Memories of Growing up in Germany 1928-1953

By Elfriede Wunderlich Wegener

My mother, Elfriede, wrote down her memories of growing up in Germany during the Second World War. Her parents were just getting back on their feet after losing their savings and two brothers in the First World War. Then came the rise of Adolf Hitler, the end of free speech and the beginning of an adolescence marked by hunger, air raid sirens, quiet rebellion, and occupation by American and then Russian troops. After gaining permission to leave the Russian zone, Elfriede's family gradually rebuilt their lives in West Germany. A chance encounter on a bus tour in Bavaria changed the course of my mother's life. In 1953 she emigrated to the U.S. to marry my father.
Elfriede's story begins with a happy childhood in Nuremberg. Her mother came from a large family, and Elfriede enjoyed spending time with her maternal grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She adored her little sister, Edel, who was 6 years younger. During long walks on Sundays, Elfriede made up fairy tales to entertain her sister and pass the time. When my mother was 7 years old, her father was promoted in the Customs Service, which required them to move to northern Germany. The weather there was often foggy and damp, conditions that caused her mother's health to decline. After her father requested a medical transfer, the family moved to Thuringia.
My mother was 11 years old when World War II began in 1939. In her memoirs, my mother describes some of the horrors of war that she experienced first-hand. But rather than dwelling on the negative, her stories reveal things that any young girl would be concerned about: adjusting to new schools, hanging out with friends, dealing with bullies, her first love, how her family's love and support helped them survive, and giving up dreams without giving up on life. Beyond providing the unique historical experience of a German adolescent during World War II, the underlying message of this book is that you can't always change your circumstances, but you can choose to make the best of challenging situations.
In addition to my mother's narrative, which is largely factual and objective, this book contains poems that she wrote during this turbulent time, giving us insight into her emotions and her enduring connection with nature. Even when she was lonely and discouraged, she believed deep down that things would get better.
To orient the reader, I've created a timeline that juxtaposes events in Elfriede's life with political events. Each figure is both a preview of what is to come in the next chapters and a way to show how my mother's life events fit into the big picture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798350935653

Book preview

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© 2023 Elfriede Wunderlich Wegener

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Print ISBN: 979-8-35093-5-646

eBook ISBN: 979-8-35093-5-653

Contents

Foreword

1 My Parents

2 Early Childhood in Nuremberg (Bavaria) 1928–1935

3 Vacations

4 Birth of my Sister Edeltraut in 1934

5 Delmenhorst (Lower Saxony) 1935–1938

6 Schmölln (Thuringia) 1938–1947

7 World War II begins in September 1939

8 My First Love

For Vati’s 50th Birthday

9 Trapped in a Cellar after an Air Raid

A Farewell Fairy Tale

10 A Broken Book Bag Saved my Life

11 Another Close Call

12 Children Recruited to Remove Corpses

13 Making the Best of the Situation

14 American Troops Occupy Schmölln 1945

15 Russians Replace Americans

16 Farmwork 1945–1946

17 The Ox was not so Dumb

18 I Believe in Guardian Angels

19 Communication with the Outside World

20 Attempt to Leave the Russian Zone

21 Surprise Visit from Vati

22 Interpreter School September 1946 to March 1947

23 Getting out of the Russian Zone in Spring 1947

24 Adjusting to Life in the West

25 Vati was Cleared of War Crimes 1949

26 Work for the American Military Government

27 Permission to Return to Schmölln to get Belongings Left Behind

28 Job Changes

Stars of Destiny

Awakening

29 Life Returns to Normal

White Clouds

Dreams

Hope

Memories

Fall

Morning wind

Dark Firs

Melancholy

Confidence

Late Autumn

Memory

30 An Incredible Love Story 1951

31 Preparing to Emigrate

To my Dearest Adolph on his Birthday

How Long?

Longing

32 Transatlantic Crossing 1953

Appendix

Für Vatis 50. Geburtstag

Ein Abschieds Märchen

Schicksalssterne

Erwachen

Weiße Wolken

Träume

Hoffnung

Erinnerungen

Herbst

Morgenwind

Dunkle Tannen

Schwermut

Zuversicht

Spätherbst

Erinnerung

Meinem liebsten Adolph zum Geburtstag

Wie lange?

Sehnsucht

Dedication

To Elfriede’s beloved family. May her enduring strength and endless

compassion inspire you to cherish your loved ones and respond to adversity with optimism, bravery, and kindness.

Foreword

My mother, Elfriede Wunderlich Wegener, wrote down her memories of growing up in Germany during World War II. She grew up during a turbulent time in Germany’s history. Her parents were just getting back on their feet after losing their savings and two brothers in World War I. Then came the rise of Adolf Hitler, the end of free speech and the beginning of an adolescence marked by hunger, air raid sirens, quiet rebellion, and occupation by American and then Russian troops. After gaining permission to leave the Russian zone, Elfriede’s family gradually rebuilt their lives in West Germany. Despite the adversity early in her life, Elfriede was a very positive, optimistic, and loving person.

My brothers and I were fortunate that both our parents valued the German language and culture. We grew up speaking both German and English at home. Our mother’s traditions and the stories of her youth gave us a worldview that was unlike that of our American neighbors and friends.

Oral accounts of events tend to change with each retelling, so we are grateful that our mother had the foresight to type her original Memories (Erinnerungen) soon after emigrating to the United States and to translate them into English later. This book represents part of our family’s history, but it also provides insight into the conditions for much of the German populace when war shattered their country. To help the reader understand how events in Elfriede’s life fit into the big picture, I’ve created a timeline that juxtaposes her personal accounts with political events. Each portion of the timeline is both a preview of what is to come in the next chapters of the book and a way to corroborate the historical accuracy of my mother’s memories.

In her narrative, Elfriede typically describes events in a factual and objective manner. However, she also wrote poems in which she expressed her emotions: pain, joy, her love of nature, and her can-do attitude. When she was in her 80s, I asked her how and when an idea for a poem came to her. She said that the poems she wrote in Germany usually came out of some event that either made me very happy or sad and it’s like a little light growing in my head. For birthday and other special-occasion poems, she spent a lot of time thinking about what she wanted to say and then figured out how to make the lines rhyme. For this book, I’ve translated Elfriede’s poems into English. Because the translation captures her emotions, but not the original rhyme scheme, her original poems in German are included in the Appendix.

I would like to thank my family members for their encouragement and support in publishing my mother’s memoirs. When she passed away on December 8, 2020, she left behind 3 children and their spouses, 8 grandchildren, 1 great-granddaughter, and her sister and brother-in-law and their family. Elfriede always said that her family was the most important thing in her life, and even in old age she made the effort to stay in touch with her loved ones. For the publication of this book, I would like to acknowledge the following family members for help with proofreading the manuscript and preparation of the photographs: Charles, Katrina, Carleton, and Brian Knisely; Albert Wegener; Adam Wegener; Erika Wegener; and Kristina (Geissler) Farr.

Karin (Wegener) Knisely

Lewisburg, PA

November 2023

1 My Parents

Before I start with my life, I want to tell you a little about my parents, Reinhard Wunderlich and Frieda Wunderlich, née Hick. They were both born and raised in Hof (Bavaria). My father was the son of a master tailor. He was a good student and his teachers suggested that he should become a teacher, which my father would have liked very much. However, his father had other plans for him. Since he was the only son (he had three sisters), his father wanted him to take over his tailor shop. That was the last thing my father wanted to do with his life and after a lot of arguments, my father went to Bremen to become an apprentice for Kaiser’s Kaffee Geschäft where he learned the fine art of making fancy pastries and chocolates. A friend of my father’s had done the same thing and together they made plans to become masters in their trade and then immigrate to the United States. My father’s mother talked him out of going to the U.S., telling him that she would die if he left Germany and it would be his fault. So he continued his apprenticeship in Bremen. Then in 1914, the First World War started and my father and his friend were drafted