Refugee in search of a homeland

fixing. Since October I had attended a Jiu-jitsu self-defence course, and in one of the exercises I had to throw my opponent over my shoulder on to a mat. Before we could do that, however, we had to learn to fall down by rolling sideways. When we started to practice the throwing, I felt a sharp pain in my groin, but never gave it another thought. My hernia must have come from that.

There was no point delaying the inevitable. I had to have my hernia fixed and had it done at the St. Josephsstift, a hospital run by the Catholic Church in Bremen, on 23 February. The operation was done under a local anaesthetic and I was quite aware of it, watching the procedure in the reflection of the big theatre lamp. Hernia operations in those days meant a fortnight of strict bed rest. I couldn't even go to the toilet. So I had plenty of time to mull over my future, and as the days were ticking by and there was still no news from Antwerp regarding the money for my fare, my anxiety increased.

When I returned home, the shipping agent wanted to know whether I would be going on the SKAUBRYN or not. With reluctance, I wrote another letter to Mr. Denduits in Antwerp in which I mentioned that I needed an early reply. Waiting had never been my forte, this time it caused considerable stress.

A week later, on 20 March 1954, I received advice from the Commerzund-Disconto Bank, Bremen, that a cheque for £190 or DM2,231.68 to the order of the shipping agent had been received. Yippee, the good news I had been longing to hear! Australia, here I come! I was most ecstatic!

I spent my last weekend with Frau von Guenther and her son Wolfgang. Wolfgang was keen to see me off in Bremerhaven and see the ship, but Frau von Guenther was not. Wolfgang and I would go together by bus to Bremerhaven, and the Siemerings, who also wanted to see me off, would take him back home. It was a strange feeling to say good-bye to the von Guenthers. They had been like a family to me all these years, and now that Wolfgang was ten, I felt he had become like a young brother to me. To leave them made me sad, but the joyful anticipation of a new future produced a mixed feeling once again, as it had been in the past.

A former neighbour of my parents from Poland let me have her trunk for the trip. I packed as much of my belongings in Bremen as I could. The rest, and my bike, had to go to Braunschweig to my parents. I was not allowed to lift anything heavy, though, because of my operation, which made things a bit more difficult, but I managed. Free luggage allowance by ship was 150 kg, but all my worldly possessions were far less than that.

Vater's 60th birthday was really on 15 March 1954, but neither of us had the time to celebrate it on the day. He was still working in Lübeck, and I had just come out of hospital. Then Onkel Box and Tante Liesel invited us all for the 27th to Braunschweig to celebrate it at their place, 12

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