O. Hebern: the secret life of a star – Respublika.lt

O. Hebern family history

Audrey Hebern Ruston (Audrey Hepburn Ruston) was born in 1929. on the 4th of May. Both her parents were of aristocratic origin. Audrey’s grandfather, Baron Arnaud van Heemstra, was once the governor of the Dutch colony of Suriname and the mayor of Arnhem. The father of the future star, English banker Joseph Anthony Hepburn Ruston (Joseph Anthony Hepburn Ruston), claimed kinship with the royal family through his ancestor James Hebburn, the third husband of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. Young Audrey lived constantly moving from Belgium to England, from England to the Netherlands. Her mother, the Dutch baroness Ella van Heemstra, and her father attended Nazi meetings for many years. Hebern on 4th Dec. visited Germany, where he met not only well-known British fascists, including Sir Oswald Mosley, but also Hitler himself. Before the war, Audrey’s mother was even more active than her father. But during the war, Ela changed her views and cut ties with those who supported A. Hitler. She was already divorced from her husband at that time.

Most of my childhood was in the occupation

In order to somehow survive without her husband’s money, Ela moved with her children to the city of Arnhem, where she had a large family house. And at that time Holland was occupied, a completely different life began. The Van Hemstra house was also occupied. Ela and her children were allowed to snuggle in his most modest room. A local bank branch was located next to Audrey’s house, where the Nazis set up a prison. The young girl heard the terrible screams of the torture victims and it affected her very much. At first, Ela supported the Nazis. She had an affair with a German official, and at the end of 1941 she even organized a music evening for the Germans in Arnhem. Audrey and her brother Jan appeared in it. Like many others, Audrey was of the opinion that her mother supported the Nazis at the time for the sake of the children. But it did not save them. Brother Alex became an underground resistance fighter, and so did Jan. They were arrested and sent to a concentration camp, Ella’s sister’s husband Otas was killed. During the brutal Dutch occupation, the baroness changed her mind drastically and started supporting the Dutch Resistance movement.

Food shortages started in the country. The former chubby Audre suddenly turned into a thin girl, as if constructed from sticks. Before the war, she adored Belgian chocolate, and during the war, she told herself every day that she hated eating. The Netherlands later went through a blockade that led to a real famine. Audre’s family had to grind flour from pea pods and eat tulip bulbs. Later, when the Netherlands was liberated and humanitarian aid was distributed, Audrey almost died after eating oatmeal so sweet that there was enough sugar to cement the porridge into a lump.

Messages in ballerina shoes

For years, there were persistent rumors about Audrey Hebern’s participation in the resistance against the Nazis. There are several legends about what Audrey did during the occupation. According to one of them, after half a day she used to jump over a rope in the city square, watching the German machines. He ran from the Gestapo and hid in the cellars with a basket of food brought to those who had just been arrested by the Gestapo. In the same city square, they handed out notes hidden in shoes. Audrey’s official biographers have so far confirmed only two facts about Audrey’s participation in the resistance movement. First, she gave charity concerts as a ballerina and raised money for resistance fighters, which they used to buy food for Jews in hiding. Secondly, Audrey often hid letters from the underground in her ballet shoes and passed them on to other fighters.

For years, biographers have tried to find some other evidence that the legends and myths about Audrey Hebern are true, but have been forced to admit that they cannot.

Until one of the researchers had the idea to delve into the diary of Audrey’s murdered uncle. in 2019 Robert Matzen introduced the book “The Dutch Girl: Audrey Hebern and the Second World War” and introduced the readers to the facts he was able to find in Uncle Otto’s diary.

The writer collected valuable information little by little, he visited the Netherlands several times for that purpose. He found a lot of information in the archives, interviewed people who knew about O. Hebern’s life during the war. In the book, the star reveals herself from a completely different, unexpected side, and this helps to understand her own statements about the past of the war years.

“Others were braver”

When Audrey talked about her childhood during the war years, she mostly remembered the street shootings she witnessed. She spoke reluctantly about what she did herself: all the children in Holland did something to help the country defeat the fascists; many of them were braver than her, there is no telling.

After the death of her uncle Otto, Ella moved with her children to her relatives in the town of Velp near Arnhem. It was there that Audrey joined the Resistance movement. It is believed that she contacted the undergrounds after volunteering at a local hospital, which turned out to be a center of resistance in Velpe. Dr. Hendrik Visser’t Hooft managed to save hundreds of Jews by organizing shelters and meals for them. Audrey Hebern became his assistant. From the outside, it looked like a nurse’s job, but everything was much more dramatic – Audrey was a courier and liaison. The girl repeatedly delivered messages to the underground and the downed pilots in the area. Once she came face to face with a squad of punishers. Audrey pretended to be a naive fool, picked a bunch of flowers and gave them to the Germans, much to their delight. O. Hebern played her role perfectly, her enemies believed her. These acting skills later helped her conquer Hollywood.

H. Hoftas probably thought of collecting money under the guise of ballet. She used to perform at the Arnhem City Theatre. The performances were called “zwarte avonden”, which translates as “black evenings”. This name was adopted because the windows of the hall were covered and darkened so that no one would notice them. The audience was even afraid to clap, lest the young ballerina get caught. Audrey tried so hard to support the spirit of the occupied people. In addition, by dancing, she earned money for the Resistance movement to feed the Jews who were hidden by the underground.

Audrey not only danced, but also distributed an underground newspaper calling for the rescue of those persecuted by the Nazis.

In addition, she read a lot – it helped to forget the hunger – and drew when she had, with what and on what. Since the bombing, she and her mother used to hide in the basement. The inhabitants of Velpa had nothing to eat, everything was taken away by the Germans. People starved to death in families.

The girl began to suffocate from hunger, she developed anemia, and sometimes she became swollen. Audrey was still looking for something to do, she found it unbearable to just wait at home to see when and how everything would end.

Of course, no one allowed the child too much. The only time that Audrey was entrusted with a very dangerous task is related to the fact that the Germans shot down several English planes. The pilots were hidden outside the city, in the forest. Audrey used to deliver messages and food to them by bicycle. When it was necessary to rescue a wounded English paratrooper, he was hidden in the van Hemstras’ house. And although it was probably Audrey who initiated it, she kept this secret and nursed the injured along with the others.

Scars left by war

When the allied soldiers liberated Holland, the local authorities tried to punish all the collaborators. Ela was called in for questioning. After a long explanation, the charges against the family were dropped, and the mother and daughter left for England. Audrey had to give up her career as a ballerina due to her poor health due to starvation and nervous life. The girl with an angelic appearance attracted the attention of Hollywood agents. After the role in the movie “Roman Holiday”, she woke up famous, as they say. O. Hebern completely changed the image of the busty blonde Hollywood star, presenting a new ideal of beauty to millions of moviegoers. Audrey was extremely petite, slender, but the audience did not know that years of starvation during the war contributed.

After that, there were many films and memorable roles. However, Audrey refused one role – that of Anne Frank. He was offered to her because both girls were of a similar age and had spent the war years in the Netherlands. Audrey always had trouble remembering the war. There are no films about war in her filmography, she tried to avoid this topic, no matter how useful the offers were. The war took a long time to affect Audrey: the actress suffered from long periods of depression, which could not be explained by the events of her life at the time, and which were most likely related to the horrors experienced in her childhood. Due to severe nutritional disorders, it was difficult for her to carry the baby. And the people around saw only a young, slim, beautiful, always calm woman. During the war, Audrey promised herself: if this nightmare ends once, she will never, never, never complain about anything in her life…

O. Hebern finally managed to come to terms with his past. Several years after becoming a megastar, Audrey participated in public readings of “The Diary of Anne Frank”, became a UNICEF ambassador. Shortly before her death, she also visited war-torn Somalia.