When we were within a few Kilometer of Nordhausen, we left the train for the last time. There had been a full-scale air-raid on Nordhausen -- Nordhausen was completely obliterated, we were told, including all the rails -- impossible to repair. We were left stranded. Well, all I had was two bags - one with food that Tante Elisabeth had supplied, mainly hard-boiled eggs, and one with some underclothes and odds and ends -- and a two-year-old baby. There was a constant gray drizzle now, and the only prospect left to us was to walk. A short distance and we could see it: rails bent into grotesque shapes, pointing straight up to the sky. As we got close to Nordhausen, we saw a cement bunker near the demolished railway station, hit and sagging into itself. We passed it without a second look; I only wondered about the people: had any escaped with their lives? If so, they were buried in there........ We followed the tracks and trudged on, endlessly, in the rain. As the bags got heavier and heavier with each step, I’d set them down to rest my cramped hands, and immediately Ingo would sit on one and fall asleep. But all I could do was keep him going. He was crying, silently, the tears mingling with the rain. Off and on the planes returned, and I’d throw him into the mud and cover him with my body. After several hours Ingo was so tired that I simply could not rouse him any more. So I would let him sit on one bag while I carried the other a distance ahead, then I would return, carry Ingo to the first bag and set him down on it, then return once more for the second bag. At about ten o’clock at night, when it was pitch dark and still raining, and we had about ten more Kilometer to go, all the last remnant of my strength dissipated. I let Ingo sleep on his bag, by the side of the road, and I sat down on the other one, and I was asleep before I could even think of it. On a dark street, in the middle of nowhere, in the rain. (WISTB pp 135-136)
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 16:17:54 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015