Peace
Straupitz, 1945, Age Ten
May 8, 1945 marked the official end of World War II. This end had been long awaited by the war weary German people. Now we have Peace! Everything will improve from now on. So we thought.
An era in the history of Germany had come to an end — a chapter of our lives closed. The air attacks had stopped, the Russians had invaded us, and the war was over. Life would be normal again from now on, I thought. Yet I did not know what a normal life really was. To me it meant no more air raids and no ration cards. I think I expected food to appear on the scene instantly, to be purchased for money and without needing those nasty little ration stickers. I heard people speak of peace, but I did not know what that meant. I was sure that it meant no air raids and no Russians and no ration cards.
I was anxiously looking forward to peace, although I remembered something somebody said during an air raid in Berlin: “Enjoy the war — peace will be frightful.” This was to become true in the following years. Hitler's famous promise of a better life: “Nobody shall be hungry — nobody shall freeze” was quoted often and with mockery when we were trying to survive miserably cold winters, and when we felt lucky if we had one piece of bread every day and a featherbed to keep us from freezing to death.