Mutti’s Dream

Mutti’s History

Anita Saul was born on 17th May 1907, the third daughter of Jewish descendants, Helene (nee Zomm), the daughter of a once Prussian Countess and Julius Saul, also of Jewish descent. The family had since become Christians, but it became detrimental to bear a Jewish name in the years preceding the second world war.

Anita was somewhat different from her sisters; she was forthright and often overbearing with solid views and intuition and a highly positive outlook on life. Her grandmother paid for her private education, and music was her chosen pathway in life. She loved to visit the Vienna and Saltsburg music festivals and practised the violin and piano every day.

Anita’s brother Walter joined the brown shirts at 18 years old, which was the Hitler youth organisation for the Nazis. The two locked horns on countless occasions, and her brother accused her of being a communist. However, the fact that she had a brother was forgotten. He was not spoken about, so much so, while writing the book, Dennis and Beverly made contact with Walters grandson (Raymond) in Canada, and he helped to piece together many hitherto unknown family facts, not least Walters’ very existence, which was a surprise to Anita’s grandchildren.

She was taken off guard when she met Herbert Tollkuhn, and their swift romance led to a pregnancy at the young age of 19. In those times, and particularly in Prussian society, the shock and horror of the situation must have laid a pang of heavy guilt on her shoulders. Although their wedding rings were inscribed with the date of Christmas eve 1926, they did not get married until 7th March. On 9th June, their daughter Inge was born.

Anita was not a natural mother and found that bonding with her daughter was a challenge. It was the cause of great sadness to Inge that she never heard her mother tell her that she loved her, although she knew that she did. Inge was an only child and in dire need of love and attention her whole life.

Mutti means ‘Mummy’ in German, and of course, that is what her daughter called Anita. Although in the event, the whole family, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and even in-laws called her Mutti as well, many family friends in England believed that was her name, not knowing the German language, of course.

After the war, Anita became a money lender and continued to live a healthy lifestyle and was fascinated by health products and eating healthily. When she once needed to attend hospital for a minor operation, her doctors remarked that she had the internal organs of a woman half her age. In addition, her skin was clear and bore few lines considering the challenging times she experienced through the war.

Anita held counsel to doctors, solicitors, and influential people in the local community who sought her opinion, and she was swift to offer advice. She lived to be 90 years old and was looked after by her long-term partner Heinz in Isernhagen, Hannover, and Inge and her family visited her when they could.