Transcript
Tony Breitscheid “On the 24th of August there were more airplanes than ever and so we decided to go to the trenches. The princess was on my right, my husband on my left, and after a few minutes the bombing began.”
Narrator This is what Tony Breitscheid wrote in a letter to the Italian queen Elena, Mafalda’s mother, just under a year after the air raid on Buchenwald:
Tony Breitscheid “I do not know, your Majesty, whether you are aware of Princess Mafalda’s sad fate, and of the fact that I, since the death of my husband, am probably the only person who lived close to your daughter in the last year of her life.”
Narrator The Breitscheid couple, Tony and her husband, the Social Democratic politician Rudolf Breitscheid, shared a barrack with the princess while in confinement.
Tony Breitscheid “In September 1943 we found ourselves in a barrack that was surrounded by a wall that was so high that we could neither see nor hear anything from the outside world.”
Narrator The so-called isolation barrack; it stood in the “Fichtenhain” special camp, outside the inmate camp, not far from the armament factory.
Tony Breitscheid “A month after our difficult special imprisonment began, a lady arrived and occupied the other half of the
barrack. She was very downcast. They called her Frau Weber. A few days later we learned that she was really Princess Mafalda of Hesse, your daughter, your Majesty.”
Narrator Mafalda, Princess of Savoy, was married to Prince Philipp of Hesse. Her husband was a supporter of the Nazis; he had been a member of the National Socialist Party since 1930 and following Hitler’s rise to power he became Governor of the province of Hessen-Nassau. As the son-in-law of the Italian king, Philipp acted as an intermediary between Hitler and his Italian affiliate Benito Mussolini.
Yet halfway through 1943, things began to change: Allied troops occupied Sicily; Mussolini was deposed and King Vittorio Emanuele had him arrested in Rome. Suspicions grew that Philipp of Hesse had joined forces with the Italian royal family and had participated in the toppling of Mussolini. He and his wife Mafalda were arrested.
Tony Breitscheid “She was subjected to several rounds of questioning [...]. I believe she was accused of having known about the changes in Italian politics and of not having informed the German authorities about it!”
Narrator Separated from her husband and children, Mafalda came as a special inmate to Buchenwald. She was isolated, but enjoyed privileged imprisonment conditions; she even was served by an attendant.
Tony Breitscheid
“In August of 1944, American airplanes were flying over the concentration camp on an almost daily basis. This was because of the adjacent factories, which produced weapons materials.”
Narrator When the bomber actually did attack, the slit trenches in the isolation barrack’s courtyard offered hardly any protection.
Tony Breitscheid “Three bombs fell very close to us; the second buried us; the third set fire to the barrack.”
Narrator Burning pieces of the barrack came down on the buried princess. She suffered severe injuries. Inmates rescued her and brought her for treatment to the camp brothel, which was now being used as a hospital.
Tony Breitscheid “My husband was dead; the princess had survived [...] but her left arm was burned down to the bone. [...] At first they hoped to save her arm, but two days later it was clear that the arm needed to be amputated. The princess agreed; she was very calm, very resigned to her fate.”
Narrator But there were complications; presumably the operation came too late or was poorly performed. Mafalda of Hesse died during the night of August 26th, 1944.
