The Boy Who Went to War by Giles Milton

scarcely enough to pay the bills but it left him with plenty of spare time in which to reflect on the swiftness of his fall from grace. Within a few short years of Nazi rule, he had been flung on to the breadline. He survived financially only because he was given a helping hand by loyal artist friends in the local community.
    Baum still produced his abstract sculptures but he did so in absolute secrecy, aware that he faced several years in a concentration camp if caught. Having made them in the dead of night he would bury them in the garden, hoping that the day would dawn when he could dig them up.
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    There were times when it seemed that the only news was bad news. ‘ An alle Parteigenossen! ’ was the decree issued on Monday, 4 April 1938. ‘ Der Führer hat das deutsche Volk aufgerufen .’ (‘To all party members…the Führer has summoned the German people.’) It was issued by Arthur Barth, leader of Pforzheim’s Nazi Party, and it affected everyone who lived in Pforzheim and its environs. In six days, there was to be a plebiscite on whether or not Austria should be unified with the German Reich.
    â€˜Hitler wants this to be the biggest success in the history of voting,’ declared Herr Barth’s decree. He insisted that everyone, young and old, go to the ballot booth and cast their vote in favour of unification.
    Hitler had sent his troops into Austria some three weeks earlier to enforce his demand that political power be handed over to the Austrian Nazi Party – as it had been. Now, there was to be a plebiscite to confirm the political revolution that had already taken place.
    Hitler was determined to win with an overwhelming majority. To help ensure victory on the Austrian side of the border, he despatched the SS into the country and ordered them to round up Communists, Social Democrats and Jews – anyone, in fact, who might organise opposition.
    It was a similar story inside the frontiers of the German Reich. On the day of the vote, brownshirts paraded through the streets of Pforzheim, knocking on doors and forcing people to go to the polling stations. Those who refused to vote were beaten or arrested.
    The vote was not just about union with Austria; it was also coupled to a vote of confidence in Adolf Hitler. This was a most devious ploy on the part of the Nazi Party since it meant that anyone voting ‘no’ in the plebiscite would be doing so in defiance of Hitler and would therefore expose themselves to the risk of prosecution for treason. With rumours about ballot papers being marked so that voters could be identified, there was incentive enough to vote ‘yes’.
    Knowing he was set to win a resounding victory, Hitler intended it to be celebrated in towns and villages across Germany. The inhabitants of Pforzheim were given little choice in the matter. Arthur Barth laid down exactly what was expected:
All houses and windows to be decorated with fir branches, flags and posters acquired from specific shops by Friday.
By 9 April, all windows to be illuminated with little red lamps bought from the same shops.
From Saturday, all radio sets are to be placed on windowsills so that everything can be heard in the streets.
In all inns and restaurants…all portraits of the Führer are to be decorated with greenery.
    Such a decree was an extraordinary intrusion into individual lives, yet it was by no means unusual. Wolfram’s parents were growing used to being told how to behave. On this occasion, as in the past, they greeted such strictures with complete indifference and were fortunate that no Gestapo officer happened to notice their passive hilltop protest. However, in Pforzheim itself, the news provoked far stronger reactions.
    Hannelore Schottgen’s mother was outraged about this manipulation of the populace instigated by Hitler. ‘Of course, he’s got his fingers in it again,’ she said to her teenage daughter. ‘On their own,