The rainbow never sets

to the hotel for breakfast, I told this to my parents.

"Well, let's wait and see", was their less than enthusiastic reply. Günter and I found out that a ship like the one we had seen, would moore every morning along the jetty. We made sure we wouldn't miss a day. It was always exciting, especially when I saw the cook again on another day.

During our week in Zoppot, we once went to the Wald Oper, a famous out-door opera theatre in the midst of the woods, where only works by Wagner were performed. Or we would walk along the promenade lined with flowers and greens, where several fountains gave the plaza in front of the casino a special note of grandeur. But more than anything, we enjoyed being given the freedom of adolescents, no longer tied to mother's apron strings.

*

"Dieter!" I heard Mutter calling, "Come in for supper, and stop your dreaming under that tree."

I hurried inside, glad that the afternoon discussion with our cousins had not changed the routine of daily living Ñ yet. One job still lay ahead of us. We had to bury our silver in the park.

"Where should we dig?" I asked Günter next day in the evening, as we collected a spade from the shed.

"Behind the big house, about 20 meters from the South/West corner, and ten meters from the trunk of that plane tree there. This way we will always be able to find the spot."

That evening no one was around. Günter and I dug the hole, while Mutter was wrapping up the silver (large spoons, and small ones, large forks and small, knives, a coffee set and a tea set, platters of varying sizes) all in soft cloth bags and Vater placed them in a large box. The box was lined with waxed paper and the lid was sealed with lots of nails. The hole we had dug was about one meter deep, and when the box was in, there would have been about 40 cm of soil above it.

"Make sure that the soil is thoroughly firmed on top," said Vater. "It usually sinks in after heavy rain. We don't want that to happen, for that would give it away."

"Scatter the spare soil around and put some dry leaves and twigs on top. This way nobody will see that there is a treasure buried here," said Mutter, after we had finished.

"Hopefully, before too long, we'll be able to come and dig it out again, all safe and well," I said.

The next day Vater and Tante Margaret went by car to Danzig to find a place where Opa and Oma, Günter, Bernd and I, with Klärchen to look after us, could stay until the war broke out and until it was safe again for

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