The rainbow never sets

situation was like at their firm. I still thought it would be better to work with a Kreglinger-related firm. She wrote back and said they had no opening for me. They had taken on someone else in my place. That was a second blow, for when I had left I was given to understand that I could work for them.

Finally I phoned Jürgen Siemering to tell him that I would like to work for him. He asked me to come to his office and talk things over with him. On 11 August, I made a quick trip to Bremen with a truck of the firm and came back with a firm contract in my pocket. My first proper job! I was ever so happy to be independent from then on. My gross salary was to be DM.300 monthly, plus DM.0.01 p.kg commission on all wool tops sold by me. In addition there was DM.1 per day towards lunch for the days I was not travelling. Working hours: Mondays to Fridays 8 am to 5 pm and Saturdays 8 am to 1 pm. Holidays: 1 day per month and, although this was not written in the contract, I was told that I was going to get the firm's car for business only. Starting day: 1 September 1952.

I left Dahlhausen on 30 August, with a grateful heart for all the love and care I had received there from the extended family. They took me in as one of their own and I had never felt excluded or unwanted. They always showed concern for my parents, as the situation in East Germany was getting more and more intolerable. They wanted to know when my parents and Gerda would come to West Germany, not if they would come. I conveyed this to them in cryptic terms, as I felt that they were already in real danger, and any open correspondence about leaving the east zone, could have meant the end for them.

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