Dancing with the Enemy by Paul Glaser

Author:Paul Glaser
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780747545
Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Rosie’s barrack (photo taken by Rosie in 1953)

Everyone lost interest in exercising and the cabaret, and with nothing to do boredom returned and some were inclined to passivity. It was a good thing I had a job with the Philips Command to look forward to. I’d heard things were better there. Only a small group of women were involved, and I managed to wangle a place among them. A lot of women were employed making clothes at the moment, various sorts intended for retail trade. You saw them heading for work every morning in their overalls.

One day we were ordered to assemble outside. The camp commandant, the Obersturmführer, the führer in charge of labor, and a few other uniforms were waiting to meet us. They walked up and down among us and appeared to be looking for someone. What had we done wrong now? The presence of the commandant and so many officers made me think it must have been pretty serious, but to my surprise they turned out to be looking for someone to model garments from the clothing workshop to the camp leadership and their clientele. To my even greater surprise they selected me from the group. In retrospect it wasn’t so curious when you considered that most of the other women were wearing blue overalls and clogs, with headscarves tied around their heads. Apparently I looked a little more fashionable.

From June 15 onward I was expected to make regular visits to the workshop to try on new outfits. They made a sample of each outfit in my size and in a color I was allowed to choose myself. When there were guests and potential buyers I was given my own dressing room with mirrors, face powder, lipstick, the finest underwear, new shoes, and stockings. It was nice to have all the things at my disposal that hadn’t been available outside the camp in a long time. After a while all the officers knew who I was. I drank coffee and chatted with them after the show, and had much more freedom of movement in the camp.

A few weeks later I also start working with the Philips Command at a factory making radios for the Wehrmacht. My job was to solder wires to a circuit board, a fastidious task that was reserved for women, but I quite enjoyed it. We sat at rows of tables with hot soldering irons and a powerful light above our heads. We also got extra food, which we called “Philips hash.” It was a bit ironic, actually . . . my mother’s maiden name was Philips, and she was related to the successful factory family, which had Jewish ancestry. There I was, a Philips, working on the Philips Command and eating “Philips hash.” It wasn’t the sort of family connection I had in mind. But the work and extra food did me good. I often sang at the factory, sometimes for an hour at a time, not only jazzy songs but also some pieces from opera.

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