Neuss 1930 (expansion on earlier blog entry)

It must have been towards evening of the 8th Feb 1930 when I was born in Neuss by the Rhine. Because later on my mother told me that it was Saturday during 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 as fitter and welder and worked hard consistently. Unfortunately he converted most of his income into alcohol. My mother did not feel well living in backstreets in the middle of the city. She grew up in the country. When she visited our family doctor he told her “make sure you get out of these alleys. I can recognise your children from far away when I pass through these backstreets”. The apartment we lived in was provided by my father’s employer. This was a pasta factory and they also manufactured custard powder and Dr. Oetker products and sometimes when we woke up in the morning there was a bowl of green jelly on the table which Mother had made for us after Dad had returned home with his portions. That was always a big surprise for us. I had a brother who was 6 years older than me. His name was Theo. And a little sister who was 6 years younger than me. Anneliese was very small and weak when she was born. And from the beginning on I could feel very strongly Mother’s worries about her. She had problems with her digestion and Mother tried everything. Sometimes even though we had very little money she bought things in the department store which I ended up eating when Anneliese didn’t want them. One thing I will never forget is one day when Mother was boiling the washing on the kitchenstove. She picked up the large kettle and put the hot washing in the small washkitchen which was next to our kitchen. She didn’t see that Anneliese was following her and immediately put her arm into the big kettle. I never forgot those screams. Mother called out to me: run and fetch the doctor. He live a few streets away.
One day I went with Mother looking for a new apartment in the same village where my grandmother lived. But it was no use. One day my aunt visited. This was fathers’ half-sister of whom I will write another time. I can remember that there were brochures on the table for some new village houses that were being built. And my aunt promised us the deposit which as I recollect was DM 500. When the houses were built we often accompanied Mother when she visited Reuschenberg. And a few weeks before we shifted, we took a small hand cart with toys with us. It was 1938 when we moved into our new house and in 1939 the war started.