The Dominafuhrer - THE GODMOTHER

Episode 39 - Growing Pains

Essen, 1919 - 1931

Kathi was to see her Father cry many more times; he cried when many of his friends, neighbours and former comrades died from the Spanish Influenza that swept the post war world or from starvation because the Allies maintained the blockade of Germany until the Versailles Treaty had been signed. When Germany was unable to pay the high reparations laid down in the treaty, the French and Belgian armies seized the Factories and Pits in the Rhineland and Ruhr and encouraged the formation of a short lived Rhineland Republic. Erik, now back at Krupps, was in the crowd of striking protesters that was fired on by French troops and cried when he saw the resulting slaughter.

Forced back to work to earn a living, Erik would join the race for the factory gates on a Friday afternoon with first of all a bag, then a suitcase and finally a wheelbarrow to carry the piles of banknotes that were his weekly wage. There, Kathi’s mother would be waiting and, together they would run to the shops to spend the money on a reducing amount of food and necessities as spiraling inflation meant that the dwindling stocks of goods on the shelves were being repriced upwards even as they were being served. Erik felt so helpless when the shopping bag was being unpacked at home and, when he saw how little that his millions of Marks had bought, he cried because he could not feed his small family.

By the time that the exchange rate had sank to four billion marks to the Dollar, Germany was on the point of political and economic collapse and was saved only by a massive revaluation of the Mark, the withdrawal of the French, whose own economy was suffering, recasting of reparations under the Dawes plan and millions of American dollars. The damage done to Germany’s fragile democracy was more lasting and the forces of the extreme left and right clashed on the streets while waiting for their moment to seize power.

Kathi shed tears herself but her overwhelming feeling during those years up to her eighteenth birthday was anger, anger at the death of some many of her young sick and starving friends, anger at the French; an abiding hate that never left her, and anger at the forces that were crushing the sprit of the proud, upright father that she loved and adored. In fact, both of her parents were tall people and seemed to shrink as well as go thin during those lean years of hyperinflation.

The return to better times coincided with Kathi qualifying, to her surprise and her proud parent’s joy, for the local Gymnasium where a good education and employment prospects were much surer. Hard work was required but Kathi’s temper and determination; some called her stubborn but not to her face, made her selective in her studies. Her favourite subject, English was welcome, French, one of her least, was not. Latin and German Grammar were a cure for insomnia, not that Kathi suffered from it. History was interesting as was Geography, Mathematics was baffling but necessary, Science was a closed book, Art was a pleasure but Music was a trial, although she enjoyed listening to it. Despite her physique, for she was fast catching up with her parents in height, she did not like sport or gymnastics and her temper and a hockey stick were a lethal combination on every school playing field in the area. Cookery was a hit and miss adventure, Needlework was beneath contempt and her attempts at Typing and Shorthand just confirmed her intention to earn enough money to pay someone else to provide those services for her. Religious Instruction was attended under protest as she would certainly have no use for that in the future.

Puberty was another cause of anger and, while she loved what was happening to her body and spent ages admiring her self naked in her bedroom mirror, she was angry that it was beyond her control. Her height, long legs, swelling bust, long copper hair and beautiful sweet smile that belied the fury within, soon attracted admirers  and not only of the opposite sex. The trouble was that, much as she welcomed the attention, she had nothing but disdain for the boys who pursued her and their attitude towards girls provoked even more anger within her. When she agreed to go on dates it was because she enjoyed being entertained but, despite their boasts, none of her erstwhile beaus were allowed more than a brief kiss on the lips; touching, groping and hugging without permission were all very much verboten! Kathi made the decision herself to masturbate the more personable and respectful ones because it interested her to watch how grateful they were and how much power she had over them while their members were in her hand. One thought that this licensed him to take further liberties and another decided to take by force what she denied him. Both regretted that decision; the first required surgery for a hernia and the other hospital treatment for facial injuries, although neither would admit who their assailant was. Erik, a veteran of close combat in the trenches, had watched his daughter’s blossoming into an adolescent beauty with both pride and alarm and had personally instructed her in the art of self defence. Kathi had found the lesbian overtures that she received intriguing but, although she told herself that she did not find the suitors attractive, she rejected them because it was made clear that she would be required to take the submissive role.

Her social life therefore, while not empty, was with those she chose and being her friend was very much a rollercoaster ride, especially during her monthly periods when she was angry at the loss of control of her own body. Nevertheless, she enjoyed listening to most types of music, but did not dance or sing herself, read newspapers and lots of books, many of them in English and indulged her secret passion; the Cinema.     

From when the Glückauf-Haus Cinema opened in 1924, Kathi and her Mother had become ardent film goers. Erik usually fell asleep soon after the house lights dimmed but his womenfolk sat enthralled by the images on the screen above them. Kathi particularly enjoyed American films not only because she could read the titles without the dubious German translations, but also because she was fascinated by the country and the people. She dreamt of sailing into New York harbour on a Norddeutscher Lloyd Line passenger ship, past the Statue of Liberty and docking beneath the skyscrapers. Then, she would board a train or a Greyhound Bus and cross the continent to California. Kathi didn’t mind the British or even the German films made at the UFA Studios in Potsdam but they didn’t create the same fantasy world of Gangsters, Cowboys and Millionaires as the products of Hollywood. At sixteen, she took a part time job as an usherette so that she could spend more time in the cinema and be paid for it. As she approached her seventeenth birthday however, she faced a greater problem than when the cinema would be able to install the new sound equipment to be able to show the talking pictures.

For nearly five years, Germany experienced a minor economic and industrial boom, financed by American investment but, in October 1929, that vanished when the Wall Street Stock Market crashed and Germany was the nation that suffered most in the depression that followed. Once again, Kathi saw her Father cry when he was laid off by Krupps and ended up labouring with thousands of other unemployed on the site of the Great Garden Exhibition of the Ruhr Area and digging out the artificial Lake Baldeney.

With her Father on subsistence wages, the only other money coming into their house was from hers and her Mother’s part time jobs and Kathi decided that they could not afford for her to stay in school for another two years just to get her Arbitur when she had no desire to go on to University. Indeed, Kathi had no idea about a future career; many of her contemporaries had left school over the previous two years and were now working, seeking employment or even married, the latter prospect filling her with dread. For over a year, along with millions of others, she looked for permanent work and soon found that she was not suited for office or secretarial duties or the few menial jobs available for women. Finally at Christmas 1930, she found a seasonal post, selling dolls, in the toy department of a store on Kettwiger Strasse. To her surprise, she was retained into the New Year because so many permanent staff were off sick.

To continue this story, click The Invitation

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