Name: Liesel Fischer
Age: 1934-Present
Birth Place: Zehlendorf, Berlin, Germany
I would like to inform you that the name of my grandma used in this article is made up due to privacy concerns.
Realizing that my grandma is aging, I wanted to take the time to hear her life story in Nazi-Germany before it’s too late. I visited her home and we took two hours to discuss her experiences of Germany under Adolf Hitler’s rule.
Background: Hitler declared war on Poland in 1939. My grandma, Oma, was born in 1934 and Hitler came to power in 1933. Oma’s mother took her to a train that same year and sent her off to her aunt’s house in a town near Berlin. She was then sent to her other aunt’s home on a farm in Berlin in 1941. Oma moved back home in 1946, but her house was taken by Americans. She ended up living in a friend’s house, meant for one family, with three other families. Some of the families were refugees who needed shelter. After living at home from ages 11-19, she went to England for a year to work as a caregiver.
What was life like on your aunt’s farm?
Oma: I had many chores since there weren’t any other children. One of my chores was to collect piles of hay and tie them into bundles. I was only 5 or 6 years old at this time. My aunt didn’t like me because I was afraid of the pigs and chickens. I would go to the front of the house when the chickens were getting killed in the back so I wouldn’t hear the snap of their neck. I remember, we would have chicken and meatballs every Sunday for dinner, but we weren’t allowed to eat the meatballs until we ate the chicken. I don’t eat chicken now.
Where were your siblings at this time?
Oma: I had two older sisters. One died when she was 5 days old in 1923. My other sister was sent somewhere else… she suffered a head injury on a train. The trains would come to abrupt stops because stationary trains wouldn’t get shot at or bombed. My sister would always complain of headaches and she finally had a seizure; I didn’t know what to do or what was going on. She was then killed by Russians when she was 18; they ran her over by accident. I didn’t find out until I was 18, but it happened when I was 11.
Were you aware of the war (WWI) going on?
Oma: Yes, but it was “normal” for me. I didn’t know any different. I remember going down in the basement for protection when the sirens would go off. One time when it was over, the house across the street was gone. There were hundreds and hundreds of planes and they would drop bombs that lit up. We called those bombs “Christmas trees.” A train station was bombed in Berlin and we could physically feel the town shake; smoke was everywhere. Adults constantly wore gas masks–I never asked why, it was just what they did; we didn’t question or discuss it.
What was school like? Did you have friends?
Oma: When I lived at home with my parents, I would play with the boys my age outside. I think the other families kept the girls inside because of the planes and bombings. I never had dolls; I always played with trucks and we pretended to be soldiers in war. German school is different than American school. We started school around Easter time and we had to take English from 4th grade until we graduated. I never finished high school; I went to secretary school to learn how to cook, sew, and write in shorthand. I then worked as a file clerk.
Oma moved to the U.S with her husband at the age of 25, working as a German-English translator for the American Army. They proceeded to have 5 children and live on with life as U.S citizens.
I am honored to have the opportunity to write about my grandmother and share her childhood with the world through social media. It’s important to take the time and reflect on your own past, as well as the history of others. I encourage you all to listen to an elder tell a personal story and see how it affects the way you view life from then on!