Ilse’S Berlin-I Was There-1926 to 1945

By Ilse Lewis

`Ilses Berlin begins with the authors earliest memories of a comfortable childhood in the beautiful city of Berlin. Born in 1926, Ilse lived in her familys apartment building; and although her father died when she was two, Ilse, her mother, and sister enjoyed a happy and secure life until the political climate changed in the 1930s. When her mothers death orphaned Ilse at the age of fourteen, she and her sister were left to survive the worst years of the war with little food and constant fear. At the end of the war in 1945 and facing an uncertain future, the author was determined to escape the Russian occupation troops and her war-torn city and make her way to the American Zone (West Germany). Ilse takes the reader on this perilous journey, not only once, but twice. Although she encountered many hardships, Ilse pursued her adventure of crossing the border which rekindled a spirit of hope for a better life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463402600

Ilse Lewis

Ilse Lewis was born in Berlin, Germany in 1926. From her journals and memories, the author has compiled a book of her early life through the eyes of an orphaned teenager in Berlin during World War II. The carefree days of her youth were transformed into years of hunger, fear, and a daily struggle to survive. Mrs. Lewis provides an insightful look at her journey through the darkest days of Berlin to an adventurous search for a new beginning.

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Ilse’s Berlin-

I WAS THERE-1926 TO 1945

ILSE LEWIS

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AuthorHouse™

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2011 Ilse Lewis. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 6/28/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0260-0 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0259-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-0261-7 (sc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011908337

Printed in the United States of America

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

1930

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1945.

EARLY FEBRUARY, 1945

FEBRUARY 25-26, 1945

MARCH, 1945.

APRIL 18, 1945

APRIL 20, 1945

MAY 2, 1945

AUGUST 27, 1945

SEPTEMBER 2, 1945.

SEPTEMBER 27, 1945

OCTOBER 2, 1945

LATE OCTOBER 1945.

EPILOGUE

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THIS BOOK COVERS MY LIFE FROM THE time I was born, through my school years, the loss of my mother in 1940, the hard times of the War and my escape from the Russians in my hometown of Berlin to the West in 1945. Also included is my immigration to America as a war bride which led to my becoming an American citizen in 1953 and proudly calling myself an American.

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Berlin my home town before the war

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Berlin after the War

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My father Fritz    My mother Anna

I WAS BORN ON FEBRUARY 27, 1926, IN Koepenick, a suburb of Berlin, Germany. My parents were Fritz and Anna Hertzstell. I had one sister, Charlotte (called Lottie), who was five years older than I.

I was named Ilse Anna Martha Hertzstell but had many nicknames: Ille, Illekin, Spinnekin (little spider) and Little Fritz because I looked so much like my father. Our family name Hertzstell was the only family at the time by that name in all of Germany. I was also the youngest of all my cousins and was spoiled by everyone.

We lived in a rather large house which had belonged to my paternal grandparents, Heinrich and Bertha Hertzstell. The house was a three story building with apartments on the upper floors and three stores with living quarters on the street level.

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After my grandparents died the house became the property of their children. My grandfather died in 1911 and my grandmother in 1918. They were already gone when my father and mother married in 1919. It was rumored that the family was originally from England with an Anglo-Saxon background. I have not been able to verify if that is true… There were five children, Gertrud, Margarethe, Heinrich, my father Fritz, and Hertha.

I spent a lot of time with my other grandparents and enjoyed a happy childhood spending time with them. There were also five children in this family-Wilhelm, (who was missing in Belgium during WWI) Paul, Martha, Anna (my mother), and Erich (who died in 1944 during WW II while fighting in Russia.)

When I was two years old tragedy struck. One day at work my father was in an elevator when an accident happened. Some acid was spilled on him and some other people causing fatal burns. My father died as a result although he had managed to help save some of the injured. He along with the other burned victims had been transported to a hospital where he would remain in critical condition for several days. My mother spent many hours every day at his bedside. Because he was suffering with a great amount of pain and itching under the bandages he begged my mother to help him and got very upset because she could not help him. I do not know how long it was after the accident that he died at the age of 37 on March 12, 1928.

I do not know much about my father’s background or childhood. His profession was Business Manager for some kind of factory. It was said by those who knew him that he was a friendly, handsome and a fun-loving practical joker. He also played many musical instruments. I always felt cheated that I never got to know him.

My early years were very comfortable. My mother received insurance money, social security, and income from the rent of the stores and apartments of the house she co-owned along with my father’s siblings. The building belonged equally to one aunt, one uncle, and my mother. Two other aunts had their part paid out to them. My Aunt Grete, Uncle Franz, and my cousins, Hermann and Grete (my godmother) lived in one of the other apartments on the same floor level as ours.

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1930

THERE WERE ALSO MY MOTHER’S TWO BROTHERS, Erich and Paul. Uncle Paul married Aunt Trudchen, and they had one son, Guenther.

We always had a get-together with either the family or friends. There was never a New Year’s Eve that was not celebrated either at our house or some relative’s or friend’s home. Birthdays, Confirmations, etc. were always big events. I prepared myself to entertain by learning the latest jokes and songs with funny lyrics. I would stand on a chair doing my act while everyone was watching and applauding, and I was always rewarded with small coins which I would spend the next day at the local grocery store for either a sour pickle or sauerkraut. Both products were sold from wooden barrels. I seldom bought candy.

My grandfather Sommerfeld apparently loved my singing because he often asked me to sing his favorite song which was Sah’ ein Knab ein Roeslein steh’n (A boy saw a beautiful rose in the meadow.) I must have had a good voice because he enjoyed so much hearing me sing. The first song I remember from when I was a very small child was Es war einmal in Treuer Husar (A Husar is a brave horse soldier.) I don’t have a better translation. For some reason it always made me cry because I thought it was very sad. Another song that I remember from an earlier age was O Donna Clara and I loved it. One Christmas, my friends, Horst and Harry, and I practiced the song Suesser die Glocken nie klingen. (It’s sweeter when the bells ring at Christmas time.)" Then we would perform it for all the adults.

Across the courtyard beneath Uncle Franz’s office was a paint shop. It was rented to an elderly man who lived around the corner. One day, when I was about five years old, he walked across the courtyard just as I came out of our house. I was eating some licorice and he asked me, What are you eating? I told him, and he said he also had some and it was very good. He wanted to know if I would trade him some of mine for some of his. I did, and when I tried to eat his good licorice, I spit it out–it was awful! I told my mother about it, and she laughed and said the man had given me chewing tobacco. I never did like that man after that.

When I was still pretty small, maybe five years old, my sister Lottie, was supposed to take care of me. But this messed up some of her plans she had made with her friends. She took me with her for a short way, and then she left me at a very busy street corner not very far from our house. I was so scared there all alone with so many strangers around and all the traffic. A policeman asked me what my problem was, and I told him. Just then a good friend of my mother’s came by and took me home with her because my mother was gone for the afternoon. Needless to say, Lottie got into big trouble over that.

During this time there had been growing unrest between the newly formed Nazi Party and the Communist Party. Sometime in 1932 we watched from a window of our house a confrontation between a group of Nazis and a group of Communists. They were fighting each other with rubber truncheons and clubs. This occurred in the late evening near dark, and we could not see what the final outcome was.

Soon after my sixth birthday, before I started to school, my mother and I went on a