League of German Girls
Unlike many others Cato did not join the League of German Girls ("Bund Deutscher Mädel", BDM) youth organisation. Through her brother Tim, she met "Luftwaffe" Sergeant Helmut Schmidt, the future Chancellor of Germany, who from 1937 was stationed in Bremen-Vegesack for his military service and during this time had an intense friendship with the Bontjes van Beek family. However, Schmidt eventually broke off this friendship when he began an officers' training in order to join the "Oberkommando der Luftwaffe" in Berlin.