Refugee in search of a homeland

soup for my meal. My staple food was bread and butter, and at weekends I would sometimes be extravagant and buy some luxuries like salami or ham, or cottage cheese. As that was quite nourishing, I did not miss a cooked meal too much.

Rolf Nissen, who had visited us in Emersleben from Berlin during the hunger period, lived now with his parents in Minden, about 100 km south of Bremen. He invited me to visit them there during the Easter holidays. It was great to be with a family again. We played a lot of table tennis and also went to the pictures. Because I had been so extremely busy in Bremen, I had not been aware of how much I had missed my brother or a close friend. This visit to Minden reminded me of how lonely I really had been all this time. I went back feeling even more lonely.

Spring was already in the air. Bremen had put on a new dress. Those big trees along the Schwachauser Heerstrasse, which had often just dripped with condensed fog from their bare branches, burst into fresh green, and in gardens everywhere the most beautiful flowers appeared. It was a very pretty time of the year. The most magnificent display of colour was in the Bürger Park, where all the rhododendron and azaleas had burst into bloom. I had never seen anything like it before. Riding my bike through the streets of Bremen was a delight.

As I came back from Minden Fräulein Meyer said to me, "Why don't you join a tennis club if you are lonely? The evenings are much longer now, and it gives you something to do over the weekends. My club is 'Werder', it is not as expensive as other clubs. I can sponsor you, if you like."

"That sounds great, but I don't think that I can afford it. How much would it be to join?"

"Only DM50 per year, and DM30 joining fee." "That is out of the question."

"With that you can play tennis all year, or at least as long as the weather allows it."

Where would I get DM80 from? I had saved up some since I had bought the bike, but not DM80.

"I haven't got DM80." "You can pay the annual fee on instalment, only the joining fee must be paid in advance."

"Well, you have nearly persuaded me. But I have never played tennis before."

"Oh, don't worry about that. There is a coach and he can give you some lessons to start with."

"I'll have a look there tomorrow." More money, I thought, but what the heck.

I went to the club after work. The trainer, Herr Ramisch, was there and I talked to him about joining. He encouraged me to do so. He offered also to give me some coaching lessons.

"But I have never even held a racquet in my hand."

223