大象传媒

War Memories

In May, 1939, two German girls, aged about 17, came over to spend a short time with us in the sixth form at Northern Secondary School in Portsmouth. They did not know each other as one came from the Ruhr and the other from a country district, but when we asked them what they did at the Hitler Youth meetings they looked covertly at each other and said, "Oh, they are just youth meetings for sport and so on," and wouldn't elaborate. What did amaze, even shock us were their replies to our discussions on what we all hoped to do in life. Without any hesitation, one girl said that she was going to live in south west Africa in the former German colonies once Hitler had restored them to German rule. The other girl stated quite emphatically that she was going to be a doctor in America after Hitler had conquered it. "You don't mean that you think that Hitler is going to take over America?" we asked, in disbelief, "Of course he is" she said., "No doubt about that -- and that's where I shall be a doctor". Later I wondered what did happen to her.
As a footnote, one girl in the class was writing to a German boy, and in July, she received a short note from him. "Pray for peace. I am."

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