to them.
When I was in France there had been a big attack on a city, and it was all over the papers how bad it was. I would hear the French say how bad it was that the English got them mixed up in a war they did not want to fight. My man was used to help defend Normandy and to build the defenses. He was there during the invasion, and he was lucky to have lived to tell what it was like. He was with regiment 914 of the grenadiers [914th Grenadier Regiment] if I recall correctly.
He was right there when the bombs came down. I remember him telling me how terrible the shelling was. They were moved to the front, and he saw all the ships coming in. He would tell animated stories of how they fired every weapon on the soldiers and held them up the first day. They had cliffs, he said, that protected them, and they would throw those stick bombs at the enemy.
They ended up being forced to retreat but they caused the enemy a lot of casualties. He said he liked Normandy, and the people were friendly to him, but was sad the Allies destroyed so much of it and killed many innocent people. He told my father it was an unequal fight where the Allies had every advantage, but they did make them pay a high toll. He did complain that there were too few units, and those that were there were mainly eastern soldiers who only wanted to fight Stalin, not the British. He was surprised they were able to hold on for as long as they did, the enemy was a lot stronger than them.
I have made myself read some of the German accounts of the fighting and it seems like it was a one-sided battle. The German forces there were very weak and spread out too far to stop such a large attack. That is what he would agree with as well. He was wounded in July and the ambulance he was in was attacked by the enemy.
He said that it was a miracle he survived. It was an ordeal getting him to the Reich. He was sent to a hospital in Paris, where he had to be moved due to fear of attacks by bombers. He made it back here by August, and by then the Normandy fighting was over. So, he was saved from capture. But I wonder if it would have meant he survived?
He was fixed up only to be sent to training, which was nice, then fought close to home in the Ardennes. He was captured in 1945 and then disappeared. No one has ever been able to tell me what happened to him. His former commander told me later he feared he had been taken prisoner and executed. The last anyone saw was a comrade who saw him in American hands, and they were being very rough with the prisoners.
That was the hardest part, not knowing what happened, no letters, no explanation. He was declared missing, and the government can't do anything about the claims of being shot. I was told quietly that this happened a lot, even after the war. I was so angry at the Americans, I tried to get answers but all I was met with was mockery, groping, and offers for sex. I am sorry to say but your soldiers acted like animals here.
[Above: The sign of the 914th Grenadier Regiment, which formed part of the 352nd Infantry Division.]
Considering this experience, how do you feel about how we are all taught that Hitler was the devil and Germany was an evil nation out to conquer the world? Do you think the Jews have told the truth about what was done to them?
Frieda: I will say some people just think we are the most awful people in the world for what was done. They are not great thinkers and always just believe whatever the news tells them to. They think life is simpler that way. I never cared for politics, I was not in the party, and really thought Hitler was good for Germany until the war came.
I silently thought he could have avoided war and made peace his watchword instead. [Hitler in fact made numerous peace offers to Britain, all of which were ignored. According to the book 'The Hitler-Hess Deception' by Martin Allen, a recently unclassified British document revealed SIXTEEN separate German peace attemps from September 1939-June 1941! (page 53)-Ed.] After it was over I became curious about it all, trying to search for my man, and to make sense of what happened. I investigated the Jews, and the wild claims they started telling after it was over.
Speaking of them I know they made Jews do work like everyone else, there was a road project that I saw them working on. I was on my Landjahr [voluntary agricultural assistance] in the BDM, and we were helping as well. They were made to join us in repairing and building things. I could tell from their expressions they were not used to this type of work. I remember my teacher from school, she said life for the Jews in Germany had been very good. They came here in groups and started to work together to usurp the power from Germans.
They call themselves Germans but, in their deeds, they worked to tear down German pillars of civilization that made us who we are. I just saw an article where a Jewish writer, and I know this as you can tell them by their names, said we were awful to have been so happy then. Speaking as if we should have felt great shame at what was happening to the Jews.
They gawk at how lighthearted we were back then despite what was happening, but we did not see anything bad. Of course, we were lighthearted, the war was going well, and we were living in our best time. Why wouldn't we have smiles and fun? They want the reader to somehow feel we were mentally unwell and downright evil for not standing up to Hitler. There was nothing to stand up to, we had a government that was making life very easy for all Germans.
We had no knowledge of the camps, or what was going on there. Actually, I did, as I had a friend who married a man working at the camp complex at Auschwitz, I know what was happening there and it was not what they claim. They had a large factory complex all around that area and the inmates had to help work for the war effort.
He selected who would work and who would receive light duty. She told me this in 1943, I remember. He used to tell us all very early on it was all a lie what they say about the killings. Then he stopped ever bringing it up, I think he got in trouble. We all heard the claims as the Allies dropped leaflets on us often where they said we supported a regime who was committing mass crimes in the east. Only the dumbheads and idiots believed such stories.
Regarding all these stories, they seem to have tight control of the media again, as all we are hearing today are the sad stories they tell. I also read about the Israelis during the Eichmann trials, they cried that no one would help them prosecute. It was not hard to see it was because many did not believe their outrageous claims.
These stories meant nothing back then, as they could easily be debunked by eyewitnesses who saw the opposite. Today they go after the young and get them to believe these wild stories. I see them now defending all the tales of Jews being made into soap and mass killing buses.
I know these buses as I had to ride one to work. It was a wood burning gasser bus! I suppose if there was a mistake by the operator it could have turned into a gassing bus, they were dangerous. However they claim they were used to pump in gas to kill, they show a photo of one just like I used to ride, and the big drum was for processing wood fumes to operate the engine.
But, you see, they get the young to believe these things, and no one can challenge it as not many are left who know. Our news media will play this game where someone will defend a controversial topic from the war. Then they que the Jew 'expert' to attack the claim, it's always elevated Jewish scholars. Again, you can see the names Cohen, Applebaum, Greenberg, Liebowitz, and so forth, who 'refute' the claim. They elevate the Jew into an undisputed expert whose word is beyond reproach.
The sheep are unaware they are being lied to and the supposed 'expert' is only reciting the same old theme their tribe wants the dumb sheep to hear. This is how they control what we see and think and only the ones who can see who they are understand it. I learned they did this before Hitler as well.
They promote each other into the respected fields that one has a position of power in. Then they would keep giving other Jews positions, arguing that they are only promoting qualified people. Soon they had a monopoly, where say, in a field of editors they were 75 out of 100. This is what Hitler stopped when laws were passed that removed many unqualified people who were only appointed because of being Jewish.
This is what they will not forgive him for, he exposed their whole rotten empire. Europe seems to have this attitude today that Hitler was very evil, based on what the Jews claim. Relying on mostly Soviet claims to back up their judgement. I have heard some who mildly defend him say even if he wasn't evil, he was still wrong for waging war like Napoleon to conquer and subjugate other nations. They will not look at the possibility that he was perhaps forced into a war he did not want. It is forbidden.
I know it is a hard position to defend because all his actions support the case for conquest, but I think he may have been a victim of circumstances he did not count on. I came to this conclusion later on; I think he is innocent of all claims. He seems to have hated fighting other Europeans, I heard his speeches where he praised the enemies we fought. He certainly never said anything about seizing land, or as they call it living space.
I will close by saying it is indeed strange that they tell us the Soviet Union is the new evil empire and killed and oppressed millions. But when it comes to Hitler and German crimes, they are being 100% honest and we all should believe them when they say our men went into Russia and raped and killed millions.
If it is regarding the war, they are to be believed, but anything after, be cautious. The mentality of today's educators is of cowardice and illogic. To them it makes perfect sense that Stalin would tell the truth about his German enemies, but when it comes to the Western Allies, let's be careful what we let them say as it may be a lie.
I am hearing now that there is pressure to open Russian files which might explode these claims. Poles here in Germany say it was the Russians who killed them at Katyn, and not Germans as is claimed. If this is accepted, it may open a whole new chapter for those who seek to defend Germany against these claims [The Katyn massacre was the mass execution of nearly 22,000 defenseless Polish military, police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners by the Soviet Union. During WWII and after it was blamed on the Germans.-Ed.]
[Above: A victim of the Katyn massacre, hands tied behind his back, unearthed by the Germans after they drove out the Soviets from Poland. When the Germans discovered the monstrous communist crime they assembled a huge international group of experts and witnesses from all over the world. They carefully unearthed the Soviet crime and came to the identical conclusion: this was not a German crime, but a Soviet one. Yet, after the war the blame went back to the Germans. Allied evil idiocy.]
Frieda: Well, I am no soldier or expert, but I can give you my common sense and an educated stance on this. I know after the war and well into the sixties, Germans did defend themselves, however the media is relentless. I can give you an example. There was a charge by French communists right after the war. They claimed German SS soldiers killed many civilians for no reason. The courts got involved, and many German and French witnesses came forward to fight the charges. They were dismissed as fraudulent claims. Now they are bringing them up again citing 'new evidence' meaning they hope the witnesses are long gone so their made-up stories can now be left unchallenged. The old ones tried to defend themselves as best they could, but the media is now against them and calls them liars, Nazis, and an insult to the memory of the dead victims. See how it all works? They will make claims over and over, and the media supports them, and they can badger anyone who stands up to say it is not right what they say.
Some veterans tried to fight early on but were told that to be considered for pensions and forgiveness they can't try to justify the actions of the regime. Many were told to just say they had followed orders and that they would get in trouble if they refused. This did two things for the Allies, it proved their claims, and made it appear they were full of forgiveness for a vanquished enemy. It was a trap, and many Germans fell into this thinking it was a way out of bad situations. Some even took the baton and ran with it, seeking their time of fame. Stating outlandish claims about seeing crimes of unheard-of cruelty. One example I can tell, I saw was a TV show speaking of Wehrmacht crimes in Russia. A woman claimed a soldier came to her in confidence and cried about all the mass killings. She even could recite stories he told of using orphans as targets for sport. Killing Jews by driving over them with cars and tanks. Shooting inhabitants of whole cities down to the person. She spoke of orders coming right from Hitler to turn Russia into a vast graveyard, with no people left, so that Germans could move in.
She went on for several minutes telling these obscene stories that are all lies she made up, or the producers fed her, giving her a moment of fame on TV. This is what we must live with, and in some ways, I am glad my husband did not live to see the aftermath of what our beloved land has come to. I know some veterans have said odd things here and there, my thought is this: vets will say things today that are years in the making, they have forced themselves to adapt and believe the lies and agree with them, there is a name for this psychosis, but I cannot remember it. I believe they have been conditioned to say things they know are not true, but it gets them attention and a certain praise from the media.
They don't seem to understand, and I think it is because many are old now, that the praise is more of a scorn that it took this old Nazi all this time to confess. I feel bad for the ones who have been dragged into helping TV shows do a story on how evil they and their comrades were, but they think if they show they were opposed to the 'evil' then it helps them.
It does more damage to the memory of their comrades than they perhaps realize. I really feel bad for what the young are taught about us, we loved them and only wanted to pass on a better future for them. We lost a war, and the youth should be able to understand that you do not allow your beliefs to be shaped by those who conquered you. Just because they paraded photos and movies trying to make us feel guilty does not mean it is true.
My last question will be that I have heard that Germany was very godless during the Hitler time, and God punished Germany with destruction for all the crimes committed. What would you say to that?
Frieda: I would say you understand the wrong God then. I would dare say to you that under Hitler, Germany was very Christian, that is our roots. Do not believe all these things they say about the SS being in charge and being a cult. One of the first acts I think we all noticed was a rebuilding of Germany, including churches.
The Church indeed was leery of Hitler and the Nazis, because they were a revolutionary idea. Most ideals of that time destroyed the Church and their power. Look at Spain and Russia. I know I saw when I was young, the Red Front would march with signs saying religion was a weakness and people should be atheists.
The first year Hitler was in power a decree was passed where state funds were opened to the churches to rebuild and repair. I saw them do this in my town. The big old churches all received repairs, after decades of aging. These are the same churches I was baptized in, confirmed in, and married in.
Even today we go to church to pray for the souls of those who have been lost, and to pray for peace. Germany under Hitler was not godless, I would say we openly welcomed God, the true God of the heavens and earth. Why we suffered so much for it, I do not know or understand. I will say that His ways are not man's ways so the way he does things is not what we may understand.
My best friend died a few years ago, you would have liked to talk to her, her man was a pilot in the Luftwaffe, and he fell in the battles over Britian in 1940. She was in the Party and would defend Hitler and Germany no matter who she spoke to, it was at times hard as she would scare me when people told her to be quiet.
She would call them all cowards and shame them if they had lived back then and not told the truth of how it was. She would have a few drinks and the show would start. She would scream about the foreigners coming here, saying Hitler would have not allowed this at all and would have sent them back to their lands.
She joked that they came here to learn National Socialist ways, but instead they only received welfare and free handouts due to weak politics. Personally, I feel the Church has let us down with telling us that everyone in the world is alike and we should be welcoming to all. Hitler was against this way of thinking; he focused on making Germany an ideal place to live and did not worry about what other nations were up to.
Each people have their assigned place, and it needs to be respected and understood. Hitler did not push for taking our ways to the world like Britain, he wanted people to see Germany as an example for others to follow. I think I have come to that conclusion late in this life. To force your culture on another people or nation who can not assimilate them is wrong.
Take the Turks here, Hitler would never have allowed this and would have forced them to go back to their lands, to make them a better place to live. Not to lower themselves down to just be a beggar or welfare handouts.
[Above: St. Michael, legendary Christian slayer of evil, grasps the flag-draped shoulder of a National Socialist stormtrooper, as they prepare to slay the Judeo-hydra-beast together/]
Can I quickly ask, how did the war end for you?
Frieda: I remember after the war was over the Americans made us gather and forced us to hand over any books we had, and they burned them all. They didn't care what they were, except Bibles were saved I have heard, if the people protested. They had huge bonfires where they burnt uniforms, pictures, and anything they thought was Nazi or militaristic. I thought it sad people were burning generations of German history on the orders of the victors. I saw them take artwork of Hitler and piss on them, exposing their parts as if to show off.
They acted like drunken fools, flushed with victors' justice. I was forced into a work detail from 7am until 8pm to clean up bomb damage, all because I was German, they had no respect that I was the wife of a fallen soldier. They forced us to do this, threatening us with camp internment if we refused. Food was hard to find and lacked any substance and had to come from us, they did not feed us so we had to bring what we could find.
I remember here too, a very large, nasty woman who was well-off and who had hoarded food during the war, had it all taken away. She was screaming as they took all the potatoes and other food stuffs she had been hiding. During the war people knew she had it but never asked her for anything. Now many were starving, and she refused to help, so the people took it from her. I felt no pity.
I was already skinny from the last months of the war, and this work made me worse off, but the Allies had no care at all. Luckily this only went on for a month when a new officer came in and the British appealed that we needed better treatment. Suddenly we started getting Allied food, and I was released from work. They then only asked for volunteers to help clear rubble, or you could work for a company.
They also forced us all to go see these traveling displays where they were showing supposed Jewish victims of the camps. It was awkward as many of us saw it as a medical lab display taken from likely a university or hospital. They showed soap, lampshades, and other oddities that we were told to believe came from Jews. It looked more like a traveling circus display.
They would slap or arrest anyone who seemed to be in disbelief of this. I saw many women cry and put on a show about how bad we had been. They perhaps needed more cigarettes or wanted to show agreement to earn favors from the soldiers. I was afraid to say anything, I knew it would not be wise. I walked through and then off I went.
I left to go stay with my parents and looked at rebuilding my life. That year was the worst for me, not knowing, hoping, and Allied indifference took a toll on me. I looked 40 by age 27. Thankfully friends from the old BDM days had survived it all, and a few shared my same fate.
We would pull our minds and resources, sharpened by our training and we managed to survive the first years of the occupation, then it got much better. I was able to look after my parents and build up a small business that made life well-off again. Things looked bleak but then became bright.
