Fifteen years in a childhood paradise

The summer of 1939 had started with a special treat for us. It was almost like a prelude to the events that brewed up on the political horizon.

"We are going to Zoppot, just the four of us. We are leaving Gerda with Schwester Anni," said Vater one morning at the breakfast table. (Sister Anni was Mutter's maternity nurse),

We didn't seem to be bubbling over with joy, or was it that our home was so nice that we didn't really want to go anywhere?

Noticing our obvious lack of enthusiasm, Vater continued, "we are going to stay in a hotel, one of the best in Zoppot."

That put a smile on our faces. The first time we had been in Zoppot in 1934, we had stayed in a rented home, with Klärchen cooking for us. But this promised to be different.

"Will we be eating in the hotel restaurant?" inquired Günter. "And will we be able to order ice-cream for sweets?" was my most pressing concern.

"The answer to both your questions is yes. We will pack our luggage in our Hansa (a convertible), and drive there. It shouldn't take us too long, maybe four hours. The roads have improved in some places."

When we left the following Monday soon after breakfast, it turned out that the roads were still as bad as they had been before. Potholes everywhere, and Vater had to steer the low-lying Hansa around them. I got car-sick in Bromberg, in the middle of the market place. The rest of the journey seemed to take ages. We arrived six hours later, and we were all worn out. When we saw the hotel, our spirits lifted.

"That looks really great," said Günter, "and it is so close to the jetty." The jetty was broad, almost like a street, and about 500 meters long. There was always pedestrian traffic on it. In the evening, the lamps looked like fairy lights, reflected in the water on both sides of the long jetty.

Mutter and Vater's hotel room had the most beautiful view of the jetty and the sea, ours didn't.

Next morning Günter whispered to me: "Let's go down to the jetty, we might see some ships."

We crept silently out of our room, down the stairs, and through the main entrance. Nobody stopped us. Outside we continued towards the jetty, where we saw an enormous white passenger liner moored along the jetty. We sprinted right to the end of the jetty.

"Isn't she a beautiful ship", I said. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Smartly dressed passengers walked down the gang way. This was a world we had never seen before. A hustle and bustle, so different to our quiet Sapowice.

"Look, Günter, there is the cook!" I yelled. He must have heard me, as he turned towards me and with a broad grin waved to me. "Oh, what a fortunate man, to be the cook on this ship. I wish I could be him!"

From that moment on I wanted to become a cook. When we came back

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