the Hitler Youth, but regardless of whether or not they did, their friendship continued undisturbed until Lutz’s sudden departure from Germany. Lutz lost touch with them both and although he would never see Heinz again, through a curious twist of fate he did renew his friendship with Rosa.
Lutz’s closest friend at his new school was Franz Hess, who lived in Fuerth where their school was located. He was the same height as Lutz, but had a thinner frame and curlier hair. They met at the beginning of the 1935 school year, which signalled the beginning of a lifelong friendship and (in Franz’s words) they ‘clicked right from the start’. They spent much of their spare time together, their loyalty to each other undoubted. They shared a similar sense of humour and used to joke around and sling off at each other much of the time within their group of friends. He and Franz sometimes used to stop at a coffee bar on the way home from school as Lutz was often hungry. He especially liked to purchase chocolate bars with his pocket money, which he earned partly by running errands for his mother to the local shop. One day Lutz remembers putting his coins in the machine for a drink and watching in amazement as the liquid gushed out and overflowed onto the floor instead of filling up his cup. It just didn’t stop! At first they gazed in astonishment at the dark, sticky fluid running down the front of the machine and beginning to pool on the floor, then Lutz looked at Franz and noticed that his shoulders had begun to shake, the laughter moving into his face until tears were streaming down his cheeks. Soon Lutz was also wracked in side-splitting convulsions at the comedy of the situation. They just couldn’t stop and nor did the machine.
In fact Lutz was quite the practical joker and he often co-opted friends, usually Franz, to commit harmless pranks. His favourite hoax was to attach a fine piece of string to a wallet and throw it out of his bedroom window onto the nearby footpath. The fun gained was at the expense of the gullible passersby, as they tried to pick up the wallet the person in charge of the string surreptitiously pulled it away. On another occasion he delivered a bucketful of horse manure through a neighbour’s letterbox to express his dislike for this person’s ever grumpy, fault-finding temperament.
At the age of thirteen Lutz celebrated the traditional bar mitzvah, first undertaking preparatory classes in Hebrew before reading from the Torah in the synagogue on the Sabbath after his birthday, which fell on a Monday that year. This ritual sym-bolised the fact that he had reached a level of maturity to be now considered old enough to take responsibility for his own actions. Afterwards, Lutz’s proud parents hosted an informal reception at their home for family and friends, and with the serious part of the proceedings completed, Lutz could appreciate the gifts and enjoy the specially prepared foods.
Lutz’s schoolmates also included Eric Heilbronn, a close friend whose father was a rabbi. Eric was academic rather than practical and Ernie recalls that he couldn’t even hammer a nail into the wall! Another member of their group, Harold Reissner, always dressed well and liked to talk about his numerous money-making schemes. Herbert Leiter was a very tall, skinny boy but surprisingly well coordinated despite his wiry frame and ‘coat-hanger’ arms. All these boys would often meet to play table tennis at Lutz’s home at weekends and sometimes after school. They gathered in his bedroom, which was large enough to accommodate the table tennis table as well as all the other items necessary to furnish a schoolboy’s domain. One school friend who never missed these meetings was Walter Aufhauser, who was the undisputed star at table tennis; his athletic frame never let a ball escape. The others would watch in wonder as his arms leapt away from his body, reaching every ball, as fleeting as a frog’s tongue catching its prey.
(After surviving Dachau concentration camp, Harold Reissner eventually emigrated to New York and, in his own words, became a ‘self-made’ man; he particularly enjoyed life’s luxuries and engineered his efforts into providing them. Walter Aufhauser would later emigrate to Israel and Herbert Leiter also survived the war.)
Henry Kissinger (who was later to become Secretary of State in the United States of America) was also in Lutz’s class at school, and he and Lutz were on friendly terms. Henry had a more serious and academic disposition and was not good at sports, but he did sometimes join the group for table tennis at Lutz’s home. Kissinger was given the abbreviated nickname of ‘Kissus’ but Lutz and his friends didn’t attribute this to any particular success with his female classmates! After the war Kissinger never attended any of the American reunions for former displaced Jewish inhabitants of Nuremberg and Fuerth; he apparently always told the organising committee that he had a prior engagement even though the reunions gave notice months in advance.
At school there were two memorable teachers. Herr Mandelbaum, who taught geography, was a large overweight fellow who was not very strict with his pupils. Consequently there was not much discipline in his class and the students got away with all sorts of misdemeanours. Conversely, Herr Heineman was a small man who taught history and biology and disciplined his class disproportionately, well beyond what could reasonably be expected from his diminutive stature. The students, hearing him approaching down the corridor, would jump back to their desks in the nick of time. Herr Heineman would hit the door handle with some force on his way into the classroom, always finding his students quiet and sitting up straight, in anticipation of the imminent subject matter to be studied. One day during botany studies they came to a passage describing the characteristics of the oak tree or eichbaum. Everybody thought that Herr Heineman would ask Lutz to read the passage but instead Herr Heineman asked Lutz’s girlfriend of that time, Susan Hamelbacher, to read out the narrative. The whole class roared with laughter.
Lutz considered himself an average student, quite intelligent but not excelling in any particular area academically. His end of term results were mediocre and if you were looking for his name on the exam list you would probably have found it round about the middle. He was encouraged in his studies by his parents, particularly his mother, who enjoyed helping him with his homework. Lutz’s favourite subject at school was history; he had a fascination for dates and the sequence of events, which would later motivate him to keep a diary to record his personal experiences as an interned refugee during World War II. However, his special talent and passion at that time was for sporting activities and he particularly enjoyed playing soccer at school; his usual designated position was right full-back. He also joined a Jewish sports club in Fuerth, which played a major part in his social life and he attended there most Sundays. He excelled at short-distance running and won many certificates and ribbons. During a competition he attended in Munich, Lutz and his team-mates were still hyped up and inspired by the previous year’s Olympic Games in Berlin and keen to prove their athletic prowess. Lutz won several of his events and shared some pencils he won with a member of the team, a boy named Arnold Hamburger. Another talented team member was Gert Holzman, who was renowned for his above-average height and his exceptional skill at the high jump.
Lutz met his future girlfriend Trudi at the sports club where he also befriended Liesl, who would later play a significant part in his life. Liesl was also a friend of Franz’s. She remembers a particular competition in Augsburg where she won a red tracksuit, and Lutz was awarded a glass bowl for winning a 100-metre sprint. From all accounts it seems that Lutz was an excellent sprinter.
There were several volunteers working at the club and Ernie fondly remembers Herr Baruch, who organised the meetings and events. Herr Baruch was a lot older than the other volunteers, a very pleasant man and wholeheartedly committed to his talented young teams.
Lutz’s early childhood could generally be described as happy and trouble-free. He was secure in his everyday routine, which was broken up by special holidays away with his mother. They took this opportunity each year while his father attended the annual Toy Fair in Leipzig. Some of Lutz’ earliest memories are of his mother taking him to a spa town on a lakeside, an hour or so train journey from home. They always stayed in the same hotel close to the edge of the water, and after a hearty breakfast they would walk the perimeter of the lake (which would take them the best part of an hour); on still days they would take a boat out. The main attraction of this area was the salt rocks that apparently had healing properties and it was a popular place for holidaymakers. One year they visited Konigsee, another favourite holiday resort
