大象传媒

This is a story of WWII, often told by my mother (born in 1937).

My Grandpa did not have to join the Wehrmacht actively, because he was a veteran of the Great War and worked in a factory for cables which produced material for the Army. So he prepared a little hut in a nearby forest, to get his kids (my mother, my uncle and my two aunties) out of danger. I will now explain the situation at this time.

By the end of march 1945, a few weeks before the unconditional surrender of the German Armed Forces by Generalfeldmarschall Keitel in Berlin Karlshorst, the USAAF bombed 70% of my hometown Haiger to bits and pieces - by mistake to be fair, they wanted to hit the railway between Gie脽en (which was nearly completely wiped out) and Siegen (80% destruction). Unfortunately a strong wind let the bombs drift into the old city, dozens died, even some people from Cologne who had fled the horror of the City Air Raids and who had lost everything during the British Night Air Raids. During another attack, the catholic church and a school where hit by 'Luftminen' (Air Mines) and heavily damaged. Well, at this time US planes did not have laser-guided bombs...

So my grandpa actually only had two enemies: The Nazis (he served as a wittness for Allied Trials after '45 because he was a Social Democrat) and the Allied Bombers, who did not - and could probably not - differentiate between good and evil. One special example was the so called 'Eiserne Heinrich' (Iron Heinrich), a single fighter plane that came every evening between 19.00 and 20.00 and roared strafing over the fields before ending his sweep. Maybe it was a Thunderbolt P 47D-25 or a P 38 Lightning, my mama is not sure today. Unfortunatly the pilot(s) must have been kind of blind or full of hatred and wrath, because they (he?) shot on literally everything that moved (confirmed by local historians): cows, farmers, kids, everyone. One day a family of four was shot dead on a field while harvesting (in mid summer 44). So my grandpa's hope was to save his family in the forest, unseen by any Allied pilot. He built a little hut of wood and packed it with as much food and blankets he could get.

The official bunker was a wet and old cave in the hills over the city (most of the smaller towns had no bombshelters or bunkers like the bigger cites). When the last bomb raid took place (which indeed must have been artillery fire, my mother mixes things up I should say), my family rushed into the bunker - not into the hut, because the enemy came right of the direction where the hut was. So everyone ran into the shelter while US artillery pounded the town...

Meanwhile the US Infantry (I do not have Information about the units) entered our town, facing some heavy resistance by some foolish idiots of the German Army (no information about these units either, must have been a bunch of tank crew - one Kingtiger was abandoned in mid town - and perhaps a support batallion). The US Forces fired right into the town, completing the work of destruction, until the Germans retreated to the east (facing probably a more grim fate than they ran away from...).
So the US Troops came right into Haiger, searching every house for possible resistance, weapons or even members of the 'Werw枚lfe' (a made up gossip focussing the 'Werwolfes', a special resistance squad of some SS superfighters. They never existed.). The only thing they found were white blankets hangig off the window sills. In one house an American soldier saw the picture of a beautiful woman standing on a table (no, not the woman, the pic...). He asked the only person who had not left the house who this girl was (maybe he just pointed on the fotograph), but the old man did not want to tell the truth.
The civilians at this time had heard about some terrible atrocities committed by the Red Army (unfortunately some of the stories turned out to be no fiction). So the 'Amis' were mistrusted, especially the blacks, which were never seen in Germany before. Finally the soldier forced it out of the guy, so he said her name was Hilda and she was hiding in the 'Felsenkeller' (basement in the rocks). Right on, the soldier marched with some of his buddies up to the forest, cautiously looking for any signs of resistance, but he found none. He swung the door of the cave open and shouted: "Hilda, get outa there, the war is over.The Krieg is aus."

So a lot of people from my hometown poured out of the hole and spread the relieving news: no more bombs, NO MORE BOMBS!

After a few days one officer came to my grandpa's house, were some of his troops (not my grandpa's...:)) had slept(next story to come soon!). The officer mentioned the condition of the old 'bunker' or cave, he said no one ever could have survived in case of a bomb hit on top of it. So many people where lucky after all!

The US Troops stayed for about 2 or 3 years in the area of Haiger and my granddad became a member of the city council after the 'denazification' of the town. This story was often told by my mother and has become a piece of our family history.

A piece of history which shall never be forgotten as we move towards a unified Europe, at last!

漏 Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.