How I Saw Hitler on My Summer Vacation

by Kathleen A. Reed

  Date: September 30, 1938

  Place: On board Queen Mary

  Weather: Fine — still windy.

  TIMELINE: the Munich Agreement is signed by Hitler, Chamberlain, Mussolini, and Daladier. Czechoslovakia accepts the agreement and will offer no military resistance. Chamberlain says, “I believe it is peace for our time.” Churchill declares the agreement as a total defeat.

  What a difference from yesterday, when the boat rocked way up and way down. They shut all the portholes — it was that bad! This morning, although so weak I could barely stand, a sizeable breakfast of figs and oatmeal seemed to be what the doctor ordered. We had to stand in line for 30 minutes, for passport and landing card examination, and to secure a declaration form. Afterward, (still feeling a little squeamish) I obtained an Edgar Wallace detective story from the librarian, betook myself to bed, and got lost in the plot. Finally recalling the letter from Arthur, I took it out of my bag and proceeded to read:

  “My Dear Helen.

  I am so sorry that I cannot tell you in English perfectly but I think you understand me in simple words. It is so bad for me that you live far from Budapest. I cannot and will not forget you. All day and night I think always on you. I have so pains in my heart, but I am happy you have a nice journey. You are so lovely and kind to me. How happy I was with you. With much love, ever yours, Arthur.”

  Photo Below: Helen and friend on the Queen Mary

  Date: October 1, 1938

  Place: On board the Queen Mary

  Weather: Fine.

  TIMELINE: German troops occupy the Czechoslovakian Sudetenland.

  What happens to a day on shipboard? Poof — it is gone! In the morning I tried to balance my finances to prepare for customs. The boat was beginning to rock again pretty badly, but no one seemed to mind it. I guess a taste of seasickness has cured us all. My roommates turned out to be very likeable individuals. We spend most of our time inside due to rough weather conditions, but enjoy playing cards and going to the movies. We inspected the other classes and they really are lovely. I feel that the Normandie excels the Queen Mary in many ways, particularly as far as the cuisine is concerned. After dinner, we went to the movie, “The Rage of Paris” with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It was extra good. Word was out that there was dancing in the Garden Lounge! I tripped the light fantastic with a big fat man from Seattle. This is the situation; men who like to dance are very scarce on this ship. By my calculations, there is one man for every four women. Competition is fierce! So, the big man from Seattle had fun, dancing up a storm with lots of partners.

  Date: October 2, 1938

  Place: On board Queen Mary

  Weather: Rainy, then fine.

  This is the last day on board! After breakfast, there was just time to write a short letter before church, which was held in the main lounge of first class. Afterwards, I thoroughly explored first class. I do not think it compares with the Normandie as far as elegance goes, unless I missed seeing some of the important features. Noting the number of people on my Normandie journey, this ship is much more crowded! They say there are 900 people in first class, 800 in tourist, and 600 in third. The indoor swimming pool and children’s playrooms were delightful. There is a terrific vibration in tourist class, which would drive one crazy over a long period of time. I returned to my room to do some packing before dinner. All bags had to be ready by 5pm. Luggage now sits in huge piles outside the dining room. We had our last lunch on the Queen Mary today. I was tempted by lentil soup, beet salad, mashed potatoes, roast lamb with mint sauce, and “American apple pie!”

  I received a radiogram from Uncle Paul today, and am thrilled that he is going to meet me at the dock. My roommates and I went to tea this afternoon. There, we met a nice fellow who followed us up to the garden lounge, where we listened to music. Afterward we tried our luck at Keno, which was lots of fun. I actually won! Everyone expected some sort of gala farewell dinner tonight but you would not have known it, except for the menu, which was titled “Auld Lang Syne.” Among other items, we were offered grape fruit Manhattan, hot cream of tomato soup, fried parsnips, roast chicken, and ice cream. There was no celebration of any kind. No rip-roaring party, like the one on the Normandie!

  Date: October 3, 1938

  Place: Home again!

  Weather: Fine.

  This morning the boat was in an uproar with luggage all over the place. We had our last breakfast very early and then, after gathering together hand luggage and coats, we stood in a long, line for passport inspection in First Class. All classes had to go through this. We were arranged in line — American citizens first — and then foreigners. Every once in a while a person would sneak out of the line to peek over the railing to see if someone was on the dock to meet them. I looked for Uncle Paul but with no success. It was too early. After waiting for what seemed like hours to get our passports examined, we finally disembarked and had the fun of going through customs. I did not mind it at all however they certainly did a very detailed job of examining our things. I guess they must have been expecting some jewel thieves. My tulip bulbs had to be examined by a special inspector. I had mistakenly reported some of my purchases in terms of German Marks. Judging by the scowls on the inspectors faces, I was in trouble! The officials summoned a special appraisal inspector! He looked at my figures, scared me thoroughly with a nasty scowl, then smiled and walked away without doing a thing.

  I was finally released from customs and then joyfully discovered that my Uncle Paul was waiting for me! He gathered my luggage and we shoved what seemed like hundreds of packages, into a taxi. We sped to the railway station and thence back to Washington DC — where I now spend my days walking around in the clouds.

  EPILOGUE

  Helen continued to correspond with Arthur, the handsome desk man from Budapest. He wrote that he lost his job and was looking for another. She sent him money several times, when he indicated that he had no one else to turn to. He continued to profess his desire to be with her.

  Helen resumed foreign travel in the 1960s, after which she enthusiastically explored regions of the world that intrigued her. She visited China soon after it was opened to tourism. She took a cruise down the Amazon River, visited the South Pacific islands, and traveled to Alaska where she rode a bush plane above the Arctic Circle. Her subsequent passports display stamps from Australia, Spain, Singapore, Bangkok, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Kenya, Manila, Tanzania, Zambia, and Egypt, Before each vacation, she would design and sew a mix-and-match wardrobe to wear. In 1985, my Aunt Helen invited me to join her on a two-week tour of Italy. It was one of the most wonderful two-weeks of my life. I recall that when we landed in Rome, her suitcase did not arrive. I was worried for her, but she seemed confident that her luggage would show up — and it did. Now, that I am familiar with her 1938 trip, and know just how many times she was separated from her luggage, I understand why she refused to worry about it in Italy.

  Helen was a very intelligent, kind-hearted and generous person who loved others unconditionally. She is sadly missed

  Reader please note:

  I am including below, two letters from Nazi soldiers that she met on the trip. I have no personal knowledge of their character, or how they conducted themselves during WWII. I am presenting this true story with the photos in a historical fashion, trusting that it will not offend any reader. Please feel free to draw your own conclusions from this book, the photos, and the letters. Several months after her return, Helen wrote a letter to a friend, which described the trip in great detail. She mentioned that she had received a letter from Hubert, the man who headed a Military Academy in Berlin. Here are her words about his letter:

  “I received an interesting letter from Hubert last November, which I must say I have not answered. He wrote that he had been in on the military conferences concerning the annexation of the Sudetenland and was with the first German troops, which marched into Czecho-Slovakia. I was rather interested in his description of the joy and shouts of welcome, which greeted th
e Germans. It was very vivid and rather contrary to the general opinion that we have, in America. Of course, he is a Nazi and it couldn’t be anything else to him.”

  At the end of her letter to the friend, Helen added:

  “You see, this was just the time before the Munich Peace Pact was signed and I guess the countries were about as near war as they could be While in Germany, I had seen many soldiers, but there did not seem to be a great feeling of anxiousness. I believe now that things were bad there, and we didn’t realize it over here. From all I have read since then and from the facts related by my parents, when I returned, I now know just how serious the situation was.”

  Here is the content of Hubert’s Letter which was written in broken English

  Letter from Hubert dated November 16, 1938

  “Dear Helen:

  I have much enjoyed your letter, many thanks indeed. I had not hoped to hear anything from you after our farewell in Vienna. Many thanks also, for your snapshots, you have sent. Was it not a jolly occasion our riding on the Vienna Express…. I often and willingly make remembrance of the hours in the Rathouse Cellar, the Grinzing wine and Hungarian music. I am glad to hear that you enjoyed your stay in our country. I hope you found many interesting and meaningful things, and that you found a friendly and hospitable population. The Germans are not so bad animals as they perhaps are described in your newspapers.

  Meantime I have had many interesting and important works. You must surely have heard of the Czechoslovakian Crisis, the political tension, the Munich Conference and its military consequences. With all those events, I was in high military staff meetings, and you can understand that it was very interesting for me. I was in the first groups that entered into Czechoslovakia. It was an overwhelming impression I never could forget. It is impossible to describe the enthusiasm of the population. Every soldier was considered as a deliverer. You scarcely can fancy the oppression and the harm that the population had suffered under the old regime, and joy finally, after several hundred years’ struggle, to have returned home. I never before had seen so much movement of souls and so many tears of joy as in Sudetenland. The year 1938 will always remain a year of joy and pride for all Germans. It is the year in which the German people hitherto, spread over the three European countries, and had found its definitive form in one Reich. I hope you willingly will remember all your impressions in Germany. Beg your pardon for all the mistakes I have made in this letter. The results of my English lessons at school are not important. Thank you again for your letter and the pleasant times at Vienna.

  Sincerely Yours, Hubert”

  Helen brought home a newsletter from the Queen Mary.

  The headline reads “Early Results of the Munich Conference.”

  The main article headline was “Token Occupation of Outer Sudetenland areas by German Troops.” Another article was topped by the headline: “Deliverance from Calamity” with the subtitle: “Hopes for removal of Czech Fears and German Grievances.”

  I will let you, dear reader, draw your own conclusions.

  After the war was over, Helen received a letter from Max, the Austrian soldier in Nuremberg. It is typewritten in German. I was fortunate to find someone who could expertly translate it. This is what it said:

  Letter from Max dated August 18, 1945

  “Dear respected, beloved Helen,

  Six years have gone by that I have been without a sign of life from you. Your Christmas wishes in 1939 reached my hands, but I do not know if you received my answer to them. In this time frame, there has been a lot of change here and probably in your fatherland as well. What all happened I cannot tell you in details, it would be a letter of suffering. I want to bring you joy with my lines. I hope you can still remember me at all, your European boyfriend? I thought of you often and would have been happy to have exchanged thoughts and ideas with you through this hard time. To refresh your memory, I have enclosed a picture that you sent to me at one time (train station Nuremberg.) Due to bombing damages, I moved with my family to Bad Ischl in a country house. My apartment in Linz is being restored. The rebuilding work has thank God started. There is a large deficit of workers and materials, and especially food. The need is large!

  We are living in the area of your people’s occupied zone and we have already started relations with them, as we had to clear out our country house within a few hours after they arrived to make room for their quarters. A few days later, we were allowed to move back in after these troops were pulled out. In November we will be in Linz again. I manage the business from Bad-Ishl until my apartment in Linz is ready to move back into. The connection to your people here has not yet bettered my English to the extent to write in English. Maybe one day. Did your German get better? If yes, then you are perfect, since you already could write understandable German. It will interest you that in the meantime, I married and have a family of four daughters and my dear wife, with whom I have a happy marriage. The biggest worry that we have at the time, is to feed these always hungry four mouths. Almost all of the goods have been destroyed or stolen throughout the war and its aftermath. We all thank God that this cruel fighting of mankind has found an end. You should be congratulated to be a citizen of the biggest nation in the world. We are again separated from Germany and are trying to become an independent and free land. Since our economy is almost on ground bottom, we really need help from stronger nations, especially America. We will not let our courage sink and will use all of our energy to make our Austria, that is unfortunately mostly confused with Germany, into a country where everyone is free and can feel comfortable. In a few years, we hope that we are so far to secure a comfortable stay for the many foreigners that will visit us.

  Now, dear Helen, how has it been with you? Maybe this letter will not reach you because in the meantime, you maybe also got married and carry another name? I am exceptionally interested what changes have happened to my American girlfriend. Let’s hope that this letter has reached your hands, and you can write to me, too. This letter was sent through a US citizen who lives in Linz as a soldier for the American occupation. He will forward this with his mail to the USA and his wife will forward it to you. I will ask the man that mediated to give you his US address so that you can write to him. He will then forward to me. You, my dear Helen, are heartfully greeted by my wife, my family and especially from me, who wishes you all the best. May there be a good fate that might happen, that you are once again able to come to Europe to visit our beautiful, but at the moment poor country. I have made plans to come to the USA to buy machines for a spinnery weaving mill and ropes/cables for my father-in-law. I do not want to miss this chance to pay my respects to you. Again, my deepest greetings and wishes, Your European friend from Ober-Oesterreich (Austria)

  P.S. — Could you send me brochures for ropes/cables and spinning machines for hemp?”

  Historical Timeline

  Hitler annexed all of Austria in March of 1938. He was demanding part of Czechoslovakia at this point in time. On September 29-30, France, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom settled the looming crisis over the Sudetenland portion of Czechoslovakia, by ceding it to Germany. Because the last month of Helen’s trip coincided with the tense weeks leading up to the Munich Agreement, I am including a brief timeline below, in the event that you would like to see what was happening on certain significant days in September, 1938.

  September 1, 1938 — Hitler demands that Czechoslovakia immediately concede the Sudetenland portion of its country, to Germany.

  September 6-12, 1938 — (Nuremberg Rally) Hitler demands right of self-determination for the Sudetenland Germans.

  September 7, 1938 — Because of Hitler’s demands on Czechoslovakia, France announces a partial mobilization of its armed forces.

  September 8, 1938 — British Inner Cabinet meets to discuss the crisis involving Czechoslovakia. They consider appeasement as a way of allowing time for British rearmament.

  September 13, 1938 — Marshall Law is declared in the Sudetenland, by Czechoslo
vakian President Benes.

  September 15, 1938 — The crisis impels Great Britain’s Neville Chamberlain to fly to Germany for a face-to-face meeting with Hitler.

  September 16, 1938 — British Lord Runcamin recommends that Czechoslovakia border territories containing a majority of ethnic Germans, be relinquished to Germany.

  September 18, 1938 — There is a meeting in London, at which British and French Cabinet members, finalize an Anglo-French plan designed to appease Hitler with regard to the Sudetenland. Italy states that they will side with Germany if there is a war.

  September 20-21, 1938 — Officials of France and England inform Czechoslovakia that they will not help the Czechs (if attacked) if they do not accept the French-Anglo appeasement plan. Czechoslovakia feels forced to back down.

  September 22-23, 1938 — A new Czechoslovakian government is formed. Chamberlain again meets with Hitler to discuss his demands.

  September 23, 1938 — The new Czechoslovakian government mobilizes its army.

  September 24, 1938 — London considers precautions for air raids by setting up gas mask distribution centers. France is amassing troops.

  September 25-26, 1938 — The French government decides to commit to defending Czechoslovakia, if the Germans attack. Great Britain and Russia indicate that they would stand by France.

  September 26, 1938 — During a speech in Berlin, Hitler declares that German-speaking citizens in Czechoslovakia are being mistreated. He makes demands for more territories.