Helmut Bernert

“Germans had to officially wear an ‘N’ mark on the right side of their chest. Looking back it was clear: This was a kind of version of the Jewish star for Germans, that was obvious. You were supposed to wear it sewn on, but I didn’t have it sewn on, just attached with a safety pin, because I often took it off. For example, and this was an almost schizophrenic situation, once a man stopped me in the street and slapped me for not having my ‘N’ sewn on. But that man was wearing an SA uniform, so it was quite the hilarious situation.”

“It was like this: My mother was contacted by a former colleague of my father’s, a master carpenter. At that time it was usual for the painting and varnishing workshops to also finish furniture, so the carpenters and painters were in close contact during work and that’s why this man knew my father. The man came to my mother and told her: ‘I’m supposed to gather people for a displacement train car.’ My mother answered that if they let our father out of the work camp, we’d be willing to resettle. So they let our father out, we packed everything up and moved to the concentration camp, where we were for two or three days before they gathered everyone. From there we moved to the train station, it was only about 200–300 metres, and got on the train cars, which were of course cattle cars. First of all we loaded up our luggage, then embarked and headed out. I don’t think we knew where we were headed. They probably didn’t tell us where we’re going, but I’m not sure about that. These transports usually headed for Bavaria. Our transport left on 9 May and on the 11 May we were at the German borders. At the borders they first of all registered us, then deloused us – for health reasons they disinfected us with DDT. We probably also got something to eat, but we continued on the same day. We arrived at our destination on 13 May. Actually there were two destinations, the second close by the first, which was Frankenberg an der Eder in North Hesse. That’s where we arrived on 13 May. The second group continued to nearby Munden and our part of the carriage arrived at the town of Rengershausen, where we were registered with the police and divided up into our corresponding farmsteads. The first thing we wanted to know was where we’d actually ended up.”

“On the one hand I tried to explain which institutions are necessary in a democratic country and what the influence of each citizen could or should be, such as participating in elections. So that the state isn’t self-serving, but in the hands of its citizens. At the same time I tried to show the consequences of the citizens of the Weimar Republic not sufficiently identifying with their democratic state, allowing a dictatorship to take hold. Next, what mechanisms allowed Hitler to sufficiently mollify the people, so that they didn’t even notice how they were being used as tools and manipulated. I never understood how it was possible for even the so-called intelligentsia to be hoodwinked. The lawyers I understood, I studied history and state law and so I knew that the lawyers had as it was called legal positivism. But that all the other intellectuals would be so tricked, apart from a few small exceptions, that was quite unexpected to me. However, looking at how the AfD party is agitating today and at the kind of people who are cheering them on, that’s a terrifying experience, because I can see it still works exactly the same way. Which is why I keep asking again and again: What options does democracy have to promote itself, what are the possibilities for a positive depiction of democracy, to show that engagement and critical thinking are necessary.”