Refugee in search of a homeland

"It is a lovely, old, medieval town, similar to Quedlinburg. It has Tudor style houses in the centre of town, dating back about 500 years."

"Has it got any military significance?" "None whatsoever."

That afternoon I saw an endless column of people walking from the direction of Halberstadt, some pushing a few belongings in strollers, or pulling a hand cart, others were carrying bundles on their back. Most of them had very little. Their faces looked blackened and their clothes singed. Soon we heard, that most of them had lost all their possessions in the flames, and hundreds were still left behind, either dead, or buried under the rubble. The column never ended. A stream of refugees from the terrible and senseless air raid on Halberstadt. These refugees were looking for shelter in our village and beyond. They reported that the old city had been totally destroyed. We saw the smoke for days afterwards, a grim reminder that the war was not over yet.

That night Frau Koggel slept in the cellar. The bombing and the flow of refugees had been too much for her. She had never in her life before experienced anything like it. For me this appeared relatively insignificant compared to the war and destruction in Posen and Berlin, but then destruction of life and property is never insignificant. These were people, families with children like our family.

Heinz came early in the morning with some more news about the refugees. Hundreds of them had found accommodation in the church hall, in the village school, and in barns of various farmers.

I remarked how much my parents were reminded of their own flight from the Russians. They too were going in endless columns, just like those refugees from Halberstadt, and they had to leave practically all their belongings behind. It can't have been easy for them, but it helped us all to realise that there were other values in life which were more important.

"By the way, were you able to talk to your father?" "Yes, Heinz, it was wonderful to talk with him. I should have asked him ages ago. Thanks a lot. Gee, it is great to have you as my friend, someone I can trust. I have missed that for so long. I am seeing things so much clearer now, thanks to you and Vater. It helped me to feel free again. I must have been sleep-walking all these months."

"Perhaps not sleep-walking, Dieter, more like with a closed mind?" "You are right, Heinz. I told you, how much I needed a heart to heart talk with you."

As we were still talking, we both heard a dull explosion. We both jumped to our feet, ran outside and through the garden gate, from where the sound had come.

Thump É thump É two more explosions, and we saw some dirt from the vegetable patch splashing into the air, just a hundred meters from where we were standing.

"They're shelling our village! The Amis are coming!" I shouted at the

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