Girl in a Smart Uniform

Girl in a Smart Uniform is the story of Gisela Schmidt who becomes a loyal member of the girls’ version of the Hitler Youth and later a fully committed Nazi. She eventually understands that the Nazi regime is not good, particularly in its lack of understanding of otherness.    Gisela is wowed by the smart uniform of the BDM (girls’ Hitler Youth) and the lifestyle offered is such a contrast to what she has at home: inadequate parents, a cruel older brother, Kurt, and an abusive step-father, Herr Silber. Her involvement with the Hitler Youth offers her camaraderie, pride in Germany and a strong sense of duty. She soon becomes first a pack leader and then a regional leader. Trudi Müller becomes her deputy.    However, the birth of her Downs’ syndrome half-brother, Jens, whom she virtually has to bring up alone, the death of her other brother, the gentle Bear, who has been helping his Jewish girlfriend and the love she feels for Trudi, make her realise that being different is possible, probable and actually desirable.    For some time Gisela and Trudi help an SS officer, Obersturmführer Poll, spy on a house where they think a Jewess is harbouring severely disabled children. Once there is proof, the SS orders first the Home Guard and then the Hitler Youth boys to burn down the house. Both refuse. Now the girls are commanded to on pain of death. To make sure there is no misunderstanding, Poll rapes Trudi, leaving her pregnant. The girls carry out the plan but help the children to get out of the cellar into the one of the house next door first. They then help to clear up and that evening burn their uniforms. Later, after the birth of Trudi’s child, Marissa, and after World War II ends they move to the Netherlands where their lesbian relationship is better tolerated. They are enjoying life in the Netherlands when a letter from Kurt informs them that their mother has died. He asks them whether they will look after Jens as neither he nor Herr Silber have the time. They return to Stuttgart to find a slightly more tolerant Kurt there. They wonder if there is still a school for people like Jens. Jens is now fourteen and considers himself clumsy and ugly. However, the final scene shows him being very gentle and loving towards his adopted niece, Marissa. Part of the story is true: a Jewish woman, Clara Lehrs, did open her home up as a school for severely disabled children many of whom were Downs’ syndrome. She was deported and eventually murdered. The school was threatened as described above but nobody knows who the girls were who showed such mercy or why. This story offers an explanation and explores how ordinary German girls could become Nazis.