The Work I Did by Brunhilde Pomsel

Author:Brunhilde Pomsel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

After Hitler came to power it was too late for everything…

Brunhilde Pomsel

‘I WASN’T GUILTY’: THE CV OF A 103-YEAR-OLD WOMAN

It’s like everything else. Even beautiful things have stains. And terrible things have bright spots. It’s not all black and white. There’s always a bit of grey in both.

I never went along with the crowd. I was only in the crowd when I did gymnastics, when I went on jaunts, when I played bridge – then we were a delightful crowd. I’m essentially a loner; I’ve never married or brought children into the world. Not because I have anything against marriage, and I would have liked to have a child, but in the old days you couldn’t have a child without being married. It would have been a scandal, and I never wanted to expose myself to that.

But I like being alone – I always have done. I think I had that desire even as a child, when I didn’t have my own room. Always with the boys, and it was always so cramped. I wanted to be alone a lot, but I also liked spending a lot of time with nice people. It might be selfishness of some kind. But at least it wasn’t selfishness at other people’s expense, because of course you were part of a crowd in spite of everything. I’m not that kind of individualist. As long as I can do the things that fulfil or inspire me, and don’t have the feeling that I’m bothered by the crowd, I’m happy to get involved. If I hadn’t been at the Propaganda Ministry, the story would have been exactly the same. It’s not just about me on my own.

Every individual belongs somewhere. Of course! There’s always an influence of some kind. Sometimes it’s upbringing, sometimes the circle you’re part of; I don’t know. In Germany before Hitler came to power life wasn’t particularly open. It was a completely different world back then. Many people nowadays can’t even imagine that restricted life. It starts with the upbringing of children: if they were badly behaved they got the slipper. Love and understanding didn’t get you very far. From a clip around the ear to trousers down, three smacks and that was it – and you didn’t resent it.

Who in those days had friends in America or anywhere? A schoolfriend of mine trained as a hairdresser, and even as an apprentice she was lucky enough to be able to travel on the Bremen, an amazing ship that travelled between Germany and America. She was envied for having such a great job. None of us knew any foreigners. At first there was no broadcasting, not to mention all the other technical nonsense that they have today. Nothing. We were still living on an island – not just us, other countries were exactly the same. There wasn’t that network, except in trade, and that was a separate class. We were undeveloped. Today, no one could hope to escape the modern world.

I expect young people or the next generation just think sensibly about these things.

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