Confusion was everywhere. My mom announced that the War was finally over. It was May 1945. I was 7 years old. The question on my mind was what now? Who has taken our land, the English, the Russians or the Americans? Our landlady was hiding her 2 daughters because the rumor was the Russians would rape the young girls, while my mom hanged out a white bed sheet as a sign of surrender. We were all looking out the windows, when the tanks and trucks appeared up the road. We can see many soldiers walking.

Mom had put a fist through a picture we had hanging in our living room; it was a Portray of Hitler. She quickly collected stuff from my dad. We went to an old cemetery nearby, and with a spade and a shovel we helped mom dig a big hole to bury dad’s brown shirts, and other things like cameras, a monocular, jewelry and money. I was nerve wracking. Somehow my mom hid dad’s leather boots.

The next day we must have counted 10-15 different soldiers searching our home. Mom went with every one of them. We had a picture of my dad in uniform and it was tipped over. What were they looking for? I think German soldiers. They went from the attic to the basement, and with guns drawn. This went on for days.

Our landlady had a good idea. Aunt Luise had a sign showing the Huff and Mouth disease and a poster of Diphtheria. She placed it on the outside fence and suddenly the traffic came to a still stand. No one else came to our house. Glory be!

Mom told us one afternoon that we should go to the garden. She said whatever we find will be our supper. We saw a man on the side of the garden, he waved at me to come and mom told me to go ahead. I did get close and he gave me a 5 pound bag with candy.

Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons

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