My Friend Heidi’s SS Father

  My first girl friend in Germany was named Heidi.  She was an older woman. All of 24 years old!  We had gone out for a few months. Generally we would meet at a gasthaus or I would pick her up in front of her house in Kornwestheim, north of Stuttgart.  We had been on vacation to the Eibsee Hotel in Garmisch and a variety of other places throughout southern Germany.

  Heidi had told me that her father had been a Nazi and that he was in the SS.  She also mentioned that her brothers didn’t particularly like Americans.  Her mother had passed away and she said as time passed her father kept getting a little meaner.  Heidi was about 5’10” rail thin and apparently got her height from her mother. . Her father and two brothers were all around 5’7'” to 5’9'” tall. Apparently her mother had been the stabilizing force in the family.

  I arrived early one evening and was waiting outside in the car.  She came out and got me because she was running late.  She introduced me to her father which was a little “frosty” but at least he didn’t shoot me.  We sat in the living room while Heidi got ready.  This was pretty early in my tour and I didn’t have much German language ability at the time.  I tried my little bit of German but he ignored me. After a couple more tries he got up walked across the room and opened the closet. It was good sized closet.  It had only a couple for coats so the SS Uniform stood out like a sore thumb.

  The uniform shown above looks to be like the one hanging in the closet sans the cap.  All I really remember was the very dark uniform with the red arm band. I also remember the silver colored SS or whatever was embroidered on the collar.  He left the closet door open and left the room.  When Heidi was ready she saw the open closet and chewed out her father.  I’m sure it didn’t do any good but I never went back to the house and never saw him again.

  We had a run in with her brothers at Lindy’s gasthaus a few weeks later but the owner of Lindy’s and some of the regulars who knew me ran them off.  Finally one of the brothers, I think his name was Karl, cornered me and Heidi at a beer tent during Oktoberfest in Stuttgart.  The evening was early and Karl had started drinking long before we arrived and he ended up losing the fight! Needless to say Heidi and I eventually went our separate ways.