21. August 1949
| GEO & MIL INFO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Aug: Soviet Union ignites first atomic bomb [1] |
| Field post letters/Red Cross cards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 Aug ✉ to Carola |
21 Aug 49. Another radical frisking. Officers have to hand in their 2nd set of underwear too. The Russians literally strip us down to our shirts.[2] It's as if you've fallen under the robbers. During my imprisonment, they took all my belongings several times and I had to use a large part of my earnings to buy new things again and again. - Footcloths are made from old sheets and trousers from blankets.
V. Release And Return Home after Four and a Half Years
Another large returnee transport is to be assembled, and our camp is to send a large contingent. We have been called together in the large dormitory and are now waiting impatiently for the Russian officer, who wants to personally read out the names of the 315 returnees. He arrives with his papers and a few companions. After a few introductory words, he begins to read out the names. It is slow and a little bumpy, as the Russian has some difficulty pronouncing the German names. It proceeds alphabetically. He is already past “K”. So Benno is not one of the lucky ones. Officer and aristocratic! And then he reads “Gerrberrt Georgiev Schretterr” (the Russians always include the father's first name). So that was me. There was no mistaking it. Nevertheless, I don't realise that this is supposed to be the end of 4 1/2 years of forced labour. In addition, a considerable amount of mistrust and disbelief remains in me. I have had too many bad experiences with the Russian. I am probably relieved, but I don't feel overwhelming joy. I'm of a moderate disposition anyway and only ‘excitable’ slowly. In any case, until I'm home, I don't believe in the release.
● 1 Czechoslovak koruna (1919), probably from the 1940 Easter holiday in the Giant Mountains
● 1 Polish marka (August 1919), probably from occupied Poland
● 100 Soviet Roubles (1947)[4] from captivity
Preparations begin for the transport. I had already had a ski cap made for me earlier in olive green fabric, as worn by the mountain troops, and later by all the officers.[5] Now I had a wooden suitcase made for me. In the meantime, luggage regulations and other orders arrived. Written and printed material and roubles were not allowed to be taken under any circumstances. And I had saved several hundred roubles! So I bought large quantities of tobacco and papyrosi, which filled my entire suitcase. I also bought a lot of lard, which I mixed with fried onions after melting it down and bottled. But I still had money, yet there was nothing sensible left to buy and my luggage was full. So I decided to take a 100 rouble note home with me as a souvenir, despite the ban. I gave the last 20 roubles to Benno.
After we leave, 120 men will remain in the camp. Among them Count Spee, Benno von Knobelsdorff (aristocrats!), several other officers, members of the police, SS men (1) and other “suspects”. Captain Reher, a somewhat obscure fellow, also stays behind. He once wanted to go home as a best labourer and be released early for other good services to the Russians. He made a serious miscalculation. He has made himself so indispensable that the Russian keeps him until the end.
These 120 men are to be taken to another camp.
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- ↑ Until then, the author hoped that the Americans would exploit their nuclear advantage before the Russians had nuclear bombs of their own.
- ↑ The author uses an idiom here. „Bis aufs Hemd ausziehen“ means “being robbed blind”, but literally tells what had just happened.
- ↑ These banknotes were enclosed with the typescript.
- ↑ 1947 edition recognisable by the coat of arms with 8 ribbon loops on the right and 7 on the left
- ↑ The author wore this cap for years when working in the garden, along with the uniform jacket he had worn all the time, or the cotton jacket he had also brought back from Russia. Unfortunately, these items were lost after his death.