Refugee in search of a homeland

not cook dinners there. She didn't mind the occasional egg or heat up some soup for lunch, and of course I could make myself tea. The bathroom had a place for my towel, but no hot water for a bath or shower.

There was enough money in my wallet to pay the month's rent in advance, and to buy bread, cheese, salami and milk. I loved that type of food and I was sure I was going to manage all right. Then I wrote a long letter home, giving them all the latest news.

Next morning I walked into the office at 7.50 am, where Meyer, the youngest apprentice, was already sorting out the mail, which he had picked up earlier at the post office. A pile of letters and little packages were on the front counter.

"Come right here, you can help me with the sorting," and he showed me what to do.

"On our second round we have to get all the wool samples from the Post Office. There is usually a lot on Mondays."

Meyer turned out to be a good instructor. My junior in years, he seemed delighted to hand over to me all the running and errands which traditionally the most recent apprentice had to do. He was very thorough, as a lot of responsibility went with the job. He said he would show me the job for the first week, and after that I would be on my own.

Meanwhile all the other employees had arrived. Ruhe entered as the clock was striking eight, to the general amusement of the others. Meyer cleared out the desk right next to the front counter and said: "This is yours, now. You have to answer the phone, and jump up every time someone appears at the door. The letters in this basket need to be filed. I'll show you later how to do it. But first let's do the round."

'Doing the round' meant to take letters and documents for the local banks, insurance and shipping companies and deliver them to their proper addresses, and then on the way back pick up the second mail. As we were leaving, Ruhe, the junior accountant, came to Meyer with some money. He wanted him to buy two buns for morning tea from the market.

After doing the round we stopped at the market. On three days a week there was market day. Hundreds of colourful stalls were set up filling the whole market square, and the whole population of Bremen seemed to be out shopping. It was a hurly burly I had not seen before, but I was quite fascinated by it. We bought the buns for Ruhe at a particular stall.

At the Post Office, Meyer handed in a card and we received a basket full of small wool sample rolls. We carried them in a neatly packed roll the size of a wheel kept together by a leather strap.

"This is yours now," he handed me the key to the letter box. "You know now where it is. You come here first before you go to the office, then on your round as we did now, and the last clearing is after lunch. Look after the key. If you lose it you will be in trouble."

The two of us were laden. How would I manage on my own? We took the samples straight to the sample room and left them there on the table.

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