Fifteen years in a childhood paradise

"It was a bit more difficult than last time. You see, I had no other book to buy, so I just stuffed it into my jacket, and walked out of the shop."

"As easy as that, hey?" Some weeks passed. Otto never came back to the boarding house after the Easter holidays. We all wondered what had happened to him. I missed him very much, as for more than a year we had been close friends. Later I heard, that his father had taken him out of the school, out of our boarding house, and put him into a proper boarding school, away from Posen. He had been caught stealing books from a certain book shop in Posen. I felt terribly guilty, for I knew I had started him off on this road. I might have ruined his life, and I certainly have ruined a beautiful friendship. I was ashamed. It should have been me who got caught.

*

In February of 1942, Horst was called up into the Arbeits Dienst, a military style working service, which built bridges, maintained roads, and worked on other national projects. This was a government funded organisation, and like military service, was compulsory for all German males above the age of seventeen. After six months in one of their units, young people were usually drafted into the military service.

"I don't think Horst minds," said Bernd, when we found ourselves reduced to three Tiemans at the Siebenbürgers. "He never liked school very much."

"But we will miss him," I said. "It will never be the same, neither here nor at home."

"And to think, when the war started, we all said that we were far too young to ever get involved in it," Bernd reminded us.

"That's right." "Maybe, one day, it'll be our turn." "Surely, by then, the war will be over?" "You never know."

*

The summer holidays of 1942 had passed as usual. Günter, Hans and I spent most of the time sitting on our horse-drawn rakes, working and dreaming, and enjoying the freedom of a care-free life.

One Sunday morning we were sitting around the breakfast table, talking about what had happened during the week in Posen.

Günter said: "They opened a new swimming pool for us in Posen this

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