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Papa Weidt
Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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April 18, 2010
Everyone or at least the vast majority of individuals seem to (and for good reason) have heard or read about Oskar Schindler. But what Otto Weidt did, how he also (and at considerably more potential personal danger to himself I might add) continuously strove to protect his Jewish friends and employees from the Nazis (and in Berlin, the capital of Germany, and in many ways, the centre of the Third Reich for that matter), this is not so much general knowledge (and yes, even in Germany itself). And thus, with her picture book biography Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn, Inge Deutschkron (whose own family was actually concealed and protected from the Gestapo, from the Nazis by Otto Weidt and others) provides a glowing and evocative, at times devastatingly infuriating and always informative homage to a true and in many ways unsung hero, someone who in my opinion most definitely deserves as much honour and as many accolades as the more universally feted Oskar Schindler (because while Oskar Schindler was never it seems in actual physical danger from the Gestapo and other authorities, Papa Weidt faced daily fear and engaged in behaviour and interactions with the authorities that while intensely heroic, also could easily have caused his own arrest and even death).
And Otto Weist was also, unlike Oskar Schindler, not a wealthy and as such a powerful industrialist. He was almost blind and owned a small shop in Berlin where blind workers were able to make a reasonable salary and decent living constructing brushes and brooms (and Otto Weidt protected and cared for his hired workers and was especially supportive of his Jewish employees, whilst also making sure that people with special needs and physical challenges received adequate employment opportunities at a time when this was generally not yet the case and actually more often than not seriously frowned upon and not just in Germany, but really rather universally throughout Europe and beyond).
Now it was indeed rather fortunate that at the beginning of the Third Reich, Otto Weidt did seemingly possess a bit of clout and influence amongst the Berlin authorities and was therefore also able to get even some sighted Jewish Berliners (like Inge Deutschkron and her friend Alice Horn) work and with that protection at his shop (however, because Inge and Alice were employed not for making Papa Weidt's brushes and brooms, but were actually helping him with office bookkeeping which was considered "illegal" by the Gestapo, they had to constantly be on the lookout for raids and go into hiding during these increasingly regular and nasty searches).
However and sadly (but with hindsight, not surprisingly), soon the problems faced by the Jewish citizens of Berlin (and elsewhere of course) became more immediate and increasingly exponentially dangerous, and even their work at Papa Weidt's shop and the fact that he often attempted to hold casual parties and get-togethers for his Jewish employees became more and more difficult and suspicious to the authorities. As Inge Deutschkron points out with a matter of fact tone of voice that is all the more poignantly devastating and infuriating due to its very emotionless and passionless realism, the Nazis almost every single day invented new and increasingly absurd regulations that Jews had to follow, to which Jews were subjected (a great many of these are listed on the front covers of Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn and they range from Jewish children no longer being allowed any type of schooling to such idiotic and weird regulations that one was not allowed to sell such basic groceries as eggs and milk to Jews). And when the deportation orders started to come, while Papa Weidt was actually able to twice avert the former for his employees, on February 28th, 1943, his erstwhile influence no longer was sufficient and his Jewish workers were sent to the death camps, never to return.
Otto Weidt did manage to hide some families (like the Deutschkrons and the Horns) but because of his rather public support for his Jewish employees and his open disdain for the Nazi regime, he was of course increasingly being monitored and regarded with rank anger and suspicion. Which is why I am so amazed and in awe that when one of the families he protected and hid (Alice Horn and her family) was found and deported (due to a former friend of Chaim Horn's, Alice's father, betraying him to the authorities), Papa Weidt somehow managed to discover to where the Horns had been taken (to Auschwitz), to travel there and try to at least get Alice freed (the mere fact that he succeeded, that he was able to convince a Polish worker to get a message to Alice and that Alice and a friend were indeed able to escape and make their way back to Berlin is not only awe-inspiring in and of itself, it also shows how fearless and heroic Papa Weidt was, because his very presence in the area of Auschwitz could once again have easily led to his arrest, could have led to his own incarceration in a death camp).
Now it is true, I suppose, that Otto Weidt did not physically and actually save as many Jewish individuals as Oskar Schindler did (and Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn does show that while he desperately and in person tried to actively stop his blind and sighted Jewish employees from being deported, Otto Weidt was only able to do this twice, and the third time, his pleas, his negotiations were for naught). However, I still consider Otto Weidt as worthy of remembrance and as worthy of praise as the more universally and internationally recognised Oskar Schindler, as he did actively try to protect and shield his blind and sighted Jewish workers (and yes, at considerable personal risk to himself, for he had to face the Gestapo, the Nazi authorities of Berlin in person and in the proverbial lion's den, and even the fact that he seemingly did have some clout and influence, this could so easily have turned sour and could have well endangered him and his own family). Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn thus and in my opinion presents a deserved and sparkling, long overdue written homage to a brave and conscientious humanitarian, a shop-owner and manager who supported employees with special needs and physical challenges and who (even if he was only partially and not lastingly successful) actively tried to protect his Jewish employees at a time when even showing any type to sympathy and empathy to and for Jewish individuals was at best unacceptable and often fraught with real and present threats.
And finally, with regard to Lukas Ruegenberg's accompanying illustrations, while they are indeed bright and lively and do provide a realistic and evocative enough mirror of and to Inge Deutschkron's in all ways brilliant narrative, I have to say that I personally find especially the facial features of Otto Weidt a bit strange and potentially disconcerting (I know that Ruegenberg is probably just trying to show Papa Weidt as being blind himself, but the fact that he is often depicted as having an almost mask like countenance, a face that even seems a bit different from the rest of his body is at least for me on an aesthetic level a bit off-putting and disconcerting). But all and all, I most highly recommend Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn and rank it with a very strong and deserved four stars (although the textual density of the narrative and the subject matter itself definitely make this more a picture book biography suitable for older children from the age of nine or so onwards and because Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn is penned entirely in German, a decent level of at least intermediate German language fluency is also strongly suggested).
And Otto Weist was also, unlike Oskar Schindler, not a wealthy and as such a powerful industrialist. He was almost blind and owned a small shop in Berlin where blind workers were able to make a reasonable salary and decent living constructing brushes and brooms (and Otto Weidt protected and cared for his hired workers and was especially supportive of his Jewish employees, whilst also making sure that people with special needs and physical challenges received adequate employment opportunities at a time when this was generally not yet the case and actually more often than not seriously frowned upon and not just in Germany, but really rather universally throughout Europe and beyond).
Now it was indeed rather fortunate that at the beginning of the Third Reich, Otto Weidt did seemingly possess a bit of clout and influence amongst the Berlin authorities and was therefore also able to get even some sighted Jewish Berliners (like Inge Deutschkron and her friend Alice Horn) work and with that protection at his shop (however, because Inge and Alice were employed not for making Papa Weidt's brushes and brooms, but were actually helping him with office bookkeeping which was considered "illegal" by the Gestapo, they had to constantly be on the lookout for raids and go into hiding during these increasingly regular and nasty searches).
However and sadly (but with hindsight, not surprisingly), soon the problems faced by the Jewish citizens of Berlin (and elsewhere of course) became more immediate and increasingly exponentially dangerous, and even their work at Papa Weidt's shop and the fact that he often attempted to hold casual parties and get-togethers for his Jewish employees became more and more difficult and suspicious to the authorities. As Inge Deutschkron points out with a matter of fact tone of voice that is all the more poignantly devastating and infuriating due to its very emotionless and passionless realism, the Nazis almost every single day invented new and increasingly absurd regulations that Jews had to follow, to which Jews were subjected (a great many of these are listed on the front covers of Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn and they range from Jewish children no longer being allowed any type of schooling to such idiotic and weird regulations that one was not allowed to sell such basic groceries as eggs and milk to Jews). And when the deportation orders started to come, while Papa Weidt was actually able to twice avert the former for his employees, on February 28th, 1943, his erstwhile influence no longer was sufficient and his Jewish workers were sent to the death camps, never to return.
Otto Weidt did manage to hide some families (like the Deutschkrons and the Horns) but because of his rather public support for his Jewish employees and his open disdain for the Nazi regime, he was of course increasingly being monitored and regarded with rank anger and suspicion. Which is why I am so amazed and in awe that when one of the families he protected and hid (Alice Horn and her family) was found and deported (due to a former friend of Chaim Horn's, Alice's father, betraying him to the authorities), Papa Weidt somehow managed to discover to where the Horns had been taken (to Auschwitz), to travel there and try to at least get Alice freed (the mere fact that he succeeded, that he was able to convince a Polish worker to get a message to Alice and that Alice and a friend were indeed able to escape and make their way back to Berlin is not only awe-inspiring in and of itself, it also shows how fearless and heroic Papa Weidt was, because his very presence in the area of Auschwitz could once again have easily led to his arrest, could have led to his own incarceration in a death camp).
Now it is true, I suppose, that Otto Weidt did not physically and actually save as many Jewish individuals as Oskar Schindler did (and Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn does show that while he desperately and in person tried to actively stop his blind and sighted Jewish employees from being deported, Otto Weidt was only able to do this twice, and the third time, his pleas, his negotiations were for naught). However, I still consider Otto Weidt as worthy of remembrance and as worthy of praise as the more universally and internationally recognised Oskar Schindler, as he did actively try to protect and shield his blind and sighted Jewish workers (and yes, at considerable personal risk to himself, for he had to face the Gestapo, the Nazi authorities of Berlin in person and in the proverbial lion's den, and even the fact that he seemingly did have some clout and influence, this could so easily have turned sour and could have well endangered him and his own family). Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn thus and in my opinion presents a deserved and sparkling, long overdue written homage to a brave and conscientious humanitarian, a shop-owner and manager who supported employees with special needs and physical challenges and who (even if he was only partially and not lastingly successful) actively tried to protect his Jewish employees at a time when even showing any type to sympathy and empathy to and for Jewish individuals was at best unacceptable and often fraught with real and present threats.
And finally, with regard to Lukas Ruegenberg's accompanying illustrations, while they are indeed bright and lively and do provide a realistic and evocative enough mirror of and to Inge Deutschkron's in all ways brilliant narrative, I have to say that I personally find especially the facial features of Otto Weidt a bit strange and potentially disconcerting (I know that Ruegenberg is probably just trying to show Papa Weidt as being blind himself, but the fact that he is often depicted as having an almost mask like countenance, a face that even seems a bit different from the rest of his body is at least for me on an aesthetic level a bit off-putting and disconcerting). But all and all, I most highly recommend Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn and rank it with a very strong and deserved four stars (although the textual density of the narrative and the subject matter itself definitely make this more a picture book biography suitable for older children from the age of nine or so onwards and because Papa Weidt: Er bot den Nazis die Stirn is penned entirely in German, a decent level of at least intermediate German language fluency is also strongly suggested).
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