Fifteen years in a childhood paradise

"What will you do, Bernd?" I asked, after we had been dismissed. "I'll go to Potsdam to Onkel Roland and Tante Hilda. I can find their address and see if they can take me. What about you?"

"I don't know. We haven't got anybody here. And what's the use, anyhow, they'll soon catch up with us and put us into the army."

"You can always come with me." "I'll think it over."

My group was already in a corner, when I came in. None of them had any relatives or friends in Berlin. They wanted to remain FLAK helpers. I felt more secure amongst them. They were my friends, with whom I had shared the most difficult year of my life.

Next morning I told Bernd: "Everyone in my group wants to stay on. Thanks for your offer, but I'd rather stay with my friends and become a trainer of the younger FLAK helpers."

After a few more nights in the sports hall we said good-bye to the boys of the other units.

"Good-bye, Bernd. When shall we see each other again?" "We don't know what the future holds, do we?"

"Our unit is going to the Military Base in Bornstedter Feld, in the South of Berlin. Maybe you could come and visit us there one day?"

"Maybe. Cheerio for now." Bernd was the last link to my family and to the past. Our separation seemed to draw the final line under an irretrievable past. I had left childhood behind with all its magic, beauty and adventure, together with my family, friends and place I could call home. Berlin looked foreign, hostile and uninviting to me. Should I have gone with Bernd? Had I made a mistake? Once again, the dark clouds of an unknown future loomed threateningly before my eyes.

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