WWI
Ella Mueller reflects on life
in Germany with Holocaust
Remembrance Day in her heart
Maggie Brown
Politics Editor | @maggieabrown_
“Some things are so terrible,
you don’t forget,” said Ella Muel
ler, who was born 90 years ago in
Padew, a village in Poland home
to a German community.
Her voice runs thick with a
German accent. She can under
stand four languages — German,
Polish, Russian and English.
Ellas apartment in Twin Lakes,
a retirement home in Burling
ton, is lined with memories from
her life in Germany. After mov
ing around for many years, Ella
moved to Burlington to be closer
to her son during the last years of
her life. Photos of her family and
her late husband, Phillip Mueller,
color every table in her home.
Phillip and Ella grew up to
gether in Padew. He walked her
home from grade school every
day.
“I was in first grade, and he
was in fifth grade. He would al
ways hold my hands on the way
home from school, telling me sto
ries,” Ella said, softly smiling.
After World War II ended,
Phillip moved from Padew to the
U.S. He was still in love with Ella,
the girl from his childhood, so
he found her address and started
sending letters back to Padew.
She smiled, looking down at
old photos of them together. They
were poor, but rich in love, Ella
said. Phillip returned to Padew
on Christmas of 1952 to see her
and they were married that day.
Phillip died from Alzheimer’s
disease 56 years later. Ella was
stubborn and refused to put him
in assisted living, even though
taking care of him was the hard
est time in her life.
“I wonder how I made it,” Ella
said.
Ella remembers most of the
early years of her life — not be
cause she met her true love but
because when she was 11 years
old. Hitler invaded Poland.
On April 12, Holocaust Re
membrance Day, Ella wishes for
others to remember the atrocities
that happened in Germany and to
consider the weight of this histor
ical event.
“We did nothing to deserve
this, but there was nothing we
could do,” Ella said. Before she
was a teenager, her village turned
into a war zone.
“It made me a very serious
person,” Ella said. But through
the years, Ella’s sense of humor
never left her.
“I have no grandchildren. I
forgot to tell my children about
the birds and the bees,” Ella
laughed. Her small eyes lit up
behind her pink-tinted glasses,
which matched the color of her
room.
Everyone in Padew was friend
ly with one another, Ella said.
Growing up, Ella was a Christian
attending the Lutheran Church,
and in her town, she was close
to many German Jews. Her next-
door neighbor was a Jewish fam-
ily.
Because of what she described
as “brainwashing” in German
schools at the time, she acted vi
olently toward the neighbors on
many occasions.
“This is German property!”
Ella once shouted to one of the
German-Jewish boys, who was
trying to cross into her yard.
But once the German officials
started seizing the Jewish people
in her community, she started to
question authority
“When they came after the
Jews, I thought, ‘That goes too
far.’ The Jews are people too,” Ella
said.
ELLA MUELLER
HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR
MAGGIE B80W« I raWE
Ella’s family thought it was
their duty to help the Jews, so
they took in a German-Jewish
man named Erwin Kirschenbaum
from their town. He became a
part of their family and loved Ella
as his own.
But in 1942, he was taken away
from Ella’s family. “They loaded
him onto a wagon with all the
other Jews, and as he was carted
off, he called out my name two
times,” she wrote in her book.
In 2008, Ella published the
book, “Life in Germany During
World War II.” The book has
been recognized in the National
Holocaust Museum in Washing
ton D.C. She dedicated the book
to her friend Erwin, in honor of
those who died like he did.
Today. Ella still remembers Er
win. She still remembers the sto
WWII TIMELINE
ries he told her about the operas
he used to go to and his favorite
tongue twisters.
Ella also remembers a Ger
man-Jewish teenager from her
village who was drafted to fight in
the war. He ran away so he could
return to his family. He was hung
because he returned.
“They killed him like Jesus
Christ, up in front of people.
They opened out his insides, and
he was bleeding,” Ella said. His
family watched as this happened,
and they couldn’t do anything
about it, Ella said.
Despite these tragedies, some
are skeptical about Ella’s experi
ences, which disheartens her.
There was a woman down
stairs — she didn’t believe me —
here at Twin Lakes,” Ella said. The
woman thought Ella was telling
her a fictional story and not^
own.
1928 - Ella was born
1936 - Axis powers were
established
1939 - Germany invaded Poland,
initiating World War II
1939 - Russia invaded Poland from
the east
1940 - Germany attacked western
Europe
1941 - United States declared war
on Japan
1945 - Germany and Japan
surrendered
From top to bottom:
Ella Mueller’s apartment at
Twin Lakes in Burlington is
covered with memories of her
life in Germany.
Ella Mueller, author and
World War II survivor, sits
in her bright pink bedroom,
wearing her favorite cat
earrings.
Mueller at age 12 in 1940.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLA MUELLER
When she was growing up, si
learned how to cope with sufff
ing and was forever changed by j
“I grew up as an innocfl^
child, and I didn’t know muj
but I learned,” Ella said.‘Auj
knew ‘Thou shall not kill, and
makes you sick.”
Ella went to a teacher’s collei
in Gorlice, a town in southeastei
Poland. Every night she prayed'
God, and many times she fen >
prayers were repressed by hig'
German officials.
“I was called to the princip
office, and he screamed at ®
‘Are you still praying to the
Jew?’... I said I cannot fall asi^
without praying,” Ella said,
member all of us prayed quie
Because whom do I hurt w ea
pray?” ,
But prayer was essential.
“If I would have not
anymore, I don’t know iff ^ j
have made it one daytotheottj
er,” Ella said. , ,.
Ella still prays and reads
German Bible every day. hW •
tends the nightly church se
at Twin Lakes on Sundays.
But now, Ella prays ^
thing different. She no 0
prays to stay alive anynior
she did during the war. .
“Any day, I am ready to '■
ery night I pray,” Ella said^ .
Ella doesnt care ^^ere
buried or about her
service. “As
SCI VILC. v*- - ,
with Phillip, that’s all I ttin*