A Journey on My Own by Eric H. Vieler

Author:Eric H. Vieler [VIELER, ERIC H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7618-4834-9
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.

WINTERBERG WALDHAUS

German money was almost worthless in the period after the war, but I needed to have a few marks in my pocket to be able to buy a train ticket to visit my folks, and for other minor needs. So I devised a scheme of selling tobacco to obtain cash. As mentioned earlier, cigarettes were the most sought-after commodities on the black market. I had no direct access to cigarettes, but did have access to many ashtrays. Thus I collected cigarette butts, stripped them of their paper wrapper and put the tobacco in an empty can {the British called it a tin) of Players Navy Cut cigarettes; that is how they were issued, fifty to a tin. I dried the tobacco on a radiator, sealed the can, and sold it to the Germans for what it was—loose, but good cigarette tobacco. Whoever wanted it knew what they bought, and I earned on the order of twenty marks for each sale, making it possible to always have some money in my pocket.

After several weeks my unit was transferred to the town of Winterberg, and I was given the opportunity to go along. A benefit to me was that Winterberg, a former resort town that had been left untouched by the war, was within an hour’s walking distance of the village where my family lived. Instead of seeing them every once in awhile, I could now visit whenever I had free time. We were billeted in a resort hotel called Waldhaus and we slept on real mattresses without fleas. Things continued to improve for me as my job changed from dishwasher and kitchen helper to working in the company headquarters as a runner. I was in an office with the sergeant major and company clerk; across the hall was the commanding officer’s office. My job was to deliver messages, tack up notices, and generally make myself useful. Translating continued to be part of the job that occasionally took some odd twists.

The British presence in Winterberg attracted a number of young women from the area, and although there continued to be official restrictions against fraternization, a number of the British soldiers had German girlfriends. If a soldier believed that a girl might have infected him with a venereal disease, he had to identify his partner and she was required to go to the German hospital in Winterberg for examination, diagnosis and treatment, a process that took a couple of days. One of the girls who was frequently in the company of soldiers was from my home village of Groenebach. One day, one of the sergeants strapped on his pistol and told me to accompany him to the village and take the girl to the hospital for a medical exam as she was suspected of having given one of her soldier-friends the clap. I was needed to translate the orders; we arrived at the girl’s house in the early evening as she and her family were eating their supper. I knew the family and they recognized me as well (Groenebach is a small village).

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