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| Traudl Junge (guardian.co.uk) |
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| Sophie Scholl (nibis.ni.shule.de) |
At the end of the German movie Downfall and the German documentary Blind Spot, an elderly Traudl Junge is being interviewed. The same footage is in both films. If the name sounds familiar, it is because she is known as a secretary to Adolf Hitler. So naturally, the question often becomes what did she know and when did she know it? She states she knew nothing and didn’t really care to know anything at the time. But she also states she realizes that was wrong. Reflecting on her experience, she says:
There’s almost a challenge being thrown out to compare Traudl Junge with Sophie Scholl.. This is not the first time such a comparison is done, but I’m hoping to get into a little more depth in such a way that we can compare the backgrounds and see what set them on their separate paths. Such a comparison would be of the apples vs. oranges type, but there might be some patterns. What made Sophie Scholl a dissenter and Traudl Junge anywhere from a bystander to a willing accomplice?
Traudl Junge was born Gertraud “Traudl” Humps on March 16, 1920 . She would be the older of two sisters. Her father, Max Humps, was a master brewer. This meant that he did not own a brewery but rather simply worked in one. In 1922, Humps lost his job. He would eventually find activity with a group known as the Freikorps Oberland that collaborated with the NSDAP, or..yes...Nazi for short. He actually participated in Hitler’s failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, but he was so low on the totem pole that he didn’t face trial. In 1925, he found brewing work in Istanbul and left his family behind. Without any income, Traud’s mother moves in with her parents.
It bears emphasizing that although Max Junge was a member of the Nazi party, he was very much an absentee father as to not have a great influence on Traudl. The closest Traudl Junge got to a father figure was her maternal grandfather: an autocrat, very stern, cold, and abusive. As far as his worldview, he was apolitical and recognized the authority of whoever was in power..
Sophia Magdalena Scholl was born on May 9, 1921 in Forchtenberg where her father was mayor. They lived in a nice apartment in the town hall. Her father was a conscientious objector in the First World War. So here we have her father political and idealistic form the outstart. Her childhood can be described as happy. After her father lost his bid for reelection, the family eventually settled in Ulm in 1933. Ulm was not enthusiastic about Hitler, and when Hitler came to power in 1933, there were no celebrations, unlike other places in Germany.
Both girls joined the the League of German Girls BDM (Bund Deutscher Mädel), and would eventually become leaders within the BDM. Sophie became disillusioned. She was aware that many people around her, teachers, other girls, and especially her father, were not too keen on the Nazis. Traudl, who was uninterested in the political part of National Socialism, saw it as a vehicle for her to express her love of dancing. She got to do this at the a festival called “The NIght of the Amazon’s.” This was a festival with pageantry that would be unusual to us. It, among other things, featured equestrians, dancers, and nude women, to show off the pure Aryan female form, of course.
Sophie Scholl’s father was put into prison for denouncing Hitler. It was said to one of his employees: "this Hitler is God's scourge on mankind, and if this war doesn't end soon the Russians will be sitting in Berlin." The employee denounced him to the Gestapo. This had an impact on Sophie.
In order for Sophie Scholl to fulfill the prerequisite for admittance into university, she needed to put in six months of national service. Eventually, she became a nursery school teacher. Finally, she was admitted to the University of Munich.
Of course the horrors, of which I heard in connection of the Nuremberg trials, the fate of the 6 million Jews, their killing and those of many others who represented different races and creeds, shocked me greatly, but at that time I could not see any connection between these things and my own past. I was only happy that I had not personally been guilty of these things and that I had not been aware of the scale of these things. However, one day I walked past a plaque that on the Franz-Joseph Straße (in Munich), on the wall in memory of Sophie Scholl. I could see that she had been born the same year as I, and that she had been executed the same year when I entered into Hitler’s service. And at that moment I really realised, that it was no excuse that I had been so young. I could perhaps have tried to find out about things.
Traudl Junge was born Gertraud “Traudl” Humps on March 16, 1920 . She would be the older of two sisters. Her father, Max Humps, was a master brewer. This meant that he did not own a brewery but rather simply worked in one. In 1922, Humps lost his job. He would eventually find activity with a group known as the Freikorps Oberland that collaborated with the NSDAP, or..yes...Nazi for short. He actually participated in Hitler’s failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, but he was so low on the totem pole that he didn’t face trial. In 1925, he found brewing work in Istanbul and left his family behind. Without any income, Traud’s mother moves in with her parents.
It bears emphasizing that although Max Junge was a member of the Nazi party, he was very much an absentee father as to not have a great influence on Traudl. The closest Traudl Junge got to a father figure was her maternal grandfather: an autocrat, very stern, cold, and abusive. As far as his worldview, he was apolitical and recognized the authority of whoever was in power..
Sophia Magdalena Scholl was born on May 9, 1921 in Forchtenberg where her father was mayor. They lived in a nice apartment in the town hall. Her father was a conscientious objector in the First World War. So here we have her father political and idealistic form the outstart. Her childhood can be described as happy. After her father lost his bid for reelection, the family eventually settled in Ulm in 1933. Ulm was not enthusiastic about Hitler, and when Hitler came to power in 1933, there were no celebrations, unlike other places in Germany.
Both girls joined the the League of German Girls BDM (Bund Deutscher Mädel), and would eventually become leaders within the BDM. Sophie became disillusioned. She was aware that many people around her, teachers, other girls, and especially her father, were not too keen on the Nazis. Traudl, who was uninterested in the political part of National Socialism, saw it as a vehicle for her to express her love of dancing. She got to do this at the a festival called “The NIght of the Amazon’s.” This was a festival with pageantry that would be unusual to us. It, among other things, featured equestrians, dancers, and nude women, to show off the pure Aryan female form, of course.
Sophie Scholl’s father was put into prison for denouncing Hitler. It was said to one of his employees: "this Hitler is God's scourge on mankind, and if this war doesn't end soon the Russians will be sitting in Berlin." The employee denounced him to the Gestapo. This had an impact on Sophie.
In order for Sophie Scholl to fulfill the prerequisite for admittance into university, she needed to put in six months of national service. Eventually, she became a nursery school teacher. Finally, she was admitted to the University of Munich.
Next: The young women choose their paths
Non-Internet Sources:
- Traudl Jung, interview by Andre Heller, “Blind Spot (Im toten Winkel),” 2001.
- Junge, Traudl and Melissa Müller. Until the Final Hour: Hitler's Last Secretary. (Munich: Ullstein Heyn List, GmbH & Co. KG, 2002.), pp.8-11, 14, 16,
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