Figure 1.--This photograph was taken sometime in late 1943 or early 1944. I am about 8 3/4 year old after I was evacuated from Stuttgart to a safer village. I was lucky because I had family to take me in. The younger boy is my cousin. We both normally wore short pants with long stockings. We also has long pants for playing outdoors in the snow.

I grew up during World War II. After America entered the War, the Allies expanded the strategic bombing campaign. The bombing became increasingly intensive during 1943. Stuttgart as an industrial city was one of the cities which the Allies targeted. As a result, we children in Stuttgart were evacuated during Fall 1943. We were moved to the surrounding villages, if possible to the homes of relatives. A photograph of me in Winter 1943/44 when I was about 8 3/4 years shows me with a younger cousin and a girl from the neighbourhood. He was about 4 1/2 years old. I am wearing my my woolen cap. My little cousin has a cap with bill. My coat is a warm Lodenmantel with a hood fastened by buttons to the coat. [HBC note: A French reader tells us that Lodenmantel means a coat made with a sort of waterproof woollen fabric. It is no longer made and worn except in Bavaria and Austria (even by adults). In French the term was " manteau de loden ".] What you see is a Bleyle socalled Trainingsanzug with a patterned collar. Obtaining children's clothes became increasingly difficult as the War progressed, especially by 1945. [HBC note: Clothing became a special problen for Germany during the War. Besides of the War-time priorities and disruption due to the bombings, the Royal Navy cut Germany off from supplies of cotton--all of which was imported.] We "inherited" most of our clothes from older brothers and sisters and cousins. As I was an only child, I inherited many garments from older cousins. I was very lucky. After the war we had American relatives who sent us some clothes when it was almost impossible to obtain children's clothes in Germany.

My Family

I have earlier mentioned about my mother and grandparents. Considering the circumstances of the family , my grandfather was contacted by some oppositional groups (church etc). He had to be very cautious.

Bombing

After America entered the War, the Allies expanded their strategic bombing campaign. It was still the British bombing at night during 1942. The bombing became increasingly intensive when the Americans began boming during the day during 1943. Stuttgart as an industrial city was one of the cities which the Allies targeted. German industry was the central component of the German war economy and it was almost all located in the cities. As a result, we children in Stuttgart were evacuated during Fall 1943. Adults especially the workers stayed in the cities.

Evacuation

I read a lot about the British evacuation program duringthe war, the German program is much less covered. It was the Kinderlandverschickung (KLV). We were moved to the surrounding villages, if possible to the homes of relatives. Most of the children were moved to camps set up in hotrls and other facilities and run very strictly on by the Hitler Youth. In most cases serious schooling was abandoned. I was lucky, I had relatives in the countryside. A photograph of me in Winter 1943/44 when I was about 8 3/4 years shows me with a younger cousin and a girl from the neighbourhood. He was about 4 1/2 years old. I am wearing my my woolen cap. My little cousin has a cap with bill. My coat is a warm Lodenmantel with a hood fastened by buttons to the coat. [HBC note: A French reader tells us that Lodenmantel means a coat made with a sort of waterproof woollen fabric. It is no longer made and worn except in Bavaria and Austria (even by adults). In French the term was " manteau de loden ".] What you see is a Bleyle socalled Trainingsanzug with a patterned collar. Obtaining children's clothes became increasingly difficult as the War progressed, especially by 1945. [HBC note: Clothing became a special problen for Germany during the War. Besides of the War-time priorities and disruption due to the bombings, the Royal Navy cut Germany off from supplies of cotton--all of which was imported.] We "inherited" most of our clothes from older brothers and sisters and cousins. As I was an only child, I inherited many garments from older cousins. I was very lucky. After the war we had American relatives who sent us some clothes when it was almost impossible to obtain children's clothes in Germany.

An Uncle--Small Town

The first relatives to whom I was sent on the countryside in fall 1943 to a smaller city in the south of Stuttgart were more open to the regime. My uncle was a teacher in a secondary school. I stayed there for a quarter of a year; I don't know why my mother/grandparents looked for another place shortly after.

Another Uncle--Village

At Christmas 1943 I was 'moved' to another relatives' family more in a smaller village at the countryside near Bavaria -- Wasseralfingen. This uncle was away for military service, the aunt was not interested in politics, nor were the neighboring families living nearby. I played with the neighboring children. I remember a girl I played with. She lived next door. Her father was a worker in a metal producing plant there. In the public school which I attended there we had an elder teacher. Many of the younger male teachers had been drafted into the military. I don't remember him trying to influence us with NAZI ideas. Our relatives had a big garden at the surroundings of the village near to the camp for prisoners. As I was quite young at the time I am not sure now if the camp was a concentration camp (KZ) or a POW camp. The men walked along the fence of the garden going for work at the metal-working plants. We children were aware of what was going on but the families did not speak with the children much about this (although they were not supporting the regime in any form), On Sunday we went to church and all letters received from the local men who were soldiers were shown and discussed in the neighborhood. I attended the Volksschule in the 4th grade. My mother at the time was working in a hospital in another town, Ellwangen. This was about 12 miles away. It was far enough that I almost never saw her. Transport was becoming increasingly difficult because of the War.

My Wife

A remark about school life of my wife, one year younger, who of course I did not know at the time. She also remembers the war era and her school. She had a teacher who started the school day by the Hitler-greeting and constantly spouted NAZI ideas. After the war she (then 9 years old) met him again. He was unemployed and of course NAZI connections were no longer beneficial. She greeted him as he had insisted in school just to annoy him--which it did. Aftervthe war, no one wanted be reminded about his NAZI connections. And because of the Allied De-Nazification process, it could lead to problems. He soon began to avoid her on the street.

Obtaining Children's Clothes

Obtaining children's clothes became increasingly difficult as the War progressed, especially by 1945. [HBC note: Clothing became a special problen for Germany during the War. Besides of the War-time priorities and disruption due to the bombings. And children's clothing was ot a high priority. The Royal Navy cut Germany off from maritime imports. This included supplies of cotton. Virtually all of Germany's cotton was imported. Many raw materials could be obtained by looting occupied countries. But Europe produced very little cotton, meaning there was no cotton to loot.] We 'inherited' most of our clothes from older brothers and sisters and cousins. As I was an only child, I inherited many garments from cousins.

Keeping Warm

I want to describe the difficulty we had keeping war in the Winter. As you may know, it is quite cold in Germany during the Winter--colder than England even though England is located further north. This is related to clothing because it explains why German children needed warm clothing. The problem of heating homes, factories, and schools became very difficult in the last year of the War. The Allies targeted the German trasport system. As the bombing increased, it became more and more difficult delivering coal to the cities.
Winter 1943/1944: Not too many problems. Nevetheless we children were aware of the poster put up in the streets, "Kohlenklau geht um" (something like 'Coal steals to go') and collected the small bits showing him with a sack of stolen coal.
Fall 1944: Even in the small villages the heating of the new school building which we attended before - probably a central heating - was no longer possible and we had shortened school in a smaller old building with stoves in the rooms.
Winter 1945/46: At home and later in the hospital it was not so hard. Back in Stuttgart in winter 1945/46 only in the kitchen of our (6 rooms) appartment did we have heat. We now had two additional sub tennants (my grandfather was allowed to have an additional room for working due to his obligations with the post-war government, the rest was the family room, two sleeping rooms for my grandparents and my mother/me, and two rooms for the two tennants. We ha a coalfire in a small stove for heating and cooking. No gas in the kitchen-stove! The glass in the windows had been was destroyed, they were replaced in a makeshift fashion by some by some wooden boards. I remember that it was really cold, I did my school homework in one of our normal rooms wearing heavy clothes and a coat, woolen cap etc. Our four story school building was heavily damaged in the building. The roof in paricular was in poor condition. We pupils had to bring wood collected around in the ruins to have a fire in the four rooms still usable without rain coming in. They were located on the ground floor.
Winter 1946/47: At home we had again glass in the windows. One of the tennants left, the other one was a very old aunt belonging to the family. The living room was heated as well as the gas stove in the kitchen. In Stuttgart (at this time probably about 250,000 population. There was one gymnasium school building (of the about 10 gymnasiums) available, not destroyed and with central heating available. We had school for 20 minutes per week there, presenting our home work and getting new tasks to do for the next week, no sports or swimming. All gymnasiums of Stuttgart together in this school building rapidly changing class rooms in 5 minutes!
Winter 1947/48: At home we were able to begin heating all of the rooms. In school, the building roof was repaired and the central heating was operable. Little bu little it was getting better.

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Created: February 23, 2004
Last updated: 1:27 AM 3/1/2016