1945

The End of the Second World War

in Graal-Mueritz, near Rostock, East Germany

My mother's memories about the first phase of Sowjet occupation and administration

While living in Graal, we were constantly searching for food. Once in the forest, we discvered a left depot of the army with a lot of army bred. Heaven sent! Of course, the rumor spread fast. We were lucky to get our share.

In Graal, we first lived in a hotel where we had some food: Fried potatoes and aspic. In the dining room were portraits of all the great Nazis. One could see them dissappear by and by. Not all together, no, everyday one more was missing.

Most of the guests had the same fate. They were mothers who had lost their children or feared they would. You could tell by looking at them when another child had died. These women did not eat, they just cried silently. The others were still hoping. Once, also the owner of the hotel appeared. They said, he had been a communist who had hidden his party book.

We were put up in a room in the elementary school in Mueritz. The headmaster was a quiet, introverted man. His wife was named Mariechen and was just the opposite: loud, vivid and dynamic. She always spread the latest news. Knoops were quite pleased to take us. They shared a great advantage: The Russians would not take anything away from them. We -- the unwanted refugees -- were able to protect them from looting through our language knowledge.