The Problem with Georg’s Ancestry Passport
Heinrich Himmler, the Reich’s SS leader, had decreed that all members of his organization had to produce evidence of their aryan ancestry in order to retain their rights and privileges of their membership in the SS. By a good portion of luck and conniving Georg von Waldenfels managed to establish a personal connection to the special SS elitist group, which was sworn in as the one and only bodyguard responsible for Hitler’s limb and life. This personal connection was no other than the leader of the bodyguard, Sepp Dietrich. Georg had calculated in wise foresight that he could use his like-minded wedding guest as an influential person in his attempt to conceal his Jewish ancestry.
Georg had been unable to provide sufficient evidence for his aryan descent for the officials in the department for racial questions in Berlin. They had no issues with his ‘pure aryan’ wife Ilse Jannink. Himmler, who personally took care of such questions, granted the marriage licence without any reservations. Yet, feelings of relief for Georg were premature. One cannot fail to notice on his family records the blue stamps behind the various names of his forefathers, indicating a negative response by the agency’s officials.
In addition, the data which Georg had submitted did not go farther back in time than his great-grandfather Friedrich Wilhelm Bauer born in1818 in Groß Ottersleben. A very suspicious gap remained in Georg’s records. Indeed, SS officers had to provide evidence for their aryan genetic background all the way back to 1750.
Also puzzling for the government race experts was the noble character of Ludwig von Waldenfels, who 12 years after Georg’s birth and one week after the wedding with Anna officially declared himself the father of this child. Obviously, such a declaration even in writing does not prove a blood line to the von Waldenfels family. Fortunately for Georg the officials did not investigate this matter any further.
In the meantime Anna von Waldenfels was sitting on pins and needles. Should she reveal the name of her son’s real father? Would such a revelation not make her son’s situation worse? Would the Nazi investigators not get really suspicious when eyeing the old Galician-Austrian Jewish sounding name “Grasmück”? Such thoughts occupied Anna’s mind and must have caused many a sleepless night at castle Panwitz. It was lucky that there was not sufficient time to turn the focus on grandmother Emma’s ancestry. The family kept her until her death (1941) in her tower room away from the public eye to make sure that the friendly old lady’s tongue would not let slip out an incriminating word or two.
To be continued …
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 
Oh, dear, this is getting complicated … 😉 … back to 1750? Crazy! So there was some truth in the rumours spread by the jealous family members anyway … I am looking forward to the next part!
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Not just some truth. Georg the Nazi was trying to hide his Jewish ancestry. The sad part is that the gossip and the rumours had strong anti-semitic overtones.
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“They kept her in the tower room” sounds, ummm, mediaeval? Efforts at ethnic cleansing and establishing ‘pure’ bloodlines continues in different forms around the world.
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Well, I honestly believe that she was not really a prisoner, as this was her private apartment from the beginning. More likely is that when visitors showed up at castle Lagowitz, the family made sure that Emma would stay in her room.
Too sad ethnic cleansing is still being practiced in our so-called enlightened era, Ankur.
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This true story of your lineage has more twists and turns than a work of fiction. Emma is kept in a tower room and Georg wants to work as an SS officer who kills and tortures people of Jewish heritage. How ironic!
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Could there be more irony than this? Even more strange things to be told on my next post …
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Looking forward to it.
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This story does indeed have some very strange wrinkles. I need to go back a few posts and find out what this Jewish heritage is—or have you not revealed it in detail, just as a family rumor? And I also need to go remind myself who Georg’s real father is. The aging brain sure makes retention of information difficult!!
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Hmm, I guess there is no way to search on your blog for prior posts about Georg. Can you remind me who his real father was? Sorry!
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The real father, a true aristocrat, could not possible marry Anna, a miller’s and rope maker’s daughter. Feeling truly sorry for Anna’s predicament, he made arrangements with lower ranking officer Ludwig von Waldenfels to marry my aunt. How is that for a twisted love story?
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Thanks for the recap. And yes, human beings have been doing twisted and terrible things to each other since Cain and Abel!
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Perhaps I should mention again that Emma Klopp is my grandmother. So that makes Georg my cousin. Emma was half Jewish of a family which had generations ago converted to Christianity. When I am done with all her children my father being the last, I will explore our Jewish ancestry (the Emma line) going back to the 17th. century. More and even stranger wrinkles to come, Amy.
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So who knows, Peter? Perhaps we are cousins!
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Quite possible …
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I didn’t know that the SS officers had to prove their family’s “racial purity” for generations in order to serve! Everything that the Nazi’s believed was just nuts (and so very wrong). I’m learning a lot history from your blog, Peter…..thank you for that.
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There is so much we can learn from each other. That is for me what blogging is all about. Thank you, Ann! Your comments are always appreciated.
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