The rainbow never sets

would never forget the loyalty of these men throughout his life, especially later when the Nazis tried to move some of them into the General Gouvernement, a special zone designated for Poles only, a buffer zone between Germany and Russia. Their loyalty in guarding him became Vater's strength to stand up to some of the Nazi officials, who accused him of siding with 'those Polish swine'.

Then Vater continued:

"Other people were not as fortunate as I. As you know, since Hitler's tirade against Poland, the Poles themselves had begun a propaganda of hate against the Germans. This came to a pitch when German troops invaded Poland. Thousands of German nationals, but Polish citizens like we, were driven from their homes and forced to walk in long columns without food and water in great heat for days on end. Many collapsed from sheer exhaustion. They were either shot dead by the guards, or left on the road to die. Those who arrived at Brest-Litovsk, their final destination, were freed by the German troops. Had it not been for our men here, I could have gone the same way."

He stopped again, tears running down his cheeks. We did not dare to interrupt him.

"Here in Sapowice, a motorised unit of the German army, under the command of Erich Schulz, a cousin of Mutter's, came through on 8 September. He announced that the troops were not far. However, it took them four more days before they eventually appeared. When they did, I was greatly relieved, as Mutter and Gerda had already come back soon after the 8th. I was really scared then, but everything turned out all right. And now, that you are back again, I feel really wonderful."

Günter and I gave him a big hug. "It is great to be back home again. We missed you very much, both of you."

"The only ones that are missing now are Oma and Opa," I said. "I hope they will be able to come soon."

"That may still be a couple of weeks or so," replied Mutter. "Things will have to go back to normal first, like trains and busses running on a normal schedule. I tell you what, as soon as the trains go I will fetch them myself."

We were very happy to find that the war had not touched our estate at all. We quickly unearthed our family silver from its hiding place, very glad that the fears we had about battle and destruction did not come true.

A couple of weeks later, Mutter caught the first train to Berlin, and from there to Danzig, to fetch Oma and Opa. When they were all back, healthy and well, we all were happy and thanked God for their safe arrival. Travelling was still fraught with danger so soon after the fighting.

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