大象传媒

I shall begin the story of my mothers war at the end.
The end is the beginning of my life story,the story of how my parents met.
On the 1st of May 1945 the Russians famously raised the Red Flag on the roof of the Reichschancery and on the 7th of May VE day declared and the war officially over.The fighting may have ceased but the war for Berliners was now a fight for survival, a battle to find something to eat.My mother was 19 years old.
She lived on Falkenseer Chausse, a broad boulivard running through Spandau in the NW of Berlin,with her parents in a first floor flat.On the ground floor lived her best friend Rosie Buvach.Rosie was 6 years her elder and married.
The block of flats in which they lived ran at right angles to Falkenseer Chausse,just a stones throw away was a small parade of shops which included a bakery.
The devestation of the city meant that only a handfull of bakeries survived and that any still operating drew custom from several kilometres around.
If the British think they are a nation of queuers,then they were not in Berlin in 1945.In order to buy your bread you were required to queue.The etiquette of the queue was heavily defined.
No queue jumping.
No preference for anyone.
No exceptions.
If you left the queue ,you rejoined at the back.
On joining the queue you would probably be number 4 or 5 hundred.As the bread was baked the 80 odd people at the front were served.The queue would shuffle forward as the next batch baked and the whole process repeated all day.
Early after VE day my mother had been queueing for several hours when walking down the street there appeared a Hitler Junge.
A boy of 13 or 14 still dressed in his army uniform.
"Junge Junge" someone cried out"What on earth are you doing?"
"I am going home to Hakenfelve"
"You cannot,you must not,the Russians have snipers linning the whole of the street from here"
The crowd pleaded with him, emploring him not to go on,he would not agree.
My mother stepped forward.
"look,i live 2 minutes from here,take my place in the queue and i will fetch my tracksuit,if you MUST go on at least disguise yourself"

The crowd roared their approval of this unprecedented breach of their code.
"NO,NO,I am only 30 minutes from home,I will be alright"
Then,as now,our youth knew better than anyone else and could not be persuaded.He had not gone 50 metres when a shot rang out.
He was buried where he died,in the grassy verge by the side of the road.A few weeks later his family disintered the body and reburied it in a cemetery.
Throughout May Gerda and Rosie tramped through the city trailling what can best be described as their "soapbox" trolley.Some days they returned emptyhanded,others they may have found a few scraps.
One day they entered the grounds of Luft Fahrt Gerate Werk,a aircraft component manufacturer.
The main parts of the plant were in ruins but the administration block still intact.They entered the canteen which had inevitably been stripped bare of anything edable.The only remaining item being a huge industrial ladle which they loaded onto their trolley.They continued to search the building.
Finally ther reached the last door in the building,opened it and were confronted by the Dental Department.All that was left was the dentist chair and boxes and boxes of toothpaste.
Diligently,they loaded as many boxes onto their soapbox as was feasibly possible and returned home.Rosies husband had by now returned and the soapbox and its contents taken into their ground floor flat.
The next morning my grandfather opened the door from their flat to the communial staircase.
"Gerda Gerda come here" he cried "What is that strange smell?"
She came to the door, sniffed the air and said
"Peppermint?"
They descended the stairs to the ground floor.The smell increased in intensity untill they reached the door of Rosies flat.
Banging on the door they were overhelmed by the smell when Rosie opened it.
Although still intact and undamaged the block in which thay lived,because of the bombing and artillary barages had developed cracks in the plaster walls.
Overnight Rosies husband had taken the toothpaste and used it as filler to repair the damage to their flat.
"I cannot beleive it" my grandfather cried
"In the whole of Berlin there cannot be bought one tube of toothpaste and this Mensch uses it as plaster filler.
Mein Gott"
He never spoke to rosies husband again.

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