Whistling in the Dark

Here’s the story behind the story of the tense, inspiring and compelling new film, Escape from Germany, by TC Christensen, which tells of the Latter-day Saint missionaries who escaped from Germany just hours before World War II erupted. The story was originally researched by Terry Bohle Montague, who spent many months with Norm Siebold and other missionaries getting the story of those who faced this trembling ordeal. She wrote this into her book Mine Angels Round About, and Meridian first published this article in 2002 when Norm was still living. As it turns out, reality is just as exciting as the movies.

Part 1

And whoso receiveth you, there will I be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit will be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you to bear you up. -D&C 84:88

As a kid, Norm Seibold couldn’t, as he said, “carry a tune in a basket,” and he couldn’t whistle. It was a source of some humiliation for the boy, growing up in the farming community of Newdale, Idaho. All the other guys could whistle, but not Norm.

Then, in August of 1939, while serving as a missionary in the Church’s West German Mission, Elder Seibold climbed onto a baggage cart in a noisy, over-crowded Cologne railway station and, with urgent determination, whistled. The notes were the first four of the hymn, Do What Is Right. From that moment, they became the sounding call of one of the more dramatic moments of the Church in the 20^th Century; that of the evacuation of the West German Mission from Nazi Germany.

The year before, in September 1938, the Czechoslovakian, East, and West German Missions were evacuated during the course of a crisis created by Nazi Germany’s demand for a strip of land along the German-Czech border known as the Sudetenland. The missionaries waited out the crisis in Rotterdam, Holland. Then, with the signing of the Munich Agreement in October, the missionaries returned to their assigned areas.

The evening of November 9^th 1938, members of the SS, disguised as civilians, broke into, looted, and burned synagogues, Jewish hospitals, shops, and homes. Missionaries across Germany watched in horror. Some Jews, including women and children, were slain as they tried to escape being burned to death. Several missionaries witnessed the stoning of Jewish businessmen in front of their shops and stores.

Just after that week, Elder Seibold waited for a train in the Nuremberg railway station. While he walked up and down the platform, a commotion at the other end of the station drew his attention. Armed guards stood with their rifles leveled as Jews of all ages climbed from the cattle cars of one train and filed across the yard to another. Their heads had been shaved, and, as they passed Seibold, he saw many still had blood crusted on their scalps where the razor had nicked their skin.

Sickened, Seibold turned away.

The Nazis kept a cautious eye on the religious activities of the German people. Hitler declared, “We want no God but Germany!”

Hitler disbanded the Catholic Youth Association and replaced it with his Hitler’s Youth. Activities for Hitler’s Youth as well as political rallies were scheduled on Sundays in an effort to discourage anyone from attending church services.

Hitler also demanded Protestant ministers swear a loyalty oath to him. In fear of their lives, many complied. Those who did not – almost a thousand of them – were arrested and put in concentration camps.

The Latter-day Saint Church did not escape the notice of the Nazi officials. “You blunt the intellects of the people!” a Nazi official told one Branch President.

Church leaders warned members and missionaries to be circumspect in their actions and avoid voicing opinions which were contrary to government policies. Even the West German Mission Journal makes no mention of the tension existing between the Church and the State – with one exception. An entry made in early 1939 states Mission President M. Douglas Wood reproved an unnamed missionary for his vocal opposition to the Nazi government. The elder was threatened with immediate release if he persisted. The journal recorded no other details.

Although the winter of 1938-39 passed quietly, tension in the West German Mission grew. The Nazi government ordered the missionaries to sign statements agreeing they would not go from house to house, or be involved in any group discussions in any park or on the streets. Only Sunday meetings were allowed and those were often interrupted by the arrival of SS officers who sat at the back of the room and observed the gathered Saints. Any other meetings had to be approved by the local police.

Government interference was obvious in almost every aspect of the missionaries’ daily lives. Even their letters from home were opened and read by censors prior to their delivery. Portions of the letters, judged inappropriate by Nazi officials, were cut from the pages. Many missionaries were watched and, sometimes, followed through the streets. One pair of elders had their apartment thoroughly searched and stated the police even probed their straw tick mattresses with long, metal prongs.

Despite those conditions, the missionaries persevered. They joined clubs and groups, even organizations connected with Hitler’s Youth, to meet people and introduce them to the gospel. They participated in sports events, gave athletic exhibitions, taught classes and formed musical groups. They also relied on cottage meetings in the homes of church members.

In the spring of 1939, Germany demanded Poland turn over a narrow strip of territory called the Danzig Corridor. Poland refused the demands and resisted Hitler’s threats. Great Britain and France declared they would lend Poland all the support in their power

Missionary work stalled. War was the main topic of conversation and it overshadowed all gospel discussions.

The missionaries observed many indications of an approaching crisis – ships and airplanes were built, automobile manufacturing plants turned out military vehicles instead of cars, draft notices were delivered, long columns of troops moved across the countryside at night, farmers were told the wheat must be harvested by the end of August. Fruit, vegetables and meat became increasingly scarce. Bakeries produced bread made with a poor grade of flour extended with sawdust.

On August 24, 1939, Hugh B. Brown, President of British Mission, telephoned the West German Mission office in Frankfurt with instructions from President Heber J. Grant. Once again, they were to evacuate.

Telegrams were dispatched to each missionary companionship.

Leave immediately for Rotterdam. Trunks same train.

Appoint temporary successor. Wire Quickmere upon departure.

Wood

On Friday, August 25^th, Norm Seibold and his companion, Donald Anderson, noticed the streets of Stuttgart were unusually crowded. All capable military personnel had been ordered to report to their units and, everywhere, there were soldiers.

Seibold reported feeling an unnatural undercurrent of emotion in the people of the street – a feeling of unrest, of anxiety, and fear.

When the pair returned to their apartment, they found a letter from the American Consul in Stuttgart.

AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL

Frankfort-on-Main, Germany

Kaiserstrasse 27

August 25, 1939

CONFIDENTIAL

It has been learned that in view of the present tension in Europe, the American Embassy in Berlin is advising American citizens that it might be best to leave Germany.

This advice, of course, does not imply that the Embassy or any Consular Office can assume any responsibility in connection therewith, but each one who may act upon this suggestion or advice must do so at his own risk and responsibility.

Having no word from President Wood, the missionaries laid the letter aside and prepared to retire for the night.

Later, Geren V. Howell, a missionary from the neighboring town of Feuerbach, burst into their apartment telling them he and his companion had just received a telegram from the mission office in Frankfurt. It read, “Leave immediately for Rotterdam. . .”

Deeply concerned, Seibold dressed and went to the local post office where there was a telephone. He called Frankfurt and spoke to President Wood.

He gave Seibold instructions concerning the evacuation and also told him to go to the town of Esslingen the following morning and see that Adalbert and Elizabeth Goltz, an elderly missionary couple, had prepared to leave.

The Goltzes were German converts to the Church who emigrated to the United States and raised their family in Utah. After their youngest daughter married, they realized their dream of serving a mission in their homeland. Seibold informed the pair of President Wood’s instructions and advised them to pack as quickly as possible.

Goltz, a former officer in the German cavalry, replied. “It is not necessary for my wife and me to leave. Surely we face no danger in our own Fatherland.”

“Whether there is danger or not,” Seibold insisted, “President Wood says the missionaries must leave.”

Goltz replied, “My Patriarchal Blessing promised me I would serve a mission in Germany. That promise is not yet fulfilled. I will not go.”

Seibold argued, but the older man remained unyielding. He would not leave and ordered Seibold from his home.

Seibold refused to be sent away; he turned to Sister Goltz and said, “Sister Goltz, can’t you convince your husband to leave?”

A modest and shy woman, Sister Goltz declined to discuss the matter, but made it plain she would respect her husband’s wishes.

Seibold gave up. He returned to the post office and telephoned mission headquarters. “They won’t come,” he told President Wood.

“Yes they will,” he replied. “Go back and get them!”

Seibold returned to the Goltz’s apartment. Once again he did his best to convince them it was important they leave, and leave now.

Goltz countered all Seibold’s arguments with “I have faith in my Patriarchal Blessing. You have not!”

“This is not a matter of faith,” Seibold answered. “This is a matter of obedience. President Wood says we must leave.”

In anger, Goltz left the room.

Seibold appealed to Sister Goltz. “You’ve got to do something. President Wood says you’ve got to leave. The American Consul says you’ve got to leave. If you don’t, there’s a really good possibility you might be stuck here. If that happens you’ll never see your family again.”

About that time, Goltz came out of his room. Sister Goltz turned to him and said, “Papa, I go.”

“She might just as well have slapped him” Seibold recorded in his journal.

Sister Goltz got her belongings together. When her husband saw she was serious about leaving, he, too, packed his things.

Missionaries evacuating from the southern and eastern parts of the mission came into the mission home all during that day. President Wood called several of those to a meeting where he told them the surprising news that Holland had closed its borders to everyone but those who had a substantial sum of money

German law said no one could leave the country with more than 10 reichmarks about $ 2.50). That meant many of those who had evacuated from the northern and western parts of the mission and had already arrived at the German-Dutch border, were almost penniless and stranded. There was no possibilit of wiring instructions and additional money to them because the telegraph wires had been reserved for military messages only. Worst of all, after 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 27th the military would take over the railway services and civilians would not be guaranteed their destinations. Wood proposed that one of the missionaries travel to border towns with the money needed to get the missionaries either to Rotterdam or Copenhagen, Denmark. He asked for volunteers.

Several missionaries, including Norm Seibold, who had just arrived from Stuttgart, raised their hands. President Wood dismissed the meeting and then, as the men left the room, he asked Seibold to remain.

The conclusion of this article will be in tomorrow’s issue of Meridian Magazine.

Meridian Magazine

Tags: Dark Whistling