1948 brought an important change: the Währungsreform, the currency reform. The Reichsmark, which had been the currency during Hitler’s time until now was declared valueless and replaced with the Bundesmark, or the Deutsche Mark. This meant that any cash one had was worthless, savings accounts were inaccessible, and this money might (at some unknown time inContinue reading “Katharina’s Story: Chapter 14-First Kiss”
Category Archives: memoir
Katharina’s Story: Chapter 13 — Our Life in West Germany after the War
1945: The German government had collapsed, and the occupying forces ruled. It is too complicated to try to figure out how things kept going at all; people just carried on the best way they knew how. Cows still needed to be milked and the milk needed to be processed. Fields still needed to be plowedContinue reading “Katharina’s Story: Chapter 13 — Our Life in West Germany after the War”
Katharina’s Story: Chapter 12 – A Refugee Family Settles in
Our aunt Dori — my Mutti’s (Nora’s) sister — took us in for the first few days. She lived on a farm; actually, it was more an estate, a complex with buildings and walls all around a large courtyard, and a tall solid gate like a fortress. There was a large garden; there were milkContinue reading “Katharina’s Story: Chapter 12 – A Refugee Family Settles in”
Katharina’s Story – Chapter 11: The Allied Occupation
The fact that the Podack family had arrived intact in Austria after leaving our comfortable life at Opa’s farm in Kalthof, arrests my attention to this very day. The credit for our survival goes largely to my mother, Nora Podack, who was brave enough and tenacious enough to take the risks necessary for our survival.Continue reading “Katharina’s Story – Chapter 11: The Allied Occupation”
Katharina’s Story – Chapter 10: Becoming Refugees
In that winter of 1944, an awareness began to steal over me that soon we would have to leave Opa’s farm in Kalthof. Yes, we could hear the grumbling of the Front, and at night, we could see the sky lit up by artillery fire over the horizon. The community was abuzz with talk ofContinue reading “Katharina’s Story – Chapter 10: Becoming Refugees”
Katharina’s Story: Chapter 9 – After the Air Raids – Summer’s End
I did not know at the time how dangerous it was to listen to the BBC… Kalthof. We are back, having moved in with Opa and Oma – August and Hedwig – after our apartment in Königsberg was destroyed. I am in fourth grade, again attending Falkschule as I did in the second grade whileContinue reading “Katharina’s Story: Chapter 9 – After the Air Raids – Summer’s End”
Katharina’s Story: Chapter 8 – The Bombing of Königsberg : August 1944
The noise was deafening. I covered my ears with my hands, but they were still ringing. Then I heard it again. The incredibly loud bang seemed to repeat itself again and again, a resounding echo under the bridge, finally fading away. Papa was talking to Mutti, but I could only see their lips moving. IContinue reading “Katharina’s Story: Chapter 8 – The Bombing of Königsberg : August 1944”
Katharina’s Story: Chapter 7 – A Child’s Wartime Christmas
In late 1942, Katharina’s family lived at Luisenallee, in Königsberg, and it was in this year that Walter Podack was conscripted into military service with Hitler’s German Army. Katharina, the eldest child and now nearly eight years old, knows only that Papa has gone to war. It happened matter-of-factly, like another day off to work,Continue reading “Katharina’s Story: Chapter 7 – A Child’s Wartime Christmas”
Katharina’s Story Chapter 6 Omi and Opi – the Eberhardts
Marie Eberhardt Katharina and I have been for a quick, brisk walk on this November morning, and now sit in warm comfort together on her plush burgundy sofa. She has a box of photos open on her lap. As she shares them with me, slowly extracting one after the other, she pauses for some timeContinue reading “Katharina’s Story Chapter 6 Omi and Opi – the Eberhardts”
Katharina’s Story – Chapter 5
Summer on the Baltic Sea It is an uncharacteristically hot day in October when I arrive at Katharina’s home in the Salt Lake Valley. Apropos to her industriousness, Katharina is preparing to make home-made ice cream in her old-fashioned ice cream churner. Already, she has whisked the sugar and eggs with the freshly-scraped vanilla beanContinue reading “Katharina’s Story – Chapter 5”
Ingrid Petty 