Crowns, Crosses, and Stars

Sibylle Sarah Niemoeller Baroness Von Sell

Description

This is the story of a remarkable life and a journey, from the privileged world of Prussian aristocracy, through the horrors of World War II, to high society in the television age of postwar America. It is also an account of a spiritual voyage, from a conventional Christian upbringing, through marriage to Pastor Martin Niemoeller, to conversion to Judaism. Born during the turbulent days of the Weimar Republic, the author was the goddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II (to whom her father was financial advisor). During her teenage years, she witnessed the rise of the Third Reich and her family's resistance to it, culminating in their involvement in "Operation Valkyrie," the ill-fated attempt to assassinate Hitler and form a new government. At war's end, she worked with British Intelligence to uncover Nazis leaders. Keeping a promise to her father, she left Germany for a new life in the United States in the 1950s, working for NBC and raising her son in the exciting world of New York, only to return to Germany as the wife of Martin Niemoeller, the voice of religious resistance during the Third Reich and of German guilt and conscience in the postwar decades. Upon her husband's death in 1984 she returned to America, after having converted to Judaism in London, and turned yet another page by becoming an active public speaker and author. The title reflects a story of three parts: "Crowns," the world of nobility in which the author was raised; "Crosses," her life with Martin Niemoeller and his battles with the Third Reich; and "Stars," the spiritual journey that brought her to Judaism.
Editor’s Note, Richard Libowitz

Part One: They Even Closed the Candy Store

Prologue

Chapter One: September 1914

Chapter Two: Augusta

Chapter Three: Anna

Chapter Four: Father

Chapter Five: My Arrival

Chapter Six: Berlin

Chapter Seven: New Men in My Life

Chapter Eight: The New Pastor

Chapter Nine: Rabble-Rousers

Chapter Ten: The Godfather

Chapter Eleven: The Third Reich Begins

Chapter Twelve: A Pastor’s Growing Doubts

Chapter Thirteen: Nazis on Parade

Chapter Fourteen: Life in the Third Reich

Chapter Fifteen: Royal Sons

Chapter Sixteen: School Days

Chapter Seventeen: Family Choices and Special Neighbors

Chapter Eighteen: Uncle Mirko

Chapter Nineteen: Nazi Actions

Chapter Twenty: A Meeting with the Führer

Chapter Twenty-One: Problems at School and at Home

Chapter Twenty-Two: Uncertain Reactions

Chapter Twenty-Three: Boarding School

Chapter Twenty-Four: My Meeting

Chapter Twenty-Five: Pastor Made Prisoner

Chapter Twenty-Six: Triumphs of the Führer

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Prisoner 569

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Growing Up

Part Two: Destruction Unlimited

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Conspirators

Chapter Thirty: Out of and Into School

Chapter Thirty-One: An Aspiring Actress

Chapter Thirty-Two: A Visit Home

Chapter Thirty-Three: Good-bye to My Godfather

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Incipient Actress

Chapter Thirty-Five: The War Comes Closer to Home

Chapter Thirty-Six: Shortages

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Resistance

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Rescue Efforts

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Danzig

Chapter Forty: The Final Attempt

Chapter Forty-One: Revenge

Chapter Forty-Two: Aftermath

Chapter Forty-Three: More Illegal Activities

Chapter Forty-Four: A New Career

Chapter Forty-Five: Thoughts of Home

Chapter Forty-Six: The Prisoner of Dachau Receives Tragic News

Chapter Forty-Seven: The War Closes In

Chapter Forty-Eight: Last Visit to Dachau

Chapter Forty-Nine: Arabella

Chapter Fifty: Freedom

Chapter Fifty-One: Continuing the Trek

Chapter Fifty-Two: War’s End

Chapter Fifty-Three: The Russians are Coming

Chapter Fifty-Four: With the Americans

Chapter Fifty-Five: Joining the British

Chapter Fifty-Six: British Intelligence

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Return to Berlin

Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Confessing Accuser

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Surviving in Berlin

Chapter Sixty: Help from Many Sources

Chapter Sixty-One: A New Job

Chapter Sixty-Two: The News of My Father

Chapter Sixty-Three: Grandmother

Chapter Sixty-Four: Interlude: Journey into the Unknown—July 1986

Chapter Sixty-Five: New Sorrows, New Jobs

Chapter Sixty-Six: The Airlift

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Cold War

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Discomfort and New Life

Part Three: The Promised Land

Chapter Sixty-Nine: A Test Case

Chapter Seventy: Living in America

Chapter Seventy-One: The New Yorker

Chapter Seventy-Two: The Today Show

Chapter Seventy-Three: In Love Again

Chapter Seventy-Four: Hollywood

Chapter Seventy-Five: Tragedies and Other Events in Europe

Chapter Seventy-Six: Events in America

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Divorce, Despair, Deliverance

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Back to Berlin

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Life with Martin

Chapter Eighty: Under the Rug

Chapter Eighty-One: Married Life

Chapter Eighty-Two: Martin and the World

Chapter Eighty-Three: Life in Germany

Chapter Eighty-Four: Rebellion

Chapter Eighty-Five: Film and Farewell

Chapter Eighty-Six: The Work Is Finished

Chapter Eighty-Seven: East Germany

Chapter Eighty-Eight: New Beginnings

Chapter Eighty-Nine: A New Life

Chapter Ninety: Questions of Faith . . . and Answers

Chapter Ninety-One: Conversion

Epilogue: August 1996

Index

Sujets

• Holocaust
• Histoire
• The Holocaust
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612492100
• Langue: English

Extrait

C ROWNS , C ROSSES , AND S TARS
C ROWNS , C ROSSES , AND S TARS
MY YOUTH IN PRUSSIA, SURVIVING HITLER, AND A LIFE BEYOND
BY
S IBYLLE S ARAH N IEMOELLER
B ARONESS VON S ELL
Purdue University Press West Lafayette, Indiana
Copyright 2012 by Purdue University. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Niemoeller, Sybil von Sell, 1923-
Crowns, crosses, and stars : my youth in Prussia, surviving Hitler, and a life beyond / Sibylle Sarah Niemoeller, Baroness von Sell.
   p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-55753-618-1 (paper : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-61249-211-7 (ePDF) -- ISBN 978-1-61249-210-0 (ePUB) 1. Niemoeller, Sybil von Sell, 1923- 2. Niemoeller, Sybil von Sell, 1923---Family. 3. Aristocracy (Social class)--Germany--Prussia--Biography. 4. Prussia (Germany)--Biography. 5. Niemoeller, Martin, 1892-1984. 6. Spouses of clergy--Germany--Biography. 7. Germany--History--1933-1945--Biography. 8. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, German. 9. Jewish converts--Biography. 10. Immigrants--United States--Biography.
I. Title.
CT1098.N54A3 2012
943.086092--dc23
[B]
2011047704
I dedicate this book to my son, Ulrich Marcus Niemoeller, and in memory of those family members who chose the dangerously narrow path of resistance over indifference to evil. Some of them paid the ultimate price for their courage—my father, my mother, my husband Martin Niemoeller, and my cousin Werner von Haeften. Their lives and their memories are my greatest blessing.
Contents
Editor’s Note , Richard Libowitz
PART ONE: THEY EVEN CLOSED THE CANDY STORE
Prologue
Chapter One: September 1914
Chapter Two: Augusta
Chapter Three: Anna
Chapter Four: Father
Chapter Five: My Arrival
Chapter Six: Berlin
Chapter Seven: New Men in My Life
Chapter Eight: The New Pastor
Chapter Nine: Rabble-Rousers
Chapter Ten: The Godfather
Chapter Eleven: The Third Reich Begins
Chapter Twelve: A Pastor’s Growing Doubts
Chapter Thirteen: Nazis on Parade
Chapter Fourteen: Life in the Third Reich
Chapter Fifteen: Royal Sons
Chapter Sixteen: School Days
Chapter Seventeen: Family Choices and Special Neighbors
Chapter Eighteen: Uncle Mirko
Chapter Nineteen: Nazi Actions
Chapter Twenty: A Meeting with the Führer
Chapter Twenty-One: Problems at School and at Home
Chapter Twenty-Two: Uncertain Reactions
Chapter Twenty-Three: Boarding School
Chapter Twenty-Four: My Meeting
Chapter Twenty-Five: Pastor Made Prisoner
Chapter Twenty-Six: Triumphs of the Führer
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Prisoner 569
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Growing Up
PART TWO: DESTRUCTION UNLIMITED
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Conspirators
Chapter Thirty: Out of and Into School
Chapter Thirty-One: An Aspiring Actress
Chapter Thirty-Two: A Visit Home
Chapter Thirty-Three: Good-bye to My Godfather
Chapter Thirty-Four: The Incipient Actress
Chapter Thirty-Five: The War Comes Closer to Home
Chapter Thirty-Six: Shortages
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Resistance
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Rescue Efforts
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Danzig
Chapter Forty: The Final Attempt
Chapter Forty-One: Revenge
Chapter Forty-Two: Aftermath
Chapter Forty-Three: More Illegal Activities
Chapter Forty-Four: A New Career
Chapter Forty-Five: Thoughts of Home
Chapter Forty-Six: The Prisoner of Dachau Receives Tragic News
Chapter Forty-Seven: The War Closes In
Chapter Forty-Eight: Last Visit to Dachau
Chapter Forty-Nine: Arabella
Chapter Fifty: Freedom
Chapter Fifty-One: Continuing the Trek
Chapter Fifty-Two: War’s End
Chapter Fifty-Three: The Russians are Coming
Chapter Fifty-Four: With the Americans
Chapter Fifty-Five: Joining the British
Chapter Fifty-Six: British Intelligence
Chapter Fifty-Seven: Return to Berlin
Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Confessing Accuser
Chapter Fifty-Nine: Surviving in Berlin
Chapter Sixty: Help from Many Sources
Chapter Sixty-One: A New Job
Chapter Sixty-Two: The News of My Father
Chapter Sixty-Three: Grandmother
Chapter Sixty-Four: Interlude: Journey into the Unknown—July 1986
Chapter Sixty-Five: New Sorrows, New Jobs
Chapter Sixty-Six: The Airlift
Chapter Sixty-Seven: Cold War
Chapter Sixty-Eight: Discomfort and New Life
PART THREE: THE PROMISED LAND
Chapter Sixty-Nine: A Test Case
Chapter Seventy: Living in America
Chapter Seventy-One: The New Yorker
Chapter Seventy-Two: The Today Show
Chapter Seventy-Three: In Love Again
Chapter Seventy-Four: Hollywood
Chapter Seventy-Five: Tragedies and Other Events in Europe
Chapter Seventy-Six: Events in America
Chapter Seventy-Seven: Divorce, Despair, Deliverance
Chapter Seventy-Eight: Back to Berlin
Chapter Seventy-Nine: Life with Martin
Chapter Eighty: Under the Rug
Chapter Eighty-One: Married Life
Chapter Eighty-Two: Martin and the World
Chapter Eighty-Three: Life in Germany
Chapter Eighty-Four: Rebellion
Chapter Eighty-Five: Film and Farewell
Chapter Eighty-Six: The Work Is Finished
Chapter Eighty-Seven: East Germany
Chapter Eighty-Eight: New Beginnings
Chapter Eighty-Nine: A New Life
Chapter Ninety: Questions of Faith . . . and Answers
Chapter Ninety-One: Conversion
Epilogue: August 1996
Index
Editor’s Note
More than a decade has passed since I had the good fortune to meet a sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued woman and was regaled by the stories of her distinguished family and the roles she and they played throughout the twentieth century. She spoke of her father, Ulrich Baron von Sell, trained as a diplomat, severely wounded in war, forced by circumstances to turn from the foreign service to a business career, eventually to become the financial adviser and closest friend of Germany’s last monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who would, in turn, be godfather to the baron’s children. She told of growing up during the Third Reich within a household adamantly opposed to its dictates, in which it was finally decided that passive resistance to Nazism would not suffice and what the price of that decision might be. She also spoke of the courageous pastor, Martin Niemoeller, who became an exemplar to the world by remaining unmoved by the earthly might of Adolf Hitler, and whom she would marry, decades later.
Crowns, Crosses, and Stars is Sarah Niemoeller’s story, the saga of a remarkable woman living in tumultuous times; born a German baroness, trained as an actress and an accomplished equestrienne, she was involved with myriad groups resisting both Hitler’s dictatorship and his genocidal efforts. Post-war, she assisted British Intelligence during the occupation period and experienced the trials of the Berlin Airlift before coming to America to create a new life for herself and her son. As an American citizen living in New York, she met and befriended many notables within politics, religion, and the arts before her return to Germany to wed Martin Niemoeller, resuming her life in the United States only after his passing ended a loving marriage, after which she began yet another phase in her life as an author, a public speaker, and a member of the Jewish People.
My task has been to weave Sarah’s narrative into a relatively straightforward time line while allowing digressions for stories involving some of the hundreds of men and women—nobles and commoners, heroes and villains, the famous, infamous, and the “ordinary”—who have played a part in her life. The task has been a challenge and a delight. My only regret is that space limitations precluded more of those tales from inclusion.
Crowns, Crosses, and Stars is a saga at once fantastic and fascinating. My thanks to Professor Zev Garber, the Shofar series editor who originally approached me, to the staff at Purdue University Press, including Charles Watkinson, Rebecca Corbin, and Katherine Purple, for their invaluable help with the manuscript, and, most of all, to Sarah Niemoeller, for the opportunity to bring her story to you.
—Richard Libowitz
     Temple University, July 2011
Part One
T HEY E VEN C LOSED THE C ANDY S TORE
Prologue
“There she is!”
A muffled whisper at first, like the rustling of dry leaves, slowly swelled into an outburst of unrestrained joy on the deck of the Italia as the weather-beaten veteran of the seas finally neared her destination, the harbor of New York.
“There she is, there she is!” we shouted.
Yes, indeed, there she was, the magnificent Statue of Liberty, the endearing symbol of Freedom in the New World.
Through the April early morning fog, faint outlines of the famous skyline of Manhattan had slowly begun to appear on the horizon. It drew closer and clearer, finally taking shape as the ship, now accompanied by tugboats, slowly navigated along the narrows between Brooklyn and Staten Island.
During the afternoon preceding our arrival, the Italia , sailing under the flag of Panama and groaning with old age, had cast anchor on the open sea. A coastal vessel had appeared from which several United States immigration officers emerged to climb aboard our ancient carrier. They would subject the immigrants to one last thorough screening before allowing them