Fifteen years in a childhood paradise

only the passports counted, and he had a Polish passport, the same we all had. But he too was soon through and joined us. Vater was already waiting with us. But where were Oma and Klärchen? What was delaying them?

The whole train seemed to be finished, as people were going back into their compartments, but Oma and Klärchen were still missing. Now we got nervous. Dear Oma, of all people, she had been the calmest, and she seemed to have the most trouble. At long last we saw them coming. No sooner were we inside, the train left. In the fading light we could see the train crossing the border. We were safely in the Free State of Danzig. Free indeed, I thought. Would we find shelter here from the encroaching war? For the moment you could hear a deep sigh of relief from all of us.

Then we heard Oma say: "They made me take off my dress and then they searched all over my body. I don't know what they were looking for." "The same happened to me," said Klärchen, "I was so embarrassed." "Probably just their way of being spiteful," Vater drew the conclusion. All the tensions of the last few days were lifted and we could chatter freely without worrying who would listen. From the station at Danzig, Vater hired two taxis which took us to Steegen, about 30 kilometers east along the bay of Danzig. Very tired, with hardly the energy to eat our supper, we dropped into our beds and went off to sleep.

Home seemed such a long way. It was unreal, like a dream, from which you fear to awake. For it had vanished as quickly as that, with a threatening border between us and home. But I do not think that any of us dreamed that night, we were all too exhausted.

A week went by with much the same routine. We would go to the beach each day in the morning, and in the afternoons we played games, either outside or indoors. We would always see Oma and Opa for meals, and would often talk to them about home. I don't think we realised then, how home-sick we really were. We were cut off from any communication with home. We had no news from Vater or Mutter, and didn't even know what was happening on the political scene.

Early one morning, it was Friday, 1 September 1939, we kids were woken up by a loud chatter outside our bedroom window. I thought 'how rude to wake us so early', but then I listened closely to what they were actually saying: "Hitler had declared war on Poland this morning!"

We were up in an instant. Leaning out of the window, Günter asked: "Is it true that war has broken out?"

"Yes, German troops are marching into Poland this very minute. Soon your country will be German."

That's what we had come here for, and now it had happened. A strange feeling came over me.

"What would Vater be doing? And how were Mutter and Gerda? Did everything go according to plan? Had Vater arrived safely home after delivering us here? How soon would the troops be in Sapowice and

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