Escape to Freedom: The Turbulent Life of a Refugee

By Pauline Elischer

As a small child, Pauline Elischer had no idea how dreadful war could be. Born in a small village in the center of the Carpathian Mountains, she was safe as a baby bird in its nest. But World War II changed her life forever. Run for your lives!" residents were told, The Russians are coming. They heard the rattle of machine guns, the thunder of cannons, and just over the hill was heard the rumbling of tanks. Some barely escaped with their lives, leaving family roots behind forever. Escaping from the Russians was just the start of a new life lived under a dark cloud! It seemed as though Satan was determined to destroy the girl. But through all the trials and tribulations she experienced, God had never forsaken her, and in his eternal mercy brought her through it all. God bless all who read this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543430592

Pauline Elischer

This Biography is written by a survivor, Pauline Elischer, of World War II. Who at the age of 71 was inspired to inform the younger generation of the perils of war. She believes that once you loose your roots- you are just a fallen leaf blowing in the wind. Family unity and the believe in God as the creator of all living things are the solid foundation of a happy and successful life. There is no other foundation strong enough to build on.

Book preview

Chapter 1

(Reminiscing)

Lisle was born, November, 1935. She was the firstborn child of Pauli and Simon in the small town of Zeche, in Czechoslovakia. They were of German descend, but, governed by the Czech Republic. When her parents where young- Slovakia belonged to Hungary and they learned Hungarian in school. By the time Lisle grew to school age they were teaching pure German, but, at home they spoke a dialect that was common only to the local population.

Her mother and father were very ambitious, hardworking people. They ran a business creating roof tiles for the neighborhood and surrounding area. Her father had several brothers and they all played multiple instruments. Any festival, wedding or celebration of any kind was their playground. Her mother got tired of sitting home during these times and learned to play the drums and the accordion. Now, she was part of the merrymaking! They lived in a small wooden cottage where Lisle was born, right behind the Catholic Church up on the hill.

This land was given by Pauli’s mom, not only to Lisle’s parents, but also to the local Catholic Church. The young couple built a beautiful villa behind the cottage, named Villa Hazel Busch. Baby Lisle learned to peak through a round cut out hole in the front door of the cottage. She was left alone all day. Her mom only attended her during nursing time. The first real memory to Lisle was the time her father threw her into a large swimming pool. Her eyes were wide open as the blue tiles of the pool bottom came closer and closer. Will I ever see my mommy again, she thought! Her mother, later, did not believe Lisle could remember that far back for Lisle was not even two years old.

Also, there was a small creek running through the village, and the small children learned to swim in it. It was only by God’s grace they didn’t drown for they were not even school age. On one side was a house, build right into the river, here the water was several feet high, and the youngsters could not reach the bottom. They jumped from the shallow side of the creek and paddled furiously to the ledge of the house foundation. Had they missed that ledge the river would have carried them away and over the spillway were they probably would have drowned!

Once a year the church had a big festival and all the neighborhood villages attended. This is how the young people met and many became life partners by getting married. These German villages never seemed to mingle with the Slovaks who lived nearby, it was an unspoken rule.

Lisle had a pet goat by the name of Nanny. When her mother milked the goat- Lisle was right there with her tin cup waiting for her mom to pull those full tits and fill the cup. Lisle loved this milk it was warm and sweet. She also took her Nanny out behind the house where there were hazelnut bushes- and the goat just loved to nibble on those leaves. The big mushrooms grew plenty full in that hollow ground, dug out by the Gold Diggers many years ago and now overgrown with deep moss and adorned with white birch trees. There also were all kinds of berries to pick. This was Lisle’s paradise, here she was happy! During spring, when juices flowed from the white birch trees she would cut a notch into its bark and let the white syrup run into her tin cup, and after she got Home she added some sugar to it. It made a tasty drink.

The creek that ran through town boasted of tasty fish and lobsters. Lisle learned to catch some of them and bring them home for her mom to cook. They were not crawfish, like people seem to think, no, they were small lobsters, about five inches long. You had to be quick to snatch them by their tail for they swam sideways, and disappeared under the rocks in the washed out riverbed.

During the bitter cold winter months her parents worked in Berlin, Germany, and Lisle was left with her paternal grandmother. During this time the river that was usually small burst forth with the melting snow that ran down from the Carpathian Mountains. And, the next door neighbor’s young boy fell into this raging water and drowned. It left a lasting impression on Lisle! She never looked at water the same way.

The snow was so deep during the cold season you could jump out of the second story window and tunnel down several feet and not get hurt. It was a lot of fun for the children, but, of course the adults suffered severely; because, they were buried alive in their homes and prayed their stock of food would not run out, before they could get more supplies from the town’s only grocery store. Meat was salted and smoked during butchering season at the grandparent’s house, but, flour and sugar could run out. Here you could not buy bread or pastry. Mom had to bake everything fresh, make the noodles for the Hungarian Goulash, and roll out the fine dough for the tasty apple strudel. Pauli was an excellent cook! Later, she was hired as a chef in one of the finest restaurants in Germany. She kept her family from starving by bringing home left over’s from her job.

In May of 1943 Lisle’s mom born her second child, a boy, they named him Rowland. He had the bluest eyes and the most golden hair they ever saw. He was simply the most beautiful baby in the world! Lisle’s hair was medium auburn with brown eyes, her brother’s hair shined like gold and his eyes where the color of deep blue skies. Lisle loved her sibling and became his caretaker at age seven. He was her shadow for many years to come as times changed drastically.

Chapter 2

(The Russians are coming)

Although these backwoods, hardworking people were aware of Hitler’s War they did not care to get involved in politics! But, in the late fall of 1944 they could not miss the thunder of cannons and the repetitious rat -tat - tat of machine guns firing by night. The large wall of beaten German soldiers was ever pushed westward. And, the Russians killed any anti-communist in their tracks. These 18 German communities who settled here for over 700 years had grown to nearly 50,000. They had no chance of survival!

Most of them tried to remain neutral to politics, but, neither the Nazis nor the Communistic Russians had any tolerance for freedom of choice. Out of one family Hitler’s handymen send a young man to the gas chambers; because, he refused to fight in the Nazi Army.

Several weeks later, the same family lost two more boys to the Russian’s; because they refused to wear the uniform of the Red Army. They lined them up against the wall, blindfolded them, and under the wailing and heartbreaking pleas of their old mother and father, shot them to death, right in front of their eyes.

Life had not been easy in the Zeche, so named after the gold, copper and silver mines, as well as all the other surrounding communities in the nearby mountain range. All the precious metals had been exploited well over 300 years before.

These small villages, nestling in the middle part of the Carpathian had settled here, when the land was sparsely occupied, and was taken over by the Hungarians. As the borders moved it eventually became Czechoslovakia, taken over by the Czech Republic. Some of the settlers came here from Sachsen, Germany, A Northern Germanic race.

There was gold in those forsaken mountains and this hardy race came here to claim it. Later, out of necessity they became farmers or choose a variety of trades to earn a modest Living. The hills where rich in timber and they foraged the woodlands to feed many hungry mouths. Still, others choose Seasonal work in surrounding countries like Hungary, Austria or Germany where Hitler, forever, needed workers in his wartime factories in many cities, like Berlin.

Money was good and many poor fathers supported their families by season work. The German Reich Mark had a high exchange value against the Kronen and although living wasn’t easy in the backwards country side, no body went hungry.

This was their home, the only home they ever knew and loved. Their children had been born and their bodies had been buried here. Here they belonged, here they had roots.

Now it was time to go. Save the children they cried, send them to safety, out west, out of the line of fire. So, they gathered all the school-age children, loaded them into trucks and off they went into the distance while their