World War I Archives - Walled In Berlin

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The Rutabaga Winter During World War I

Monday, January 18th, 2021

The Rutabaga Winter (Kohlruebenwinter in German) of 1916/1917 was something that German WWI survivors never forgot for the rest of their lives. I was born after WWII and still remember my father vehemently refusing to eat carrots because they reminded him of rutabagas. I have never attempted to prepare this cousin of broccoli for dinner, but reading about the Rutabaga Winter is making me curious. I just might give this humble root vegetable a try after all.

What is a Rutabaga?

Known as Swede or rutabaga in North America, its scientific name is Brassica napus napobrassica. https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/106302/#b. It is part of the cruciferous family of vegetables and supposedly a cross between a cabbage and a turnip. With its purple top and beige bottom, the rutabaga does not look particularly tempting, although it is not without some health benefits. Just one cup meetsalf our daily vitamin C requirement.

The rutabaga winter (Kohlruebenwinter) of 1916/1917 was one of the most difficult periods for the German civilian population during WWI. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Why the Rutabaga Winter of 1916-1917?

Since the summer of 1914, Germany had waged a two-front war with France and Britain in the West and Russia in the East. Then, in Fall of 1916, fierce autumn storms and ceaseless rains led to a dismal potato and wheat harvest. Much of the produce rotted in the ground. Germany desperately tried to import these foods. But the British navy thwarted all efforts by blockading the North Sea approaches. For Germany’s civilian population, the continuous Sea blockade meant a constant threat of starvation. Malnourishment and illness claimed thousands of lives. Eighty thousand children died of starvation. The winter of 1916–1917, which became known as the “Rutabaga Winter” (Kohlruebenwinter), was one of the most difficult periods for the German civilian population during WWI.

What Made the Germans Turn to Rutabagas?

By February 1917, the potato and wheat supplies had run dry. Luckily, 80 million tons of rutabagas had survived the winter in storerooms. Now, the humble vegetable had to jump to the rescue. To overcome the population’s image of the rutabaga as animal fodder, the war ministry’ propaganda machine touted it as “Prussian Pineapple.” Suddenly, recipes for rutabaga jam, cake, bread, casseroles, soups, beer and coffee appeared. People had rutabaga soup for breakfast, rutabaga “steak” for lunch and rutabaga cake for dinner. To make it easier to digest, the war ministry advocated chewing 30 bites for 30 minutes (about 2,500 times). Decades later, most Germans still could not stand the sight of rutabagas because of their association with hardship and misery.

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.

Tags: Brassica napus napobrassica, Germany, Kohlruebenwinter, Prussian pineapple, Rutabaga Winter, World War I
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Lebensborn – Nazi Baby Farms During Hitler’s Reign

Monday, August 17th, 2020

Lebensborn (loosely translated “Spring of Life”) was a secret breeding program established by Adolf Hitler in 1935. In keeping with Hitler’s Aryan master race concept, German Women of “pure” blood bore blond, blue-eyed children in its clinics. Fourteen of the clinics were located in Germany, nine more in Norway. Until the early 21^st century, little was known about their existence because the Nazi officers, who had fathered the children, and the women who had born them, were too ashamed to admit to their role. I only learned about it 15 years ago.

What Prompted the Establishment of Lebensborn Clinics?

During World War I, over two million German soldiers lost their lives. Consequently, there was an acute shortage of marriageable men during the period between WWI and WWII. The abortion rate, on the other hand, was as high as 800,000 annually because women chose abortions to avoid the social stigma attached to bearing children out of wedlock.

Hitler wanted every family to have at least four children, but most married couples produced smaller families. Therefore, to increase family size, he created an incentive for high-ranking Nazi officials with desirable Aryan traits. The more children they had, the less taxes they paid. Lebensborn was to kill two birds with one stone: It was to (1) increase the number of children born while decreasing the rate of abortions and (2) enable unmarried pregnant women to give birth anonymously away from home.

How did the Program Work?

To start with, the Nazis worked on changing peoples’ views about illegitimate children. Hitler declared that as long as there was an imbalance in the population of childbearing age, people “shall be forbidden to despise a child born out of wedlock”. Moreover, leaders of the German Girl’s League were instructed to recruit young women with the potential of becoming desirable breeding partners for Nazi officers. One Lebensborn mother, Hildegard Koch, described how the program worked. https://spartacus-educational.com/Hildegard_Koch.htm The women were introduced to several Nazi officers at the clinic and were given about a week to pick the man they liked best. They were never told the names of any of the men. When the women had made their choice, they had to wait until the tenth day after the beginning of their last mensis. Following a medical examination they received permission to receive the men in their rooms at night.

The Lebensborn (loosely translated “Spring of Life”) Program was established by Adolf Hitler in 1935 in Nazi Germany. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Result of the Lebensborn Program

Some 8,000 children were born in Lebensborn clinics in Germany and another 12,000 in Norway. In many cases, the fathers were married Nazi officers who complied with Hitler’s directive to spread their Aryan seeds. If the mother did not want to keep the child, Lebensborn offered adoption services. The identity of the fathers was kept secret and most documents were burnt at the end of the war.

Lebensborn Aftermath

After the war, many Lebensborn mothers were too ashamed to tell their children about their participation in the program. As a result, these children were unable to discover the identity of their father. They had been bred to become the elite of Hitler’s imagined 1,000-year Reich and ended up cowed by shame, alienation and uncertainty.

The children born in Norway suffered even more. Because the Nazis had encouraged German soldiers to produce children with women of Viking blood, the children born to these hand-selected women of “pure” blood were ostracized and mistreated for many years after World War II had ended. Many never recovered from the stigma of having a German father. Some of the children were even put in mental asylums because Norwegians did not want their German genes to spread.

Why didn’t Hitler have Any Children?

Why did Adolf Hitler want every German family to produce four children while he himself never married (except for the last few hours before he committed suicide in his bunker) and never had any children at all? Most likely, the reason was that there was incest and mental illness in Hitler’s family, a fact that he kept to himself. At a time when his party euthanized people with mental and/or physical ailments, he had no desire to father children who may not have fit the Nazi ideal.

Tags: Adolf Hitler, Hildegard Koch, Lebensborn children, Lebensborn program, Spring of Life, World War I, World War II
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Hyphenated Americans with German Roots

Monday, April 16th, 2018

During World War I, the term hyphenated Americans was popular. It referred to the hyphen between people with another ethnicity and “American.” One example would be German-Americans. “Hyphenated Americans” was a term that was used in a derogatory manner and was frequently directed at Americans with German roots. It was presumed that German-Americans fostered continued allegiance to Germany during the war. Allegations included spying for Germany and endorsing the German war effort. Thousands were forced to buy war bonds to show their loyalty; hundreds were interned or beaten, tarred and feathered. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/where-have-german-americans-gone/ Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were outspoken “anti-hyphenates” and insisted that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime.

When and Why Germans immigrated to America

Since Germany did not have colonies in America, the first German immigrants arrived in the British colonies. That was in the 1670s, long before the United States became independent. They settled primarily in areas we now know as Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia and had left Germany because of shortages of land, religious or political oppression. German immigrants who arrived prior to 1850 were mostly farmers; thereafter many came to cities. The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and World War I. During that time, nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States.

Between 1931 and 1940, 114,000 Germans moved to the United States, many of whom were Jewish Germans. Germans who immigrated after World War II were mostly professionals and academics. By 2010, the population of hyphenated Americans with German roots had grown to 49.8 million, which includes 6 million people who had immigrated since 2000.

World, this was the moment of departure. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2013. www.walled-in-berlin.com

For more than seven million emigrants, who left from Bremerhaven between 1830-1974 on their journey to the New World, this was the moment of departure. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2013. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Where did Hyphenated Americans with German roots settle?

There is a “German belt” that extends from eastern Pennsylvania to the Oregon coast. The first permanent German settlement was Germantown in Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1683. Today, the states with the highest proportion of German Americans are in the upper Midwest, including Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and the Dakotas, where over one-third of the population has German roots.

Hyphenated Americans with German roots who made their mark

American industrialists and businessmen with German roots include Eberhard Anheuser, William Boeing, Adolphus Busch, Walter Chrysler, Adolph Coors, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, Conrad Hilton, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Steinway, Levi Strauss, the Studebaker brothers, and many others. Walter Gropius, Albert Einstein, Neil Armstrong and Wernher von Braun contributed to American technology and culture. Politicians include John Boehner, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Herbert Hoover, Henry Kissinger and Henry Morgenthau, Jr. Barack Obama, too, has ancestors with German roots on his maternal side. They came from the town of Besigheim in southern Germany.

Hyphenated Americans with German roots established the first kindergartens, introduced the Christmas tree The Christmas Tree Tradition is German and the Easter Bunny Our Easter Bunny (Osterhase) is German and popularized the Oktoberfest. They also brought hot dogs and hamburgers to America.

A discussion about Germans in America would be incomplete without addressing a false belief, known as the Muhlenberg Legend. The lore claims that German almost became the official language of the U.S. Not true. Did German almost become America’s Official Language?

Tags: anti-hyphenates, German belt, German-Americans, hyphenated Americans, Muhlenberg Legend, President Theodore Roosevelt, President Woodrow Wilson, World War I
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Zimmermann Telegram – WWI Saga of Intrigue

Monday, April 9th, 2018

The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded cable sent by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador to Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhardt, in the midst of World War I. In the dispatch, Germany promised to help Mexico regain its lost territories of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico in exchange for support of Germany against that country’s enemies: Britain, France, Russia and Italy. The Zimmermann Telegram helped push the United States into entering into World War I.

Arthur Zimmermann, German diplomat in the United States. Photo courtesy of The Daily Star. www.walled-in-berlin.com

What the Zimmermann Telegram proposed

The cable instructed German ambassador to Mexico, Heinrich Von Eckardt, to approach Mexico’s president and propose a military wartime alliance between Germany and Mexico in the case that the United States entered the war on the side of the Allies against Germany. In exchange for a Mexican attack on the United States, Germany would provide military and financial support for the assault, and Mexico would be free to regain its lost territories.

Purpose behind the Zimmermann Telegram

Germany had long toyed with the idea of inciting a war between Mexico and the United States to keep the American forces busy at home and to slow the export of American arms to the Allies against Germany. The United States spent the first two-and-a-half years of the war watching from the sidelines. But the sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania in 1915 had helped to rally some pro-war factions. Still, isolationist sentiment in the United States remained high. In 1917, Germany gave the Zimmermann Telegram in coded form to U.S Ambassador to Germany, James W. Gerard, for transmission to Mexico. On 16 January 1917 the missive was sent via Berlin, Copenhagen, London and Washington, D.C. to Mexico City. http://www.history.com/news/the-secret-history-of-the-zimmermann-telegram Shortly thereafter, Germany declared unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic.

The Plot surrounding the Zimmermann Telegram thickens

British intelligence had been secretly tapping into the U.S. state department’s transatlantic cables since early in the war. On 17 January 1917 – two days before the Zimmermann Telegram arrived in Washington – a British crypto analyst encrypted the dispatch and passed the information on to Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall, Director of British Intelligence. For several weeks, the admiral kept the telegram under wraps without informing his superiors or the United States. The reason was twofold: (1) Hall did not want Germany to know that the Brits had broken their codes and (2) Hall did not want the United States to know that the Brits were eavesdropping on their communications.

When it became clear that the US would not enter the war despite the sinking of the RMS Lusitania and the declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare, Britain passed on the contents of the telegram to the United States but concealed its source. Instead, England claimed that it had intercepted the Zimmermann Telegram in Mexico and passed the information on to the U.S. Embassy in London. Still unaware of the British espionage involved, the U.S. agreed to pass off the information as something that had been intercepted by its own intelligence service.

Result of the Zimmermann Telegram

By 1 March 1917, the contents of the Zimmermann Telegram were splashed all over the front pages of newspapers throughout the nation. The telegram served as evidence of German aggression, and the American public was outraged. Public opinion turned against Germany and against German-Americans living in the United States. Where have all the German-Americans Gone? On 2 April 1917, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson abandoned his policy of neutrality and asked Congress to declare war against Germany. In the meantime, both Mexico and Japan had already dismissed as infeasible Germany’ offer of a military partnership.

Tags: Admiral Sir William Reginald Hall, Arthur Zimmermann, British Intelligence, diplomatic intrigue, Germany, Heinrich von Eckhardt, Mexican war to regain lost territories, RMS Lusitania, U.S. intelligence, unrestricted submarine warfare, World War I, Zimmermann telegram
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Where have all the German-Americans gone?

Monday, April 2nd, 2018

According to census information, almost 50 million German-Americans lived in the United States in 2010. That number represents 16% of the total U.S. population. Not surprisingly therefore, German-Americans are the largest ethnic group living in the United States. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/hyphenated-americans-german-roots/ At the turn of the last century, New York ranked third in cities being home to the world’s largest German-speaking populations, trailed only by Berlin and Vienna. Entire communities from Wisconsin to Texas consisted almost exclusively of German immigrants and their children. These immigrants founded churches, they established German language newspapers and cultural societies, and they entered politics. But unlike Spanish-Americans, very few German-Americans still master the German language today, and few schools list German as part of their curriculum. Only 1.7% of all German-Americans over the age of 5 even speak the language. Why is that?

Emigrant Memorial (Auswandererdenkmal), Bremerhaven, Germany. The father of these four soon to be German-Americans looks toward the New World. The mother looks back as she leaves the Old Country. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2013, www.walled-in-berlin.com

Word War I changed everything for German-Americans

The large number of German-Americans living in the United States lobbied against intervening on the Allies’ side and helped to keep the United States out of World War I for a long time. When the United States finally did enter the war in 1917, German-Americans came under severe, and often violent, scrutiny. Their loyalty was questioned. People with German roots were indiscriminately accused of being spies and double agents. When the Zimmermann telegram was unearthed, a crackpot German plan that proposed Mexico invade the United States, extreme anti-German sentiments took hold and caused lasting damage to German culture in the United States. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/zimmermann-telegram-wwi-saga-intrigue/

During the 19 month that followed, the German language, German books, newspapers, music, churches, communities, and even German-Americans themselves came under violent attack. Hundreds of German-Americans were interned. More than 30 were killed by vigilantes and anti-German mobs. Hundreds more were beaten or tarred and feathered. The works of Goethe http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/goethe-writes-faust-a-closet-drama/, Schiller http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/friedrich-schiller-champion-of-freedom/, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/ludwig-van-beethoven-lonely-giant/either perished in the flames of public book-burning ceremonies or were relegated to back shelves or basements. Some of the burnings were performed by mobs, others by administrators or officials. For a time, these ceremonies were all the rage in the US, and many German-Americans hid their German roots or changed their names. For book-burning ceremonies in Germany, see http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/empty-bookshelves-book-burning-memorial/

The Immigrants Memorial near Clinton Castle in Battery Park, New York. Clinton Castle served as a processing facility for newly arrived immigrants. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com

What was left of German-Americans after World War I

In 1910 there were 488 German-language newspapers in the United States with a combined circulation of 3,391,000. Ten years later, there were only 152 publications left with a circulation of 1,311,000. In contrast to the decline of German-language publications, the number of many other ethnic publications increased. Between 1910 and 1920, the number of Spanish-language publications increased from 21 with 74,000 readers to 33 with 256,000 readers. Yiddish publications increased from 8 with 321,000 readers to 23 with 808,000 readers. Italian newspapers went from 28 with 245,00 readers to 40 with 584,000 readers.

My own two cents on the vanishing German-Americans

I am a German-American and speak German, although rarely. The reason is not that I have forgotten how to speak German or that I want to hide my German background, but that few of my friends have German roots. I came to the United States much later than discussed in this article. I came as a young woman during the Cold War and intended to stay for only one year. Born just after WWII, I came from the then walled-in city of Berlin. It was just over twenty years since WWII had ended, and there still was plenty of anti-German sentiment in the United States. But I had expected that. Post-WWII anti-German attitudes were common throughout Europe. There was shame in being German, and we were taught that in German schools.

Born after World War II, my understanding of the war was limited to book knowledge. To avoid detailed discussions on a subject I knew little more about than the rest of the population, I sometimes pretended to be Norwegian. And since I had come to the United States for the purpose of improving my English, I preferred exposure to native English speakers and avoided Germans. Besides, having visited German American clubs occasionally, I found that I had little in common with its members. The non-German members seemed to be in it for the beer, the bratwurst and the polka, and the expatriates, decades my seniors, remembered a Germany that no longer existed. By the time I decided to make the United States my home, most of my friends were non-Germans.

The information presented in this article, aside from “my own two cents,” is based on Erik Kirschbaum’s 2015 book, “Burning Beethoven: The Eradication of German Culture in the United States During World War I.” Eric is a correspondent for the Reuters International News Agency and lives in Berlin, Germany.

Tags: anti-German sentiment, Auswandererdenkmal, Bremerhaven, Burning Beethoven: The Eradication of German Culture in the United States During World War I, Emigrant Memorial, Erik Kirschbaum, Friedrich Schiller, German-Americans, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, public book burnings of German books, The Immigrants Memorial, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Wolfgang von Goethe, World War I, Zimmermann telegram
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The Red Baron – Manfred von Richthofen

Friday, April 25th, 2014

The legendary Red Baron’s real name was Manfred von Richthofen. Born to a prominent German aristocratic family that can be traced to the sixteenth century, Richthofen became the First World War’s most successful fighter pilot. Largely fought in muddy trenches, World War I was one of the deadliest conflicts in history. Only fighter pilots achieved some air of valor. The Red Baron was one of these flying aces. War propaganda called them the “knights of the air” because they were seen as fighting man to man and plane to plane. After 80 official victories, Manfred von Richthofen, was killed in action at the young age of 25. http://history1900s.about.com.

Red Baron’s Early Years

At age eleven, Manfred von Richthofen entered Imperial Germany’s Wahlstatt Cadet School in Berlin. After completion, he entered the Senior Cadet Academy at Berlin-Lichterfelde, followed by a course at the Berlin War Academy. In 1912, he joined the cavalry as a lieutenant.

Red Baron, “legend in the air”

When World War I broke out in 1914, Manfred von Richthofen was assigned to the cavalry’s horseback patrol section. But soon air reconnaissance replaced cavalry patrols, and in 1915 Richthofen was retrained. One year later, he was retrained again, this time as a fighter pilot. He quickly distinguished himself as a fearless daredevil and sometimes shot down two or three planes in a single day. One day he even shot down four.

Manfred von Richthofen,
the Red Baron

How he became the Red Baron

After achieving acclaim as a flying ace, Richthofen had his plane painted bright red so that his enemies would immediately recognize they were in pursuit of the most successful German fighter pilot. Hence, he became known as the “Red Baron.” After enemy planes began to target his red airplane, however, the Imperial German Army Air Service painted all of its planes red in hopes of filling the enemy with fear of having to battle the legendary flying ace. On April 21, 1918, the Red Baron’s plane was shot down while in pursuit of a British enemy plane. He was killed instantly.

Tags: Berlin War Academy, fighter pilot, flying ace, Manfred von Richthofen, Red Baron, Wahlstatt Cadet School, World War I
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