childhood memory

At the pond 13, this is the house number, where we lived at the time, where we were quartered after the evacuation from Dessau. Not always to the delight of the resident villagers and farm owners – but more at a later date. It is the center of the place where there is a small pond, the horse pond. In this pond, the farmers gave their horses a deserved cooling off after the hard day’s work. The horses were released from the drawbar and held to the reins, led through the water. It’s the year 1947, I was just 5 years old, and remembering that time is still very much alive today. It is not only pleasant, pleasant experiences from the daily happenings. It should be noted that at that time our children were under no circumstances educated and well-intentioned by a tutor. If one compares our situation at that time with the “Gentiles of Kummerow”, whose drift and fun may be well-known in narrative form, then I would call these children true angel creatures. If we had been called children in this way, it would certainly have been a sin against the Lord. It was not uncommon that sometimes envy and sympathy were commonplace. If one of the children once showed with pleasure his new footwear, which the parents had purchased over a certificate of entitlement, immediately he was met with resentment and aversion. It was absolutely not appropriate to give such footwear special attention. Such shoes consisted of a rough wooden sole, while the rest of stiff textile was nailed to the wooden sole. The reader should remember that they were in the economically disadvantaged Russian zone at that time. The openings for the lace were frayed and unusable after a short time. However, it was summer, and so you did not annoy the parents that you wanted to own even such shoes. Then another novelty came to the village’s only grocery store, Igelit shoes. It was a rubber-like material with a chemical additive. If you disregard the wet feet, which you got when wearing – in winter it was pure joy to slip with these shoes on the Schlitterbahn. Those who owned such shoes were envied, because he was always the winner when it came to the bet, who could slide the furthest. The feet themselves hardly felt, they were ice blocks, because these shoes could not warm. However, it is still in the summer. Our day began on the pond and ended there in the evening until one of the bullies was gradually called into the house. The summer at the pond was our life, we walked barefoot, and it offered to wade as far as possible from the edge into the water. Who then ventured very far, who then called … “Who can up here? The bigger ones were compared to the smaller ones in the advantage, because they could always go to the lower parts, who was jostled by another, so that one could no longer maintain balance, he went home with wet pants and then what that can be well thought. The pants were not dried the next day, so you had the disadvantage, because a second pair of pants did not exist. On particularly warm summer days, some wore a washing trough to the pond to paddle on the pond. It was a shaky affair to keep the balance in such a vehicle so that the other boys on the railing watched the action, secretly waiting for such a wash tub to drain its captain into the water. One fine morning I was waiting for someone to join me soon. For the time being, I balanced within the iron railing, lost my footing and fell into the water with terrible terror. I roared as loud as I could, kicking around wildly with my arms and legs, getting to a flat spot in the pond, so I felt ground under my feet. I scrambled to the adjacent meadow and sat first still. Already my thoughts went through my head, what would happen next. I trudged home with the wet things. There was a stone staircase in front of a farm building in the yard, so I wanted to let my things from the sun to dry, but that was not so fast. My mother discovered me, and I got on top of that a hefty spanking. In addition, I now knew how the water from the pond with its green algae tastes. Since that day I had no more desire for courage at the pond railing. In another house at the pond also lived people who had a Spartan accommodation there and whose life was really in poor conditions. I loved playing with the two girls in this family – they also had a name that I would not like to mention at this point. So I also got to know their premises, where you could easily see the difference. I kept hearing from my parents that I should not keep contact with these people. A few days later I had to realize why I should avoid these people. We had once again fooled around in this apartment, and when I got home, my mother noticed that I scratched my head very often – I had lice. I mentioned that our family was evacuated because the Junkers aircraft factory was based in Dessau and therefore the city was a bomb target. So we were assigned to this former farm at pond 13. The stable buildings were probably no longer in use, of which there were many on this estate. The roofs had already shown obvious damage, which were the result of wind and weather. However, the house offered a very passable sight – yes you could call it grand. The owners were two older-aged sisters who were not married. One of the two ladies was personally very pleasant in their way. It was a slim woman with a friendly face that graced a funny glasses. She was very shy and reserved in her nature, and she avoided any encounter. Nevertheless, I always liked to go down the stairs at the beginning of the month, with the rent receipts book in hand, to meet Miss Schiele. I knocked on the door, behind which was a huge kitchen. The door was, to my chagrin, only one
Gap wide open where I would have liked to have a look. Through this narrow gap came to me always a scent that I thought, here is always good food prepared. Since you had to move in this house inevitably, this kitchen will probably have been the living room of the two sisters. Did Miss Schiele possibly like me little tots? In this entrance hall, which was laid out with red sandstone, stood a small table with very beautiful marquetry. Every time the receipt book was stored on this table and on it lay an apple. Soon after, I once again had an encounter with Miss Schiele. I had received the order, our kinks, in one of the stable buildings
In the back of the property were housed to provide food. Here there was a lawn where Miss Schiele kept a goose-hair, with numerous little cute goats in yellow fluff. I fumbled with the padlock padlock when suddenly the Ganter, the goose father, came rushing toward me, wings raised and terrible noises. The screaming of the angry goose-girls as well as my desperate cry … “Go away, go away! …” Miss Schiele had alarmed, and she came quickly from the back door to the scene and directed her geese behind the fence I realized I could not handle the padlock mechanism and said … “well let me do that.” She was apparently familiar with locked doors, I also knew that she always carried a big bunch of keys with her. On the upper floor of the house, another family had been established, coming from the Sudetenland. What was originally an apartment now had to serve two tenants. Of course, this family brought with them their eating habits from Czechoslovakia and, depending on availability, but mostly not, it smelt even down the hall after stuffed Pflumumentatschkerln. It was a wonderful fragrance that I still remember well to this day. One day this one had Of course, this family brought with them their eating habits from Czechoslovakia and, depending on availability, but mostly not, it smelt even down the hall after stuffed Pflumumentatschkerln. It was a wonderful fragrance that I still remember well to this day. One day this one had Of course, this family brought with them their eating habits from Czechoslovakia and, depending on availability, but mostly not, it smelt even down the hall after stuffed Pflumumentatschkerln. It was a wonderful fragrance that I still remember well to this day. One day this one had
Once again, the woman had prepared this dish, and had put the saucepan on the floor to cool down. The cold stone floor should speed up the process. I crept past this pot several times and listened in the house for noises nearby. There were no sounds and it was now a Poweldeltschkerl less in the pot. It was winter, the village was snowy, the pond was frozen. Who had skates, he screwed them under his shoes and went to the ice. Unfortunately, I did not have such a thing. Somehow I wanted to be there too, and came up with the idea with the barrel boards, which should serve me as a ski. Although I
knew that the staves of a barrel are arched, it did not stop me. Somewhere an old wooden barrel had to be found. I searched all the buildings on the gutters afterwards and found what I was looking for. I also managed to bring these boards at one end in a pointed shape, so it had something in common with skis, except for the vault. Two leather straps were quickly cut and fastened in the middle of the barrel boards, so I got hold of it with the shoe inside. On ski poles I wanted to do without, because except a fence staff I would have had no choice. That, in turn, has stopped me mentally, because it certainly would not make a nice picture. So I had to pack it in freestyle. So I stacked like the raven Knickebein with my barrel boards over the yard, out into the open to Teichplatz. Below the church was a short rise, where we had created our Schlitterbahn. The other children drove the short distance with their sledges, and everyone else around turned their eyes to me and the barrel boards. Knowing that it would work, I went into starting position and then stumbled more or less down the hill. From a sliding of the boards in the snow under my feet, nothing was felt. The end was a smooth belly landing where mine I went into starting position and then stumbled more or less down the small hill. From a sliding of the boards in the snow under my feet, nothing was felt. The end was a smooth belly landing where mine I went into starting position and then stumbled more or less down the small hill. From a sliding of the boards in the snow under my feet, nothing was felt. The end was a smooth belly landing where mine
Self-construction made itself independent. There was a resounding laughter from the bystanders, whereupon I collected my boards 
and left the place of the incident unspectacular and laughed.
The cold winter days were never a big reason to be outside in the open air. It was warm and cozy in the kitchen, so I often stood for a long time at the window to watch the sparrows outside as they laboriously searched for food. It was a welcome change on such days when my mother gave me the order to go to the grocer. She handed me a little piece of paper, which said what I had to get. When the door was opened, a fierce bell ring sounded, a sign of the shopkeeper’s wife – it’s a clientele in the shop. Then one could hear rough steps on the wooden floorboards, and an overly friendly “good day” fluttered to meet me. I handed my note along with the shopping bag over the high counter and zealously my commissions were prepared. It was always interesting to see how the butter was carefully removed from a large container, and then to exactly level the weight on the scales. It came the time of school enrollment. The children were introduced to the rector, who should then check whether a school-leaving certificate is available. My mother had dressed me up, my hair was wet and a very correct part was pulled. We all sat in the hallway of the school again, one was accompanied by the father, the other by the mother or both parents were there. The turn was on me, we entered the principal room. At the desk sat a lady with a strict hairstyle and a nearly stony face. A few cubes were spread on the table and the questioning began. The headmistress pointed to one of the dice with two points and the question was … “how many dots do you see here?” I answered, two … A small smile crossed the face and the cube was turned There was another page on top, which was completely unknown to me, it was the 5. Unfortunately, I could not name the number and the face of the principal turned petrified again, she asked me if I would rather stay home, taking her I also clung to my mother and nodded my head in fear, so I could play at the pond for another year. A few cubes were spread on the table and the questioning began. The headmistress pointed to one of the dice with two points and the question was … “how many dots do you see here?” I answered, two … A small smile crossed the face and the cube was turned There was another page on top, which was completely unknown to me, it was the 5. Unfortunately, I could not name the number and the face of the principal turned petrified again, she asked me if I would rather stay home, taking her I also clung to my mother and nodded my head in fear, so I could play at the pond for another year. A few cubes were spread on the table and the questioning began. The headmistress pointed to one of the dice with two points and the question was … “how many dots do you see here?” I answered, two … A small smile crossed the face and the cube was turned There was another page on top, which was completely unknown to me, it was the 5. Unfortunately, I could not name the number and the face of the principal turned petrified again, she asked me if I would rather stay home, taking her I also clung to my mother and nodded my head in fear, so I could play at the pond for another year. Unfortunately, I could not name the number and the face of the rector petrified again. She asked me if I would rather stay home, looking at my mother as well. I clung to my mother and nodded in fear. So I could play another year at the pond. Unfortunately, I could not name the number and the face of the rector petrified again. She asked me if I would rather stay home, looking at my mother as well. I clung to my mother and nodded in fear. So I could play another year at the pond.