Wendelgard of Staden

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Wendelgard von Staden (born Freiin von Neurath ; * 1925 in Heidelberg ) is a German writer and former employee of the Foreign Office.

Life

Konstantin von Neurath's niece attended school in Vaihingen an der Enz , the grammar school in Ludwigsburg and in 1943 passed her Abitur in Berlin. After an agricultural apprenticeship on a farm near Heilbronn at the University of Tübingen , she first studied agricultural science, later political science at the École libre des sciences politiques in Paris and the University of Southern California , Los Angeles. She embarked on a diplomatic career, worked for the Foreign Office in Bonn, became Vice-Consul in Bern and Legation Councilor in Washington. In 1961 she married the diplomat Berndt von Staden . The marriage had three children. Since July 1985 Wendelgard von Staden has been living on her uncle's former farm, the Leinfelder Hof in Enzweihingen.

Literary work

Night over the valley: A youth in Germany is the autobiographical report about the youth of Wendelgard von Stadens. In it she describes the events on her parents' farm in Kleinglattbach, a district of Vaihingen an der Enz . The Wiesengrund concentration camp is built on her father's land expropriated by the SS . Because the family is allowed to continue using a route leading through the restricted area for operational reasons, the family members have an insight into what is happening on the concentration camp site, where an underground aircraft factory is to be built in cooperation with Messerschmitt AG . Von Staden's mother, Irmgard von Neurath, tried to help the prisoners together with the daughter who had been living with her parents again from mid-1944. Although it was possible to establish contact with a small group of prisoners, the mother's plan to free the prisoners who were still surviving at the time, in consultation with the camp manager Wilhelm Lautenschlager, failed when the Allies approached. All those who were still able to march were transferred to Dachau shortly before the arrival of the French army. Irmgard von Neurath is arrested after the end of the war. Von Staden wrote the book down in Cape Cod within eight days, while her husband was ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United States. It reached seven editions in Germany between 1979 and 1981 and was published in 1982 in an English translation.

Works

Night over the valley: A youth in Germany , Düsseldorf / Cologne 1979

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WDR: Experienced stories with Wendelgard von Staden. January 1, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  2. ^ WDR: Experienced stories with Wendelgard von Staden. January 1, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  3. ^ WDR: Experienced stories with Wendelgard von Staden. January 1, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Nan Robertson: Growing up in Nazi Germany: A Backward Look . In: The New York Times . August 10, 1981, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed May 31, 2020]).
  5. ^ Südwest Presse Online-Dienst GmbH: "He let Hitler use him". October 1, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Berndt von Staden: A passionate diplomat. In: Vaihinger Kreiszeitung. September 30, 2014, accessed May 31, 2020 (German).
  7. ↑ Berndt von Staden: A passionate diplomat. In: Vaihinger Kreiszeitung. September 30, 2014, accessed May 31, 2020 (German).
  8. ↑ Berndt von Staden: A passionate diplomat. In: Vaihinger Kreiszeitung. September 30, 2014, accessed May 31, 2020 (German).
  9. ^ Südwest Presse Online-Dienst GmbH: "He let Hitler use him". October 1, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Berndt von Staden: A passionate diplomat. In: Vaihinger Kreiszeitung. September 30, 2014, accessed May 31, 2020 (German).
  11. ^ WDR: Experienced stories with Wendelgard von Staden. January 1, 2016, accessed May 31, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Staden, Wendelgard from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Neurath, Wendelgard Freiin von (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidelberg