Clara’s stubbornness

I am getting to the trickier part of Clara’s Story now. Hitler is rising to power. She didn’t really see that coming nor did she have that political interest. However, she is shrewd and understands people well, though she is not aware of her ability to do this. She soon realises that she does not trust this man but understands why other people do.

Clara refused to leave Germany and then couldn’t. There were several probable reasons for this:

• She considered herself to be Christian, not Jewish and German, not Jewish. She was a little naïve about the Blutschutz laws.
• She was eternally optimistic about the basic good nature of people. This came partly form her new-found religious beliefs but also from a more humanitarian standpoint she had always had and her natural sunny nature.  
• She felt a very strong loyalty to the children who came to board. Even after the Waldorf School had closed the Hilfsklasse was still allowed to carry on working in the house on Schellberg Street.    

I have already created her a little this way in TheHouse on Schellberg Street. I’m fast coming to the point where the two novels will completely cross over. I am going to have to make sure that the two personalities match.   

How did Hitler do it?

There are probably thousands of theories about this and hundreds and hundreds of books, articles and academic papers written on the subject. It’s not my job here to add to that particular bank of knowledge. Rather I’m exploring how it all seemed to an ordinary German woman.

Our story really begins on 9 October 1918. Women were granted the right to vote in Germany only on 12 November of that year. I’m painting Clara as intelligent but not particularly interested in politics. I have made her naïve in comparison with the young people she cares for. They know some facts about the man. An argument ensues with the following points raised:

·         He is not German – he gave up Austrian citizenship but did not become German straight away. He was stateless for a while.

·         He has been in prison.

·         He was treated well.  

·         He wrote Mein Kampf whilst there.

·         He has some good ideas about how to help the economy after the Wall Street crash – that did have huge repercussions in Germany - and the hyperinflation.

Clara reads up about him later.

Later Paul von Hindenburg wins the presidential elections, though Hitler gets a substantial part of the vote and Hindenburg is getting very old and too tired for this role.

Clara likes to think of herself as a very rational woman. However, she is actually very intuitive. In her investigations she sees several photos of Hitler. His eyes scare her, just like Rudolf Steiner’s used to. Both sets of eyes suggest power. Hitler’s also include evil.

Later Ernst points out that Hitler was loyal during the Great War.