My gran waved for Hitler ...but hated every second
An actor in The Good Scout was able to use family experience as preparation for his role as a Hitler Youth member.
Not only were Simon Stache’s grandparents, Werner and Rita, in the Hitler Youth, but his grandfather was a radio operator in the war
(as is Simon’s character in the play).
And his grandmother actually met Hitler – and wasn’t impressed.
“They were both part of the Hitlerjugend, the Hitler Youth, when they were teenagers,” Simon said.
“It was mandatory for boys to join them and girls became part of the Bund der Deutschen Mädel, the League of German Girls. You can imagine members of the Hitler Youth were much more militarily drilled than the Boy Scouts. They marched everywhere in their units. To breakfast, to study, to their rooms.
“It was natural for my grandad to continue becoming a Funker, a radio operator, in the war.
“He lost his right leg at the age of 20 through a grenade.
“He met my nan at a local dance hall. She immediately noticed he had a slightly different rhythm in his legs and liked him.
“I remember her telling me a story from her time at the League of German Girls, where she had to gather around her local train station near the Baltic Sea with all the girls to greet Hitler, who came through her town on a train.
“She hated every second of it. Her friends hated it, too. But they all smiled on the outside and waved as heroically as they were told.
“She kept saying ‘We were never allowed to have fun’.”
He added: “It’s interesting for me to imagine scenarios my grandparents might have been in. I don’t really know what it was like for them, because everyone drew a big veil over that time, but my grandad definitely knew the songs I’m singing in the play.”