The start of war - (expanded)

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 that 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.
In August 1939 the war started. We (Mother, Anneliese and I) wanted to attend Kirmes (which was an annual festival something like a mixture of moomba and the show…with fairgrounds and parades and balls). Father had already been called up for military service and on the morning of that Monday we accompanied Father as he took off for military service. Afterwards we wanted to go to Kirmes. Mother and Anneliese had new dresses made from the same material. For long afterward Anneliese would call the dress her “kirmes dress”. When we arrived at the Rhine Harbour people were coming towards us who told us that they were pulling down the fairground (due to the war). In the evening Father returned and had been declared unfit for military service. Half a year earlier he had broken his leg when he fell from his bike whilst he was drunk. That is how he was saved from going to the front in Poland. Not many people returned from that first battle.
I didn’t have much idea of what was meant by war. I can clearly remember the 1st air raid warning. Father woke me up in the middle of the night. We went down into our cellar and sat there and waited until the siren announced the end of the attack. Later we discovered quickly what was meant by war. We lived in an industrial area and the attacks became more and more frequent and more aggressive. Anneliese almost grew up in the cellar. At night when the siren sounded, Mother would pick up Anneliese together with her bedding and carried her into the cellar. There we had a tin bath with a straw sack and Anneliese would continue to sleep. When the attacks became so heavy I was terribly afraid and I asked Mum if I could take part in the Child Migration to the Country scheme. Everything else I arranged myself. Formally applied and everything must have happened very quickly. Can still remember that our neighbour spent the entire night helping Mother get my clothes sorted out and ready. We were advised that children were being transferred to “Schlesien” which is in North East Germany. My mother and my brother Theo took me to the station and a card was hung around my neck with the name of my foster parents. Can still remember that Theo came into the train and asked would I not rather stay at home? It was January 1941 and in February I was to turn 11. After a long night on the train we arrived in Schlesien. I was picked up by a horse sled. And accompanied by the chimes of bells was taken through the winter forest. A beautiful experience that I have never forgotten. We arrived at a large farm property which had a proper castle. I was housed by the Manager of the estate and that would become my home for an entire year.