Maria Von Maltzan

Countess Maria Helene Françoise Izabel von Maltzan was born on March 25, 1909. Her family was wealthy and they lived on an 18,000 acre estate in Silesia, Germany, where her dad was the governor. Maria's father was kind to her and taught her to be generous. When the cottage of Maria's nurse, Berta, burned down, her father suggested Maria give Berta some money to take care of her. Maria had 217 marks and gave Berta 200. On the other hand, Maria's mother was always unjust to her just because it took twenty-seven hours for Maria to be born instead of the average three or four hours. Maria's mother favored her four brothers over her daughters and loved her eldest daughter over the other daughters. Her childhood experiences played an important part later in her life. Maria said in an interview: "Because my mother was unjust I have a strong feeling of justice".

When she was a schoolgirl, Maria read Mein Kampf (which means My Struggle, by Adolf Hitler) and she immediately disliked him. When the Nazi's rule started including murder, violence, and terror, Maria was horrified and decided to act immediately. As early as 1933, she joined various anti-Nazi resistance movements. Soon, Maria became an underground fighter. Around 1936, Maria began helping any Nazi opponent hide so they would not be thrown into prison. Maria led many Jews out of Berlin by hiding them in furniture boxes. She then sent them off on a train to Sweden where they would be safe. (The conductor had already been bribed.) Maria even gave out false 'official' visas and other documents to Jews and then helped them escape from Berlin in trucks that Maria herself drove. Maria always responded to calls for help and took Jews into her own home.

By 1942, Maria's flat was completely crammed with people. Throughout the war, Maria sheltered more than 60 Jews and made arrangements for them to escape to safety. Maria even had her hairdresser teach her how to do men's hair and beards. Then the Jews did not have to go to the barber and risk being caught. Around this time, a Jewish man who was the former editor of Das Dreieck (a futuristic German literary journal) came to Maria's flat. His name was Hans Hirschel. Hirschel was to become Maria's future husband. But Maria did not hide only Jews; she hid anyone who was suffering because they had different ideas about politics and other issues.

Maria always needed to handle tough situations and go through emotional trauma. Maria felt truly horrible about one event during the war. When she became pregnant with Han's baby, the baby was put into an incubator. The hospital was bombed the night the baby was born. The electricity running the incubator stopped and the baby died.

Maria often faced many tough situations that forced her to think fast. One night the SS came to Maria's flat and Hans Hirschel was hiding in the couch (that would be Hans's hiding place for the rest of the war). Maria had fixed the couch

On May 27, 1943, Joseph Goebbels (Hitler's propaganda minister) declared: "Germany is judenrein." He put out notices saying Jews who told where other Jews were hiding would not be killed. Suddenly, Maria found she could not rely on anyone. Maria worried about taking any more Jews into her flat. She thought some of the Jews might tell on her. Maria said "The Jews were in a condition that caused them to stop thinking."

Justice was probably one of Maria's most important ideals. Maria also remarked: "I prefer to be in a tough situation than to go to bed with a bad conscience." A letter from Israel had invited her to a celebration at Bonn, Germany. But the letter came the day after fighting at Sidon, Israel. Maria was furious because all her life she believed for a peaceful coexistence of everybody. After the war, she disliked Israel because she believed Israel should learn how to live peacefully together with the other Middle East countries. Some people would argue that Israel did everything it did in self-defense but it was because of Israel the Palestinians were turned into refugees. Israel should have probably tried to make better negotiations. All her life, Maria believed in a "peaceful coexistence of all people, of all colors and religions..." She always helped the oppressed who were treated unfairly, no matter who they were. Maria von Maltzan died on November 12, 1997.

Maria von Maltzan is a heroine in our society. Her belief of peaceful coexistence between different human races is still very relevant today. The world is becoming 'flat' due to globalization. A few developing countries will become new economic powers by producing and adopting new technologies, while some developed countries might fall behind. In order to adjust and adapt in a stable and peaceful way, the people need to share Maria's belief of coexistence. Only by doing so the people could overcome the possible mutual destruction and create a global environment that could carry us forward in the centuries to come. I want to be like Maria, a person who believes in justice, peace, and respect for everybody of all cultures and religions.

References Cited

Book: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust
By Gay Block and Malka Drucker
Maria Von Maltzan told about her life before, in, and after the war in an interview with the authors the way she wanted to. This book contains good portraits and pictures.