A Long Road to Usa Citizenship: An Autobiography

By Horst G. Baier

Here is the story of a boy growing up in Germany prior to the Second World War that describes family life, schooling, and time in the military. Horst Baier became part of the German military, first as a youthful Brown Shirt and in 1942, when he was conscripted. His life in the German army is colorfully described, including the training. The long journey to the Russian front and the fighting there eventually led to his hospitalization and his chance meeting of a girl who would eventually become his wife. He was captured in Italy and became a prisoner of war in Egypt. Horsts marriage, travel to Canada, and eventually employment with the Ford Motor Co. in the United States of America and citizenship makes a happy ending.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524573430

Horst G. Baier

Horst G. Baier now lives in Chesterland, Ohio, near his daughter, Marlies, who sees to his every need. He lives alone but has many visitors who look in on him and help him with meals and with daily care. When the weather permits, he still takes walks with his walker. His has been a full, very interesting life.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Horst G. Baier.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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.

Rev. date: 03/03/2017

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

754834

CONTENTS

Background

Now Related By Horst

Youth And Family

The War Years: Training

The War Years: The Russian Front

The War Years: Recuperation

The War Years: Italy

The War Years: Egypt

Home And Marriage

On To Canada

Ford Motor Company and a Dream Farm Realized

Epilogue: Added By Hedy

Many thanks to all of Horst’s friends, relatives and acquaintances who made this life story possible.

BACKGROUND

I T IS WITH the idea of leaving the memories of a long eventful life to children and grandchildren that this life story is undertaken. Horst G. Baier was born on March 27 th 1924 on the second floor of the family home at Lichtenberg, Germany, Liebich Strasse 17A. This was a rented apartment with one kitchen, one bedroom, a small bath and small living room. His parents owned a 1200 square meter parcel of land north of Berlin in a place called Glienicke. On weekends they traveled to this property and worked on building a small cottage with the idea of saving rent money. His grandfather (Opa) and mother’s brother helped and in the spring of 1925 the family moved to Glienicke. In April of that year they began construction of a 3 apartment brick building which was finished in March of 1926. During this time some eight million people were unemployed in Germany, so relatives, friends and friends of friends volunteered to help with this project, one a professional bricklayer and several carpenters. Horst’s father was one of the few who still had work at the Bergman Electric Co. and went to school at night studying tool engineering. This lasted until November 1926 when he too lost his job and had to leave school. Horst’s brother Juegen was born on December 17, 1925 in the Hermsdorf Stift Hospital and the family moved into their basement apartment in April of 1926; they had rented the other two apartments out.

All the above was related to Horst, but at about age three he actually remembers the building of a wash house. The two upper apartments had baths and toilets, but the basement did not, necessitating the use of an outhouse and bathing in a wooden tub. This wash house was built by Horst’s father, Uncle Richard and grandfather; it had an extra room for rabbits and a hay loft. Fruit trees were planted and there was a large garden. At the end of the property was a small river about 10 feet wide. The family bought a goat so had their own source of milk. They named the goat Liesl.

NOW RELATED BY HORST

Because I was a small boy I had little interest in the goings on of the world. In 1930, when I was six years old I had to attend school. We had a nice big school in Glienicke. On the first day of school in Germany you are presented with a big conical container with a lot of goodies in it. You meet your teacher and a picture is taken of the whole class with their teacher. My first teacher was Miss Glaser and I remember she was thin and tall and wore big eyeglasses. I also remember my mother wanting to take my picture when I got home and me balking. I wound up with a spanking from my father and mother got her picture!

There were several kids in the neighborhood and we walked to school together, a distance of about a mile. One of our renters had a daughter, Lieselotte Henkel who walked with us. She and I were good friends because she had a rocking horse that I enjoyed riding. Once in a while we would argue over who would ride first; she always won because the horse was hers. One day a week we would have workshop lessons at school, normally from 2 until 4 p.m. We had lots of fun making things out of paper. In later years we built machines and airplanes using tool kits. We were given a 5 minute rest period every hour and a 15 minute break at 10 a.m. and after every 3 hours of class. We could eat and have a drink of milk or chocolate milk. The school provided lunches for children whose parents could not afford to pay. It was a good neighborhood and I ran lots of errands for the grownups who always gave me 10 or 20 cents which I put into my piggy bank.

Image%201.jpg

Horst Baier - student

I liked school because I met a lot of new boys and girls, some of whom I’m still in touch with. In the summer, school ran from seven in the morning until one in the afternoon. We always had homework and sometimes we had no time to play. In addition, my mother insisted that I lie down for an hour and rest. I did not always sleep and many times I jumped out of the window to play with other kids. If my mother caught me I would get a good spanking.

I remember how much I wanted a bicycle. My father’s bike was too large for me at age 6; I could not reach the pedals. He couldn’t afford to buy another smaller one. With my father’s help I learned to put my legs through the frame while he held the bike. After many tries I was able to ride the bike alone. One day while cycling down a hill I picked up too much speed and lost control, fell over onto the sidewalk and broke my left ankle. I tried getting up, but could not put any weight on my left leg. My mother called our family doctor, Dr. Stark, and he took me to the Dominico Stift Hospital and my leg was put in a cast. Since there was no room in the children’s section of the hospital I was put in a room with 6 adults. They were a nice group of men and I remember they taught me all kinds of games like skat and chess. I spent 6 weeks in the hospital, missing school, and when I was released my mother said she thought the men had spoiled me. I was glad to be home again and my family was happy too. I could walk again and the walk to school was good exercise. I was still forbidden to play games with my friends and still really wanted a bicycle. My father said they just couldn’t afford it. Times were bad and they needed the money for chicken feed. He suggested that I look to see what my piggy bank had in it. I broke the bank and found I had 60 marks. My mother thought that was enough and talked my father into taking me to see Mr. Nieke who had an auto repair shop and bicycle store. He had a beautiful blue bike with a white star on it and it was the right size. I really wanted it, but it cost 64 marks. My father wouldn’t give me the extra 4 marks, but I talked Mr. Nieke into letting me make payments, and he agreed to my paying him 1 mark a month with no interest charge. I took very good care of my bike. The kids in the neighborhood were all pretty envious.

I was not permitted to ride my bicycle to school even though there was a bike parking area there. Not everyone was careful when they parked their bikes. My brother and I were very close and walked to school together even though he was two years younger than I.

I remember my school teacher Mr. Friese; he had a wooden leg. He was a very good teacher. If we were not quiet in class he would grab you by the hair until you were dancing on your toes. I got this treatment myself a couple of times. If you were a big troublemaker he would take you outside, have you bend over, pull your pants tight and give you three strikes on your butt with a three foot bamboo cane. After this treatment sitting was most uncomfortable.

I can remember going down to our little river in the summertime to catch fish, small ones called Stichlinge (stickleback), so called because their bodies had very sharp spines that could really hurt if contacted. Immediately across the river was a meadow and beyond a large forest, belonging to Baron von Feldheim. My father and Opa built a bridge so we could cross the water and we would play in the woods. My brother was friends with the Baron’s son, Heinz, which gave us somewhat of an in. We went there to pick mushrooms. Mother taught us how to tell a good mushroom from a bad one and we learned early and never made a mistake. I remember that the meadow also had a small lake with a little island in the middle. I used to take an old wash tub to paddle on the water which didn’t please my father even though I knew how to swim. We were warned that the lake was very deep and had a very muddy base. I knew how to swim because my father took my brother and me to Luebars to learn even before we went to school. We had a 2.5 mile walk to the swimming pool. My father usually carried my brother on his shoulders, but I had to walk. We had to cross the Kindle River, the half way point. Before we reached the bridge my father would ask us if we had told any lies. He had us believe that the bridge would break and we would fall into the river if we had. This did impress on me to always tell the truth and in later years I was convinced of it. We had a great time swimming with my father. By the time I was six I earned my free swim certificate. It required one to swim alone on one’s chest for fifteen minutes without touching the ground.

In time we acquired three more goats, Nora, Flora and Herta. One day when my father saw the Baroness von Feldheim and her female companion out walking he asked her if we could rent her four acre meadow so our goats would have grass to eat. She must have agreed since my father and grandfather began harvesting with their scythes. We bought a centrifuge with which to process all our goat milk. My brother and I learned to work this centrifuge to separate the cream from the milk. Now we were able to make butter and cheese, a great help during the Second World War.

The Baroness invited my parents to visit her in Schoenflies where she had a large chicken farm. They were very impressed and decided to open a chicken farm also. In the autumn of 1929 the Kladde family renting our lower apartment was asked to move out. The man of the family drank a lot and when he came home he would beat his wife and his son, Ernst. My father would not put up with this behavior. As a result our family moved into this empty apartment. What a change – no more outhouse, a nice light bedroom and a large kitchen for my mother. The basement was now converted into a chicken hatchery; my father had purchased an 800 egg electric breeder. He also bought 400 day-old chicks from the baroness; they were moved into the warm basement. Opa, Uncle Richard and father worked on building a 20 x 60 foot barn. On one side wall they built a ledge to provide a place for the chickens to sit at night, and in the back, a storage room. They also made a stable for the goats out of stone. Our feed company, Zitrich, was located in Spandau, quite a distance away from us. Their salesman, Mr. Jumpert came by once a week to take orders. I remember him well because he always had some goodies for us boys. Mr. Jumpert was Jewish. He and his brother worked together and both helped my parents financially. Mr. Jumpert took my parents to another chicken farm in Schildow, a large place with 20,000 chickens and lots of helping hands. Here my parents bought 150 reds (Gallus gallus domesticus). They also hired help in the form of a young lady with a degree in chicken farming. She would help with the farm and take care of us boys too. Her name was Gerda Lemke and she was very well liked.

Life was good. Our neighbors from across the street, Mr. & Mrs. Boede, gave us a small dog we named Morchen. He was very protective of us boys, but disliked our baker who always delivered fresh hard rolls every morning. The dog would go after him and finally the baker got tired of fighting him and told my father he would leave the rolls outside of our fence. By 1932 we had 2000 chickens. Opa, uncle and father had built another barn across the river on the 4 rented acres. My parents bought a pair of geese and a pair of Peking ducks; the latter lived on the island in the lake.

I remember my father riding his bike to places he hoped were interested in buying our eggs and chickens. He found two stores, one in Frohnau, Delicatessen Holz, and in Hermsdorf, The Consum. Word got around and soon we had lots of customers, in fact, so many that my father could not serve all the customers using his bicycle anymore. He got himself a motorcycle (DKW 250 cc) which got him around faster and he could carry more. He would have a container with sixty egg cartons on his back and tie a larger container on the rear seat of the motorcycle.

August was harvest time. Opa and father cut grass for hay to feed the goats. We boys were warned away from the cutting activity to avoid any accidents from the sharp scythes. The grass was allowed to dry; then my mother raked it into piles ready to be loaded onto our wagon and we all helped pull it to the barn. My uncle and father did the hard work of stacking it in the loft. In November we took our goats to be bred. The buck was about 5 – 6 miles away, so it took all day to walk our goats there. By the end of February all four goats had little kids. It was a lot of fun to play with them once they were two weeks old. A couple of weeks before Easter my father would slaughter the kids which were sold to customers who ordered them the previous year to be assured of getting one. I don’t remember ever having goat ourselves for Easter as our Jewish customers paid well for them. Every Thursday was butcher day for young roosters, chickens, geese or ducks according to what orders had to be filled. We all pitched in and Miss Lemke would help with the cleaning and packing. Friday was always delivery day. My father would load the poultry on his motorcycle along with the backpack of eggs and make deliveries. When I was nine and my brother seven we had the task of cleaning the chicken house after school. We had to put fresh sand on the chickens’ nighttime perches. Each chicken had a metal number on its wing and in a log book we kept track of how many eggs each chicken laid. If it did not produce 20 eggs per month it was butchered and sold to the stores.

YOUTH AND FAMILY

I grew up in the 1930’s and had a wonderful life as a child as did my brother, Juergen. When I was 9 years old I joined the young Scharnhorst, an organization belonging to the Stahlhelm, which in turn was an organization whose members were soldiers in the First World War. These old soldiers were still divided into divisions, regiments and battalions and still had their uniforms, helmets and whatever else a soldier would normally have at home but no guns, light machine guns or ammunition. These were stored in a special place. These men made up the home protection service and they met every month for exercises and marches. According to the1918 Treaty of Versailles, Germany was only permitted an army of 100,000 men, no airplanes or tanks and no artillery over 105 mm. In Germany in 1930, my father told me, we had a different government every four to six weeks and eight million people were without work. In 1933 I can still remember when my uncle and father talked about Hitler. My uncle said to my father: Erich, you have been without work for eight years and I for ten years. Let’s vote for Hitler. Every government has promised us work but nothing ever happens. So it is that on the 30th of January 1933 96% of the German people voted for Hitler.

After Hitler was chancellor people all around us got work. In May of 1933 my uncle was hired as a store manager at Kepa, a department store in Tegel. He had a room upstairs in our house and ate with us. There was good transportation from Glienicke to Berlin both by bus and train. My uncle had a 5 minute walk to the bus station from our house. He would walk through a little forest to Hohenzollern St. and to the corner of Waldweg where the G bus stopped. The bus drove from Glienicke Schulzenhoe to Berlin, Tegel Central. Soon after my uncle found work my father got employment as