Beyond Tears

Beyond Tears by Irmgard Litten

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This is a historical time capsule about somebody who has been largely forgotten today. Interestingly, even in this memoir, the subject appears only in cameos as someone being acted upon, rather than as an actor.

The subject of the memoir is Hans Litten. Litten was born in 1903, and, so, was too young to participate in World War I. He came from a well-connected, upper-class Protestant German family. His father was the president of the Konigsburg law school and was well-known as an arbitrator. Despite his desire to become a philologist, Hans went to law school as a more pragmatic career choice. He alienated his father by working on the edge of Communist politics by representing working-class defendants - probably, Communists - in criminal trials.

Litten seems to have had a heavy dose of youthful idealism. In his mid to late twenties, he represented workers in various lawsuits and criminal proceedings involving the crimes of the Nazis. His biggest claim to fame came in a 1931 trial where he subpoenaed and cross-examined Adolph Hitler to show that the Nazis were violent as a matter of policy.

Hitler did not forget this experience. When he obtained plenary powers after the burning of the Reichstag, the Nazis took into “protective custody” their enemies. One of those enemies was the twenty-nine year old Hans Litten. Litten was arrested before he turned thirty.

Litten never saw freedom again. Litten was taken from jail to prison to a concentration camp. He was repeatedly tortured. He sought to commit suicide on several occasions and was ultimately successful in 1935.

This book begins when Litten is arrested. These are the memoirs of Litten's mother as she deals with Nazis, the Gestapo, prison officials, concentration camp officers, released prisoners, and others to keep track of her son. She describes her visits with her son where she saw how he had been beaten and crippled. She also commemorates the testimony of released prisoners who spoke to her about her son's courage and compassion.

This book was written for an English and American readership in approximately 1940. It's obvious from the forward and afterward that the purpose of the book was to spark American outrage at the atrocities of the Nazis. I don't think that Irmgard Litten had to embellish those atrocities; a simple recitation of the facts was sufficient.

This book can be a valuable historical artifact. Irmgard provides a worm-eye view of the Nazi state prior to the war. Irmgard's social prominence put her in contact with high-level Nazis. She didn't deal with the major Nazis, such as Hitler and Goering, directly, but she had dealings with people who ran in those circles and could share what they knew about the views of such Nazi eminences concerning her son.

She also offers a glimpse of the lived experience of the average German during the Nightmare Years. For example, when we see Nazis extending their arms in the Hitler salute and shouting “Heil, Hitler,” we may think that they are enthusiastic supporters, but the truth is that many Germans were tortured into such performances:

“Once I met a woman there who was leaving the town without having obtained an interview. She was crying bitterly, and was followed by the curses and abuse of the man to whom she had appealed. An SA man asked him: “What have you been up to with her?” This was his reply: “The carrion can't open her mouth enough to say ‘Heil Hitler,' so I gave her what for. She'll learn soon enough.” I myself could not open my mouth wide enough; hitherto I had got off with a silent lifting of the arm. After this I always opened it when I visited the office of the Gestapo or any other premises of the kind. But although I did my best to speak the words quietly and inconspicuously, it always sounded like a war-cry, and the person thus greeted always looked at me with a startled expression; except that Captain H., who was so kind to me later on, used to smile amiably when I roared the words “Heil Hitler” at him, responding with a friendly “Heil Hitler, gracious lady!” If I ventured to omit the greeting he would say, still pleasantly, but in a tone of distinct admonition, “Heil Hitler, gracious lady!” and smiling his acknowledgment of my war-cry: “Heil Hitler, Herr Hauptmann!”

Litten, Irmgard. Beyond Tears: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Son in Nazi Germany . Uncommon Valor PRess. Kindle Edition.

Irmgard mentions that a “company of homosexuals” was treated with extreme severity at Dachau. She also offers this observation:

“I told him that I needed the help of a courageous clergyman who would visit my son in order to bring me news of him. Perhaps he could visit him on the pretext of hearing his confession. My son, it was true, had been baptized a Protestant, but he always had a leaning toward the Catholic faith. (His friendship with Father Stratmann obviously made a good impression on the priest.) I was appealing now to a Catholic because I knew of many cases in which the Catholic clergy had been most helpful and courageous. He told me of the best man for my purpose, but would not give me anything in writing; only a verbal message, which I had to repeat exactly.

Litten, Irmgard. Beyond Tears: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Son in Nazi Germany . Uncommon Valor PRess. Kindle Edition.

That passage raises an interesting omission. Irmgard mentions several times that Hans was a Protestant, but that he was attracted to Catholicism. She mentions several times that she was asked if she was Jewish, which she wasn't, and that she was outraged when Hans was clothed with the insignia for Jewish prisoners and kept with Jewish prisoners. I thought that this might have been a particular “screw you” to Hans because of the cross-examining Hitler. Irmgard never once mentions or implies that the Nazi categorization of Hans as Jewish was accurate under the Nuremberg laws because her husband had been born Jewish and had converted to Protestantism to advance his career. Hans was therefore half-Jewish under German law.

Why didn't Irmgard mention this? It seems puzzling. Perhaps, she was concerned that anti-semitism in America might dilute the appeal of her memoir? I don't know.

Here is one passage on this subject:

“After I had been talking to him for some five minutes, during which he had observed me with peculiar interest, he said: “Excuse the interruption, but aren't you then a Jewess? No, you can't have any Jewish blood in you! That's out of the question!” “I have already told you,” I said, “that I am not a Jewess.” “But how is that possible?” “You say that, I suppose, because Herr Goebbels is always speaking of the Jew Litten? Herr Goebbels is doubtless powerful enough to stifle any refutation of his statements, but his power doesn't extend so far that he can alter the blood in my veins!”

Litten, Irmgard. Beyond Tears: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Son in Nazi Germany . Uncommon Valor PRess. Kindle Edition.

Another one:

“During this interview I made one more reference to the Jewish question. I told König: “I must once more express my indignation that my son should be placed in the Jewish company. Not because I think it dishonoring; in this matter I absolutely repudiate the views of the Third Reich. I object to it for quite other reasons: namely, because I know that in all the camps, and especially in Dachau, the Jewish company is shockingly ill- treated.” I explained that my son should not properly have been placed in the Jewish company. It was a flat violation of the law, and I should make an appeal to the Reichsführer if the Gestapo could do nothing about it. “That wouldn't be much use,” said König. “I can tell you beforehand what the Herr Reichsführer would reply: the Gestapo is above the law. And the Gestapo has decided that in the camp a man is a Jew if he had only 25 per cent—indeed, if he has a single drop—of Jewish blood.”

Litten, Irmgard. Beyond Tears: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Son in Nazi Germany . Uncommon Valor PRess. Kindle Edition.

Interesting.

If you are interested in getting an overview of Litten's Weimar legal career, this book won't help you. On the other hand, if you want a taste of what it was like to be on the Nazi enemies list, this book is more than adequate. For my part, as a lawyer, I am in awe of what Litten accomplished at such a young age. I am also in awe of his personal courage and integrity. It is a shame that he lived during the Nightmare Years and was denied the opportunity to see his talents fully develop.