As we continue our series of the stories of beloved brethren who were young people during World War II, it is good to be reminded that all Christians did not live only in Allied lands. There were many dear believers who lived in the Axis countries—perhaps most notably in Germany. Our dear brother and sister, Heinz and Brigitte Brinkmann, are one such couple who lived during their childhood and teenage years in Hitler’s Germany. He has provided a most interesting account of those dark years. Due to its length, we plan, Lord willing, to run our brother’s recollections in series in the next few issues of the Christian Shepherd.
Memories From the Other Side
By now everyone is aware of how wicked Hitler’s political system was. He did not look favorably on Christians, especially “brethren” groups and Baptists. In 1937 these groups were forbidden to meet, for the government could not easily oversee and control fellowships like “brethren” who had no organizational structure.
Hitler also knew that the “brethren” groups were not, generally speaking, in favor of his political system. And, of course, they did not share his anti-Semitic views, nor did brethren believe Hitler’s foolish idea that the 3rd Reich would never end.
The pressure was very great on Germans to adopt this same false belief about the 3rd Reich’s permanence. For instance, when a person took a government certification test to examine his technical or professional ability, they would slip in the following question: “What will follow the 3rd Reich?” It had nothing to do with the particular skills or technical trades being tested. But if one answered that question by saying, “The 4th Reich,” he was summarily failed on the whole test—even though he had answered all other questions correctly!
Though most brethren did not agree with Hitler, even among them some were influenced and thought he was a good man. But I remember that as early as 1937, my dad would argue with other young men about Christianity and Nazism. He told them that the two could not be reconciled—they constituted very opposing philosophies. That made quite an impression on me, for my dad, my grandfather and many other brethren in my hometown were strongly opposed to the Nazi system.
One day in 1940, when I was ten years old, I was told to come to school in the afternoon. The purpose was that I was expected to join the “Young Folk.” Children in this group were ten to fourteen years old. When you turned fourteen, you were then expected to join “Hitler Youth.” The “Young Folk” group was nothing more than an introduction into “Hitler Youth.”
My parents did not want my older brother and me to be involved with such an organization, but to refuse to join could cause very great trouble.
H. Brinkmann
Editor’s Note: Lord willing, we will continue with the subject of the “Hitler Youth” movement and how it affected their family next month.