From: Sinclair Hart (slobak@BCN.NET)
Date: Tue Feb 29 2000 - 15:21:38 PST
I apprciate your letter. I, too, have heard troubling things about the HJ - including that young teens were encouraged to mate in order to give birth to a Master Race. I did spend about 8 months in Austria, Ober-Oesterreich, northwest of Karnten, which was occupied by the British at the end of WWII. I was there between May and December of 1945 in Military Government, in towns north and south of a line between Salzburg and Linz. There were three degrees of Nazi then, pre-1939 which was considered hard core, the war period, when some were drafted without much enthusiasm, and then those who really had very little involvement at all, but were still connected. I'm sorry I cant give you more information, but hope you can find histories that will help you. Monica Drake wrote: > Good morning. I am working on my mother's genealogy and can see that it will > be both interesting and troubling. I will give some background before I ask > my question. My mother was born in 1940 in Greifenberg, Austria (in > Karnten). Her own mother was only 14, so mom was raised by her grandparents. > Mom knew her mother and saw her occassionally around town, but basically > considered her grandparents to be her parents and didnt have much more of a > family. In interviewing her for my genealogical research, she has only vague > memories of her mother's family but has supplied me with the following: Her > mother had a brother who was part of the Hitler Youth. My mom's > understanding (what she was told) is that anyone who wished to attend > University had to join but that besides his name being on a piece of paper, > he didn't do anything involving the group. I have been trying to research > this organization and have found much, very troubling information about the > HJ in Germany but nothing s! > pecifically about Austria. Does anyone know if the HJ was run differently > in occupied Austria or was my mother told about the University angle to > squelch guilt that perhaps the family had? What I have read seems to > contradict what my mom was told. My grandmother had one other brother whom > my Ggrandparents sent over the mountains into Switzerland right at the > beginning of the occupation, so I have questions about why one son left to > attend school there and the other chose to remain in Austria. Thank you very > much in advance for your time and response. THis is a wonderfull > site/service you have set up here and of great educational value. > > Monica Erdahl