Angela Schluter

Angela Schluter was born in April 1944 in Brandenburg, Germany, during the final phase of the Second World War. Her mother, Edith Hahn, was Jewish and living under a false identity in order to survive Nazi persecution. At the time of Angela’s birth, Edith was married to Werner Vetter, a member of the Nazi Party who had insisted on marriage after learning that she was pregnant. Angela was born in a hospital during an air raid, and shortly after her birth she and her mother were taken to a bunker during the bombing. Werner Vetter worked at an aircraft factory in Brandenburg where forced labourers carried out much of the work.

Edith Hahn had originally lived in Vienna but survived the Nazi period by assuming the identity of a non-Jewish friend and concealing her Jewish background. While living in Brandenburg she worked as a volunteer assistant in a hospital under the Red Cross, a role she took because women were required to work under Nazi regulations. Angela’s father was later conscripted into the German army and captured by Soviet forces. He spent several years imprisoned in Siberia before returning after the war.

Following the war, Angela and her mother remained in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany. During this period Edith Hahn worked as a judge and arranged childcare for Angela while she was at work. Living conditions were difficult due to widespread shortages of food and resources. Soviet authorities later attempted to recruit Edith Hahn to assist in gathering information for the developing security system that became the East German Stasi. After several months of pressure, she decided to leave the Soviet zone with her daughter.

In 1948 Edith Hahn travelled with Angela to West Berlin and arranged to leave Germany. Angela was four years old when they travelled to London on a visitor’s visa. With the support of a British Member of Parliament, they were allowed to remain in the United Kingdom. Angela recalled that the move to Britain was difficult because she did not understand English and had to adapt to a new language and environment.

In Britain Angela and her mother initially lived with relatives in Purley while Edith Hahn searched for employment. She later worked as a live-in domestic servant and eventually found work sewing corsets and medical garments. Angela attended school in London and learned English while continuing to speak German with her mother at home. The family lived in modest conditions and often moved between rented rooms in different parts of London.

Angela attended both Christian and Jewish schools during her childhood. She also participated in synagogue activities and attended holiday programmes organised by the Jewish Board of Guardians for children from low-income families. Despite difficult living conditions, she continued her education and later developed an interest in art.

In 1957 Edith Hahn married Fred Beer, a Jewish refugee from Vienna whose family had been murdered in Theresienstadt. After the marriage Angela moved with her mother and stepfather to a house in Edgware. Fred Beer owned a business producing watch straps and related accessories. Angela continued her education and completed her A-levels before enrolling at the Royal College of Art, where she undertook postgraduate study in art and design.

When she was sixteen, her mother sent her with the DAAD – the German- English exchange programme – to Germany to stay with her father. Later, she graduated from the Royal College of Art with a masters in Fine Arts, 1966. On a holiday in Germany, she met her husband, they had three children and taught art at a local grammar school. After her divorce, she returned to England.

Keywords: Vienna. Brandenburg. Edith Hahn-Beer: The Nazi Officer’s Wife.