ASSISTANCE WITH THE HARVEST IN LIESSOW

During the War, almost all men had to fight at the front. I was in year six, just 12 years old.  At that time, 28 boys from my school were sent to an estate in Liessow to help with the harvest. When we arrived, the people there were very kind to us. We were allowed to sleep up in the hayloft, and they really tried to feed us town boys well. So, the next day they killed a pig in front of our eyes, and for breakfast they served sausage sandwiches. Since I was already a vegetarian as a child, I had to go without breakfast.

We worked hard all day long, and after the oat harvest, we had to gather up the sheaves with our hands and stand them up. The land we were working on was about 190 acres, that is approximately 750,000 m². We didn’t have more than two days to finish the job. Not surprisingly, we boys were very hungry.

But pork was on the table again. From then on it was pork – three times a day. There was not one meal without meat. We got potato salad with bacon for lunch, and at supper lots of meat and sausage were served again, but no cheese or vegetables. So it seemed I would have to go to bed very hungry.

After we had done our work, before going to bed, we were allowed to play around on the grounds. I was suddenly sent to see the landlord’s wife. She asked me why I had not eaten anything. I explained to her that I had been a vegetarian all my life and just could not eat any meat. She asked me: “What are we going to do with you? You are going to stay here for ten days. You cannot work hard and not eat anything for ten days!” I answered: “I don’t know. I just know that I cannot eat any meat.” I was then allowed to go back to the other boys. After about half an hour I was called to go to the landlord’s wife again. Since she had a three-year-old son who did not tolerate meat, she offered to cook the same food for me as she did for her own child. At the big round table, at which all 28 boys were seated, she put a white chair that was intended for me, so she knew where to place the vegetarian meal.

“You must be very hungry”, she said and gave me some butter sandwiches and a big glass of milk. Of course, I was very happy. Now I could go to bed satisfied.

Since our stay on that estate included the weekend, I was also there on the Sabbath. Saturday was a common working day for my mates, but not for me. On Sabbath morning I explained to the squad leader that I could not work. I did not feel well. This was not just an excuse, for the thought of having to work on a Sabbath caused me trouble. The leader asked me: “Are you able to come with us to the field? You can lie down there on the straw.” I agreed and thus was able to recover and to think of God on my Sabbath. In the evening I felt better again. Thanks be to the Lord!

It was very unusual that none of the boys made fun of me, and I felt that God was looking after me again.

 

WHEELCHAIR IN SCHWERIN

One nice summer day, when I was about 12 years old, I went for a swim at the Lankow lake. On my way to the lake I came across two men who seemed to be quite happy with each other’s company. One of the men was sitting in a wheelchair, the other man was pushing him. I heard the paralyzed man in the wheelchair constantly giving directions to the one pushing him: “More to the right, more to the left, straight ahead.” Then I saw that the man who pushed the wheelchair was blind, and he could not have done many things without the paralyzed man’s eyes. Without the blind man’s legs, the paralyzed man could not have enjoyed the day outside as he did. That way, both could complement each other, and both weren’t nearly as helpless as they would have been on their own. At that moment I understood how much we human beings depend on each other. This was a lesson for me which I will never forget.

 

AIR-RAID WARNING ON THE TRAIN TO SUKOW

At about the same age I went by train from Schwerin to Sukow. The traveling time was about an hour. The train was packed. Suddenly, about halfway, there was a sudden air raid. The often low-flying aircraft also attacked the trains. The train stopped and all passengers took refuge in the adjoining forest. There was no shooting, so after a while the all-clear was given and our journey could be continued.

The passengers were all very frightened. They were totally uneasy and felt that there was no security wherever they would go. But me, although I was only a schoolboy, I was not frightened at all, because I had God protecting me.

When everybody was sitting in the compartment again, I felt the urge to tell these complete strangers that I had prayed and asked God for His protection before starting the journey, and that I was sure that my prayer had been heard. All the passengers in the compartment listened attentively. Even soldiers were present.

 

Once again, my faith in a strong God had proved to be worth it.

 

CROWBAR IN FRONT OF THE DOOR IN NEUMÜHLE

In 1946 my parents again moved back from Schwerin to Neumühle. Shortly after moving, we heard that the Russians were plundering in the neighborhood. When they broke into houses, they used their machine guns to force the whole family to sit in one room of the house, and then they felt free to steal everything which was of any value. Everybody was very scared of them.

I remember one night that someone was banging on our front door. “Open up! Open!”, someone ordered, with a loud and angry voice. And we knew: here they are. But my father decided not to open the door. Instead, he got us all together to kneel and pray, asking our heavenly Father to stand by us again, as He had done so many times before. It didn’t take long, and all was quiet at the front door. We thanked our Lord that we were out of danger.

Shortly after we went back to bed, we heard the same noise again. This time even louder. Again, we came together for prayer and concentrated on God rather than on the Russians. Suddenly, before we even finished our prayers, everything was quiet. We spent the rest of the night without any further disturbances or violent incidents.

The next morning my father was surprised to find a crowbar which did not belong to him, in front of the door. The Russians must have intended to force our front door but left the bar behind when fleeing from our house in a hurry.  Only God knows how our guardian angels protected us. To this present day, the crowbar is still in my possession. This happened more than 75 years ago, but this crowbar is a constant reminder of the most caring God we had on our side then, and still have on our side now, and will have on our side in the future.

 

IN FRONT OF THE CART

One day my father and I traveled together by bicycle.  The streets were muddy and slippery, and the weather was bad. This made our ride rather dangerous.

In front of us a farmer rode on his cart, which was drawn by two horses. We decided to overtake the horses and the cart. Suddenly my bike slipped on the muddy track, and I landed directly in front of the horses. In an instant, both horses raised their front legs, trying to stop the cart with their hind legs. I was lying in the mud with the horses’ hoofs above me. The horses kept their hoofs up in the air until I was able to raise myself up and move away from under them.

Even though I was very frightened at the time, I was even more thankful that I had not been injured in that accident, for this had really been quite a dangerous situation.

 

A RUSSIAN STEALS MY BIKE

At that time many Russian soldiers deserted from their own troops, and those who did, were ruthless, lawless, unscrupulous, and inflicting great harm on the people.

We had very little to eat at that time and were always hunting for food. When I had been in Sukow, my grandmother had given me a basket full of potatoes, which was to help us out for the time being. On my way back home from Sukow to Neumühle, I rode my bike along a dirt road near Zietlitz. Just as I was passing the village, I was stopped by a fierce looking Russian who was armed with a machine gun. He forced me off my bike by holding the gun to my chest and said to me with a low angry voice: “You gone!”

Obviously, he was after my bike, since during the war there was no way to obtain bikes other than to steal them from people. I begged him at least to leave my potatoes, which he generously agreed to. He took the bike off me and rode directly into the woods. I gazed at him with disappointment. I had just lost my bike, but at the same time I was happy to still have my life.  While I was gazing after him, I saw him stop, jump off the bike, sling the machine gun off his shoulder, turn around, pull up the gun and aim directly at me. It all happened so fast. I quickly jumped behind the nearest tree before the shot went off. There I stood, behind the tree. I did not breathe until I heard him ride off, on my precious bike, but thanking God that I was still alive, and able to take the potatoes home, by train, to my hungry family.

 

INFLATABLE BOAT AT LAKE SCHAAL

The border between East and West Germany went directly through Lake Schaal.  In search of food, we sometimes had to cross the border to organize food in West Germany.

Lake Schaal was less than 100 meters wide at its narrowest point. To cross the lake, my father used his yellow, one-man inflatable boat and two yellow air mattresses.  He paddled across the lake in the boat and pulled his bike on the two mattresses behind him. That way he was mobile in the West.  I remained on the eastern side. On arrival, my father stacked up the boat and the air mattresses, leaning them against each other, so they could dry out in the sun on the green grass next to the lake. Then he rode off.

My brother swam across the lake a little later, but after he had barely arrived on the other side, I watched two border police officers approaching him. I was in shock when I saw them, praying that the Lord may render them blind to the boat and the air mattresses, for the bright yellow color could not be overlooked on the meadow in broad daylight. The officers asked my brother: “Who is that over there?” He answered simply: “That is my little brother.”

They spotted a primitively built timber raft in the grass nearby, which almost certainly was used by some people to flee from the East to the West.  When they saw the raft, one of the police officers immediately took off his clothes and went into the water and destroyed the raft. He threw the pieces of wood into the water to prevent anyone from using it again.

The distance to our yellow inflatable boat was only about ten meters, and, under normal circumstances, the two border guards could not have missed seeing it, nor the air mattresses, for the guards had a free view across the green meadow. So, if they regarded it important to destroy the raft to prevent people from sneaking over the border, why didn’t they lay hands on our boat?

Later, when my father returned to the lake, sadly without the much-needed food, we could cross the lake without any problems.

I was only a child then, but God had heard my prayer on the spot, and answered with a miracle, rendering our things invisible to the border police. I never want to miss this experience. Here again we can clearly see how our heavenly Father allowed a miracle to happen.

 

RUSSIAN GETS AN UPPERCUT

The defected Russian soldiers frequently stole people’s property. One day, while I was walking along a dirt road, a Russian wanted me to give him my watch, but what he saw was my sister’s watch and I did not want to give it up so easily. The Russian was a tall, strong, young man. Suddenly he grabbed me by my throat with both his hands, strangling me. I thought: “Now, this is the end!” By nature, I am a peace-loving person, violence is far from me. But in the spur of the moment, I took the opportunity and hit him full force with my fist under his chin, knowing that I had only one chance to get it right, otherwise he will kill me. Startled, he loosened his grip on me and I took that opportunity to run. Since I was much faster than him, and knew the place well, I was able to escape quickly. Best of all: I could give the watch back to my sister Ingeborg.

 

To be continued.