Refugee in search of a homeland

away from school for some time due to the war or have lost their home. Get your father to enrol you in Halberstadt. You'll see, there should be no problem."

I went home with the tomatoes and full of enthusiasm about the prospects of school. I told Vater about my conversation with Mr. Begrich, and he agreed to come with me on Monday.

On 1 October 1945 we left home about 6.30 am. We had to walk for twenty minutes to the nearest railway station Quenstedt, about a kilometre and a half. From there we caught the train to Halberstadt, just one station away. In Halberstadt we had to walk another kilometre to school.

The station in Halberstadt had not been damaged by the bombs on that fateful 8 April, which we had seen from Westerhausen. We turned into the main road. From there on we could see only rubble on both sides. The road had been cleared and we walked for ten minutes before we left the piles of rubble behind. It looked terrible, not one house even only partially destroyed, nor a wall left standing. Traffic was practically non-existent, the odd truck. but no cars, nor any other vehicles. In the centre of the road were tram lines, but the overhead electricity grid had been destroyed, so there were no trams going either.

Eventually we came to an area where a skeleton or two of former homes stood, half a wall here, and a chimney there. Then there was a house, somewhat damaged, but I noticed that people were living there. I thought to myself, it wouldn't be very nice to live in such a place, surrounded by rubble, but then it was better than no roof over ones head.

A side street had been cleared, with a few more houses standing. There was a fork in the road, and from here on most houses on both sides of the road were still in tact. Like a miracle, the cathedral stood undamaged. The area surrounding the cathedral, and from there on towards the other part of the city, most of the old Halberstadt still remained, with its beautiful Tudor houses. That's where the boy's high school was situated. The building was not damaged, only new windows had to be put in.

It was a strange feeling to sit in a class room behind a desk again, with a number of older young men. Most of them were still wearing old uniforms, minus the trimmings, of course. When the teacher entered, some of the younger ones stirred and made a half-hearted effort to stand up, but 'we oldies' remained in our seats. The teacher motioned those who had stood up to sit down again and began: "These are indeed difficult times for all of us. I don't know what most of you have come through, but I could imagine you would have had some traumatic experiences which nobody would like to be reminded of. We too here in Halberstadt have experienced the ravages of war first hand and we are glad that we have survived. Under these circumstances we will dispense with normal school discipline and routine. We will treat you as adults, and we expect you also to behave like adults. Together we will work towards your goal to obtain

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