Die rote Kapelle Page #3

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and brought it to Helmut Himpel.

One day

Freulein Terwiel called me...

the fiance of Himpel.

She said I had to come soon.

There was something and she had for me. It was

urgent. So I went there.

I only found Herr Himpel there.

Freulein Terwiel was not there.

Himpel said to me:

Take these home and hide them.

What was I supposed to do?

Did I say ...

.. I can not. My parents know nothing, I

have to ask them.

That would have been ridiculous.

So I took them.

Because nobody stopped me and checked, nothing happened to me.

When my father was allowed visitors. I remember, we were sitting on the terrace.

He was handcuffed. And we still talked to those young men ...

as if ... it was quite common. We really did not understand how bad it was.

My father had a stomach ailment

and asked the Gestapo officers...

... If he could take his pills.

No, you might take poison.

My mother and aunt Busset

and I were drinking tea.

When the bell rang.

I went to open it, unsuspectingly.

There were two obnoxious guys,

one had a wart on his forehead:

'Crime Squad. "

So I ask:
What do you want from us?

'Is your brother at home? "

I say:
No, he is not here.

'Where is he?'

I do not know.

I should have said:

Am I my brother's keeper?

Then they ask:
Where is his room?

They pushed me aside and went there.

After a while someone put the key in the lock

it was my brother coming home.

'We're looking for a suitcase. "

So I ask:
What kind of case?

Then they said "do not lie",

Herr Himpel has told us everything.

That was stupid of them, because when I knew that they had already Himpel.

I did not have to hide the fact that I knew him.

So I said:
Oh, are you looking for that.

He had never opened the suitcase.

- I could not.

The key was gone in fact.

This, later, saved my life.

It happened again

We hardly dared to breathe

or talkout of fear and terror.

When Helmut came out...

... with those two guys on his heels.

who didn't leave him alone

After a while my father came home.

Then we had so tell him.

Then I was very worried about him!

He sat at his desk with his hands before his eyes and there were tears.

I had never seen my father cry.

Terrible.

The prisoners went to the so-called "house prison"...

... In the headquarters of the Gestapo

on Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse 8.

My father and my sister went to

Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse.

My mother and I went to Alexanderplatz.

The infamous prison is now demolished.

We had to go to be identified,

photos and stuff.

When I was put down... at that device

... I formed an idea...

... from what I could say. I assumed

they wanted to know everything

What were you thinking?

I just thought:

How come I am here ...

... and what can I say

that sounds a little convincing...

... and does not betray others?

He thinks that he is OK because he

could remember exactly...

... when the bag got there

...and he was someone who knew nothing

but who played music with Terwiel and Himpel.

They were very musical and

had a record collection.

The second was that his friends

did not like him, nobody liked him.

That's Schulze-Boysen.

This is Graudenz, I believe.

Yes, that's Graudenz.

This is Himpel.

And right after that comes his girlfriend, the girl

Terwiel.

In the fall of 1942 the Gestapo arrested...

... more than 100 people who belonged to the so-called Red Orchestra.

My mother and I were both

put alone in a cell.

I was 16 a dreamy

and romantic child.

I really was desperate,

there alone in that cell.

You did not know how Iong it would take,

or if you would get out, what you should say.

He gave me a pat on my head,

what a father might do, and said:

Goodbye, son.

When the interrogation by the Gestapo began.

That went for hours.

Then they asked if I knew someone,

they actually had all the names.

She always asked: Do you know this or that?

No, I did not know all them

If you say no, he says: You're lying.

If you say yes, you are responsible for someone.

The first interview was conducted

by a Gestapo man.

He was not friendly...

... but he did not hit

me immediately

I thought that perhaps would still came.

But when these hearings involved

beatings and torture ...

... the secretaries looked the other way

when the interrogator hit

The Gestapo used all means

against the Red Orchestra.

Not only torture, but of course also

psychological tricks.

My father had a birthday on November 12th

We had duck

that was his favorite food, duck.

For his birthday, we were in the Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse...

... we set the table in the office

of the Gestapo guy

...we girls had roasted duck at home

The birthday meal was for him ...

... so that the four of us could eat together

Of course that room was bugged.

When I went down into that cell...

... I was handcuffed.

I remember that those handcuffs

were on me all the time

After about a week, I was taken to Spandau ..

.. when the handcuffs came off

Did you sleep with the handcuffs on?

of course. You can not

stay awake for one week.

The next morning my father said

he went looking for Helmut

I said, I'm going too.

First we arrived at Alexanderplatz

and asked where the Gestapo was.

People looked at us strangely

but they pointed us anyway.

There was one who was outrageously polite: Sit down, and so on.

How can I help you

When we said

My father said nothing

first,so I said:

My brother was picked up yesterday and we want to find him now.

Then he took a thick book.

He flipped some pages and then said:

He is not here. The serious cases

are in Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse.

You could ring the bell as if it were an ordinary house.

So I called and who opened the door?

And it was the guy with the wart on his forehead.

As if he had been waiting for us.

Professor, sit down,

Then he said:

What did your son do?

And my father said: What did he do?

We know nothing.

"Do you know anything?" And then they

squeezed me. I shouted at them:

I've already told you that we did not know

what my brother did in private.

We grumble about him at home of course.

Then he said:

You do not need to know.

In any case, your brother will remain with us.

On a bed crawling with bugs

If you wanted to use the bed

you had to push the bugs aside.

They bit us all over

and we complained about it.

We were in the men's prison

and the jailer said:

Those bugs will give you

something to eat.

I will also never forget.

The number of women suddenly increased

... there was no place for them. They were on the 5th floor, I was on the 4th ...

... it was furnished for women. But it was

actually a men's prison.

Those women did not have their needs met..

... but they carried on their lives.

Rainer Kilchenmeister and Cato (Bontjes van Beek) were in cells above the other.

They exchanged letters on a string ...

... that went up and down.

Cato was my companion.

She was a part of my life.

And I was with her.

She had someone. It was important that you had someone to take care of ...

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