punkncat
12-27-2004, 03:30 PM
I do service work. As a side benefit of this type of work I regularly get to meet new people from all walks of life. My partner and I were at a house the other day where the homeowner was a child in Germany during WW2.
She was 6 when the war broke out and lived in a city , I can't remember the name. She talked about Hitler coming to power , and the plight of the Jews. She remembered for us the condiditons after the air raids started. She said that a few years after the war started , Germany began to get raids. She said that it ws impossible to sleep because every few hours in the day and constantly at night the sirens would go off. Her family was lucky enough to own land in the country so they went there to get away from the air raids.
She was recounting how the only men around were either babies , really old , or severly injured. Every man of age had to serve in the Army , or could be put to death or sent to the camps. So everything was done by the women. They worked in all the factories making war materials.
She said that after the war had been going a while that money had completly lost its value. You couldn't buy an egg for a million dollars. The lines at stores were incredibly long , and there was nothing there to buy anyway. She said that lots of things you take for granted are completly gone. Eggs , panty hose , sugar , flour , etc. were totally unavailable. That people had gotten down to boiling wallpaper to get the glue(which contains sugar)off in a tea.
Since they had moved to the farm , they actually had a good deal of these staples. Many of their neighbors and friends came and gave them family heirlooms , watches , gold , jewelry of considerable value , just for a loaf of bread , or piece of salt pork.
By the end of the war , the fighting was all around the farm they lived on. She said that they had a silo on the farm that was high enough to be a good scouting position , so it wasn't unusual for troops to be there. A few weeks before the war was over all the German troops were down to rags and starving. It was common knowledge that the war was lost , but these men just continued trying to fight. They were all starving so the biggest reason they kept going was to find food. No one would help the German soldiers out of fear of the Americans finding out.
A few days before the Americans arrived a small unit of German infantry had come to the door of her farmhouse. The whole family was frightened , because at this point there was no order at all. Looting and worse were commonplace. She was the only one brave enough to go to the door. She said when she opened it that tears instantly came to her eyes from the condition of these boys. She said that they were lucky if the oldest of them was 15. No weapons , no gear , just beat up , starving boys. Against the wishes of the family she let them in and fed them. She said they were so war weary that just dropping a plate or piece of silverware would make them jump. They were constatly shaking and would just start crying out of the blue. Their eyes , she said , were those of people who had seen too much.
They ended up staying for a few days before an American unit started crossing the farm. The German soldiers tried to run , but didn't escape. The American unit was just about to kill them when she ran out to the Americans and begged for their lives , as they were only boys. Because of her they lived , and funny enough she met several of them years later in the States.
She said that there were many goings on that the papers didn't tell you about the American soldiers. The army was moving so fast across Germany that they had gotten way ahead of their supply lines. In turn the soldiers went into people's homes and took all the food they had. In addition , she said they didn't leave anything of value behind. They stole all they could carry , and worse. She said the time in between , waiting for the surrender of Germany was the hardest. The Americans had taken all the food , and wouldn't let the people go out. Many people had the hardest time then , waiting for relief.
We sat and listened to her for hours. I could have listened for days. She went on to marry an American soldier who was stationed in Germany. Made her way here to the states and loves everything American , in spite of the memories. It was so amazing to actually get to hear a part of living history.
She was 6 when the war broke out and lived in a city , I can't remember the name. She talked about Hitler coming to power , and the plight of the Jews. She remembered for us the condiditons after the air raids started. She said that a few years after the war started , Germany began to get raids. She said that it ws impossible to sleep because every few hours in the day and constantly at night the sirens would go off. Her family was lucky enough to own land in the country so they went there to get away from the air raids.
She was recounting how the only men around were either babies , really old , or severly injured. Every man of age had to serve in the Army , or could be put to death or sent to the camps. So everything was done by the women. They worked in all the factories making war materials.
She said that after the war had been going a while that money had completly lost its value. You couldn't buy an egg for a million dollars. The lines at stores were incredibly long , and there was nothing there to buy anyway. She said that lots of things you take for granted are completly gone. Eggs , panty hose , sugar , flour , etc. were totally unavailable. That people had gotten down to boiling wallpaper to get the glue(which contains sugar)off in a tea.
Since they had moved to the farm , they actually had a good deal of these staples. Many of their neighbors and friends came and gave them family heirlooms , watches , gold , jewelry of considerable value , just for a loaf of bread , or piece of salt pork.
By the end of the war , the fighting was all around the farm they lived on. She said that they had a silo on the farm that was high enough to be a good scouting position , so it wasn't unusual for troops to be there. A few weeks before the war was over all the German troops were down to rags and starving. It was common knowledge that the war was lost , but these men just continued trying to fight. They were all starving so the biggest reason they kept going was to find food. No one would help the German soldiers out of fear of the Americans finding out.
A few days before the Americans arrived a small unit of German infantry had come to the door of her farmhouse. The whole family was frightened , because at this point there was no order at all. Looting and worse were commonplace. She was the only one brave enough to go to the door. She said when she opened it that tears instantly came to her eyes from the condition of these boys. She said that they were lucky if the oldest of them was 15. No weapons , no gear , just beat up , starving boys. Against the wishes of the family she let them in and fed them. She said they were so war weary that just dropping a plate or piece of silverware would make them jump. They were constatly shaking and would just start crying out of the blue. Their eyes , she said , were those of people who had seen too much.
They ended up staying for a few days before an American unit started crossing the farm. The German soldiers tried to run , but didn't escape. The American unit was just about to kill them when she ran out to the Americans and begged for their lives , as they were only boys. Because of her they lived , and funny enough she met several of them years later in the States.
She said that there were many goings on that the papers didn't tell you about the American soldiers. The army was moving so fast across Germany that they had gotten way ahead of their supply lines. In turn the soldiers went into people's homes and took all the food they had. In addition , she said they didn't leave anything of value behind. They stole all they could carry , and worse. She said the time in between , waiting for the surrender of Germany was the hardest. The Americans had taken all the food , and wouldn't let the people go out. Many people had the hardest time then , waiting for relief.
We sat and listened to her for hours. I could have listened for days. She went on to marry an American soldier who was stationed in Germany. Made her way here to the states and loves everything American , in spite of the memories. It was so amazing to actually get to hear a part of living history.