Working in Germany, February - June 1943.
Early next morning we left, this time as
Dutch workers to travel to Germany to work there. The train was very full and one could
feel that people were in a very somber mood. At Hengelo during a short stop we went
quickly on the platform -and there were two people standing and waiting for us. They gave
to each of us his papers from the labor exchange and disappeared immediately. On the
papers were shown our names, number of identity card, profession, but some official stamps
and signatures were missing. Back in the train we crossed the German border and at
Osnabruck everybody had to leave the train. We were received by officials of the German
labor exchange. They noticed that on our papers some signatures and stamps were missing
but after some questioning they decided to send us on to Bielefeld where the local labor
exchange there would take care of us. -From Osnabruck various groups of workers were sent
to different towns and we were among a large group who were sent to Bielefeld.
In Bielefeld at the labor exchange I was
sent to work at "Eisengiesserei Baumgarten" (iron foundry Baumgarten) to make
wooden models, as I was registered as cabinet maker. This factory was at Brackwede which
is a small town near Bielefeld. I got accommodation in Brackwede at a family Berger. Dutch
workers in Germany were relatively well treated. According to the Nazi race theory the
Dutch were Aryans. Whereas Polish and Russian workers had to five in camps, Dutch workers
could live at German families. Also German women were allowed to have relations with Dutch
men, whereas relations between Polish or Russian men with German women were strictly
forbidden as "Rassenschande" and if caught such men faced the death penalty. In
such cases his woman friend had to watch his execution by hanging.
On the way from the labor exchange to my new
work, where I was to be interviewed, a young man joined me and started to talk to me. He
asked me if I would like to join the Waffen-SS. (There were Dutch units in the Waffen-SS
fighting in the east. ) He told me that I would have there very good conditions and he
advised me very much to register for the SS. However I rather declined but I told him that
I would think about it.
At "Eisengiesserei Baumgarten"
conditions were quite good. We had meals in the Canteen. My work was not difficult. There
were also many Russians working. With two of them I worked much together. Once I asked
them about Jews in Russia. They told me that Jews always manage to get better jobs, that
they don't want to work manually and that many of them have high positions in the party or
in the administration.
Family Berger were living in a small house
at the main road, quite near to my work. They were an elderly couple. Their son was
soldier at the eastern front and his wife, their daughter in law was staying with them.
Meals we often had together, especially at weekends. I had to be careful not to betray
myself. I tried to speak German with a Dutch accent. I also told them that my mother had
been from Vienna and that therefore I knew German quite well. The parents were quiet
people and avoided to talk about politics. But the daughter in law talked often about
Jews, how she hated them and that in the east they are really getting what they deserve.
Probably she knew all the details from her husband. At such conversations I kept very
quiet.
I shared my room with a young German. For
medical reasons he had been exempted from the army, but all the time he was worrying that
they might call him up and of this he was deadly afraid. - It was rather exciting to be
another person, to be Christian Snel. To some extend I enjoyed it. But I was also very
lonely. There were quite a few Dutch workers, but they and I kept distance, as obviously
from my Dutch pronunciation they could hear that I was not really Dutch and they probably
thought that I might be a German informer or spy. At work there were some young German
women but of course I had to keep away from them. Sometimes I met a few of our group with
whom I had come here, but they were quite far away in other suburbs of Bielefeld. We also
did not want to be seen much together what might have been suspicious.
It was surprising how relatively normal life
went on in a town like Bielefeld in the spring of 1943, in spite of the war and occasional
bombardments of the Ruhrgebiet and Bielefeld. Everywhere were very deep and strong air
shelters. But railways and trams functioned as usual and there was enough food. Except the
huge banners shown on many buildings, as "Alle Raeder rollen fur den Sieg", (all
wheels are moving for victory), life seemed to be relatively normal. At weekends I made
even nice outings into the forests and mountains of the Teuteburger Wald, which is near
Bielefeld.
A short time before Easter 1943 one of my
German bosses came and asked me some questions. He asked how I had come here and
especially he wanted to see my Dutch passport. I told him that I had come here without
passport, that in Amsterdam I had been called up for work in Germany so quickly that there
had been no time to apply for a passport. This he accepted but he asked me now to write to
the relevant authorities in Holland and to apply for a passport. Of course I felt very
badly. Some time later, after considering all aspects I decided it would be best to return
to Holland and to explain this matter to the organizers of this scheme by which we had
been sent here. I thought they should be warned.
It was known that on public holidays like
Christmas or Easter controls on trains and also at borders were more lax and less strict
than on ordinary days and I decided to try to cross the border to Holland on the first day
of Easter. On Good Friday, when we did not work anyway I traveled to Emmerich, which is
near the German-Dutch border. I used very slow local trains and changed often as I assumed
that on fast express trains there would be more controls which of course I wanted to
avoid. I came to Emmerich. The town was full of soldiers. Also the restaurants were full
mostly with soldiers. As I was very hungry I entered a large restaurant. Almost all tables
were occupied by German officers or soldiers. The girl who was serving looked at me in a
strange way, then took me to a small separate room and brought me food as I ordered. She
did not ask any questions. On Saturday I was walking around, went also to a cinema to pass
the time. At night I slept in the entrance of a large shop. It was pitch dark as of course
there was blackout as all over western Germany.
In the morning on Easter Sunday I bought a
ticket to Amsterdam and stepped on one of the few trains which crossed the border. During
border-control I hid in the W. C. behind the door. The guard which opened all the doors
did not notice me and later an officer who wanted to use it, after seeing me closed the
door and went away. In Amsterdam I found Gideon Drach. I explained him the situation. He
promised to check it with the various people of the Dutch labor exchange who had provided
the papers for us. For a few nights I was sleeping at different addresses near Amsterdam.
I was taken there in the evenings, in the dark and I never knew the names or addresses, of
the people where I was staying for the night. Gideon made his inquiries. But at the labor
exchange nothing was known of any suspicions or troubles and they advised me to travel
back. They also intended to get passports for us. Gideon told me that I had to decide
myself if I would go back. But if I would not go back all the others who had gone to
Germany for work like me would be endangered. Therefore I decided to return to Brackwede
to my place of work. At a very small border crossing I returned to Germany and at work I
told them that I had been back in Holland for a short visit. For another five weeks I
worked as usual. Then one evening just before I finished to work one of the high bosses
came and asked again about my Dutch passport, and why I had not yet received it.
He asked many more questions, my last
address in Holland, which labor exchange had sent me here. Next morning, when I came to
work, the foreman came and told me that they had phoned from the labor exchange in
Bielefeld, that I must come there immediately, that I must bring with me all my papers and
identity cards and that they want to check everything. I realized that my papers were not
good enough for a thorough checkup. Also I did not have a Dutch passport. Therefore I
decided to leave immediately and to try to return to Holland where I had still my
contacts. At work I told them that I would go to the labor exchange in Bielefeld. But I
went to my home, packed and traveled to a small place near the Dutch border, to Anhalt.
However when walking from there to the border I was stopped by a German patrol and they
took me to Bochholt for questioning. There in the police-station the Gestapo official
asked me what I was doing here near the border and I told him that I wanted to visit my
girl friend in Holland. This he accepted and he let me go. Next day I talked to some Dutch
workmen who were working in this neighborhood. I asked them for advice how to cross the
border. They showed me a footpath where usually there were no police or controls and
advised me to try there to cross the border. I followed this path through the fields and
then along a lonely farm. It was all empty, one could not see a soul.
