The Other Side: Life In WWII Germany, an Interview

after World War one is when my dad went America his uncle had a bakery and so he learned how to become a baker he was in love with a young girl in Germany so he left it when he was 18 years old to go to America when he was 21 he came back to get my mom and they married and he took her back to United States when they had the reunion that all the kids came home to my grandma and they got paid and then it was the time to even get to go back to America Hitler did not let any money go out of Germany they would not let any property or money leave Germany the Nazis kept everything they didn't want anybody to transfer any money out to other countries so my dad was faced with it what do you do so he decided to stay in Germany and buy business in 1939 my first day in school is when the war started and I was a child I didn't really understood too much about more at that time but the change and the first year in Germany was people got issued stamps they only got that much food you know on stems they couldn't get by more people were you know caught into the war didn't want to go to the war but they had to go so a lot of things just when I was at triad I saw the changes that happened I didn't quite understand at that time there were a lot of changes that happened but it wasn't impacting me at that time so much till they started bombing the war became very very very awful for me as a child that's when we had the first bombing in her book that first night when the family came down we had over a hundred thousand people killed and that town was really you know but almost you know destroyed that's when I'd realized sank in but that was nothing this was the first night we lived close to the Baltic Sea and where all the big factories that were produced for producing war was right in Rostock in Hamburg rostock Penniman did impediment is where they made the rockets to shoot to England so all of this area was where they would come every night and bomb to destroy the area there but side effect of bombing is in the beginning the German Air Force was trying to shoot down these bombers and these farmers came down and this is when I saw the horror of horror I mean I had a business American plane coming down the pilots and armed they are head there but that's when it impacted me how horrible warriors and when I saw all those refugees coming from the towns that were destroyed with very big injuries or most of them are dead that's when it affected us embrace them where my relatives live overnight they killed 500,000 people and destroyed Tristan you know what I mean the the gruesome part that people were just wiped out whole streets were right out they had nothing to do with the word there were innocent women and children because the men were in the war and the war was not only fought by the front it was hard to destroy the morale and the life of Germans period you know the thing that I think we sometimes forget that the Germans were so much victims than anybody else because there were so many bombs come down my mother decided with help to build a bunker and it was very deep in the ground with rotting somehow that she they created a banker and a banker was there not far below bomb came down no problem but all the debris that was really produced when bombs came down someplace else to get plane came down the debris is all over the place that's what people got hurt more than sometimes just from the bombs so every night when order every other night when those bombs came the sirens went on oh my what I said get your coat back onto the bunker and so that one night after I saw all the dead people and I saw all this I had a nervous breakdown said to my mom and not blow it anymore I wanna die I will not go anymore I want to be here and I'm gonna die everybody else dies I want to die too I couldn't bear any more of the pain of what I did see that day I think one of the propaganda that Hitler put out is what we supposed to be hearing you know I mean that they were the element I'm dead it was because of Pearl Harbor and that they were more intense to get all the people going you know fight in the war and being with Japan I've heard that we were connected to be having a friend in Japan when I'm saying this this is a child talking I mean I'm not talking about that's what we found out just like to understand what's going on in the world and in Japan is fighting also and whatever so they they went back to this fighting and wanting to have more leadership in the world I think you know it's it was really what they really said is we want to get more of the world belong to us this kind of thing and this is what they really portrayed in their propaganda and that's what we picked up didn't make sense at this time know that to me - nobody else but that's how it was and you dear didn't question what happened all the things that were going on nobody believes that he says why did German people didn't know all this was going on but nobody opened up their mouth even if they wouldn't know they wouldn't have said a thing they wouldn't have said a thing cuz they would've been under train next you know so this is what's the problem of fear that you wouldn't say anything that wasn't right because you're worried that you get on that train we didn't have television to begin with there were no television and the radio station you were not permitted to watch anything they only had one station but they were not there's not everybody had a radio and so you did not get any outside information now my mother they had one that you could get an outside station and I remember she she took the curtains down and she covered this because if they would catch you too happened at the station you go to concentration camp so you know so I remember my mother said I have to hear what's going in the work and she would cover everything up and she would cover blanket over and they were gone with their head so nobody could hear that they were listening to other stations but that was the one that was very strict they didn't want German people to know anything and just what they told but hold you know we didn't have any teachers and the one teacher and then be her - they have to teach all the kids are great so what they did is they put like three four grades together in one room and you did the best they could you know for for what they teach and some of the high school kids had to teach the little ones when there was really a big bombing that day then there was no school because you know things were just you know there's a Rea education was really put in a no waiting list so to speak because there was just no help and there was really a lot of hardship and education was very spotty you know for Christmas we had we had a tree and we baked little cookies from the syrup and everything and the cookies were cut and then we put him on the Christmas tree but there were really no presence to give so I won Christmas I got a doll now I could not imagine how happy I was then because there were no dolls there were no toys and so I got a doll that was unbelievable I had a doll and I mean it was the biggest presence I ever got and young girl once the dog you know and I got a dog now my mother probably traded it for butter or something like this because it was a trade probably they wanted understory she got me a doll part of the hardship about having war is because nobody could get to buy anything anymore and everything was on stems so it was very limited but people had so other kids because other men went to the war all the kids had to work everyone had to work I mean under farms or ever ever work had to be done they had to take over working and many of vacations in the school were geared to get the harvest of the potatoes were they are the kids could all go for a week or two picked potatoes or if there was any kind of crop they would get off for a week to help because there was not enough labor to do the work including me so we worked and did everything we learned so many things because we just had to learn how to do it when we were not in school we worked you know if the animals had to be taken care of that they had to be fed we we did all the work that needed to be done by man before but the men weren't there so every and that wasn't easy I wouldn't tell you the kids really didn't want to do it we had to work on the field you see these long fields of sugar beets we had to go and we had to first all we had to walk the horse so he would you know in the middle of them between the rows then we have to separate them you only want one read at beat and then the next one here so they get big enough so you had to go know when you didn't you saw them there's four or five four all the time so you have to pull them out I went I remember I Pat's on my knees and we were thrown underneath all the kids and they had to pull the other ones out so he only had every so far you had one plant because you know then they could grow we had to do this for weeks so we worked all the time I only know work I did ever was work and that's still like you know when I grew up all I know is work I always get busy because I know what the other segment of my life that I never will forget the war came the Russians came closer and Americans were here and then they pressed the war and the war stopped where we were that's where the war ended right where we lived you know they oppressed enough and they pressed enough so that was the end of the war where we were along the line there were thousands of refugees they were fleeing from the war they know didn't want to be killed over push back so where we live we had hundreds in our area but thousands in our village people homeless child owners because they're running for their life so my mother and nobody there was no food businesses closed our town they didn't have anything but there was no facilities anymore so my mother said you know we had a wash kitchen that's what he the old days people cooked the clothes they didn't really watch like we're doing with most machines now she had this big wash kettle and we had milk and we had eggs so all day and all night people help me cook milk soap and we feed we've had hundreds of hundreds of people because there was no food there were kids that were the people and never we get so many people and then they are then everything that was going on it's just keeping people a life there and they were sleeping everywhere we had straw straw and in the school and the floors we had scrub in our house they were sleeping everywhere so that's time was bad but then the war was over and the next part was even worse well after the war since we were listed I was listed on the American consulate they said the first care package to me that was the first pet package I opened up that was chocolate it there was gum in it and there was stuff in it that I had not seen growing up and I was I was having this piece of chocolate everybody my brother got something I got some and I was licking a little bit on it and then I saved it and I licked every day little bit on it and I saved it there were no announcement the tractor pancit you know the big tanks came faster down and the shooting was coming like crazy and we were all hovering everywhere and it'd be close amid once it stopped we only knew the war was over when the my goals the army came in with big noise and came and raped everybody they could get and plundered every day they've turned it all the houses because their commander told them they have ten days to do anything with the Germans they wanted to well who they were there were women and children they raped every woman they could see even nuns they were raped everything my mother hid me she was hiding me for a long period of time and she not an old woman herself in order to feed and get around she had a big coat and and she put cow manure all over her because they wouldn't touch that and she could move around and still you know function giving me food but I was hiding and doing things all the way around to make it work everything yet and so this was going on for two weeks very hostile then commander gave them orders not to do this anymore but they didn't stop for some time we slept at night by our with our neighbors their grandfather their OPA was building a hideaway for the women and the women from the village two young girls were all there because he would hide them when they come you know after the two days he would put him away there and it was a big hating heap a big hate bomb and he made a hole in it inside it was empty and then he built a long walkway you know why when the Russians came he had these big permits they would go everywhere to see if people are they or if they find something you know they found a lot of jewelry this way that was hitting they would have these things so he made it fine after way if he was going to look for they were looking for it they couldn't hurt us and that's where we would be at nights so one night things calmed down and we didn't go there and they came so Opa Opa that's what we do they had this big light shining up wanting to break in he took that little being at a liquor telephone you know they'd have no telephone service at that time but that like a telephone look like a regular telephone I mean you know I've dialed on it and I hear so he went there in the window and I'd come and then look up and after he said and then he died uncovered and it really loud so they could hear it and they took off because they know they're not supposed to be doing this anymore you know but that was the story ever said he saved all of us all the girls on us because he made sure they wouldn't come in all in masters doing the same thing over again you know my grandfather has a big farm right under penal River beautiful beautiful beautiful setting and the young ladies in the city came to stay there when the war was coming closer he was staying there you know it had a lot of buildings and everything he would hide there because they they didn't want to get hurt in the war but bombs on shooting everything so when the Russians came they found that farm and I were at least 12 10 or 12 girls there young girls and these mangoes you know one Gold's are people they have been in the Army on their life and it was fighting so they came in they tied these girls and the fest post back post and raped them and raped them and raped them when they finally left well cut them off and ten of them cut their wrists and I'd killed himself they did unbelievably bad thing to young girls I mean they're and that happened in my grandpa's house I mean these were the things that gruesome through some what they did yeah so anyhow that was the worst I mean there were warm it bounce was bad but this was that was even worse I had nightmares for a long long long time because we would be every night somebody was listening if the truck would come with with them yet even after you know the first period and you would watch if they were coming so you would save yourself that the community was in room so when they finally after all this was going on about four weeks they had one commander so to speak trying to put some rules down I mean not really rules but bring a little bit something order in there and so then they started to school one of the things they were teaching about Nazi is over and we're now having the best system in the world which is communism and the communism will make sure all of you don't own anything right now because we're all the refugee kids we will own everything there will be no more capitalism in this country and Sarah Maya which my father he will not be anymore the owner we will be the owner of this business because he has people working for him and that means a capitalist he makes money to people's work and we don't tolerate that accommodation all of us own everything they did come to my father and they said you have to turn over your businesses and everything because we will not allow any capitalism in our system we are a communist would be a social party and the people owned everything so he was putting a notice but he did not give it up at night that's the story and that really to bear story at night a lady called and she said mr. Harris admire you under lists to be picked up at your family so he said you need to go because the reason I call my husband what really really absolutely be angry at me because you felt your my fed me for months with my children when I was you know homeless and we didn't have indeed I could not sleep to think that you people all of you have to go to a camp and be done with her life so she called and we escaped we had we had a really a connection to the mayor because you could not leave your residence not more than 30 miles around your home so you need an certificate that you could go further away then just from that home so this Mia which was our friend he was a certificate that we could go through Berlin to Dresden then we had relatives at raisin and so we went that night and we went to Berlin and we jumped a train and stopped outside of Berlin and then we want to see a you bond you know you bunnies connects you with the West we we finally got but we could not be gone and one train because the Russians would be gone along the trains and observed everything so nobody would escape from East Germany to best so we went into and we made it a make a nut shot we made it we went to West Berlin I have said that sentence many time overnight we were homeless jobless and poor overnight well the the scary part was we didn't and nobody understood all this killing that was going on we really didn't you know everybody might my mother lost two of her brothers in the world my father lost his brother in the world there was so much grief but that was like did you ever know when a train moves and you can't stop them this was going on and nobody could do anything about it it's like this is what's happening but how do you stop you cannot say a word because you become also one of the people that goes away because that's how powerful the fear was in people we all just went along it's like you're under train and you're just going along you don't stop that train that's how this whole situation in my as a child was there was nothing you could do about it they changed my life that those of others because people gave up everything to survive this war and and their life changed forever because they lost many of their loved ones they lost their homes they lost everything so there the world was like changing everybody's life I think nobody worried about the outcome of the world you know why they knew this had to come to an end no nobody can go and get take over the world you

Channel: meawen

Views: 220,753

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Id: WRREheMhr70

Length: 26min 32sec (1592 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 21 2016