Posts Tagged ‘Beate Ulbricht’

Beate Ulbricht’s Golden Cage – Part 2

Monday, October 12th, 2015

Read about Beate Ulbricht’s adoption in last week’s blog. http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/beate-ulbrichts-golden-cage-part-1/

Beate Ulbricht’s life

From the beginning, Beate Ulbricht’s life was beset with problems. She started school in Berlin where her classmates bullied her because of her privileged status. When she reached the age of 15, her adoptive parents, Walter and Lotte Ulbricht, dispatched her to Leningrad, Russia, to complete high school. She was lonely there, but her cries for help remained unanswered. Her parents only advised to keep a stiff upper lip. Following graduation, Beate was to remain in Leningrad to study Russian and History.

At age 18 and still in Leningrad, she fell deeply in love with Ivanko Matteoli, the son of an Italian Communist Party functionary. The pair contemplated marriage, but Walter and Lotte Ulbricht opposed the union. Beate prevailed. A year later, in 1963, she broke off her studies, returned to Berlin and married Matteoli against her parents’ wishes. The Ulbrichts used their influence to block Beate’s in-laws from entering the country to attend the wedding, and the Ulbrichts themselves stayed away as well. Relations between the Matteolis and the Ulbrichts quickly deteriorated. After Beate bore a daughter, Patrizia, the young Matteoli family decided to return to Leningrad to sidestep further confrontations.

In 1965, Ivanko left for Leningrad to prepare for the move. The Ulbrichts saw their chance. Only hours after Ivanko had left, they arranged to have Beate’s passport taken. As a result, the young mother and her daughter were no longer able to leave Germany and join Ivanko. Furthermore, Walter Ulbricht had all communications between husband and wife intercepted. Beate and Patrizia were stuck in Berlin for two full years. During that time, Walter and Lotte Ulbricht pressured their daughter into a divorce. When Beate finally relented, her passport was returned. Soon thereafter, the young mother and daughter flew to Leningrad to join Ivanko. But he had vanished. At that point, Beate decided to remain in Leningrad anyway. She wanted to be far away from her parents.

Back in Leningrad and unable to locate Ivanko, Beate reconnected with an old friend from high school, Juri Polkownikow. She fell in love for the second time and the two married in March 1968. The following year their son, Andre, was born. When Juri turned out to be an alcoholic and a wife beater, Beate returned to Berlin with her two children. But the relationship with her adoptive parents did not improve. After Walter Ulbricht’s death in 1973, Beate, found herself divorced from Juri and disinherited by Walter Ulbricht. She took back the name of her first husband, Matteoli. But with two children, no university degree and only occasional odd jobs, she sought solace in alcohol. Eventually, Lotte Ulbricht gained custody of Beate’s two children, and in December of 1991, Beate Ulbricht Matteoli was found murdered in her apartment. The case was never solved. http://www.welt.de/politik/article4187033/Wie-Ulbrichts-Adoptivtochter-dem-Alkohol-verfiel.html

The German Television station MDR (Mitteldeutscher Runkfunk) aired a television movie based on Beate Ulbricht’s tragic life. The program aired on August 2, 2015. http://www.bild.de/regional/dresden/walter-ulbricht/walter-ulbrichts-dunkles-familien-geheimnis-40319274.bild.html

 

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.

 

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Beate Ulbricht’s golden cage – Part 1

Monday, October 5th, 2015

Beate Ulbricht – alias Maria Pestunowa – alias Beate Matteoli, was the adopted daughter of Walter Ulbricht, former East German head of state, and his second wife Lotte. Beate was born in 1944 in Leipzig, Germany, under the name of Maria Pestunowa. The Ulbricht’s renamed her Beate and gave the girl their last name. Beate remained the couple’s only child. These facts did not become public knowledge until the Berlin Wall fell. http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-31900127.html

In many respects, Beate Ulbricht lived a privileged life. She went to the best schools, enjoyed splendid vacations with her parents and enjoyed many advantages in the socialist state – with one exception. Beate was not allowed to be herself. She was brought up to be the First Child of the Nation. Her parents expected her to be the perfect daughter, the impeccable student, the model pioneer. Her mother told her to always be “useful and cheerful.” Every aspect of Beate’s life was on public display. A slip-up was out of the question. The young girl came to feel trapped in her golden cage, had difficulty coping and finally succumbed to the unrelenting pressure. Shortly before she died in 1991, Beate Ulbricht said in the only interview she ever gave, “Ich hatte zu essen, zu trinken, anzuziehen – aber in diesem goldenen Käfig war keine Liebe – I had food, drink and clothes, but in this golden cage there was no love.” She died a few months later under mysterious circumstances.

The infant Beate Ulbricht

Beate Ulbricht came into the world as Maria Pestunowa, a citizen of the Soviet Union. Her mother was a Ukrainian forced laborer in Germany. The identity of her father remains unknown. Soon after Maria’s birth, her mother perished in a bomb attack. The baby was first placed in an orphanage, then with a foster family in Dresden. In January of 1946, Walter Ulbricht and his partner, Lotte Kuehn, applied to adopt the girl. At the time, Walter was still legally married to Martha Schmellinsky, although the couple had separated years earlier. As his political career was taking off, he planned to wed his personal assistant, Lotte Kuehn, once the divorce was final.

Beate Ulbricht’s adoption

Walter Ulbricht’s political star was on the rise (see last week’s post http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/image-challenged-walter-ulbricht/). Having a family was likely to further his career. Since Lotte was unable to bear children, adoption looked like the perfect option. It all happened quickly. Walter pulled some strings with the youth authorities in Dresden. Although not yet married to Walter, Lotte already identified herself as Lotte Ulbricht. In January of 1946, the youth authorities took baby Maria from her original foster family and placed her with the Ulbrichts. In 1950 the adoption process was finalized though Walter and Lotte Ulbricht did not legally marry until 1953. http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-31900127.html

Read about Beate Ulbricht’s tragic adult life at http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/beate-ulbrichts-golden-cage-part-2/.

 

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.

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