Herr Von Hammerstein's Story
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Herr Von Hammerstein stated that they knew very little about the
concentration camps. Anything they heard was from BBC radio, which was
forbidden. Once they had heard the radio, they were never sure whether to
believe it or not as they believed German news was incorrect.
Herr Von Hammerstein told a story about when he was much younger in the war; he saw a man crying, and wondered why the man was crying, after learning more about what was happening he then realised, he must have known about what was going to happen to him.
Herr Von Hammerstein couldn't fight as he was blind in one eye, so he stayed in Berlin and worked in a factory. He had two brothers who were wounded in active service; later towards the end of the war Herr Von Hammerstein recounted how his brothers had both been involved in the Von Stauffenberg plot to assassinate Hitler. Von Hammerstein was arrested in Berlin and he was questioned a lot, especially about his brothers and their whereabouts, but as he said "luckily I really didn't know where they were or that they were involved and I must have made the Nazis believe me because they didn't shoot me".
The brothers were captured but fortunately one of his brothers was liberated by the US forces and the other by the Russians. Von Hammerstein was sent to Sachsenhausen Concentration camp with whatever there was of his family around. They were placed in a "family camp".
Some of the SS officers in the concentration camps who had been forced into the position, tended to help the Jews a lot more and there remained a lot of hope, towards the end of the war throughout the concentration camps, that the Americans would help them survive. However, Jews were afraid to escape as they were scared to be caught and murdered. In these "special camps" many were kept hostage and treated better, some Nazis wanted to make peace with Americans and pay for better conditions by handing over hostages.
Post war, Von Hammerstein thought Britain had a better history then the Germans and wanted Germany to be able to get on with the rest of Europe. Hammerstein studied "races" after the war, he co-operated with England and France. He became a Protestant Pastor founding a volunteer movement against war, Action Reconciliation. He worked in both places for reconciliation as well as helping to build a synagogue in Lyon and was involved in building a hospital in Dresden.
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Page last updated: 25th February 2014