Liebenau Internment Camp, Germany: Part 8

Picture 8

The oldest internee and the youngest. The Germans had interned all aliens indiscriminately. We were living in Dresden before the war where my mother was a copywriter for the advertising agency Erwin Wasey. After the outbreak of hostilities we had to be careful not to speak English in public. Although we were accustomed to speaking German most of the day, and attended a German primary school, it was not unusual for schoolboys to throw stones at us if they heard us speaking English. This was naturally upsetting for my mother and she complained to the local police authorities who were sympathetic.
As a six-year old I enjoyed military music. I used to thump out the latest Hitler songs round the dining-room table and play with the German model soldiers lay strewn across the floor. Hitler was glorified and Chamberlain was ridiculed as a warmonger. The Swastika was everywhere. I remember a young German Army ear, nose and throat specialist telling my mother in 1942 that he was dreading being sent to the Russian front.

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