Gay Lives by Robert Aldrich

Author:Robert Aldrich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Lilly Wust 1913–2006 and Felice Schragenheim 1922–1944

In the early 1990s Lilly Wust, an aged woman living alone in a small flat in Berlin, opened the contents of two trunks of letters, diaries and photographs to a Viennese feminist, Erica Fischer. The book that resulted, Aimée and Jaguar, brought to light the extraordinary story of a lesbian love affair between a model German woman of the Third Reich and an outlawed Jew. The book led to an exhibition, and inspired a television documentary and a film. ‘I gave my story to the world,’ said Wust, and her papers now rest in the archives of Berlin’s Jewish Museum.

In 1942 Lilly Wust was, to all appearances, an upstanding German citizen. She came from a middle-class Berlin background. She was married to a soldier, then stationed outside the capital, who was vocally supportive of the Nazis, even if he was not a member of the National Socialist Workers’ Party. By giving birth to four Aryan children Wust earned a motherhood medal from Hitler’s government. She had kept her fine figure and sported an alluring head of reddish hair around her pretty face. She lived a comfortable life looking after her young family. Yet all was not as it seemed. Günther Wust kept a mistress, with whom he would soon live, and Lilly enjoyed dalliances with several male lovers. The arrival of a young woman in her household introduced her to still other pleasures.

Inge Wolf, an assistant in a bookshop, landed on Lilly’s doorstep to work as a domestic help, sent there as part of her national service. The two became friends, and Inge gradually introduced Lilly to her circle of women friends. Among them was Felice Schragenheim, a feisty, quick-witted and elegantly attractive young woman turned out in tailored clothes, the daughter of two dentists who had died in her childhood. Felice enchanted Lilly, with her sparkle and her kindness, visiting her in hospital, large bunches of roses in her hand, when Lilly underwent minor surgery. Soon Felice seduced her, and the two fell madly in love (to the slight consternation of Inge, who had been romantically linked to Felice). Felice visited Lilly more and more regularly, making friends with her children and presenting her to her other friends. Sometimes Felice disappeared for hours or even days for purposes that she did not disclose to Lilly; she did disclose, however – partly in response to a passing anti-Semitic comment from Lilly – that she was a Jew.

German anti-Semitism was entering its most virulent and murderous phase when the two women met. Jews were barred from their professions and forbidden to own telephones, take public transport, buy newspapers or sit on park benches other than those designated for their use. Their identity papers were marked with a ‘J’, and they were forced to wear a yellow star. Their property was confiscated, and ultimately most would be rounded up and deported to extermination camps.

Felice had earlier made plans to escape from Germany: she had relatives in America, England and Palestine, and Felice herself had obtained an entry permit to Australia.

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