A murderer of six children, one of the closest people in Hitler's circle, wife of the greatest manipulator of the Third Reich. Before she made the cruelest step that a mother could decide to take in a bunker in Berlin, she raised her descendants in the spirit of dogmatic Nazism.
In a country where brides had to undergo a special maternity course, Magda Goebbels was considered a true role model. As the wife of the Minister of National Enlightenment and Propaganda, she was not expected to train in household management for six weeks. Anyway, no one had to instill in her a passion for cleanliness - she cleaned with great passion. Even less so, she was not told how to nurture a baby and how to raise it in the spirit of the current ideology. Rather, she, Hitler's favorite, could teach this to others. Here are Magda Goebbels' advice.
1. Let there be as many as possible
Having as many descendants as possible was one of the basic principles that guided the followers of Nazism. The Goebbels decided to remain faithful to the Nazi rules also in this respect. Apart from her son from her first marriage, Harald, Magda also gave birth to six children.
Helga was born on September 1, 1932. Later, Hildegarda (born April 15, 1934) was born. The only common son of the Goebbels, Helmut, was born on October 2, 1935. Later, only girls were born:Holdine (born February 19, 1937), Hedwig (born May 5, 1938) and Heidrun (born October 29, 1940). All the children were given names starting with "H", in honor of Uncle Adolf of course.
The Goebbels family in its entirety:parents - Magda and Joseph and children:Helga, Hildegard, Helmut, Hedwiga, Holdine and Heidrun. In uniform at the top, Magda's son from her first marriage - Harald Quandt.
Where does the need to raise such a large group come from? From the very beginning, the SS was to constitute a special community of families, an order of racially selected people. Special permits were issued for marriages. It could be obtained by proving the "purity" of its origin many generations back. The dream of the founders of the SS was to create a ruling class that would last for centuries, and for that they needed the right cadres.
This new leadership class would, of course, be made up of people with appropriate physical characteristics (i.e. tall, strong, fair-haired, blue-eyed). Thus, it was advisable to breed as many children as possible with a perfect physiognomy; but also more valuable, possessing the best human qualities and abilities. So to be born is one thing, and to be brought up in the right spirit is another.
It is obvious that the wife of the head of propaganda, one of the people closest to the Führer, must have set the best example in this respect. She only refused to agree to one thing, she protested when her husband cheated on her. And the SS authorities gave their consent to infidelity - illegitimate children, if their mistress met the appropriate racial criteria, would also join the ranks of the Nazis in the future.
2. Indoctrinate at school and at home
As for indoctrination, interestingly enough, it affected Mrs. Goebbels' son from her first marriage the most. In the case of younger children, one of the highest-ranking couples in the Reich did not have to be particularly involved in the case - it was done by the school for them. All children went to public institutions, where knowledge and rules in line with the party line were passed on.
The Goebbels daughters did not have to join the Association of German Girls, although almost all German children belonged to party youth organizations. By their nature, however, they heard the views of their parents at home. In exceptional circumstances (such as during Christmas 1944), the youngest also had to listen to their father's speeches.
3. Keep them physically fit
The young Aryan is to be, above all, a model in terms of health, body and strength. For this, a proper diet is essential, and it is not easy to provide it, even if you are one of the most important housewives in the country. In the worst of times, the rationale for food was everyone. In the years 1943-1945 the Goebbels children were looked after by Käthe Hübner. She fought for the children not to lose a portion of butter for the benefit of ... their mother. Well, sometimes there's nothing like a good babysitter!
Sport in Nazi Germany was a very important element of education. Hitler Youth members shown.
Unfortunately, the children were sick (as their father claimed, they were not used to the forest air). Nevertheless, every Sunday the family and the nanny went for a walk to sing songs along the way. The youngest generation of Goebbels showed an interest in the sport itself, which always had an important place on their agenda. Hence, for example, frequent ball games and games in the garden.
4. The ideal young Nazi must sometimes be forced into something
Beautiful life in fairy-tale mansions, games in the bosom of nature and the care of nannies. But the existence of the descendants of the Goebbels family also had its darker side. The responsibilities that were assigned to them as members of a picture-perfect Nazi family were sometimes simply beyond the little ones. These "sweet, (...) small, insignificant creatures," as my father called them, were to appear at his request in a propaganda film at the end of 1944.
Helga and Hilde did not cope with the task and it is hardly surprising for them. They were supposed to hand out flowers to mutilated soldiers staying in a military hospital. The sight of the wounds and the stumps of the limbs was too much for two little girls. The project therefore had to be discontinued.
The Goebbels children had contact with the most important people from Nazi Germany from an early age. Helga Goebbels pictured with Adolf Hitler.
The forced meeting with Uncle Adolf was certainly not a pleasure either. From little Helga's perspective, it might have looked like a meeting with a dictator described in Emma Craigie's "Chocolate Cake with Hitler" book:
We all jumped when he entered, but as you can see, not fast enough, because mummy managed to nudge me in the side, which made me angry because, for God's sake, I'm already quite big to remember good manners without any reminder. I cursed and offered him my hand. She was awful:damp and limp - that hasn't changed.
5. Make them look like they're on the line
Magda Goebbels attached great importance to a perfect appearance. As soon as she received fairly good leather from Italy, she immediately ordered shoes for herself. She wore dresses with cuffs and a blonde hair piece. The elegant style was with her for the rest of her life.
Magda always took care of the impeccable appearance of her children. In the photo, Joseph with his children.
No wonder Magda, pedantic in this regard, wanted her children to look perfect as well. The Goebbels daughters and son were dressed especially festively, especially for the aforementioned meetings with the Führer. The kids were especially presented in the photos that their father received from his wife as a birthday present in 1944.
The youngest members of the minister of propaganda's family also presented themselves impeccably in the newsreels (in 1942 alone, they appeared in 34 recordings presented every week). Their beauty was used to such an extent that some of the recorded material was used by Joseph in 1939 in a film supporting euthanasia. The young Goebbels babies were in perfect contrast to handicapped children, whose life had no sense in the opinion of the rulers of the Thousand-Year Reich.
There is no need to mention the photos from the family archives. In each of them we see smiling girls (usually with bows in combed hair, in bright dresses and knee-length socks) and a boy with a cheeky look. These costumes, although pretty, could be very uncomfortable, like in the account of Helga, the narrator of the book "Chocolate cake with Hitler":
I am wearing a white dress with short sleeves. My sister Hilde looks prettier. Her dress is girdled with a dark pink sash, and her skirt is decorated with small rosebuds. My dress is simple. I have goose bumps on my arms and the new shiny patent leather shoes hit my feet.
6. Be a home Hitler sometimes
While Goebbels liked to play spontaneously with his children, his loving, orderly schedule of the day, was not the best for their interactions. When the master of the house, even on his way back very late, took the children out of their beds and let them watch movies with him in their pajamas, the rules of the inconsolable mother went into the corner.
According to witnesses, she did not scold the children too much - they were happy and cheerful. However, Emma Craigie, in her fictionalized and fictional account, presents Magda in a completely different way. According to her, it was Goebbels's wife who forced the children to eat ("I already know the trick with the train, and when the metal spoon reaches my mouth, I press my lips together with all my strength. ) He squeezes my hands, the cold metal presses against my lips ”). It was she who forbade the youngest members of the family to play outside their group.
In the last days of the war, the Goebbels children were looked after by Hitler's personal secretary, Traudl Junge.
Also in terms of changing moods, Magda was very similar to the Führer, which of course had an impact on the time spent with the girls and Helmut. Sometimes her absence from home life was justified - as in the case of hospital stays, miscarriages, premature births. There were times, however, that the woman clearly did not have the head to look after her crowd and did not hide it at all.
At that time, she would go to her husband in Berlin, attended parties or, as in a bunker, lay in bed nervously playing solitaire. Children were told then that mummy was worried about her heart.
7. Don't tell the truth and keep appearances until the end
Stating to the youngest that mom was just not feeling well while she was in extreme neurosis was just one of the little lies. Together, they formed a strategy not to initiate children into the actual situation outside. After all, according to the stars, the war was about to end in a moment, and so was the underground stay.
At that time, Hitler's secretary Traudl Junge dealt with a group of six people. According to her account, almost all the children were joyful then and did not suspect the tragic end. Apparently, only the eldest, Helga, fell into apathy and sadness, as if she guessed that the reassurances of adults about the good situation in which the Reich found themselves were merely conjuring up reality and a game of appearances.
The war will end soon, the whole family will be together soon - Magda Goebbels was right in this one ...