Giving lip-service to Nazi engagement.
Hans Edler had this down to a fine art. He would always say “Heil
Edler” rather than Heil Hitler.” He probably mumbled in order to get away with it.
Many of the examples of this in the Schellberg books come from
anecdotes that Renate James, née Edler recited to us.
It spooked his wife; she thought someone would hear and they
would get into a lot of trouble about it. He didn’t worry though. His salute remained
firm and “Edler” probably sounded enough like “Hitler” for it to be convincing.
And then there is some story-telling. Notably there is the incident
of him doing this when the telegram boy arrives. His wife remonstrates with him.
This begins a little light relief in the text. There is some foreshadowing here;
a later telegram will say that Hani has chicken pox and Renate cannot come to
visit. Renate knows that this cannot be true; she and Hani have both already had
chicken pox. Something sinister is going on.
Käthe Edler finds herself
accidentally at one of the Nuremberg rallies she is astounded that she actually
also says Edler just as her husband
always did. Again when she comes face to
face with the Führer she uses Edler.
Hans Edler was cautious; he at least raised his arm like a good
Nazi should. His daughter was an entirely different matter; she refused to do
the Hitler salute at all. This may have been partly to do with her teachers.
They hid her in plain sight. Yet they felt they couldn’t force her to join the
BDM or salute the Führer. It wouldn’t be right for a young Jewish girl.
One can imagine as well, some households where rather than
saluting the dictator they cursed him – in private, behind closed doors and under
four eyes.
