Eyewitness Testimony Sergio Mussone

• Mussone, Sergio: The harrowing testimony of a former deportee from Biella, Sergio Mussone. Reimahg: death factory on the slopes of Walpersberg [The disturbing eyewitness report of a former deportee from Biella. REIMAHG: The death factory on the slope of Walpersberg], Part 1, in: Baita, 20.06.1985 – 24.10.1985, transmitted with the help of the Associazione Nazionale Ex Internati (A.N.E.I.) [National Association of Former Internees]. • Mussone, Sergio: The harrowing testimony of a former deportee from Biella, Sergio Mussone. Reimahg: death factory on the slopes of Walpersberg [The disturbing eyewitness report of a former deportee from Biella. REIMAHG: The death factory on the slope of Walpersberg], Part 2, in: Baita, 20.06.1985 – 24.10.1985, transmitted with the help of the Associazione Nazionale Ex Internati (A.N.E.I.) [National Association of Former Internees]. • Mussone, Sergio: At Rosengarten-Reimahg, Nazi camp. Every dawn could bring the day of the death sentence [In Rosengarten-Reimahg, a National Socialist camp. Every dawn could announce the day of the death penalty], Part 3, in: Baita, 20.06.1985 – 24.10.1985, transmitted with the help of the Associazione Nazionale Ex Internati (A.N.E.I.) [National Association of Former Internees]. • Mussone, Sergio: Dramatic testimony on the Nazi camps (2). Forced to eat, I regained the hope to live [Dramatic eyewitness report on the National Socialist camps (2). Forced to eat, I found new hope to live], Part 4, in: Baita, 20.06.1985 – 24.10.1985, transmitted with the help of the Associazione Nazionale Ex Internati (A.N.E.I.) [National Association of Former Internees]. First newspaper article (1) The disturbing eyewitness report of a former deportee from Vigliano Biellese REIMAHG: The death factory on the slope of Walpersberg The complex (Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring) produced jet fighter planes for the National Socialist Air Force and became a veritable extermination camp for 15,000 deportees from nine nations, including Italy - Three episodes of unheard-of cruelty: forced labor in provisional tunnels - The "soup" [sic! Translator’s note] - Christmas in hell. We publish a compelling eyewitness report on the National Socialist concentration camps by SERGIO MUSSONE from Vigliano. The REIMAHG complex (Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring) was one of the most important factories for the National Socialist war economy. The first jet fighter planes (ME 262 Swallow) were produced there. This name is associated with exploitation, oppression, and extermination of those sentenced to forced labor. Even today, the ruins of this death factory can be found on the slope of Walpersberg and inside it near Kahla, where, alongside prisoners from the Buchenwald extermination camp, about 15,000 deportees from nine nations worked (Italians, Russians, Belgians, French, Dutch, Poles, Slovaks, Yugoslavs, and anti-fascist Germans). The Italians suffered the most fatalities, especially since they were subjected to particularly repressive treatment on Hitler’s personal orders. Almost all worked on the construction and expansion of the tunnels, where workshops were later established, and on building the runway for the aircraft located on the back of Walpersberg. *** REIMAHG was directly under the command of FRITZ SAUKEL, responsible for all internees of the Reich, who was hanged following the verdict in the trial against the criminal Nazi leaders in Nuremberg. HERMANN GÖRING (Reichsmarschall, directly under HITLER in the hierarchy), whose name the workshops bore, often visited the complex to check and increase its output. Göring was also sentenced to death by hanging in Nuremberg but escaped the noose by taking his own life with a cyanide capsule. *** I arrived with the first transport of foreign forced laborers late in the morning of April 10, 1944, from the camp in Erfurt to Kahla. I had been arrested by the fascist Italian police because I was guilty of the crime of refusing to obey the fascist order to continue the war and was then sent to forced labor in Germany. I lived for one year and one day in Kahla until at dusk on April 11, 1945, the internees of the Rosengarten Kahla camp were evacuated eastward. On April 12 or 13, 1944, a dozen Italians and I were the first from Großeuterdorf to climb the slope of Walpersberg and tore down an old door leading into some former tunnels of the quarries used for the local porcelain production. I never would have thought that in the short span of one year, about 6,000 of the 15,000 deportees, that is 33% of those assigned to REIMAHG, would die in these tunnels and the surrounding area. I will recount three episodes that I personally experienced: two concern cruelty, one concerns the understanding and love of a mother from Kahla. ***Towards the end of June, my department was working in the tunnels of REIHMAG on the first central advance, tunnel No. 1. There was extremely strict discipline when the SS came to the workplace. Our department from Rosengarten was the most senior with the most experience with the dangerous landslides that the tunnels presented; the landslides did not always come unexpectedly (the work proceeded without any accident protection), sometimes they were announced by falling gravel. When this happened, they allowed us and the German civilians under their supervision to evacuate the endangered tunnels to investigate the collapse more closely. On a sad night, we set off many more explosives than usual; the orders came directly from the SS. It had already been several hours that we alternated without a single break to the sound of whip lashes while detonating the charges and clearing away the debris. The simultaneous explosion of so many charges in the side tunnels made the intersections tremble terribly; small stones fell from the ceilings up to the main tunnel; our objections that a disaster could happen were given no attention whatsoever. Some German workers also allied with us in the effort to make the SS aware of the danger we were subjected to. The SS's response was: Keep going and even faster. Under the lashes of the riding whip, we continued the hectic work: a small tunnel suddenly tore at the ceiling, others partially tore at the sides up to the main intersection, there were many injured, but four or five comrades were buried by meter-high masses of rock, their bodies crushed to pulp. During the general flight, a 16- or 17-year-old had his feet severed between a rock block and the rails of the small cart used for transporting the rock. I dragged him to the tunnel exit, wrapped his leg stumps with a few rags, and after getting permission from the SS, loaded him onto my shoulders and carried him to his camp. It was raining heavily: several times I fell with this poor, terrified boy into the mud. When I arrived at his barrack, we were two masks, unrecognizable from blood and mud. He was still alive. But in the morning, when his comrades arrived at the camp, he was no longer to be seen, and nothing was ever heard from him again. All this was only the fault of the fascist SS henchmen. ___________________________________________________________________ End of the first part - continuation will follow in the next issue Second newspaper article 2) The disturbing eyewitness report of a former deportee from Vigliano Biellese REIMAHG: The death factory on the slope of Walpersberg "Under whip lashes they drove us into a narrow yard" - "They left us standing outside in the cold of the night" - "In the following days the number of deaths rose sharply" - "The heart of a mother, one of the millions of mothers in Europe" One evening around mid-January, while hunger became increasingly audible and with the cold the weaker among us died like flies, we were called together in the Rosengarten camp for an additional ration. The arrival of a train with new camp inmates had been expected, and since it had not come, the "soup" intended for them was to be allocated to us. That would be a feast, one more bowl of "soup" could even mean life for the weakest. We lined up for the distribution of the soup. I stood at the end of the line and never found out what happened among the first who stood near the kitchen. I only heard screams and curses in German that we did not deserve "soup" but only blows. The police responsible for supervising us in the camp rushed at the line and drove us under whip lashes into the narrow yard, which still exists today to the left of Rosengarten. It was cold, the blows stopped, the police withdrew, and we were suddenly drenched with a real flood of water: with pumps they flooded us for about a quarter of an hour, a large part of those who had stayed near the kitchen, about 50 people, were completely soaked. They left us standing outside in the cold of the night for over an hour. In the following days, the number of deaths rose sharply. The meanness of the cruelest Nazi fascists responsible for our supervision was the only reason for these innocent deaths. *** In the Rosengarten camp, only three or four prisoners could speak enough German to understand something and make themselves understood in their language, and not even very well, including the author. Towards the end of October, because of the little German I knew, I was assigned in REIMAHG to put the tools back in the magazine at the end of the shift. Often I had to stay in the tunnels after my comrades had already lined up and started the return to Kahla. This allowed me to enter the camp alone with a special pass. On the evening before Christmas 1944, I dragged myself tired and frozen in my wooden shoes forward, thinking of my loved ones, of Italy, and of the war that never ended. When I reached the first houses of Kahla, I heard a sweet female voice calling me: "Italian, come here." I stood rooted to the spot; one had never been treated with so much kindness before.Called to me in German. A woman about fifty stood in her doorway and motioned with her hand for me to come closer quietly. When I was near her, she said: "I often hear you passing by in the evenings with your wooden shoes; I have a son who is as old as you, he is a soldier in Italy. After the battle of Cassino, I have heard nothing from him. Tomorrow is Christmas, this is the piece of cake he would have had if he were here, at home. I hope he is still alive, and that someone in Italy can help him, just as I would gladly help you." She hid a package under my coat and as she stroked my face, she said: "Disappear quickly now, say nothing to anyone, the police could see us or find out something." Arriving at the camp, I opened the package: inside was a beautiful and large piece of apple pie. I shared it with my roommate, I did not tell him where it came from, only that there were also people in Kahla who were well-disposed towards us. Thanks to this mother, we too celebrated Christmas. I never saw this woman again, no matter how much I looked for her when I passed by her house. But the memory of her has remained unforgettable to me. I still hear her voice as on that evening in the sad year 1944. After months of suffering, a comforting voice gave me the certainty that many German workers knew about our torments and felt connected to us. It was the heart of a mother that had spoken to me, one of the millions of mothers throughout Europe whose sons had been taken away by the destructive rampage of Nazi fascism, scattered everywhere and destroyed in the fire of the cruelest war the world has ever seen. I will never forget you, dearest unknown mother from Kahla. Third Newspaper Article (3) In Rosengarten-REIMAHG, a National Socialist concentration camp, it was said: Every dawn could announce the day of the death sentence. Dramatic eyewitness report of a citizen from Vigliano about his experiences in National Socialist concentration camps during the Second World War. We publish this dramatic eyewitness report in which Sergio Mussone from Vigliano recalls some episodes from the life of the internees of the German concentration camp REIMAHG in Kahla during the Second World War and about the National Socialist oppression. For the Italians interned in Rosengarten, not all days were the same. But one could recognize at wake-up by the call "Get up" and the ear-piercing whistles of the guards what might happen during the day. Some rare days passed in great calm; instead of beatings for delays, one was only lightly driven. On other days, it was enough to be a little eager to avoid the worst. But sometimes the "Get up" became a scream of rage and hatred; alongside the ear-piercing whistles, one heard sticks hitting the bed frames of the roommates or the bodies of those who had not yet gotten up, plus the wild barking of the dogs accompanying the policemen. Half-clothed, those who managed to reach the exits of the scene at a run arrived, and we lined up in five rows for the roll call ritual in the square. Naturally, someone had to be last, and inevitably it was always the same: the weakest and most exhausted by hunger. These unfortunate ones were, in addition to the beatings they had to endure inside the camp, greeted at the doors leading to the yard with the sound of slats (remnants of old packing crates) which were broken on their backs like thin branches. But the worst punishment these lost ones would receive was at the distribution of the tokens for the daily food ration. Unfortunately, it was always the same ones who were late; their exhaustion was misinterpreted by the SS men on duty as sabotage, and for that day they would receive no food tokens. Their death sentence was thus pronounced. In a very short time, these poor boys would no longer be able to rise from their camp at the call "Get up," death by hunger and exhaustion would take them from the world of the living. This mostly happened in REIMAHG during frequent inspections when someone did not appear for roll call or was judged by some Nazi fascist commander as too ineffective in his work. As already said, not all days were the same. Much depended on the mood with which the camp leader woke up, another time on the degree of cruelty of the SS men on duty or on a fanatical overseer at work who was Nazi fascist out of excessive zeal (fortunately, there were only a few of the latter). The majority of deaths were caused by exhaustion due to hunger. To be exempted from work service and admitted as a patient to the infirmary, one had to have fever, fractures, or severe injuries; everything else was not recognized. So whoever began to perish from hunger had no hope of ever getting out; their death sentence was pronounced and final. These pitiable unfortunate ones were helped, or rather dragged to work by stronger comrades, hoping they would recover; often they begged to be left to their fate so that death would come sooner and free them from the inhuman torments they were no longer able to endure. Almost never did they regain strength; death came for them like a liberation. From January 1945 on, deaths due to hunger occurred every day in Rosengarten. By then, we were all affected by a more or less high degree of malnutrition. In mid-February, I suddenly contracted typhus; I already believed my last hour had come; but perhaps it was also my salvation. I was admitted to the hospital in Hummelshain. On a truck amid sacks of various contents, I had over 40° fever. Sergio Mussone (Continued in the next issue) Caption: The camp according to a drawing by a child deported to Theresienstadt. Fourth Newspaper Article (4) Dramatic eyewitness report about the National Socialist concentration camps (2) Forced to eat, I regained new courage to live The experiences of Sergio Mussone from Vigliano in the concentration camps in Germany during the Second World War.After I was unloaded in Hummelshain, they put me under a shower, subjected me to a thorough disinfection (we were all covered head to toe with lice), dressed me in a fairly long, coarse smock, and took me to a barrack where I remained the only Italian the entire time; the others were all Belgians or French. When I looked around, I almost became certain that I would not live much longer; all the patients were nothing but human ghosts. Not a day passed without some patients being carried out as corpses. Despite everything, I continued to live. Encouraged by a Russian doctor and forced by her to eat even the little broth that was meant for those who were about to die, I drew hope to survive. During my stay, I made friends with two very young nurses of the German Red Cross. These two young girls and the Russian doctor seemed to me like three angels. I will never be able to forget their help, their encouragement, their understanding. Meanwhile, it did not occur to me that in Kahla there were terrible SS men and ruthless Nazi fascists who, on orders from their fascist commanders, had turned us into living skeletons. While here these brave two young German nurses did everything in their power to ease our suffering and give us much hope that one day we would embrace our loved ones again and see our homeland once more. Just as slowly as the fever disappeared, I regained strength; it was the last days of March. One morning at six o’clock during the daily visit, I was told that I had to leave the hospital within an hour to return to Kahla. More than 40 days had passed without me leaving the large room; outside there was a light snowstorm. I asked if I would be brought back by truck; they told me I would have to walk back, that I should prepare for it, it did not matter when I arrived in Kahla, I just had to be there before nightfall, intact. They gave me clothing from soldiers of various origins. Before I left Hummelshain, the two young nurses came to me and wished me luck, and above all told me to be of good cheer, not to let myself be defeated, and to cheer up; they gave me a small bundle containing bread, butter, and jam—it had been months since I had seen such abundance. I set out for Kahla; a biting cold and the persistent snowstorm made me doubt whether I would make it to Rosengarten; the fear of possible SS men who might have met me on the road with unknown intentions regarding me did not exactly ease my way. The will to see my loved ones again in Italy and the two smiling faces of the two German Red Cross helpers who had helped me so much in the Hummelshain hospital came to my aid. Meanwhile, the sun began to shine again. Before sunset, I reached the Rosengarten infirmary. After two weeks and not a few exhausting experiences, the morning of liberation came! Sergio Mussone Caption: Drawing of a child imprisoned in Theresienstadt. • Mussone, Sergio, questionnaire submitted with the help of the Associazione Nazionale Ex Internati (A.N.E.I.) [National Association of Former Internees]. 1. Letter from Sergio Mussone, sent via A.N.E.I. Sergio Mussone Letter Vigliano Biellese, 19.7.2007 I, the undersigned SERGIO MUSSONE, former internee in the aviation industry complex REIMAHG, located in Kahla in Thuringia, hand over to the editorial staff of "Noi del Lager" ("We Were in the Camp") my memories for the purpose of responding to the German researcher Marc Bartuschka from the University of Jena, who has made a corresponding request. These are four copies of my texts from a newspaper from a few years ago. In the hope that they may be useful so that the youth do not forget. With the warmest regards, SERGIO MUSSONE Sergio Mussone Via della Spanna, 1 13856 VIGLIANO BIELLESE (BI) Dear Mr. Bartuschka, I greet you and hope to answer your questions as well as possible. I was very pleased that you are interested in my memories of what I experienced in your country. Germany has always exerted a strong attraction on me historically. I have returned repeatedly as long as my health allowed it. I have always experienced great warmth and friendship and have been able to observe the rapid and significant recovery from the chaos of the war. How old are you actually? I will always remember the help I received from civilians and the German population upon my return to Italy. I ask you to send me a copy of your research work when you have completed it. The former prisoners of the “Rosengarten” camp knew absolutely nothing about the other camps or the other workplaces of REIMAHG. What do you know about this? I would be pleased if my current information remained with you for your research work. Respectfully, Sergio Mussone via della Spanna 1 13856 Viellano Biellese BI Italy 29.11.2007 Mr. Mussone’s answers to the questionnaire: 1. The newspaper in which my articles were published was called “Baita,” a weekly newspaper published in Viellano Biellese and “Valsesiano.” However, it has not existed for several years now. My articles were published in four issues between 20.06.1985 and 24.10.1985. 2. The deportation began in Milan and went via Erfurt and Kahla. The circumstances were normal for the time. 3. I no longer remember exactly what the two meals issued daily in the camp consisted of, nor how large the daily ration was. I only remember that over time everything became less and the rations smaller and worse. 4. If it was really urgent, blankets and clothing were distributed. Their condition was appropriate for the time. There was no possibility to wash one’s clothes. 5. The guards rarely used violence. 6. The guards in the “Rosengarten” camp and at work were all Germans. 7. Yes, I also worked with people of other nationalities: Russians and French. The Russians gave the impression of poor but kind people. The French seemed a bit arrogant.8. Yes, I had the impression that the Russians and we Italians were treated the worst. The type of work was also different. Those responsible for building the runway on the Walpersberg were treated worse than the tunnel builders. 9. Yes, they paid us a certain salary. It was enough to buy something with it. However, there was little to buy in the camp. 10. There was practically no trade between us prisoners and the local population. During the first two months of our captivity, some of us, including myself, worked for a few hours for the local farmers. They paid us in kind or with other useful things. 11. Most Germans reacted indifferently. I rarely witnessed violent attacks. 12. Yes, I was also a witness to violence by the guards on other occasions, but by now I have forgotten the details. 13. Among us Italians from the “Rosengarten” there was a strong feeling of solidarity. There was only minimal danger of being betrayed by fellow prisoners. 14. In the first two months there were only a few escape attempts. Those caught were, as far as I know, tied to a post with raised hands for a whole day and then taken to camp “O,” where strict discipline prevailed and prisoners were beaten during work. Only a few returned from camp “O.” 15. In the “Rosengarten” there were attempts to recruit prisoners as soldiers for Germany, but the result was very meager. 16. Fortunately, I spent the last approximately 40 days with typhus in the Hummelshain hospital, I suspect at the instigation of an old marshal of the German Red Cross who worked in the construction site’s infirmary. One morning around six o’clock they told me I had to return alone to the “Rosengarten.” I was worried because I still felt very weak. I asked them how I was supposed to manage the ten or twelve kilometers on foot alone. They replied that I had the whole day (cf. my report in the newspaper about the two nurses). I managed it. The conditions in the “Rosengarten” had fundamentally changed; the prisoners were completely exhausted, half-starved, and many were sick, not a few already dead. See also hospital lists. 17. No. (Question about violent evacuation) 18. The Italian civilians interned in Kahla were evacuated from the Bleiloch valley in a column of about 3,000 workers, mostly Italians. On the second day during our march at dusk, we were attacked by American fighter-bombers just as the German army truck arrived, from which bread was to be distributed to us. Many of us were hit. I took advantage of the resulting confusion and fled from the column into the forest. After about half an hour, I met two companions with whom I had already been friends in the camp: we stayed together until we reached Italy. For two days we walked through the forests heading south and only occasionally ventured near farmhouses to ask for something to eat. We were always received kindly. On the third day, we encountered a train of German civilians, all old women and children. We joined them and tried to help those who were worse off than us. They were on their way to Saalfeld. After a day, we left them again and headed towards Hof. We had already seen the first American armored vehicles; liberation was here! My health condition was relatively good compared to all the others from the “Rosengarten.” This was only a consequence of my typhus illness and the associated recovery time in the Hummelshain hospital, especially since I did not have to work during that time and the little food we received in the hospital was certainly better than the rations in the “Rosengarten.” 19. No. (Known persons or relatives in the camp, deaths among them) 20. The liberation by the Americans was quite chaotic, at least in Thuringia, where I was at the time. In the first one or two days, no German civilians were seen on the streets. Then the first women and children appeared again, to whom the Americans threw food and sweets. The Germans behaved very dignifiedly. They seemed convinced that things would soon improve for them. 21. No. (Arrest of guards) 22. On June 16, 1945, I returned to my birthplace Biella, 70 km north of Turin, which fortunately had not been bombed. I was finally able to embrace my family again, who were in excellent health. Vigliano Biellese, July 3, 2008 Dear Mr. Bartuschka, I am replying somewhat late to your letter of February 11, which is due to the booklets you sent me; through them I learned of a reality that was only partially known to me. Although I belonged to the first group of about 20 Italians assigned to REIMAHG in Kahla and we enjoyed so much freedom for a short time that we could also walk into the center of Kahla, I never learned that other Italians already lived there, that there was the “Thüringer Hof,” which perhaps housed Italians who had worked in Germany before the fall of fascist Italy. I knew about the other camps near the Walpersberg and the Leubengrund. I always lived in the “Rosengarten” camp, from the afternoon of April 11, 1944, until the evening of April 11, 1945, the day of evacuation, except for the time I was treated for typhus in Hummelshain. From what you sent me, I have learned a lot about how those in the other...The internees in the camp were treated much more strictly and cruelly than we were in the Rosengarten camp. I believe this was due to the close proximity to the center of Kahla. We from the Rosengarten camp always worked in the tunnels, which were to be widened or nearby; mostly we had contact with a few small groups of Russians, but we did not know the internees from the other camps at all. Thank you for your concern about my health. Unfortunately, it has deteriorated somewhat over the past few months; I have been completely deaf for 30 years and now suffer from bilateral Meniere’s syndrome, so I am no longer able to walk alone. I am 85 years old and cannot complain, especially since my wife helps and cares for me, who is very capable and fortunately enjoys good health. If you would like to ask me more questions, I would be happy to answer you. Thank you for everything and warm greetings. I am attaching a photo I took; it shows the mountains and the landscape where I was born. Sergio Mussone Letter from Sergio Mussone Vigliano Biellese; 25.7.2008 Dear Mr. Bartuschka, I am answering your four questions that you asked me in the letter, which I was pleased to receive: 1) I remember that the head of the Rosengarten camp was very tolerant during the first two months of our captivity regarding the discipline he expected from us, but over time and after the assassination attempt on Hitler, he became stricter and was no longer so lenient. 2) Yes, there was a black market within the camp; all kinds of things were traded, but I was careful not to participate. 3) After a two-day march, during which we lived on herbs and drank water from puddles, the long column of evacuees from the “Rosengarten” and other camps was stopped near a large open area, and bread was to be distributed to each from a military truck. Hardly had we received the distribution when we were attacked by low-flying American fighter-bombers. A young German soldier pulled me with him into a deep side ditch; bullets flew past us two meters away. In the general turmoil in the column, I only thought about fleeing; I did not even thank the young German soldier who perhaps saved my life. During the first days of our march, I saw some German guards beating exhausted prisoners; perhaps they also killed some. But I must also say that others, though few, encouraged us and helped us as much as they could (they could not do much). 4) I never had contact with the Hitler Youth. Unfortunately, my health has not improved; one day is somewhat good, the next worse; my ailment is incurable. My wife sends her kind regards. I also greet you warmly and wish you all the best. Sergio Mussone Saale-Holzland-Kreis District Office District Archive Youth Workhouse Hummelshain Excerpt from letter Sergio Mussone, Via per Ronco 27 – Vigliano Biellese, 16 Oct. 1979 Dear Manfred! …I arrived in Kahla on 10.4.1944 with the first group of Italian deportees. In March 1945 I fell ill with typhus and was admitted to the Hummelshain hospital. The stay in Hummelshain was much more pleasant than in Kahla. There we had to do forced labor in the tunnels of REIMAHG in Grosseutersdorf. Every day the sick died in the hospital, but one still wanted to stay there as long as possible to avoid having to return to REIMAHG. From there, even a slight breach of discipline meant being sent to forced labor in Buchenwald, where the internees were known to be exterminated. Excerpt from letter Sergio Mussone, Via per Ronco 27 – Vigliano Biellese, 29 Dec. 1979 Dear Manfred! …During my stay in Kahla, I noticed that many German women, men, and soldiers had nothing to do with Nazism and the SS, and regarding this I can tell you what happened to me at Christmas 1944. I already spoke some German then; there were only three Italians among 700-750 in the Kahla camp who spoke some German. Because of this, I was assigned to the tool warehouse and sometimes had to work an hour longer than the others to keep the tools in order. So I often did not return with the others in the line to Kahla but came back a little later, all alone. One evening, when I was completely alone on the way back to Kahla, I heard a woman’s voice softly calling me and saying: “You, Italian, come, take this apple cake. It is Christmas! My son is a soldier in Italy; he was at Montecassino, and after the heavy fighting down there, I have not received any news from him. Maybe he will also find a good person who will help him if he is still alive. Hide the cake under your coat and disappear before the police see us!” The woman caressed me tenderly and wished me good luck. …He writes that during his visit to Kahla four years ago, he tried (unfortunately in vain) to find the small house where she lived then to see her and possibly her son again. He had seen other Germans again who had been friendly to him then and helped him with small things (of course, they could not do much for us).