Refugee in search of a homeland

some milk for the family. The employees always gave it to her with a twinkle in the eye, and never told Vater anything about it. They knew he would not have approved.

I didn't know how well off we were compared with others until the son of a friend of Mutter's visited us from Berlin. His name was Rolf Nissen. He was about my age and we became friends. Although his father was a doctor with a private practice, he was thin and almost starving when he arrived in Emersleben. Mutter was determined to fatten him, and I think she succeeded, considering the short time he stayed with us. He absolutely adored the wheat porridge with syrup and milk and couldn't get enough of it. I would have loved to get to know him better, but he stayed with us only a week at a time during some of the holidays.

During that time the trains would be crowded with people from Magdeburg or Berlin, all carrying heavy bags with potatoes, wheat or vegetables on their homeward journeys. For many these trips were a matter of survival. People could not live on the rations alone. As the Reichsmark, the old German currency, lost more and more its value, people came to the villages with goods to swap, some antique rug, a porcelain dish, or some silver spoons. American cigarettes were also very popular in those days. All such items were being converted into food.

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Onkel Wilhelm von Beyme, Mutter's elder brother, had recently returned from a Russian POW camp a mere skeleton. He and his wife, Tante Dorothee, were able to stay in the Rimpau mansion in Langenstein with their family, although they were related to the Rimpaus. In April 1946, their eldest son Klaus had started high school in my school in Halberstadt. We would often talk together, or I would take messages to him for his mother. As I heard later, he was envied by all his class mates, to have a cousin in senior year. Our family and his family would also visit each other on a fairly regular basis. It was good to have an extended family again nearby.

The social life in Emersleben also started to develop. The old Pastor Begrich retired at the end of the year. His son Siegfried was inducted after a short vacancy into the Emersleben church. He and his wife became great friends of the family. Vater was particularly fond of Siegfried, and he became god father of one of their children. They came to all our birthday parties and other celebrations.

Frau Kleinschmidt in the mansion next door made a living from a chicken hatchery. She had always been very friendly to us and most helpful, particularly with Oma. Her daughter-in-law, Annemarie, also lived there with her four daughters who were about Gerda's age. They all went together to the Emersleben Primary school and became great friends.

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