Figure 1.-- Here two of the Bertini boys (Ludwig and Roman) in 1943 are sitting along a sheltered wall. Notice that Ludwig wears argyle knee socks and extremely brief short trousers. The shorts were getting much shorter in the 1940s. Ludwig is about 17 in this exposure. They are sitting with their mother and other members of the extended family.

One of the boys when young is of course interested in military matters and is showing trying on his father's uniform, left over from World War I. And he briefly handles his father's handgun (unloaded apparently). The boys although of military age were not conscripted into the Wehrmacht or even labor brigades. The film does not explain why that is. We are unsure at this time how the conscripted law handeled Mischlings. I believe they were drafted without restriction, but I am not sure. We see Ludwig, the youngest boy (who is at this point about 17), sitting in a bomb shelter and dressed in short trousers and knee socks. But he is simply protecting himself with other children and adults. He stands out a little bit from the other refugees because there are few youths of his age in the shelter. Presumably the other youths anf young men were in the German military.

Created: 10:11 PM 12/21/2008
Last updated: 10:11 PM 12/21/2008