The Traumatic Childhood of Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn

On September 7, 1926, the Baroness Ella van Heemstra van Ufford married Joseph Ruston.  The Baroness divorced her first husband, Hendrik Ufford, in 1925 and raised her two young boys on her own.  Ruston was also recently divorced and he was without children.  Ruston seemed more attached to the title of Baroness than with Ella herself; however, her title was honorific and did not come with any entitlements.  Ruston passed himself off as a banker, but he spent the majority of his time looking for a job.

Within a year of their marriage, the couple fought about money and Ruston’s emotional detachment from Ella’s two young sons.  Ruston did not have a job and didn’t seem to be in a hurry to find one. In 1928, full of desperation, the family moved from the Dutch East Indies to London and within a few months Ruston attained a job in Belgium and the family moved again.

The Birth of Audrey Hepburn

Within a few weeks, on May 4, 1929, Audrey Kathleen Ruston entered the world.  By the end of the month, Audrey suffered a case of whooping cough and nearly died.  At one point she stopped breathing and turned blue, the nanny froze with panic but Ella saved Audrey by spanking her, turning her frequently, and warming her.  On July 18, Audrey’s parents registered her at the British vice consulate.  Audrey became a British Citizen due to her father’s British citizenship.  Audrey carried a British passport for the rest of her life.

Brussels remained Audrey’s main residence during her childhood, but she also spent a great deal of time at her grandparent’s estate in Arnhem, Holland.  The Baroness taught Audrey to read, draw, and to appreciate good music.  However, the Baroness was not very affectionate.  Audrey’s mother always had her daughter’s best interests at heart, but the Baroness considered anything more than a good night kiss undignified.

Audrey’s parents had never been particularly close and whenever they fought, which was frequent, Audrey would weep in private.  Her mother taught Audrey that weeping in public was undignified and that one should never make a spectacle of themselves in public.

Lunch with Adolph Hitler

Audrey’s dad became increasingly right wing and a staunch supporter of the Fascism.  To this end, Audrey’s parents had lunch with Adolph Hitler in Munich in the spring of 1935.  Joseph Ruston displayed a contemptuous prejudice for Jews, Catholics, and Colored people.  Ruston alienated himself from the Baroness and Audrey and without warning, in May of 1935; he packed his clothes and walked away.

Audrey was devastated and in her later years described Ruston’s abandonment as the most traumatic event of her life.  Her mother became insolvent and Audrey and the Baroness moved in with Audrey’s grandparents in Arnhem.    After the divorce became final, the judge awarded Joseph Ruston visitation rights with Audrey.  Audrey attended school in England from 1936 to 1939 and Ruston occasionally saw her.  Audrey found school boring for the most part; however, one session she always looked forward to was ballet.

World War II Arrives in Holland

In 1939, Hitler attacked Poland.  England and France declared war and the Baroness decided to take Audrey back to Holland.  Audrey’s family was convinced that Hitler would never invade Holland and they would be safer there than in England.  The war changed her parent’s viewpoints about Hitler.  Although they initially supported Fascism, both of them could not stomach the atrocities that Hitler committed and distanced themselves from the party.

At the beginning of 1940, most of the Dutch thought that war would never come to Holland.  That all changed in April when Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway.  Within a couple of weeks, the Germans invaded Holland and even though the Dutch surrendered, Hitler ordered the destruction of Rotterdam killing thirty-thousand civilians.  Within days, German troops occupied Arnhem.

The Germans were looking for anyone associated with England and since Audrey possessed an English passport, her mother was reasonably afraid.  So much so that she enrolled Audrey in school under the name of Edda van Heemstra and forbade her to speak English.  For eight years, 1939 to 1947, Audrey only spoke Dutch.  She later said that when she was young her mother spoke Dutch, her father English, and her friends spoke French while she lived in Brussels.  Because of the influence of the different languages she never felt comfortable in any of them, hence the unique vocal pattern that emerged in her speech.

Life under German Occupation

The Germans systematically looted Arnhem. The assets of Audrey’s grandparents were confiscated and the family sunk into poverty.  Before long, the Germans rounded up the Dutch Jews and sent them to concentration camps.  Audrey recalled seeing families with babies and small children, riding in meat wagons, with nothing more than a slat at top, their faces staring at her.  In her words, Audrey recalled the time, “I knew the cold clutch of human terror all through my early teens: I saw it, felt it, heard it—and it never goes away.”

In June 1942, the Dutch underground attempted to demolish a German train.  In retribution, the Germans rounded up a group of Dutch citizens and executed them.  The Germans forced Audrey to watch as they put her uncle, a cousin, and four neighbors up against a wall and shot them.  After the execution, the Baroness became an active supporter of the Dutch underground, even to the point of hiding Underground workers in their house.

Audrey was still taking dance lesson at the local conservatory.  The conservatory had waived fees for parents who could not afford to pay because of the occupation.  Audrey designed some of her own dances and the students put on private performances for the locals.  The locals so feared the Germans that did not applaud the performers for fear of discovery.

Working with the Underground

On one winter day, the Germans gathered up all women and girls they found in the street.  The Germans placed Audrey into a military truck and she remembered repeating the Lord’s Prayer repeatedly.  Once the truck stopped and the soldiers jumped out and abused some Jews that were walking.  Audrey took a chance, jumped out of the truck and hid. The Germans did not notice and Audrey escaped.

The resistance used Audrey’s help to warn a paratrooper that was hiding in the woods.  The Underground knew Audrey spoke English and asked her to go into the woods and find the paratrooper and warn him about impending German troop movements.  She agreed and on her way out of the woods two German soldiers stopped her. She told them she had gone into the woods to pick flowers and gave them a bouquet.  They took the flowers and let he go.

Arnhem Destroyed

In the autumn of 1944, the Allies launched Operation Market Garden.  The Operation was a stinging defeat for the allies.  During the operation, the Germans forced the Dutch civilians out of Arnhem and fighting between the Germans and Allies destroyed the town.  Audrey and her relatives fled to her grandparent’s summerhouse in the country.  The family had little to eat and at one point Audrey dropped to ninety pounds.  She developed edema in her legs and jaundice.  The family was suffering from starvation when the Dutch Underground delivered a box of food.  

United Nations Relief

On May 4, 1945, coincidentally Audrey’s birthday, a contingent of English troops appeared at the house.  Audrey asked for chocolate and the soldiers obliged.  She ate five bars and became violently ill.  Soon help arrived in the form of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRAA).  The UNRAA set up relief centers in the local school and Audrey was one of the grateful recipients.  The UNRAA later became UNICEF and in later years Audrey remembered how the United Nations had helped her and she became an ambassador for UNICEF.

Reference:
Spoto, Donald.  Enchantment The Life of Audrey Hepburn. New York, N.Y.; Harmony Books, 2006.