Figure 1.--Here we see the family of a NAXI Oarty ifficial named Reichel in 1943. There were 12 children, hakf of which were already involved in the war effort. We see many of the familar German uniforms for soldiers and youth. One group we do not often see is the Kinderschar to which the younger children belong. Here you can see the Wolfsangel badge on the dresses the two younger girls are wearing. The younger boy may be wearing the badge, but we can not see it. Photo: Deutsches Bundesarchiv Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J15063 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 d.

Any assessment of World War II Germany leads to the question of how NAZIfied Germany was. The Germans from the generals on down said it was all Hitler's doing, we were only following orders. It is clear, however, that there eere many enthiastic followrs. The question of knowledge and complicity will never be answered with any certainty. And in fairness, in a totalitarian state like NAZI Germnany, it was impossible to survive without some degree of complicity unless you wanted to end up in a concentration camp. But there were also many ardent NAZI families. One of those was the Reichel family. The father was a NAZI Party functionary from Erdmannsdorf in Saxony. Here we see Herr Reichel (we do not know his first name), his wife and 12 chikdren. At first we did not think it was a family portarit, but this is how the Bundesarchiv identifies it. And it is possible to have that many children. (My father came from a family of 11 children.) They lived in Erdmannsdorf (Augustusburg in Saxony). The photograpg as taken in 1943, by which tme the war was turning for Germany. The uniforming of the chikdren is extrondinary. The mother wears the well-deserved Mother's Cross, The five of the older sons wear Wehrmacht unifirms. (One may be the Marine division of the Hitler Youth (HJ). The sixth is in the Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst). The six youngest are members of National Socialist children's and youth organizations. The youngr children are members of the Deutsche Kinderschar (notice the Wolfsangel badges on the girls' dresses. This was not all that common and in addition to the prodly uniformed children along with the father's Party position suggest a really ardently NAZI family. Their big sister wears the Bund Deutscher Mädel unuform (the HJ girls's organization. The two middle age brothers wear HJ uniforms. This may be some kind of propaganda portrait, otherwise we do not see how leave for the boys in active service could have all been home at the same time.

Created: 10:05 PM 11/7/2011
Last updated: 10:05 PM 11/7/2011