Berlin Ghetto by Eric Brothers

Author:Eric Brothers
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752483597
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2012-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

[o]nce again the KPD failed to grasp the central dynamic of the regime – the drive to create a racial utopia, which necessitated aggressive expansion and a panoply of murderous policies. Since in Nazi ideology communism blended inextricably with Judaism, there could never be an easing of the repression against the KPD …

German communists suffered terribly because of the treaties. No arrangements were made by the Soviets to relieve the repression of communists in Germany, thousands of whom languished in concentration camps and prisons. While the German military machine marched westward in 1940, the ‘KPD’s main western exile points now came under Nazi control, breaking the last links between the border secretaries and the underground. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of German communists (and other anti-fascists) were captured and sent off to concentration camps.’9 Arthur Koestler reports that the Soviet secret police (GPU) handed over to the Gestapo, in 1940, at Brest Litovsk 'a hundred-odd … Austrian, German, and Hungarian communists.’ amongst them were communists of Jewish heritage.10

The Nazi-Soviet pact sent shock waves through the Baum group. Many people, including Alfred Eisenstädter, condemned it. He was a socialist who had considered himself a communist fellow traveller up until that time. Thereafter he totally rejected communism in disgust, however, as did others. Baum, on the other hand, supported the pact. He told Alfred and the others: ‘It was born of necessity and we must live with it.’ Baum carefully explained to both his group and the young Zionists that Hitler would not feel bound by any agreement and that Stalin was buying time before a possible future German attack. Alfred remembers that the Unter den Linden, the main boulevard of Berlin, was decked out with Soviet flags and military bands played the Internationale in honour of Molotov’s visit. Eisenstädter was revolted by the entire charade.

While their political world was being shaken, the Baum group members were working out ways to get out of Germany, as Herbert had advised. Alfred Eisenstädter and Felix Heymann put Amand Vasseur, a relative of Felix’s by marriage, on a train for Paris on 28 August. It was no longer safe for him to remain in Berlin since he was a French citizen. Alfred and Felix also devised a plan for their own escape: they would take a train to the German-Danish border and walk across the ‘green border’ (the forest) to freedom. The two young men went to a local park and hid all of their money under a bench. It was illegal to take money out of the country, and if they were caught trying to flee with it they would be arrested. ‘If we ever come back to Berlin, we will go back to the bench,’ Alfred told Felix.

They boarded a train en route to the border, and got out near Flensburg. Heading for the forest, they began a hike to freedom, and, after walking through a thick forest, assumed that they were in Denmark. However, they were arrested by German border guards and placed in ‘protective custody’ at Flensburg prison.

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