大象传媒

Spring 1943 , Germany, and Evacuation from KIEL

It is the Spring of 1943 in Kiel, a city in North Germany,with a naval base and shipyard sites. I am six years old and have to start school this April. My mother and I have been to look at the school, which is only 10 minutes walk from home. A week before school starts a bomb falls and destroys the school building completely. The 鈥渘ew鈥� school in the city is one hour walk away. I go with the local children every morning to school, and we are told to seek shelter in cellars of nearby houses when air raids happen. The lessons are often interrupted by sirens and all children are ushered into shelters
At night the raids become more frequent and we run and run, passed tall, burnt-out, four storey buildings to a huge concrete shelter in the nearby park. I always close my eyes when we reach the burnt out building at the end of our street, because the empty windows through which you can see the sky seem menacing. Food is rationed and scarce.

One morning in school,a woman, not one of the teachers, tells us all about the countryside, farm and the animals that live there. She then asks all the 6 year old children who would like to go and live in the countryside on a farm. Most children put up their hands. My mother is then informed that I am to be evacuated and no parental consent is required.

I set off by train and arrive at a small station 50 miles away. All the children are lined up and families come and choose the child to share their home. The big , strong and older children are picked straight away and finally a family with two girls take me to their home in the village of Ratekau near Lubeck. The father is not in the army, which is unusual, because of a medical condition. I am most unhappy living with this family, very homesick for my mother and little brother, missing them every day (My father is somewhere fighting a war.) I feel I do not belong and I cannot make friends with the girls. When their mother becomes pregnant shortly after my arrival, I am placed with a Frau Wolle, who has one daughter and lives two miles outside the village. They live on the main autobahn between Lubeck and Hamburg. There are only two houses on this stretch of the road. A forest lies opposite the house. I am made very welcome.There are books in the home,stories are told,walks in the wood,mushrooms to be gathered, the names of trees and plants to learn, food seems to be no problem.The air raids are miles away and war is unreal. I go to school with Heidi, along a tarred road, flanked by small birch trees. The road is so straight the trees meet in the distance. In the Summer the road is so hot the tar melts and we have trouble to clean our feet after we have walked home barefooted. In Winter the road is covered in a sheet of ice which is so slippery. We sit in unheated schoolrooms, children of all ages. We learn to read and write. Life is so full and interesting, but I miss my mother and brother. They come to visit now and again and then to my joy Frau Wolle invites them to stay, because the bombing in the city has increased. We all have a lovely autumn together and Christmas. On an ordinary day in early Spring Frau Wolle receives a telegram to say that her husband has been killed in a battle. There are many tears and wailing and Frau Wolle takes to her bed. Next the news arrives from Kiel that our apartment will be confiscated because housing is becoming short due to refugees pouring into the city. My mother decides to take me back to Kiel, because the British Army is only 100km from Lubeck and Kiel. I am sorry to have to leave Frau Wolle and Heidi and promise to keep in touch.

The German authorities on hearing that my mother removed me from Ratekau without their permission, orders her to attend court to be charged. We pray that the British Army will reach the city before the given court date.

The British army enters Kiel in time.

Liesel Webb (Nee Lembke)
February 1999

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