Biographical Sketch of Gertrude Dienst

Gertrude Dienst, daughter of Theodore Grabowsky of Ratibor, Germany, and Julia di Bernell of Manheim Baden, Germany, was born April 5, 1887 in the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago, enroute to Denver, Colorado. She and her brother were raised by their father, a miner in Silverton, Colorado, and stepmother. Her education began in the two-room 29th Street School; she continued her elementary education at the Gilpin School and the Boulevard School before attending North Denver High School. She graduated in 1907 and was sent to the University in Breslau, Germany. Due to financial constraints, she left the University and worked as an English governess until her marriage to George Dienst at the American Consulate in 1911. She enjoyed working at the Joslin's department store between 1912 and 1940, first as a sales clerk, then as an assistant buyer. During World War I, she was responsible for the Red Cross Relief Collections to benefit warhorses and dogs. She also taught salesmanship classes and applied psychology at an opportunity school for soldiers returning from the war.

On January 20, 1942, under the leadership of Gertrude Dienst, 25 women organized a women's auxiliary Red Cross unit in Denver to help with World War II relief efforts. Officially titled "The American Red Cross Production Unit and War Service of the Denver Turner's Auxiliary for the Denver Federation of Federated Women's Clubs," the group immediately began work collecting donations, as well as sewing and knitting for the needy in Europe, both soldier and civilian. After the war, this same group of women continued to help the German people by forming a Colorado branch of the American Committee for the Relief of German Needy. All told, this group of women sent more than three tons of relief packages overseas through August 1951.

The collection largely consists of letters from civilians living in postwar Germany asking for assistance. Hundreds of letters, some addressed to the mayor of Denver, some to philanthropic organizations, many to Mrs. Dienst herself, arrived at the Dienst home. These were sorted by the women of the Auxiliary who decided what provisions to send. Most of the letters are in German, though some are in English. As an example, Hildegard Zoephel, a twenty-year-old young woman, wrote a letter in hopes of ensuring the survival of herself and her fifty-year-old mother. Her father was dead and their home had burned down. In her letter she warned, "My english is not good, but I learned it only just in school." After describing her family's woes and the conditions in French-occupied Germany, she wrote: "Perhaps you can see now, which a need is in Germany. Besides the bad eat still nothing to dress. No shoes, no stockings, no clothes, no coats and before all, no underwear. Is it perhaps possible for you to help us in any-way? We are glad in thankful for the smallest give." She gave some specific information about sizes and so forth, then: "Perhaps that is enough, that you can known and help us. For us is a little very, very much, and we come over the winter. Excuse me, when it is not right, that I tell you my and my mother's need; but we wish to live. Please, please help us." (Zoephel, October 31, 1947) The Auxiliary's response included a woolen coat, shoes, two dresses, underthings, soap, and canned and dry goods such as rice, sugar, Spam, and lentils.