Hide and Seek by Robin Scott-Elliot

Amélie’s parents and older brother are taken by the Gestapo from their Paris apartment as she hides in the wardrobe with her mother’s fur coat.  She survives for a while by eating all the food that is left in the apartment.  She spends her days in the museum.  She has removed her Star of David from her coat but Cécile who works there realises this. Cécile takes Amélie in.  Cécile works for the Resistance and soon Amélie is doing the same.  However, there is a traitor in the network.  Amélie and Cécile wrongly accuse Alain. It is in fact Raymond, whom Amélie pushes form a train when she realises this.  Amélie lies about her age and is eventually recruited for the SOE (Special Operations Executive) after she has accompanied a British airman back to England. There she goes first to a boarding school and then to a government establishment where she is trained for SOE.  That she is a native speaker of French is very useful. This enables her to return to Paris where she also becomes involved in rescuing Jewish children.  Some are hidden amongst families in Paris and the others are smuggled into Switzerland. One little boy, Lou, doesn’t make it through the fence and returns to Paris with Amélie where they both wait for the end of the war and for their older brothers to return. The final scene is of Amélie meeting her brother Paulie at the station. We do not learn whether her parents or Lou’s brother return.    

This is a fiction but some real characters are mentioned in the text.  An afterword by Robin  Scott-Elliot explains this.         

Racism and Anti-Semitism

… don’t spring up overnight.   They fester below the surface and erupt.  Even the eruption may be a slow burn so that the victims don’t know what’s really happening until it has happened and there’s no going back.     

Look at what happened in the UK after the referendum in 2016. There was a surge in racism. Many people who had been harbouring some very xenophobic feelings suddenly felt justified in showing those feelings and a particular was of doing that was to attack the people who they felt had no right to be in our country. These feelings didn’t come from nowhere. They’ve been there all the time.  At least now that they are out in the open we may be able to tackle them.

There is something here about work forces: first we lack a work force so we invite people form other counties to fill it.  We have enough labour but then suddenly too much and the native unemployed gain the perception that others are stealing their jobs. Many countries including Germany got around this by employing Gastarbeiter. – they never had the full rights of native citizens and would be required to return home once the work ran out. In the UK we welcomed workers from other Commonwealth countries – many now known as the Windrush generation. We were glad of the labour they supplied but less glad about their cultural otherness.

Jews appear in many countries, partly because until recently they did not have a homeland and in any case, not all of them would fit into Israel. The mistrust of Jews is subtle and ever-present. Why? Not all of them look different from Europeans and in most cases if they do it is because they choose to dress in a certain way. Some of the rituals may appear strange to gentiles but only a small percentage of the Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust were practising Jews. They supply to the culture in which they live some of the best doctors, lawyers, artists and scientists. There is of a perception that Jews are rich and careful with money. The propaganda story for children Der Giftpilz paints a fearsome picture of this race. If it is a race. An autopsy cannot identify a corpse as Jewish.  

The UK agreed to help Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime. It provided homes for 10,000 Jewish children. Some adults managed to find employment here as well.  Why mainly children though? I’ve read the minutes of the committee that worked on this. One great fear was that because of the Depression anti-Semitism would rise up here as well. There would be a perception that Jews were stealing jobs. In any case, although the need for visas was scrapped for the children of the Kindertransport, they needed to get an exit visa form Germany and had to have £50.00 sponsorship (the equivalent of £3,000 today) to guarantee their return fare. It’s a huge figure. We know that most did not return but settled here or migrated to Israel. The Quakers were instrumental in getting the Kindertranpsort established and in setting up centres to receive the young people.  The men and women who accompanied the children had to return to Germany.  If they failed to do so, the German authorities would stop the transport.

There has been a subtle mistrust of Jews for centuries. Is it jealousy because of this perception that they are rich, that they get the better jobs and that they control finances? Is there some religious input into these feelings? Are gentiles jealous because the Bible tells us that they are God’s chosen people? Are Christians annoyed because they do not recognise Christ as the promised Messiah and in fact were instrumental in his death?

In the late nineteenth century laws were passed in Germany that gave the Jews equal status with German citizens.  This would counter anti-Semitism but was done mainly because Jews could make a very good contribution to the economy if they could fully integrate.  This was all reversed by the 1935 Nuremberg laws at time when the whole world, but Germany in particular, was suffering financially. .

It didn’t happen overnight, though the Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938) is well-named.  Not only was it the night of the broken glass but also the night in which some Germans’ hatred of the Jews crystalized.  

Otherwise it crept up slowly. Germany was down at heel after World War I. Some Jews flaunted their wealth and had some of the better jobs.  Some were astute business people. There the jealousy intensified.  The excuse might have been something to do with religion. In my novels Käthe sees only to easily what is coming whilst Clara thinks that this will surely all stop because human beings are decent. Renate is blissfully ignorant until a few weeks after the Kristllnacht.  

So we have:

·         The subtle mistrust and jealousy

·         The not so subtle mistrust and jealousy

·         The removal of professional jobs and businesses from Jews

·         The burning of books written by Jews

·         The Nuremberg laws

·         Kristallnacht

·         The wearing of the yellow star and other restrictions.  

·         The concentration camps

·         The death camps

We need to have a care. If we don’t master our feelings of xenophobia they can lead to murder. Better than merely mastering them is to change them for something else by educating the spirit.   

The immigrants and the Jews who live amongst us contribute to our economy. In my books they should have full citizen rights including the right to vote in all elections. No taxation without representation. And we should make them welcome.  

                             

Shortages – then and now

In the UK today we’re suffering from some shortages. In most cases there isn’t an actual lack of goods but a lack of people to pick the crops and deliver the supplies. Some problems are caused by our new trading rules. Brexit has caused a few more. The pandemic has had its effect. There is also a general labour shortage because of an aging population. During World War II there was a shortage of labour because many of the men were fighting in the war.  Females took on traditional male roles, including truck and ambulance driving. Land girls worked on the farms. However when the men returned they had to hand back these positions. We’re tentatively inviting back the EU immigrants we’ve just rejected – and we’re not being very successful.   

Just before World War II there had been the great depression.  During that time there was enough of everything – if you could afford it.  In the US, as they joined World War II in 1941, food shortages started immediately.

Germans of a certain age – the parents of the war generation – were used to hoarding non-perishable food because of the 1920s’ hyperinflation, where they had to change their money into goods as quickly as possible. Rationing in Australia during World War II helped to curb inflation there.  

We have had panic buying of toilet rolls, flour, pasta and most recently petrol. Petrol was the first commodity to be rationed during World War II. All goods depend on petrol.  

Our supermarket shelves are looking emptier by the week. Fruit and vegetables during World War II were not rationed though there were shortages. Some were still imported, such as onions, tomatoes and more unusual fruits. People grew their own. Shall we have to do this again now?  Or roll up our sleeves and go and pick them? We take so much for granted now. My grandmother was a greengrocer and it was exciting when she had a huge box of bananas delivered. Now we eat bananas almost every day.

Most families these days do one big shop a week at the supermarket, or have goods delivered once a week. In the 1940s, when fewer people had fridges and domestic freezers were unheard of, people used to shop daily. There would be queues outside most shops. In the early days of our pandemic there were huge queues outside our supermarkets.        

We are now threatened with soaring energy bills which will lead to fuel poverty for many people. We in the UK get much of our electricity from France, supplied by their nuclear reactors. However, the main cable transporting this energy has broken and will take months to repair. We haven’t had enough wind lately to generate much electricity via our wind farms. In the 1940s there was a shortage of coal; people were only allowed warm water twice a week. This was particularly harsh in the cold winter of 1939-1940. Even in the 1950s, I remember bathwater being limited to five inches. I longed for a deep bubble bath like you saw in the TV ads and the glossy magazines. Will we be limiting ourselves soon? Or will our power showers still work?      

There was a shortage of clothing too during World War II. People were encouraged to “make do and mend”. We are now encouraged to do that but for slightly different reasons.  The fashion industry has a huge impact on the planet. Clothes manufacturers are now encouraged to consider and deal with the end–of- life of what they produce. The pandemic has made many of us limit our wardrobe and we are finding that we can manage with less. However, this impacts on the livelihoods of those who work in the fashion industry. During World War II there was generally a shortage of shoes.  Maybe we could go back to painting our legs if tights become a problem.          

There was a shortage of nurses in the US from the mid-1930s. The situation worsened during World War II as many started serving the military. It did not reverse as much as one would have expected in the 1950s; many did not return to their pre-war roles.  We currently have a shortage of nurses.  This is caused partly by poor morale generally, extra pressure that the pandemic has caused and because we are no longer recruiting from the EU.

So, there are parallels. On the whole, we’re probably not having it quite as bad as they did – yet.   

Image by Kevinsphotos from Pixabay 

Ethical considerations, sensitivity reading, and cancel culture

 

I examined a PhD thesis last week. It contained a narrative about a philanthropist, a sort of biography presented from the point of view of a lesser-known servant. Clearly what was related about philanthropist was the opinion of the servant and so freed the writer of the thesis from any accusation of bias. But what of the voice they had given to the servant? Did he want or deserve that voice?

This is a constant problem for the writer of historical fiction – particularly when we include people who really lived.  We offer those who can no longer speak for themselves a voice. But what if that voice is inaccurate?

We now have sensitivity readers; readers who look to see that our texts are sensitive to those who are different form us. This is another stage of editing and another potential cost for the publishers which may be passed on to the reader. A recent problem is that this has come too late. It has been conducted after all the other stages of editing when really it ought to be part of that first edits – and if insurmountable problems are encountered, the book might not be published.  Maybe it should even be done before the book is commissioned. I recently read a novel written for children that involved pirates. Some fantasy in the past. Even this had had a sensitivity reader.

This bad timing has led to cancel culture. Books that have gone through costly stages of editing, production and even marketing are withdrawn. We are not allowed to write about what we can’t know. Where does that leave writers of historical fiction?

I haven’t experienced the Holocaust. Those who have are getting older and dying out. There have been years of contemplation and processing since it happened. Is it possible that the writers’ tool of imagination brings us closer to those events?

Are actors given more freedom? We have seen Hamlet played by a woman and an old man. The twins in one production of Twelfth Night not only do not look alike but are of different races. Private Ryan is played by an actor who knows nothing of war, let alone about the particular horrors of the Great War.

What does it all mean for my Schellberg cycle? Am I permitted to carry on? The stories here are now in the realms of historical fiction and I must choose carefully how I give voices to those who really existed. I must use those writers’ tools that are similar to those of the method actor. And I must find my sensitivity reader sooner rather than later.   

Reich Citizenship Law and Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour

In German Reichsbürgergesetz and Blutschutzgesetz. These were announced on 15 September  1935. At the core of this is antismeitsm and the percepton that the Jews are a race not members of a religion. Jews living in Germany were seen not as citizens but as subjects.  

Reich Citizenship Law of September 15, 1935

(https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nuremberg-laws - accessed 9 September 2021)

(Translated from Reichsgesetzblatt I, 1935, p. 1146.)

The Reichstag has unanimously enacted the following law, which is promulgated herewith:

Article 1
1. A subject of the state is a person who enjoys the protection of the German Reich and who in consequence has specific obligations toward it.
2. The status of subject of the state is acquired in accordance with the provisions of the Reich and the Reich Citizenship Law.

Article 2
1. A Reich citizen is a subject of the state who is of German or related blood, and proves by his conduct that he is willing and fit to faithfully serve the German people and Reich.
2. Reich citizenship is acquired through the granting of a Reich citizenship certificate.
3. The Reich citizen is the sole bearer of full political rights in accordance with the law.

Article 3
The Reich Minister of the Interior, in coordination with the Deputy of the Führer, will issue the legal and administrative orders required to implement and complete this law.

Nuremberg, September 15, 1935
At the Reich Party Congress of Freedom

The Führer and Reich Chancellor
[signed] Adolf Hitler

The Reich Minister of the Interior
[signed] Frick

Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour of September 15, 1935

(Translated from Reichsgesetzblatt I, 1935, pp. 1146-7.)

Moved by the understanding that purity of German blood is the essential condition for the continued existence of the German people, and inspired by the inflexible determination to ensure the existence of the German nation for all time, the Reichstag has unanimously adopted the following law, which is promulgated herewith:

Article 1
1. Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or related blood are forbidden. Marriages nevertheless concluded are invalid, even if concluded abroad to circumvent this law.
2. Annulment proceedings can be initiated only by the state prosecutor.

Article 2
Extramarital relations between Jews and citizens of German or related blood are forbidden.

Article 3
Jews may not employ in their households female subjects of the state of Germany or related blood who are under 45 years old.

Article 4
1. Jews are forbidden to fly the Reich or national flag or display Reich colours.
2. They are, on the other hand, permitted to display the Jewish colours. The exercise of this right is protected by the state.

Article 5
1. Any person who violates the prohibition under Article 1 will be punished with a prison sentence with hard labour.
2. A male who violates the prohibition under Article 2 will be punished with a jail term or a prison sentence with hard labour.
3. Any person violating the provisions under Articles 3 or 4 will be punished with a jail term of up to one year and a fine, or with one or the other of these penalties.

Article 6
The Reich Minister of the Interior, in coordination with the Deputy of the Führer and the Reich Minister of Justice, will issue the legal and administrative regulations required to implement and complete this law.

Article 7
The law takes effect on the day following promulgation, except for Article 3, which goes into force on January 1, 1936.

Nuremberg, September 15, 1935
At the Reich Party Congress of Freedom

The Führer and Reich Chancellor
[signed] Adolf Hitler
The Reich Minister of the Interior
[signed] Frick
The Reich Minister of Justice
[signed] Dr. Gürtner
The Deputy of the Führer
[signed] R. Hess

There was a strict protocol for defining a Jew. If three grandparents were Jewish, you were Jewish.  If two were Jewish and you did not practise the religion you were a “Mischling” of the first degree but if only one was Jewish and you did not practise the religion you were a “Mischling” of the second degree. The word Mischling can be translated as “mongrel”.

The diagram above shows how this works.

There is a lot of discussion about race at the moment. Are Jews and Gentiles actually separate races?  It isn’t actually possible to determine by medical tests that a person is Jewish. DNA tests simply tell you whether or not you are related to a person who is labelled as Jewish.   

For me the main point remains that there is an intolerance of what we don’t understand. Many of us have learnt to rise above that first gut reaction to the new and strange. We can cultivate a healthy attitude of “What might I learn here?”  However, frequently in cases of anti-Semitism there is also some jealousy and some perception that Jews act as though there is Jewish supremacy. My old scripture teacher used to say the Jews were God’s chosen people and because the German persecute the Jews, God allowed the “other side” to win World War II.  To be fair, she presented this as a question rather than as a statement.                             

We might remember that the Nazis also persecuted gypsies, people with disabilities and homosexuals. There was some misguided belief in a superior race. It is for this reason too that there was an emphasis on not allowing mixed marriages and one part of the blood protection law was that a household may not employ a Jewish woman under forty-five years old.

We might also ponder this difference between subject and citizen. Notably, the German Jew lost the right to vote.  What about that relationship between taxation and representation? However, might we not wonder whether we might have got it wrong as well?  How many people pay taxes in our own world and are not allowed to vote on important matters?   

Does this relate to white supremacy / privilege?  Do people think that white people are superior to other races and should dominate them?  

We Share the Same Sky by Rachael Cerrotti

 Rachael Cerrotti here tells her grandmother’s story. Hana Dubová kept a diary for much of her life.  She also used to tell her grandchildren about her earlier life and her survival of the Holocaust. She lived for a while in Denmark.  There was little anti-Semitism there at the time and even when the Third Reich took hold, Jews living in Denmark did not have to wear a yellow star.  Whilst they were away in the camps, neighbours looked after their homes and gardens and even watered the house plants. Of course, many did not come back.

Dubová’s life takes her away from her native Czechoslovakia to Denmark, Sweden and eventually the USA. She had two less than perfect marriages and lives with survivor guilt.

Cerrotti usually contrasts what her grandmother experienced with what is happening today in the world.  She reminds us that there are actually now more displaced persons than there were at the end of World War II. Her grandmother survives the prejudice only to encounter another  sort of prejudice amongst other survivors against another race. The same problems exist in another form.

Although this is aimed at an adult readership it is a text that could easily be used in school – Key Stage 4 and above. At the end of the book is a useful section of questions for reading groups.   

Survivor Guilt and Loss of Citizenship

 

This is a reality for many of my parents’ generation who survived the Holocaust.  I’m reading an account now by the granddaughter of a Czech Jewess who survived via Denmark, Sweden and then eventually the US. For a while she had a visa form Denmark that allowed her re-entry only if she came back within six months. She married twice but was not completely happy in either marriage. This seems to be because of a lack of self-knowledge. She also asked herself whether she had survived because of some grand plan made by some deity or was it just completely random.

I’m also currently editing a book written by the child of two Polish Holocaust survivors. The mother became a champion of Holocaust educations. Her father seemed constantly puzzled by the work but he had a great sense of house.  Is that another form of survival?

A former colleague of mine, a similar age to Renate, left Vienna in 1938. She has this feeling of not belonging.  She is not as Jewish as those people who lost their lives in the Holocaust, she is no longer Austrian.  She never felt completely English and now she lives in New Zealand.

Much of The House on Schellberg Street is about Renate grappling with her identity. She isn’t Jewish. She doesn’t even know of her Jewish heritage until a few days before she comes to England. She feels at odds with the Jewish children with whom she travels. The Germans will not allow her to be German. It is awkward for her amongst her new English friends, especially when her mother trapped in London, and being threatened by Nazi bombs.

One thing we might note: there was no wearing of yellow stars for Danish Jews and there was little anti-Semitism amongst the Danes.  When Hitler and his crew finally caught up with the Jews living in Denmark, the Danes looked after their homes and gardens watered their houseplants, leaving everything ready for their return.

As I write this, my ideas for Helga’s story, book six in the cycle, are beginning to crystallize. She too will find as does Renate, my former colleague and the grandmother described in the book I’m currently reading that it doesn’t all stop with the liberation by the Allies. The malaise continues. This will be a major theme in this story.