Q&A with Pamela D. Toler

 

 

Pamela D. Toler is the author of the new biography The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany. Toler's other books include Women Warriors.

 

Q: How did you first learn about journalist Sigrid Schultz (1893-1980), and why did you decide to write her biography?

 

A: An article from the Chicago Tribune appeared in my newsfeed one day.  (I’ve never figured out why or how.)  An architectural salvage vendor had discovered a cache of glass plate photographic negatives in the attic of a house in what is now the Chicago neighborhood of Ravenswood. 

 

The photographs were unusual for the time and the format: most of them were informal shots of a woman, a young child and a large dog, taken outside the house where he found them.

 

With the help of his girlfriend, who is an art historian specializing in  photography, the vendor tracked down who the people in the photographs were. The little girl was named Sigrid Schultz. The woman was her mother, Hedwig. And the photographs were taken by her father, Hermann, who was a portrait painter who had emigrated from Norway in 1892.

 

All of that was mildly interesting, then the news article took an unexpected twist. Sigrid Schultz had been a groundbreaking foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and possibly the first woman to head a foreign news bureau for a major American newspaper. At that point, I was more than mildly interested!

 

It didn’t take me long to find her basic story: Sigrid Schultz was the foreign bureau chief in Berlin for the Chicago Tribune from 1925 to 1941 and one of the first American reporters to warn her readers just how dangerous the Nazis were. The more I learned, the more convinced I became that her story needed to be told now.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: The title comes from one of my favorite anecdotes about Schultz.  Hitler’s right-hand man, Hermann Göring, called Schulz “that dragon from Chicago” after she confronted him in front of the entire foreign press corps about his efforts to entrap journalists with stories about purported German military secrets. Schultz accepted that title with pride.

 

I open the book with the anecdote, which I believe illuminates both her personality and her willingness to confront the Nazis face-to-face.

 

Q: The writer Julia Scheeres said of the book, “A wildly inspirational tale. I'm so glad that Toler rescued Schultz’s legacy.” What do you think of that assessment, and what do you see as Schultz's legacy today?

 

A: Inspiration is a tricky concept as far as I’m concerned. It is very personal. People find inspiration where and when they need it.

 

That said, I found Schultz to be an inspiring figure on several levels, not only in her courage in facing up to the Nazis but in her ability to carry on no matter how many times life knocked her down. And life knocked her down pretty regularly.

 

Looking at her story through a broader lens, Schultz stood up for the truth over the course of her entire career. As a young woman, she walked away from jobs she needed because of antisemitism on the part of her employers. As a reporter, she stayed in Berlin as long as possible because she was determined to give her readers “all the dope there is” about the Nazis. That’s a legacy worth having.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I was lucky to have lots of primary sources to work with, including two archives with substantial holdings related to Schultz. I read Schultz’s by-lined articles in the Chicago Tribune in chronological order: a chilling introduction to the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazi Germany in what felt like real time.

 

And I also read every memoir I could get my hands on that was written by her fellow journalists at the time. Most of them weren’t very good books, but they were amazing sources.

 

Schultz appeared in many of them; even when she didn’t, they gave me different perspectives on what it was like to be in Berlin at the time and sensory details that I couldn’t get any other way. 

 

As I worked through Schultz’s papers, I tried to identify every random name she mentioned. I didn’t always succeed, but I succeeded often enough to realize that far more women worked in and around journalism in Europe in the years between the two world wars than general histories of journalism would have suggested. Both a nice surprise, and a little dispiriting.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: After four years of working on Sigrid Schultz and the Nazis, I’m taking some time to refill the well. Though I do have a couple of ideas that are calling my name…

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I share my research and writing process with my readers in a twice-weekly blog, History in the Margins, and a twice-monthly newsletter. In the blog, I share historical tidbits, book reviews, and my experiences visiting historical sites on the road.

 

For example, in the two months leading up to the publication of The Dragon from Chicago I shared the stories of little-known women journalists.

 

In the newsletter, I share what I’m thinking about writing and history in a broader context. It’s a great way for me to experiment with ideas, and to keep in contact with readers in between books. 

Readers can sign up for either or both at my website, www.pameladtoler.com

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Pamela D. Toler.