„Fear was a word that didn´t exist in my dictionary"

Name : Maria-Theresia Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner

Birth Date : 5 June 1923

Birth Place : Vienna

Profession : Stenographer

Maria-Theresia Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner: "Po-li-tics, a word that is in the dictionary, but I won’t look there because I know how to write the word without making a mistake. Po-li-tics, a word that is also in the dictionary of foreign expressions, it says there: Greek-French. Occupied with the direction of public matters. Politics means being intelligent with regards to the affairs of state, taking the long view, and being prudent."

What are these characteristics based on?

Information on her life before, during and after WWII.

Maria-Theresia Kaltenbrunner was born in Vienna in 1923. She grew up in a very humble household. Since her father was forced to retire from the railroad at the age of 39. He was the victim of public servant personnel cuts implemented by the government of Federal Chancellor Dr. Ignaz Seipel. These measures were necessary to balance the budget as required by the League of Nations.

Politics only played a marginal role in the Kaltenbrunner family’s everyday life. The mother did what she was told to do by the father. He only commented on politics rarely, but did so pointedly. His only comment on the annexation by Germany was, "This brown brood is the last thing we needed!"

Her father was the most important person for Maria. She experienced the annexation of Austria as a fourteen year-old at Trade School. She started working as a stenographer and accountant at the Stadlau Malt Factory in 1939. In 1942 she is transferred to the Aeropace Research facility in Leopoldau, to the northwest of Vienna. In March 1943 she is transferred to the Torpedo testing Grounds in Gotenhafen "Witches Ground" (Hexengrund). She works as a secretary on the research and development of the air torpedoes and learns technical drawing. She is also responsible for bringing the guidance system developments of her department to Vienna.

She says the following of herself: "I am only the observer of events." She lives through the war fearlessly. Her motto is, "fear is a word that doesn’t exist in my dictionary." The Kaltenbrunner family name serves as a form of protective shield for her and her father during the war. Both tend to say what they are thinking and this creates dangerous situations for them. They remain unscathed since some people are not certain whether they are related to SS General Kaltenbrunner.

In January 1945, the entire torpedo testing facility and hydroplane squadron and Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner are relocated in Lübeck-Travemünde to avoid advancing Russian troops.

The air torpedo files the Germans sunk in the Trave River are recuperated by the British and Maria Kaltenbrunner is forced to translate the "Witches Ground" files (notes and designs) into English for the Royal Navy.

In August 1945 she is released from prison in Lübeck-Travemünde. However, she stays there because it seems impossible to return to Vienna at that time. She begins working on the NAAFI canteen of the Royal Army. Only at the end of 1945 does she succeed in informing her parents that she is alive and well. She returns to Vienna in June 1946 after being given a holiday pass. She stays in Vienna in compliance with her mother’s wishes.

Since all her professional records are in Lübeck-Travemünde Maria Kaltenbrunner is required to take courses to validate her credentials.

In June 1947, she begins working at the Ministry of the Interior and remains there until her retirement in June of 1979.

Maria-Theresia Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner was married for 43 years and has three daughters. Literature is her hobby. She began writing short stories after her husband passed away in 1992.

Maria-Theresia Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner: "War, that reminds me of my father again. He was also against the war and he always said: "If he who had to sign the declaration of war were at the very front of the front lines, he would put away his pencil."

"Fear was a word that didn´t exist in may dictionary"

"I was used to saying everything that occurred to me right away."

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

My name is Maria Kohlbeck, my maiden name was Kaltenbrunner, and I was born in Vienna on 5 June 1923. So, I come from a very humble household, I spent my holidays almost exclusively at my Grandmother's in the Weinviertel Region.

As of my tenth birthday, I spent my holidays in a Children's Home close to Rohrbach an der Gölsen. I only completed Elementary School and Middle School. Then I attended Trade School. I attended a Nun's School during my Elementary and Middle School years.

I was fourteen, two years of Trade School and then I started working. Then came the war, right afterwards. And, during the war, I worked for a food products company. Then I was obligatorily transferred to Aeronautical Research in Leopoldau. I was there for a short time... and after a while or so, I was transferred obligatorily to Goteshafen, Poland.

Ruth Deutschmann:

Were you aware of the political situation, did your parents or relatives discuss the situation at home?

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Politics were rarely discussed at home. No. Occasionally, Vati remarked on something, but I didn't register it as a child. I only became aware of something when the Umbruch came. Then I did. The Umbruch did affect me in a way. We had girls at school who came in wearing BDM Uniforms the very next day. There were three who came in their BDM uniforms cheering "Hooray and Trara!" – It didn't mean anything to me. ... I didn't really register it since we just didn't talk about politics at home.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

March '38, German invasion and der Führer (Adolf Hitler) arrives: Our school also sent us to Mariahilfer Strasse to greet the Führer (clear her throat). But I didn't stay on the street, we all got lost in the crowds anyway, so I went into the stores on Mariahilfer Strasse. It was wonderful to stroll through Herzmansky, for example. There were no people, you could look at everything, without anybody asking: "What are you doing here?" Everybody was standing at the windows (Note: and watched Hitler as he drove past them on the street. So two or three of us went for a walk in the department store. We knew when we had to be back at school anyway, so we just went back, like a group of lost stragglers...

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

No, no my parents weren't thrilled at all (clears her throat). It didn't even occur to my parents. It would have meant riding the tram, which meant spending money on a ticket. No, we never had that much money (laughs). Not even for that purpose, or certainly not for such a purpose. My father even said once, "This brown brood is the last thing we needed!"

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Yes, and then the referendum came. My father said he would also vote against it and my mother replied, "I don't know if one should dare to do that." When he returned from voting he said, "it wasn't a secret vote, I had the feeling that the envelopes were marked."

And the next day a car drove up, I just don't know if it was the SA or SS, whether they were Braune or Schwarze (in brown or in black), and picked up a married couple that had voted "No". We never heard from them again, they disappeared.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Well, I think it was when I came back from school once. I wanted to get something from the small market place close by and I passed a store, a textile store. It had belonged to a Jew, or maybe he was still there, I don't remember (clears her throat).

In any case, I passed it and a woman was standing there with a poster hung around her neck: "I am a German pig who shopped at a Jewish store.""(Clears her throat). An SS man was standing right next to her. He stopped everybody who walked passed and told them to spit on the woman.

And I had an advantage there again sometimes: I had a "good" name during the Nazi era for one thing - Kaltenbrunner. It was the name of an SS General, but I had nothing to do with him. And I was also very little.

So when he said that to me, I looked at the woman at him and then I ran away. But he didn't come after me. Yes, it was really horrible.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Then us children were obediently (note: half forced) taken to listen to a speech. An SS man was speaking up front and a young man sitting a few rows further up from me dozed off. And two SS men immediately approached and hit him. They then forced him to sit at the end of the row. Naturally, it didn't take long for him to doze off again. They came and started hitting and kicking him before dragging him out of the hall, half-standing, half-stumbling. And, naturally, I wanted to jump up and run over. I was used to saying everything that occurred to me right away. But a classmate jabbed me in the ribs and said, "Do you want to get kicked as well? Sit down!"

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

My father said: "I knew all along: If he (note: Hitler) needs the unemployed, it is only because he is re-arming for war." Well, one didn't really notice it. No, it was simply accepted. Or it was like this: First, one victory after another, or not?

And then when Stalingrad came, my father said: "So, now we're retreating. Now we're done winning, we have worn ourselves out winning." He always just tossed remarks at us on this or that, but he never discussed things at length within the family.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

I worked at the Stadlau Malt Factory, and then at "Graf Suppenwürfel" (earl bouillon cubes). There was another company on the estate as well, Dr. Wander, Ovomaltine.

There were Nazis in the company that approached you right away. They encouraged you to save money for a car. Then once the war was done with, over, you could buy a Volkswagen, if you had saved enough money. The majority started saving. I said I wasn't sure I would even have a licence when the war was over. I also said I would buy a car on my own when the war is over. So I saw no reason to start saving right then and there. This was held against me in part, but it was accepted...

I had the feeling after my father said that he (Hitler) needed every Groschen (money) and that there are no unemployed people because they were all working for the war. I thought: "the savings are also only for the war, he (Hitler) needs the money...

I didn't save for a Volkwagen. Nobody got one anyway.

Alert Colleagues

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

After the Stadlau Malt Factory, I was obligatorily transferred to Aeronautical Research in Leopoldau. I didn't feel comfortable there.

All I had to do there was a little bit of accounting, which I didn't really enjoy doing. I preferred taking stenography and then transcribing it into longhand. I didn't like it there... If my mother packed me a lunch consisting of some slices of bread with lard I was immediately told: "the last Schmalz-Aufruf (lard drive) was three weeks ago! Why do you still have some on your bread?" It was the same if my mother gave me an egg: "The last egg drive was three weeks ago." So I asked, "Well, doesn't an egg keep for three weeks?" That was it then. But I was only there from the beginning of December until March (of 1943). It was only an interlude.

And then I was already in Poland. But I have to note that I wasn't in the least bit shaken, I thought, "Well, then I'll move around a bit and go take a look at Poland"

Ruth Deutschmann:

Who noticed if you were eating an egg or a slice of bread with lard?

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Well, Who took notice? (Clears her throat) A man and a woman sat in my room as well. Whenever I unpacked my food, we didn't have a lunch break anymore, we only had time to eat our sandwiches, he would say right away: "when was..." So I immediately heard when the last drive for such and such food had been held. It went on until I didn't dare to unwrap anything anymore. When this happened I was asked, "You're not eating anything?" my response was: "I didn't get anything to bring along." But I had it in my pocket! I didn't eat it because of all the foolish talk.

Ruth Deutschmann:

What did he want to achieve by making remarks? Did he want to intimidate you...?

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

No, I had the feeling he wanted to find out if we had gotten things on the black market. He wanted to see whether I had a source I could get things from without Marken, food stamps, oh well. In a certain way it was true, we had a lot of relatives out in the country. The egg was from there for sure and not from the Lebensmittelkarte, the food stamp booklet, I'm sure.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Then I was... yes, at the beginning of March (1943), anyway, on a Friday I was summoned by the Director. He started talking pleasantly, about my family and this and that. I thought to myself, "Something must be wrong if he is being so nice to me." It proved to be true because he then asked me if I was married to General Kaltenbrunner, (corrects herself) related to him. I responded by saying: "No, I can't help you with that kind of relative..." That was on Friday. I received marching orders when I came for duty on Saturday. I was ordered to Goteshafen, Poland with two men. And so I went to the Torpedo Weapons Grounds in Goteshafen.

Ruth Deutschmann:

Could it be that you were sent there because he originally assumed you were related to Kaltenbrunner?

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Well, it is very likely they wouldn't have sent me then...

But that outfit was hit dead on (during a bombing raid), nobody got out alive and I wasn't there anymore...

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

My father did complain (about the political situation) and my mother, how should I say, was afraid when my father was away. She was afraid he would say something and be taken away. But nothing happened to him. I think people were uncertain because of the name. They didn't know whether he was listening for reactions or whether he was serious. So the name was a protective shield.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Then I arrived at the Goteshafen Torpedo Grounds... and I worked as a stenographer there. I also learned how to prepare technical drawings and even travelled to Vienna on assignment two or three times. So, work was very interesting. What the torpedo was developed for is quite another issue.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Goteshafen was the Polish port of Gdynia. It lies east of Danzig. North west of Danzig. There is a little bay there. There is a place called Barbidole, which supposedly means "Witches Ground" in German, a little further up from Goteshafen, where the quarantine station used to be. That's where the testing grounds were for the air torpedo that was being developed there. It was also produced there in part as far as I know. By the way, the location was directly opposite to the Hela Peninsula.

So, the guidance models were made in Vienna... we always had to travel back and forth (in order to bring the technical drawings to Vienna). Then the guidance systems were built in to these torpedoes and at night they (the Hexengrund Airfield crew) flew up in one of those Fieseler Storch aircraft to test the torpedo model. It sank into the ocean when it didn't work, and we looked out for ray of light or something when it was launched. The guidance could be set so that the torpedo would move in a straight line, in a circle or in a zigzag pattern. The circular pattern was intended for a ship and the zigzag was for squadrons.

I don't know these things exactly anymore today.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Well, indeed, they didn't dare to give you something. If you took something, you might have 5 eggs in your bag and that was the greatest of feelings. And later, when you boarded the train, a gendarme inspected the contents of your bag. And if he found something, he would take it away. That reminds me... It was December of '43, I think. I was at home and I drove out to the country to visit my relatives. And there was a hunt on there. They were hunting rabbits and my uncle's dog knew me very well. So (clears her throat), when I got on my way back, with a Tascherl, (Austrian expression for a little bag) containing no more than four eggs, I think, the dog ran up with a rabbit. He dropped it in front of my feet jumped up, licked me and jumped up again and so on. My uncle whistled, but no, Treff (the dog's name) stayed with me and I patted him, saying, "Treff, take the rabbit, go, go!" my uncle whistled again and Treff ran away, leaving the rabbit on the ground. I thought to myself, "You can't leave it lying on the street, which would definitely be a sin." So I took the rabbit by the legs, took my bag and marched on to the train. And the gendarme was making his rounds.

I held my rabbit and thought: "Alright, come over here." I smiled at him and he looked at me, measuring me from top to bottom, laughed as well and left. I thought to myself: "Well, another ten minutes and the train will be leaving. I am curious to see what happens. He'll take my rabbit away from me at the last minute." (Laughs) Nothing happened! He walked past me three times, I smiled at him, he looked at me and I took the rabbit home. My father was overjoyed and I returned to Goteshafen the next day.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

And there were always alarms, again and again. Generally at night. Then we had to hide in a bunker. The bunker was built right into the mountain. There were Bankerl, little benches left and right and it was lit. So naturally I went into the bunker with a camera around my neck and a book. I started reading since there was light. Some prayed, other trembled and what not - I read. One said: "How can you be reading if bombs are being dropped outside?" I said: "I can't hear any bombs" Her: "Well, be quiet, maybe we can hear something!" To which I said: "There isn't anything to be heard." She says: "There they come now!" I say: "You can't hear a thing because we have, I don't know how many tons of soil over us. And if a bomb come in here, it doesn't matter. We wouldn't get out of here alive anyway." She: "How can you say such things.?!"...

And I continued reading. She started up again: "How can you read? And I said: Better - if you all keep quiet!" Well, I stopped going there and volunteered for Luftschutzdienst , aerial observation duties.

It was light until around ten anyway. I just sat on the Stiegerl (colloquial for small step) front of the barracks, read my book and waited for the all clear. And the others were down in the bunker. I was in there maybe two or three times, not more. It didn't interest me: Is it of any use?!

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

And the next thing that shocked me, when the war was almost over and I was in Goteshafen, was when a soldier returned from leave at six in the morning instead of twelve (clears her throat). The rather odd commander then ordered his unit comrades to execute him since he was guilty of deserting (clears her throat). It was horrible. I didn't understand it. What could he have done between twelve and six? Nothing at all. And they, his comrades, had to shoot him. What was horrible was that the soldiers from the neighbouring unit had to stand behind them and shoot whoever failed to pull the trigger. There were unbelievable episodes.

One of the soldiers of the neighbouring unit was a good friend of one of my colleagues. When I went to the camp (corrects herself) to the barracks the only thought I had was: "What kind of noise is that? Why doesn't anybody say something about the commotion?" And I followed the noise. When I walked in he (the colleague’s friend) was sitting there beating his chest saying, "I'll shoot that dog, I'll shoot that dog." That's when I found out what had really happened. And he claimed that they had said only one rifle was loaded. But, he said, you could tell by the recoil: all the rifles were loaded... It was horrible. Well, and then we fled to Lübeck-Travemünde.

Ruth Deutschmann:

Let me understand this: Who said "I'll shoot that dog, I'll shoot that dog"?

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Him, my colleague's friend. He had been told to line as well and shoot the soldier in front of him if he failed to pull the trigger. So he said he would shoot the commander. And I thought to myself, "Well, I could understand that. How could he give such orders? That was at the end of ’44 or at the beginning of ’45, everything was more or less lost anyway by that time. But no one wanted to acknowledge the fact... And then we fled from Goteshafen to Lübeck-Travemünde in a cattle train car, from Goteshafen to Lübeck.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

The time in Goteshafen ended with us having to pack everything up and flee, because the Russians were close to Danzig.

Then a colleague of mine, she was in my room, drove to Danzig and was shot by the Russians. She didn’t travel to Travemünde with us. The Russians shot her. She didn’t come back. She wanted to go home one more time since she was from Danzig. (Clears her throat).

So we sat in the cattle car for almost three weeks, until we finally arrived in Travemünde. First we were placed the barracks. Work continued as usual and then there was testing, for which we also had a climate chamber.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Since we didn’t always have warm water to wash ourselves with in the barracks, we, a colleague of mine and myself, decided to use the climate chamber. We could set the temperature, shower, wash and dry our clothing and walk back to the barracks. Said and done. We showered, washed clothing and set up a line. However, the line was connected to an alarm. The alarm was there to pull on if someone fell ill. So when we hung up our clothes on it, we activated the alarm, which rang in the sick berth. Suddenly there were three medics standing in front of the door, but it was closed. We said, "No, no, we pulled on it by mistake:" We couldn’t open up since we weren’t wearing anything and had to wait for our clothes to dry (laughs). Things like that also happened. But its curious, I only remember the funny parts. Somehow I forgot the other things.

Ruth Deutschmann:

What was the purpose of the climate chamber?

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

It was there so that we could see what temperatures the devices would still work under. Naturally it could be set to be cold or warm and so on. And there was always warm water there. We used the chamber one more time, but this time we made sure to tie a bow on the line. We did that so we wouldn’t think of hanging something on it again.

Ruth Deutschmann:

How did you experience the end of the war.

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Actually I was happy. And I can remember that it was broadcast over the radio: "Special bulletin from Berlin, Special bulletin from Berlin!" And then I felt like my father because of what the others said, "Good God! What can it be? A special bulletin from the Führerbunker?!" And like my father I said: "Oh well, maybe he went to Heaven."

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

We became prisoners of war right after the war... Things were this way, more or less: Everyone went to work somewhere. I was sent to the Royal Navy and translated the air torpedo documentation, complete with drawings, descriptions and so on... Everything had been sunk in the Trave, and they (the British) salvaged it and had everything translated.

Ruth Deutschmann:

Ah, that must have been suspenseful. This means that the work you researched in Goteshafen was sunk by the Germans at the end of the war?

Maria Kohlbeck-Kaltenbrunner:

Yes. And the English salvaged it and translated everything into English. And the drawings too, everything. I don’t know where it all went afterwards. I only worked there.

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Copyright © 2001 by Ruth Deutschmann, Vienna

Ruth Deutschmann

Vienna, 31 July 2001