Pair of Awards to BDM Girl Wiener Katte.

[Falschirmjager]

Sometimes a fairly unremarkable pair of awards can have remarkable stories attached to them. This is certainly the case with the Third Reich pair here. The story of these two awards will appear in my follow up book to "Hitler's Girls-Doves Amongst Eagles" due out July 2017. The book "In Hitler's Shadow" is due out March 2018 and a brief version of how 15 year old BDM girl obtained these awards is as follows.
Wiener was born in Berlin and joined the female Hitler Youth the Jungmadel Bund in 1939. Aged 14 she joined the senior female Hitler Youth organization the Bund Deutscher Madel in 1943. By this time her family had moved to the city of Aachen due to a family bereavement. Wiener excelled in sports and particularly first aid. From a small child she had aspirations of becoming a doctor. Her proficiency with all aspects of first aid had not gone unnoticed and as the war drew near for the population of Aachen the city began to prepare for the coming battle. Wiener was forbidden to touch any weaponry and was told to report to a medical post near to the city centre. Here she would follow all instructions given to her and assist the medics and surgeons with the wounded. When the ground offensive to take Aachen began casualties soon overwhelmed the aid post she was working in. She recalled a young German soldier being brought in with a shredded leg. The leg had to be amputated and she assisted by holding the tourniquet around the mans thigh as the surgeon cut through the leg with a bone saw. She also recalled a woman coming in holding her dead child in her arms. The woman was hysterical with grief and Wiener said the child had a five inch shell splinter embedded in the left side of her head. There was nothing at all anyone could do for the child. Wiener was given the task of gently trying to coax the woman to give her the dead childs body. After some minutes she was able to do this. During the course of the battle which was to be one of the bloodiest of WW2 Wiener went out under fire on several occasions to send messages and pick up further supplies. Each time she returned to the aid post continuing to assist the medics with casualties many of whom without her help would have most certainly have died. When the city fell being captured by US forces senior German Officers arrived purely to instruct their men to comply with all Allied wishes regarding surrendering of themselves and any weaponry. The Officers thanked their men for their efforts and then they came to the aid post. One of the German Officers made a point of thanking the medics and the surgeons. Then to her surprise he came over to where 15 year old Wiener was sat. "I have heard all about you. Your efforts have been exemplary" He then takes out a small packet from his pocket and hands it to Wiener telling her to keep it out of sight or someone may try to steal it for a souvenir! He then says to her "i will do my best to record this for you but the war is over for us now so it probably matters little"! The very weary young girl put the packet into her skirt pocket. The Officer holds out his hand to shake her hand-there are no more Nazi salutes and no more Heil Hitler's. In a quite moment later on Wiener takes out the small packet to see what is inside she recalled of the moment "I thought it might be some kind of a thank you letter or some money. At the time i didnt know. I opened the packet and looked inside. Tipping the contents out into the palm of my hand there was an Iron Cross 2nd Class and a War Merit Cross 2nd Class. I just looked at them for a few minutes. The ribbons were inside the packet neatly folded. I put the medals back in and put the packet away back into my skirt pocket. I never wore them but i kept them and still have them to this day".
It was the last of a series of meetings with Wiener to interview her about her experiences that for me were truly memorable. She had brought her daughter and grandchildren to the UK on a weeks holiday and we all met up. It was in a cafe and after talking sometime of her experiences she asked her daughter Milla to pass her her handbag. She took out something which she had in her hand and passed them across to me. She told Milla to tell me "these are now yours i want you to have them as something to maybe remember me by and to remember all of my sisters (girls of the BDM) by. It was an amazing gesture as as she removed her hand there was the Iron Cross 2nd Class and the War Merit Cross 2nd Class given to her in an 'unofficial' context by the German Officer in Aachen after the fighting. The picture is of Wiener aged 14 a year before the battle of Aachen. The picture is a clipped down group photo-the original of which she gave to me for inclusion in the "In Hitlers Shadow Book". I know many Hitler Youth boys and civilians could earn these awards but to me these really are something special as the story has remained intact with them and will continue to remain so in the book. Just thought id share with members as such a touching, brave and remarkable story from what was a once very brave, dedicated young girl. It was nice that she had been recognised for her services with the medics and for helping to save many lives. Just wondering if it would ever be possible to find out who that German Officer was? Thanks Tim.Attachment 1051875Attachment 1051876