Mother's brother and cousin Hansie

Mother had a brother who lived directly by the Rhein and we had some great times there. They had two children called Maria and Hans. I remember one late evening when Mother called me out of Bed and in the dark we wandered through the fields. Mother often looked back…she must have thought Father was following us. We arrived at my uncles house and they still had visitors. We had a lovely evening with them. I had to sleep in Hansie’s bed, I must have been around 5 or 6 years old because Anneliese was not yet born. When we were in bed, Hansie instructed me not to get up before him in the morning. When I woked up the next morning, I tried to get up and he said: “just as I thought” …using his garters he had tied me to his leg. Hansie was conscripted to military service when he was 18 and sent to the front in Poland as a foot soldier. He was not keen on joining up and after 3 weeks he was dead. My aunt later told me that he had a premonition about his death. Contrary to my own brother who volunteered to join as a submarine sailor when he was only 17 years old.

Start of war

It must have been around 1939 when my mother who was holding the morning paper and looking very serious, one morning woke me up and told me that we were at war. There in large letters was the word WAR. How was I to know what war meant? I was only 9 years old, television was not yet discovered and I had only seldom visited the movie theatre. Hence I could not imagine the impact only that everything was happening far away from where I was living. For one year we had already been living in the lovely village house where I felt so safe and well. The large garden and many free fields in which to play. Quite a contrast to the city where I was born. Mum too was feeling much more content.
End of August was Kirmes in Neuss (an annual event which was a bit like the Oktoberfest in Munich, a combination of Show / Moomba, where there was a fairground, many parades, stalls/booths and dancing) to which Mother wanted to take me and Anneliese, who was then 3 years old. Father had already received his call to present himself for service. So in the morning we departed, first dropping father off and then heading to the fairground. As we approached the RheinHarbour (which was in the vicinity of the fairground) many people came towards us and told us that they were dismantling the fairground due to the war.
Late in the evening there was a knock on the door and here was Father who had been declared unfit for military service. Months before he had broken his leg when he fell off his bike in a drunken state and because of this one leg was a bit shorter than the other. I don’t think Mother was all that pleased…she had been looking forward to some peace!
In the middle of one night, Father called us out of bed and told us that there was an air raid. We sat around for an hour but didn’t hear anything and then we heard the sirens telling us it was over and we could return to bed. But slowly this happened more and more regularly and we spent many a night in the cellar. My little sister slept in the bathtub that was standing in the cellar and often didn’t even notice she was in the cellar because Mother carried her together with all her bedding into the cellar. These raids became more and more severe and you could feel the pressure in the air when bombs were dropping nearby. We no longer felt safe in our cellar and often ran under heavy anti aircraft artillery firing to the local school which had a stronger cellar. Later on via voluntary effort, a bunker was erected at the end of our street. I was always very frightened and asked Mother if I could take part in the migration of children to the country. I quickly made a decision to visit the social welfare and apply for migration. Mother saw to it that I was independent early in life. And that is how I ended up being transferred to the country….another story!

Neuss 1930

It must have been towards evening of the 8th Feb 1930 when I was born in Neuss. Because later on my mother told me that it was Carnival and that the first person who picked me up was a neighbour in a white mouse costume on her way to the Costume ball. This was most likely what started my love for carnival. We were very poor but did not need to be because my father had a good job and worked hard consistently. Unfortunately he converted most of his income into alcohol. My mother did not feel well living in the middle of town. She grew up in the country. Then in 1938 we moved into a village and mother was very happy living there. We watched them build our house and could hardly wait to move in. A few weeks earlier my brother – who was six years older than me – and I shifted all our toys using a small wheelbarrow. I also had a sister who was 6 years younger than me.