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SCHWOB BOY AT THE RIVER’S EDGE

 

Katherine Hoeger-Flotz

(author of a “Pebble in my Shoe”)

Email:  kflotz@comcast.net

Web Site: http://apebbleinmyshoe.net/

This article appeared in the April 2009 Trenton Nachrichten; forwarded with permission.

 

                The Danube River flows through nine European countries from Germany southeast to the mouth of the Black Sea. Many ships travel along this route delivering goods of all kinds. Their flags fly proudly from their country of origin.

 

                A young boy of ten sits at the banks of the Danube River in his hometown, dreaming of adventures to be had on these ships. He sees the sailors working on deck and hears them singing accompanied by an accordion player. He dreams about working on one of these ships when he grows up. He hopes to leave his hometown and see the world.

 

                His tattered clothes have patches and his shoes are scuffed and a little too big. He depends on the kindness and friendship of others to supply him with clothing. He also gets pieces of buttered bread, a glass of milk and some kind words from his friends’ families.

 

                He is the middle child in a family of three boys. The three girls born to the family died at birth. His father’s mother also lives with the family. The small home is shared with the blacksmith shop that his father owns.

 

                His father works hard pumping the airbag that keeps the fire going in order to shoe the horses. He pounds the hot iron to be fashioned into gates and fences. Unfortunately, the curse of alcoholism rules his life. This not only takes time away from his family, while he spends his weekends at the local tavern – playing cards and drinking, but it deprives them of money for food and clothing.

 

                The result of his weekends of drinking and carousing often leads to a violent temper when he returns home. It is not unusual that he beats his wife and children, sometimes even threatening them with knives.

 

                The boys are often left to themselves while their mother seeks safety at a friend’s house. Their grandmother sides with her son and gives little love and attention to the children. She usually favors the other grandchildren who live elsewhere in town.

 

                This boy, who dreams on the banks of the Danube, is unusually intelligent in light of the circumstances. His teacher recommends that he accept a scholarship in a school of higher learning in another city. He is not allowed to go as his father forbids it.

 

                The boy, who dreams on the banks of the Danube, is not particularly athletic and is never asked to play soccer on a team, but he knows his limits and is happy to stand on the sidelines, fetching water and running after the ball when it goes out of bounds.

 

                During the summer months, he joins some of the local farmers on their wagons when they go out into their fields. He helps with chores for his meal and is quite proud when they give him work to do leading a horse in front of a plow. He is familiar with horses because of his father’s business, but they do not own any horses themselves. He becomes quite familiar with the routine of farming, which he feels will be his future occupation. He sleeps among the animals in the barn until the work is done and the farmer goes back into town.

 

                His dreams of traveling the world are still far away as he spends these times around people in the town of his birth. His teacher often talks about faraway places and shows maps and pictures, but there are no other books in his home. He listens carefully to the teacher’s words and finds the lessons to be fascinating.

 

                The winds of war in Europe blow towards his hometown. He listens as the neighbors speak of the coming of Russian soldiers near his town. The cannons’ roar is heard throughout the area, while the army of German and Russian soldiers fight across the Danube River. His father is drafted into the German army of his ancestry, leaving his mother and the boys at home.  Soon the townspeople of German descent leave their homes and possessions and travel on their horse-drawn wagons into Hungary and further on to Austria and Germany. The boy gets his wish to see the world. Leaving their town in the covered wagon of a relative, they soon stop when the relative refuses to keep them on her wagon.  Three boys are too much for her. T he adventure begins on October 11, 1944 while the war is still raging all over Europe.

 

                Many other refugees are traveling along the roads, while airplanes strafe the area with bullets. The boy has to dive into the ditches along the road for cover. As they travel from one town to the next, he feels the hunger pangs and worries about his five-year-old brother. When the convoy stops, he runs out into the fields, combing the area for potatoes or corn and often fruit that has fallen off the trees. If there is a farm, he begs for food and water.  If his attempt fails, he is resigned to stealing what he can find.  His dreams of traveling the world continue, but not as he expected. The weather has turned cold and rainy. The nights are often spent in barns, warehouses or empty cattle cars. It is a hard and strenuous journey, but the family hopes that the war will end soon and that they will find their father.

 

                It is around Christmas time 1944.  A farmer, who has given shelter to the family, also gives them a chicken to cook.  During the evening meal, they hear noises outside and see a truck with some soldiers. They are informed to get out right away because the Russian front is close by. Leaving the meal behind, they pack their things and go to the train station, where hundreds of refugees are waiting for trains leaving the area.

 

                The adventure continues taking the family to various locations governed by the German army. It is February 13, 1945. The family is in the city of Dresden, Germany. They are among many others that have been taken there. It is considered a safe place because no bombs had fallen there previously. It is a city of beautiful parks, museums, churches and buildings of great history.  There are no factories or anything of any great military significance. This changed on the night of February 13, 1945.

 

                The fire bombing of Dresden is an event that will be part of the greatest destruction in one area during World War II.  The family has unbelievable luck and can reach the Elbe River for protection from the flames. Their escape is a small miracle because over 200,000 people perish that night. The adventure continues for the family by leaving the now destroyed city and venturing into safer territory. It is May 10, 1945 – the war ends. The boy and his family are in the Russian zone of Germany. The family wants to travel to the American zone, but the Russians insist that all refugees return to their country of birth. The boy and his family are put on an open cattle train with many other displaced persons and directed south towards Yugoslavia.  This journey takes ten weeks. There is neither any food supplies nor shelter from the elements. Because this is taking place during the summer months, it is bearable. The boy and his older brother often leave the train, when it is standing in a railroad station, and try to beg for food and water. If there are fruit trees, or open fields of vegetables, they help themselves.

 

                When they cross over the border into Yugoslavia, armed partisans surround the train. One of the young partisans, a former acquaintance from their hometown, tells the family that they must leave and go back to Hungary otherwise they will be incarcerated in the concentration camp in Gakowa. He puts them on a train going north into Hungary. While the train is stopped at a station while letting another train pass by, they miraculously see their father looking out the window. The family is re-united and stays in the immediate area hoping the situation might change and they can return to their hometown.

 

                This is not to be. Two years go by and Communism has finally won in Hungary. The family leaves the country by night and crosses over the border into Austria. The journey is hard and long, yet the beauty of the mountains and valleys in the Austrian countryside strikes the boy. He longs to climb those mountains one day.

 

                The family settles in Vienna, Austria.  The only jobs are in construction and since the boy is sixteen years old, he must go to work to support the family.  He is not allowed in school as a refugee. Hard work keeps him in shape and on weekends he does what he longed for— he goes mountain climbing. The family has to share an old barrack, which is owned by the construction company, with three other families. There is no privacy. Soon the men in the families divide up the room and construct makeshift stoves. He escapes the tight quarters on weekends and enjoys the great outdoors.

 

                The young man, who is now nineteen, wants to find new adventures in America. His dream is to find a country where he can be a citizen. He gladly signs documents that he is obligated to serve in the armed forces when he arrives in America. A few days before Christmas in 1951, the family lands in New York, after a two week crossing in the troop ship “Heinzelman”. He is too old to go to school and has only had four years of formal schooling in his hometown. He goes to night school with other immigrants to learn the English language. His endeavor ends suddenly when he is drafted and reports to Ft. Dix in New Jersey. Basic training is an eye-opener for him because the sergeant screams orders constantly, and he does not understand everything. Many push-ups and peeling potatoes later, he does comprehend the army language.

 

                The place for his service is to be in Korea. After having gone through WWII in Europe, he now must fight Communism in the Far East. The train ride from New Jersey to Washington State is again another adventure for him. He finally sees many States of America that may not have crossed his path. He makes friends with other soldiers that are immigrants and not yet citizens.

 

                The ship carries him and other soldiers through Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and the Bering Sea to Japan and on to Korea. In normal circumstances, this would have been the trip of a lifetime. Although he enjoys the scenery of Alaska and the continuing anticipation of new vistas, he is not anxious to see the war zones.

 

                H e sees another side of the world.  The devastation and the poor living conditions of the civilians bring back his experiences in Europe. He cannot forget that part of war, which always carries over to the civilian population. His service in Korea is performed as a cook. He always makes sure that the leftovers go to the begging children standing at the fence.

 

                When he is allowed to go on R&R (rest and relaxation), he visits the demolished cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This he compares to the fire-bombing of Dresden in Germany in 1945. His time is up in spring of 1955. He returns with hundreds of other soldiers in a troop ship coming home through the doors of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. He enters his new home from the other side of the country. He has seen America from both oceans.

 

                The family decides to leave New York and move to Chicago, where some of their friends live. It is hard to get a job without an education. He applies to the Jewel Tea Company in the meat department and goes to school in the evenings to become a journeyman butcher.  He accomplishes that but cannot advance in the ranks because he has no high school diploma.  While he works at Jewel Tea, he meets and marries a girl who also experienced the ordeals of WWII. Together they work and save their money. He decides to change jobs and move to a different part of Chicago and enter the janitorial field. He has help in learning the various duties from his new relatives.

 

                Through the years they have three children. They travel to various parts of the United States on their vacation – from the East Coast to the West Coast. But, in 1988 they fly to Vienna, Austria and try to find the barrack that he lived in during the 1940’s. The building is no longer there.

 

                Then, in 2003, he travels back to the river’s edge of the Danube in his former hometown. He also takes his wife to her place of birth, not far from his. The circle is complete; the journey, which took him through Europe, North America and Asia, is the answer to his wish to see the world.

 

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