What landed me on Tempelhof (part 2)

Ahoy - it's me again. (read part 1)

I promised to offer some more answers - here we go!

If you ever asked yourself how comes a German girl is called "Misty" ...
- that is of course more of a nickname.
Tempelhof has been especially popular among English speaking tourists, so most folks on the island are more or less familiar with that language.
My legal name is Britta ... Britta Pein - but few tourists were able to pronounce that properly.
When I was still learning the ropes as a waitress, tons of things went wrong - so the word the guests heard pretty often from me was "Mist!!" - or even "Mist-Mist-Mist!!!" if I screwed up completely. "Mist" is a mild German form for "shit!" ... like "crap!" perhaps.
One day a friendly tourist who used to joke with me a lot said: "Young lady. This is a wonderful clear and sunny day - no mist whatsoever. But because you seem so fond of that term I might call you 'Misty' from now on - if you have no objections".
That nickname stuck to me. I like it and it is way easier to say and to spell for folks from abroad.
When back home some tourists sent me letters or postcards - most wrote 'Payne' instead of 'Pein'.
So - that's why. Meanwhile even most Germans call me Misty and I'm fine with it.

Why a humble waitress and dancer dashes around in high-tech submarines? 
Well - Tempelhof always was a small naval base. Just a handful U-boats, some minesweepers, some trawlers.

Due to my interest for all things nautical, I spent much of my spare time down by the docks, becoming friends with many of the sailors.
They began to show me around, even took me for short trips (TOTALLY against any military rule of course) and I learned pretty quick how to steer a boat.
That became handy, when we ran short of men during the war.
I helped out testing boats after repairs and improvements or with redeploying them to the (now destroyed) submarine pens.
Of course they never took me on any military mission, because women still ain't allowed to join the armed forces.
So my 'rank' (Fähnrich zur See = ensign on a ship, midshipman), just as any other military task I'm responsible for now, is unofficial.

After the departure of the nazi staff and the death of commander Fehrer, StFz Wertmuller found himself the highest-ranking soldier - so he jumped in and has been in charge of any operations or tactical plans since.
One of the first things he pointed out was (quote) "Also, please take into account that we take great pride in our policy of Equal Working Conditions, where we employ people regardless of gender, sexual orientation or talent."- that's why you even see women operating the FLAK guns and stuff. Some say his encouraging words were just a polite way to tell us: "Move your lazy bum and make yourself useful!". And especially after the 'U-boat incident' I had to think a bit about the 'talent'-part of his little speech.

This directly leads to 'da buzz-bomb': 

We still had one intact V-1 launcher ... as well as some bombs.
But due to the fact we are a bit short on explosives ... and because we don't really believe in the benefices of bombing and terrorizing civilians ... it came to my mind to convert the ramp so it points to the east now - where the mainland lies - removing the explosives from the war heads and to use the freed-up space to stuff letters and postcards into it: TaDa! Airborne mail, Misty-style.
After the war I will see to get this awesome concept patented.
No idea if anything ever reached the addressees - but hey! We tried, didn't we??

Last question you might have on your mind: Why is a chambermaid in charge of the radio station?? 
Hmm... just another of many 'dirty jobs' StFz Wertmuller has seen fit to impose on lil me - mostly because my dad has been an amateur radio operator and I once blurted out I knew how those things work.
And according to my motto "Never ask what your people can do for you - always ask yourself: What can -I- do for my people??" - Bullshit of course: He said "Duckling - YOU operate that thing!" - so I just do it. Cause I'm compliant. What a drag. Anyway.

In part 3 I will tell what happened to the harbor master, the lighthouse keeper - and how we managed to remove the few Jews and other 'endangered species' to a safe place.

Misty Payne

So - what landed ME on Tempelhof?? (Part 1)

Born and raised in Germany's northernmost region (Schleswig-Holstein to be exact) I always felt a strong affection for the sea and all things nautical.

So after leaving school in 1935 I applied for the Nautical College in Kiel - only to learn the nazis won't let women study there anymore.

Also they told me it would be hard for me to get any other university place, because I have never been member of the BDM (Bund Deutscher Mädel) or the NS-Frauenschaft (official organization for women in the Third Reich). Drat!!

I decided to go on a hiatus from further education, took the ferry boat to Tempelhof for working as a waitress at the casino and restaurant they had on the island,  this building later became the "Kommandantur" (headquarters) for the party and navy staff when they took over the island about one year after my arrival.

At first I only planned to stay during summer - thinking things over and trying to figure out what to do for a living in a country that dooms women to a live as obedient wives and mothers only.

What can I say - I just fell in love with the island instantly. The rough weather, the cliffs and the sea - and last not least the odd folks living there. Most not very talkative, but good-natured.
Unruly and edgy. And - if they come to like you: awesome friends!

Among them - very few nazis but some pretty interesting artists: Painters, singers or writers, who decided to flee the turbulent mainland and it's ongoing drift into inhumanity and totalitarianism.
Islands tend to be kind of a melting pot for people that won't fit in properly otherwise.

The genuine islanders are the decendants of whalers, fischermen and farmers, now mostly living on the tourists that used to overcrowd Tempelhof during summer season.

Tourism came to a standstill, after Berlin declared Tempelhof to become a naval base (Minesweepers and U-boats).
The casino had to close - so I lost my job there and started to help out as a chambermaid in the Hotel Esplanade (now mostly inhabited by naval officers) - and I became friend with the lighthouse keeper and moved in to help with the huge lantern and stuff.

Oh! And I met and fell in love with Stabsfeldwebel (StFz=first sergeant) Wertmüller! Rumours have it he actually was a "Unterscharführer" in ... you know where, but got disbanded for being ... err ...
unruly and not enough in line with the ideology. They "exiled" him to godforsaken Tempelhof, where they thought he could cause less havoc.
His job in the beginning was to care for the radio equipment and some ... uhm ... experimental stuff, I'm most certainly not allowed to talk about.

With the beginning of the war times became tough. No daily ferry boat anymore, so we were dependent on the few navy tenders und the incoming U-boats. No way for any of us to leave the island anymore, very little contact to the mainland and our folks at home.

All foreigners on Tempelhof got stuck here also (Ms. Lighthouse already wrote about it: "Maiden in the Tower") - the officials first tried to incarcerate them in the cells of the various basements ...
then just telling them not to leave their homes, which soon became rather impractial also, so they were mostly left alone, but under more or less strict surveillance. 
In contrast to the party-bastards we never bore them any ill will - actually most became good friends over the years ... So we saw no point in making their life more miserable than it was for all of us anyway.

As a matter of fact all of the pretty international bunch we have here live pretty much as us Germans do.
They work, they sing, dance or care for their business. We like it just that way!

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In a couple of days I will carry on with my story, offering answers to some still open questions:
• How comes a German girl is called "Misty"?
• What landed a waitress and dancer on the sail of a Typ-VII-C??
• Why does she seems to be in charge of the V-1 launching ramp??
• Why does that point to the EAST anyway??
• What is her business at the radion station in the ravaged NSDAP-offices??

I will tell, what I MAY tell!
Thank you for reading!

Maiden in the Tower

Old Water Tower

MissUnderstood Lighthouse

I have been asked to write about what it is like to live in a water tower, and how I came to live in a water tower in the first place.

I was visiting Tempelhof in 1939 with an travelling variety show from the United States of America as a dancer. I am British myself, I was 16 at the time and frankly was desperate for work and was scouted out while the tour was in the UK as one of the dancers had suffered a serious illness (this is what I was told at the time, actually I think she got pregnant). So I joined the tour naively, not politically aware and not really paying attention to where it was going to go.

So here I was finding myself in Germany at the beginning of the Second World War... the show was allowed to continue on it's way as at the time there were no hostilities between the US and Germany, but I as a British Citizen was detained by the local Commandant.  Unsure what really to do with me,  they did not really want to shove me into the cells, but nor did they feel I could run free, so they quite literally locked me in the tower, a disused water tower that was converted into living quarters, as although quite comfortable, it was virtually impossible for me to escape from as there was only one door in or out, and getting out the windows was impractical.



Cover of Frauen-Warte featuring Miss Lighthouse
 

As the war rolled on and moral on the Island lowered the owner of the local theatre convinced the Commandant to allow me out of the tower under supervision to help put on shows to help keep spirits up.  Quite shockingly my performances got the attention of  Frauen-Warte where I made the front cover.

After the former regime left the Island I have been given my "freedom." I use the word freedom reservedly as I obviously am unable to return to Britain while hostilities continue, and frankly we are all effectively prisoners here as we are cut off from the main land at present. I was however with my "freedom" offered a job here at the paper and a new residence. I turned them down.

You may ask why I would choose to stay in my "prison cell."  Well as you can see from the following photographs the Water Tower is actually quite luxuriously furnished and has some of the spectacular views in Temeplhof.

While the Circumstances under which I ended up living in Tempelhof are quite unfortunate I have come to love the place and the people here and my prison cell has become a real home.