Refugee in search of a homeland

It had been a very long day. So many new things to remember. I was very tired. I went to search for the cheap eating place which had been recommended to me. Walking down the dark and deserted street I hoped it would not be too far to walk. Would I be able to afford a meal each night? I had worked out if I spent less than DM 1 a day I should be able to manage, but I couldn't afford to spend any more.

There was a menu in the window. One dish was for DM.0.70, one for DM.0.90 and a couple were for DM.1.20 and the most expensive cost DM.1.50. One could also have soups for DM.0.30 and sweets for the same price, but with my tight money situation, those were luxuries I couldn't afford.

I walked into the restaurant, ordered the cheapest meal, and found it quite satisfying. Well, at least I knew I could survive on that.

By the time I got home by tram, it was well past 8 pm. All I could think of was bed and sleep Ñ what a hectic day!

Meyer was most helpful for the rest of the week. He walked with me on most errands, and didn't mind answering the same questions several times over. I found the filing rather difficult. I had to remember all the different names of firms and suppliers. Once I had filed a letter in the general section, when this particular client had a file on his own. Jürgen Siemering gave me a blast in front of everyone.

The same applied for the mailing. It was most important that the letters and wool samples would go to the correct address. I can remember only once making a mistake, when a letter was returned, which had been wrongly addressed, but fortunately, it was not an important one. When there was a lot of mail, Weller, the senior apprentice, would also help. Especially Mondays when the overseas market reports from Kreglingers and Dewavrins came. Fräulein Meyer, the senior secretary, would type the reports on a stencil, then I had to duplicate it on a Gestetner. That was sometimes a very messy job, especially if the machine played up. But gradually I managed it quite well and the 120 copies were run off in no time. After that was done, they had to be put into envelopes. There was a special machine to print these, and it was advisable to do a batch of envelopes before the pressure was on. When the envelopes were ready for licking, we just spread them on my desk with the flap open and spaced them in such a way that only the gummed side of the flap was showing, between 10 and 20 envelopes at a time. Then we wiped a wet sponge over the lot, and folded the flap over one by one. The stamps were also stuck on the envelopes by tearing off a single row, running them over the sponge all at the same time, and placing one stamp on each envelope, tearing the perforation as we pressed down the stamp.

For special phone calls there was a sound-proof telephone booth in one corner of the main office. I noticed that Steinmetz, the man from the sales department, used it most. He must have had a lot of girl friends, for every time he emerged from it, he got booed. After I had been there for a few

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