Refugee in search of a homeland

the work was so hard that we needed the extra food to sustain us. One particular day I had to lift pressed straw bales onto a wagon. The bales were so heavy that I could hardly get them onto the end of the pitch fork, let alone lift them onto the wagon. It was by sheer perseverance that I managed.

Another day, threshing at Hoffmeisters, I had to carry bags with freshly threshed wheat up a flight of very crooked and rickety steps to the store room above the cow shed. They filled the bags deliberately so full, that they weighed more than 100 kg. Two men would place them on my back, and I had to carry them up those stairs. The heaviest weighed 118 kg. My knees nearly gave way. They felt like jelly and I don't know how I managed.

The worst part about threshing was the dust. Sometimes the corn was so dusty, that I could not see further than a couple of meters in front of me. And there were no protective masks available!

On the religious feast days, like Easter and Pentecost, the women would bake a lot of cakes, plum cakes, apple cakes, crumbed cakes, and almond sugar cakes, at least two trays of each. These trays measured about one meter by half a meter each and were carried to the baker. We virtually stuffed ourselves with these cakes for breakfast and afternoon tea. I never knew I could eat so much!

Occasionally I went to the village church in Kerstlingerode, but it wasn't the same as in Emersleben. I didn't know anyone and the pastor seemed aloof and unapproachable.

At the beginning of April 1948, Bernd and I received an invitation for a reunion of old Siebenbürger boarders. It came from Ernst Wenski, who had become administrator of a government estate in Varenholz, near Holzminden. He was one of the original boarders, and had been a good friend of Tante Else's son, who had been killed in action in Russia. He had taken care of Tante Else. They had put their heads together, searched addresses and then invited us all to come to the pub in Varenholz. All the men slept together in a large room, whereas the women were able to get rooms in the pub. Bernd and I went by train, quite excited about meeting up with some old friends again. But we were also acutely aware of the fact that from our group some had not returned from the war, like Horst, Günter and Tante Else's only son.

The reunion took place over the weekend 17/18 April 1948. It was absolutely wonderful. We had a nice dinner, and afterwards there was dancing and talking. In fact, the most important part for us was talking, reminiscing, wanting to know what each of the others had been through, how they had managed to get to the west, and how they all were making a living these days. Nostalgia reigned. Tante Else was happy to have her former protégés around her again. No one wanted to go to sleep that night. Next morning we met again for breakfast and talking, sitting in lovely weather outside in the garden and enjoying a leisurely day. It was

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