The author was born in 1938 and Vanished Times is the first

book of her three-volume autobiography. It deals from her

birth up to 196. It has been an interesting life! with many
ups and downs. "he left "wit#erland in 196 to make her
life in $ngland. "he lives in %arnet with her husband. They
have three &hildren and two grand&hildren. The books were
&hiefly written for her &hildren so they &ould have an idea
what her life was like before any of them were born. 'er
first book is about her &hildhood in "wit#erland! her se&ond
book Walk into the Unknown about her life from 196 (
199) and her third book ( Rollercoaster! from 199) ( )1).
VA N I S H E D T I ME S
To "ven! *ouise and +onathan
.....and %ieti
I nes C Rot hen
VA N I S H E D T I ME S
,opyright Ines , -othen
The right of Ines , -othen to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in a&&ordan&e with se&tion .. and .8 of
the ,opyright! /esigns and 0atents 1&t 1988.
1ll rights reserved. 2o part of this publi&ation may be
reprodu&ed! stored in a retrieval system! or transmitted in any
form or by any means! ele&troni&! me&hani&al! photo&opying!
re&ording! or otherwise! without the prior permission of the
publishers.
1ny person who &ommits any unauthori#ed a&t in relation to this
publi&ation may be liable to &riminal prose&ution and &ivil &laims
for damages.
1 ,I0 &atalogue re&ord for this title is available from the %ritish
*ibrary.
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Elsaesserstrasse
I lived here with my family at 2o. 113. The street! a main
thoroughfare! about half a mile from the ;erman border! was
always busy as it &arried traffi& from %asel to ;ermany. Trams
ran to the terminus <ust before the border. :e &alled our
parents 0api and 7ami. 4ather was a uniformed &ustoms and
e=&ise offi&er! doing shifts at border &ontrol and those men
with a young family were mostly posted! where possible! &lose
to their pla&e of work. %asel! a border &ity! has a few borders!
all patrolled! as it is one of the gateways to ;ermany and
4ran&e. >ur father manned the "wiss-;erman side. :e lived
above a &o-op! on the main road whi&h leads through
*ysbue&hel into ;ermany. The flat had three rooms in&luding
the kit&hen? basi&ally the kit&hen was in the living room. There
was no bath and no &entral heating but it was sunny and had a
big bal&ony that ran the width of the living room! but was open
to the elements. 1t that time few people! apart from offi&ial
buildings and s&hools! had any &entral heating. 7ost flats and
houses had wood burning stoves. >ne tiled stove with a big
bla&k flue pipe in the &orner of one room that heated the whole
abode. :inters were bitterly &old and I &ould &ount the frost
flowers that had formed on the windows. 7y parents! after
their marriage in 1936! had &hildren in relatively 9ui&k
su&&ession. 7y brother! 0ietro 7a= ( I always &alled him <ust
%ieti! &ame in 4ebruary 193. and I arrived in >&tober 1938.
:e were ) months apart and our mother had a lot of trouble
with his birth. "he had been advised not to have another! so
when she fell pregnant again! with me! the do&tor advised
termination. It needed two signatures for this to happen and the
first do&tor had already given it! but it re9uired a further
e=amination by a se&ond do&tor! whi&h would easily have
resulted in the se&ond signature being given! but mother! a
,atholi&! de&ided against it and so I was allowed to be born.
7um and /ad &ame to regret the de&ision! for I was ( so I was
told repeatedly ( a &omplete nightmare in the early years.
7oney was tight. 7um always &alled /ad@s salary
miserable even though the rent of our flat was subsidised by
his employer! the state. 7y parents! before this one! and before
I was born! lived in another flat <ust around the &orner! in a side
street but moved when 7um was pregnant with me and they
needed more room. I have still vivid memories of lying in a
basket! made of basket weave on a frame with wooden wheels
and a roof made of a blue material with tiny red flowers. The
bed &over was made of the same material. I &ould not have
been more than si= months but I remember the basket very
&learly. *ater I had a &ot in my parents@ bedroom in the &orner!
on&e I &ould toddle. 4rom the basket I used to wat&h /ad
shaving. 'e would take the &eiling lamp and tie it sideways so
he &ould see better! even though the sun was &oming through
the bal&ony window. >n a small table stood a brown beer
bottle! and the light through the bottle transmitted a beautiful
amber &olour. 'e used an old fashioned ra#or and to keep it
sharp would spit on a leather strip and run the blade up and
down on both sides! then test it with his thumb to see if it was
sharp enough. The blade was always &arefully put away! away
from &urious little fingers.
:e had the first floor. The bal&ony overlooked the main
street! bearing the daily traffi&. There were trams in both
dire&tions that went to and from the terminus before the border.
Anderneath our flat was the &o-op whi&h used the same
entran&e for its &ustomers as the entran&e to our flat. :e lived
behind a glass door! with blue painted panels. 1lthough %ieti
and I grew up together I don@t seem to remember him being
with me a lot of the time in the earliest years. :e were more
together on&e we had moved! when I was about 3 years old.
In winter there was frost on the windows making pretty
flowers. I was in nappies and 7ami used to wash them and
hang them outside on a peg at one &orner. >vernight! in the
frost! the nappies grew stiff and she would tease me with this
stiff oblong thing! whi&h she &alled the B"tiefpel#@ 5stiff-pelt6
and I s&reamed be&ause I thought that these were warlo&ks! out
to get me. I had not yet been made familiar with the
B2a&htheuel@! though he would soon &reep into my fertile
imagination. The 2a&htheuel! 7um told me not long after!
would &ome and get small &hildren who did not want to go to
bed at night or were out of doors when it started to go dark and
for a long time I looked for him up in the sky? I was sure I saw
him as a long thin streak among the stars.
"ummer and heatC 7um was often to be found on the
bal&ony! in the sun with a pie&e of knitting on her lap. I
remember wine &oloured wool and I wanted to help with the
knitting and pulled all the needles out but she managed to
res&ue her work before everything unravelled. >utside there
would be organ musi&! &oming from a &arousel around the
&orner in the ne=t street. I loved the musi&! but was not
allowed to go on one of these swings. >pposite where we
lived! a&ross the side street! was a restaurant where my parents
sometimes afforded themselves a modest beer or two. The
restaurant at the time was run by a man with the name of
Dingg. I was told years later that he had been a brilliant &hef
and had employed a young waitress. >ne day with a bit of
banter between the two of them! they bought! on the spur of
the moment! a lottery ti&ket. 2ot wishing to buy it outright!
they de&ided to share the &ost of the ti&ket. The ti&ket was a
winner but! as often happens! as soon as money is involved!
winners be&ome greedy. 2either of them wanted to pay half of
the win to the other party! so! instead opted to pool resour&es
and get married. The win was a substantial one and they
bought a restaurant somewhere else with a but&her shop
atta&hed to it. 1 son was born to them! but! sadly! the marriage
was not a su&&ess as they were different personalities and
basi&ally in&ompatible. 'e took to drink and was unable to do
any &ooking half the time and the marriage foundered! as did
the restaurant eventually.
>n&e graduated to the &ot in the &orner of our parents@
bedroom! I used to wat&h them getting up and one morning I
saw /ad get out of bed naked. Instin&tively! I felt that I should
not have seen him naked. :e were never a family that ran
around in the altogether? although 7um and /ad did not mind
being seen in their underwear! being seen naked was a no-no.
Toilet doors were always firmly lo&ked.
"ometimes other &hildren visited to play with me but I was
not interested in them and wanted to e=plore the outside. 7um
used to leave me alone o&&asionally. I don@t know what she did
with my brother ( she might have taken him with her as he was
bigger and a lot less trouble! and on one o&&asion! when I was
left alone in the flat! thought to be asleep! as soon as she had
left! I got out of bed and took myself downstairs into the &o-op
where there was a friendly lady who lifted me up and dandled
me on her knee. I liked that a lot! espe&ially the attention and
fuss she made of me. Then she would take me ba&k upstairs!
where I pointed to the little &upboard and told her that in there
were my "unday &lothes. The lady then stayed with me until
7um got ba&k.
I was fas&inated by the world outside and as soon as I
&ould walk wanted to go e=ploring! but instead was for&ed to
stay indoors. I was &unning and waited until 7um@s ba&k was
turned! then opened the front door and ( whoosh ( I was out.
/own the stairs somehow! without falling down and into the
street. :onderful! all by myself. :hat a lot of traffi&. Trams
and people on bi&y&les! also some &ars. I was a bit s&ared to go
all by myself! so I found in the hallway my three wheeled red
bi&y&le and took that with me into the street. 2obody stopped
me? along pavements! &rossing busy roads! oblivious of traffi&!
but after a bit I got tired and stopped by a big &hur&h with a
very long spire. There I turned round to go ba&k home! but I
had forgotten the way ba&k. 7y knees were a bit gra#ed as I
had fallen over a few times and so I sat somewhat forlornly on
my bi&y&le and started to &ry! suddenly fearing the 2a&htheuel
in the sky who might have spotted me be&ause I was out on my
own. 0eople started to stand around me talking to me in silly
voi&es! then a lady pi&ked me up and I managed to tell her my
name and where I lived and she put me on her bike and took
me home! leaving the tri&y&le by the roadside to be &olle&ted
later. 7um was franti& when she realised I was missing and
mu&h relieved when she saw me arrive with the lady. /ad was
very angry be&ause 7um had not noti&ed my slipping out and
admonished her for not being vigilant enough. %ut! no matter
how vigilant! I kept finding new ways of slipping out of the
door and downstairs and into the traffi&. 'ow beautiful the
world was! fears of the 2a&htheuel temporarily forgotten. >ver
time lots of people had found me in the street and brought me
ba&k to the flat. /ad s&olded 7um! saying she was too absent
minded to wat&h me and that it would never happen to him.
Then I was taken by him to buy some materials for woodwork
and I was told to wait on the seat in the shop while he paid for
his goods! when I promptly walked out of the shop! giving him
the slip. That time I got a good thrashing but what &ured me
was that 7um said that if I did it again! the 2a&htheuel had
been putting my naughty deeds on his slate and it was now
full! so the ne=t time I went out like that on my own! he would
swoop down and make off with me and I would never see my
home again! everC.
7um had pretty &lothes and I loved wat&hing her getting
dressed up. I had a thing about shoes! even then. "he had lots
of shoes! some with &ork wedges! some with peep toes and
some with beautiful heels. 1ll in bla&k! feeling like velvet to
the tou&h. "he made all her &lothes herself! run up on her
treadle sewing ma&hine! whi&h was of a type that &ould be
sunk inside the sewing table when she had finished for the day.
/ad@s family lived two train <ourneys and a long bus ride away!
about 9 miles from where we lived and to visit them re9uired
mu&h planning. "o! going on holiday to see them involved
pa&king suit&ases and wat&hing timetables. >ur family was
always late. :e missed more trains! ki&king our heels in
draughty waiting rooms and wait for later &onne&tions! than I
&are to remember. The earliest memory I have was all of us
being &olle&ted by &ar and taken to -ues&hegg! father@s village!
by An&le 1lbert! his eldest brother! whom we &alled An&le
%ert and who was the first to own a &ar. I was still only a baby
and people I had never seen before peered at me! trying to get
me to smile! but I did not want to smile. The lady who turned
out to be 1untie ;ritli! An&le %ert@s se&ond wife! wanted to
know why I never smiled. I felt there was not a lot to smile
about.
:hile staying in -ues&hegg! with /ad@s se&ond brother!
Eari and his family! they were sitting in their kit&hen talking
when /ad suddenly noti&ed that my legs seemed to be growing
wrong. I was 18 months by then. 7um had never noti&ed! but
on&e it was pointed out to her she agreed with him my legs
were not what they should be. 0andemoniumC "he wanted to
leave immediately for home! though was persuaded that it was
not a life and death situation and surely it &ould wait a week.
%a&k home I was taken to a do&tor who diagnosed ri&kets. I
had now be&ome a work in progress as I had to have a spe&ial
diet! food &ontaining large amounts of &al&ium and potassium!
lots of bananas ( &arrots and green vegetables. The war had
started and although we were in neutral &ountry! "wit#erland!
everything suddenly was rationed all the same and everyone
had to produ&e &oupons in the shops? our mother &hanged meat
&oupons for vegetables and fruit. "he had no trouble in
e=&hanging the meat &oupons as people were only too willing
to trade in fruit and vegetables for those. In addition I was
being taken to hospital and fitted with &allipers whi&h had to
be strapped on at night to straighten the legs. These &allipers
were painful and I was s&reaming the pla&e down! giving my
parents sleepless nights. It was now 193 and my parents had a
radio whi&h got turned on for news at lun&htimes and
evenings. 1fter the news there was always lot of singing by
soldiers as they mar&hed through the streets with their
hobnailed boots whi&h &ould be heard on the radio. I loved all
the musi& and the singing and 7um let me hear the musi& from
the other room while she left the door open.
1 spe&ial department was &reated! the :ar $&onomi&s
/epartment and people had to go there and obtain their allotted
&oupons for their rations. There were long 9ueues of women
standing in line to &olle&t their allo&ations. I was bored in my
pram and wanted to get out! but 7um would not let me but
tried soothing stuff with me! whi&h did not work. "he got
embarrassed and people were looking at her. I &ould not
understand why I was not allowed to get out of the pram and
e=plore a bit of world! &onsisting mostly of looking at a
seemingly endless line of sto&kinged legs and shoes. The
sto&kings had seams at the ba&k and some ladies had them
straight going under the hems others ran to the right or left.
"hoes had different heights of heels and dresses had different
kinds of length of hems! some tight! some wide! some pleated.
"ome people wore galoshes as it was raining and there were a
lot of umbrellas getting in the way of the 9ueues. 7y world
was a very low one! seeing people from the waist down? there
was a bewildering mass of shoes and legs moving along a wet
pavement. :at&hing this moving mass for a bit! I wanted
7um@s umbrella with the ni&e shiny silver handle. "he refused
to give up the umbrella and tried to talk me out of it! telling me
that I &ould not have it be&ause it was raining and she needed
it. %ut I wanted it and had a tantrum. 0eople were starting to
stare! passing &omment. 7um trying to look into the middle
distan&e! ignoring them and me. %ut I would not be ignored.
$ventually she! having had enough! took me out of the pram!
folded the umbrella in the pouring rain and butted me on the
ba&kside! then put me ba&k in the pram. This without saying a
word. I was momentarily sho&ked into silen&e! while people
around us had plenty of opinions about what sort of mother
7um was. 4ortunately! the 9ueue <ust then moved and it was
her turn to get to the front to &olle&t her allo&ation and beat a
hasty retreat.
In summer! in hot weather! 7um would leave the house
with both of us when she had to do her errands. %e&ause she
&ould not get around 9ui&kly with two small &hildren! she
would drop us off at the &ommunal park! <ust up the road from
where we lived! whi&h had a splash pool. I had a grey bathing
&ostume whi&h she had knitted for me and she told %ieti! who
was going on four years and went to kindergarten! to look after
me until she &ame ba&k! she would not be very long. 1fter a
while we got bored with the splash pool and I took my
&ostume off and left it. %ieti said we would go to the
kindergarten! but I &ould no longer find my &ostume! so he
solved the problem by giving me his top while he retained the
pants and so we both went to the kindergarten! I in his top and
no pants. I was not very happy and pulled all the girls@ long
tresses. 7other did not seem to be too fa#ed when she &ame
ba&k and we were nowhere to be seen. "he had assumed!
&orre&tly! that my brother had taken us off to the kindergarten.
I was neither a good baby nor an easy toddler. I &ried a lot
be&ause I did not want to go to bed be&ause of the pain of
being strapped into those &allipers and 7um would get angry
with me. I wanted to know if she loved me but she would not
tell me! so I s&reamed louder...... F7ami do you love meG.... no
answer. "he would have had it a lot easier <ust telling me that
yes she did love me so I &ould get to sleep. %ut she had this
Hi&torian thing in her head that I was stubborn and my will
needed breaking! so she suffered the nightly s&reaming instead.
There was no doubt! though! I knew that 7um loved me! she
<ust had a funny way of showing it.
IIIII
>ur parents! in spite of us kids! did have an a&tive so&ial
life although that seems to have revolved more around father@s
side of the family. /ad loved the restaurants. In "wit#erland
there are no publi& houses as su&h! they are all restaurants.
This did not ne&essarily mean one had to eat in these
establishments! although one &ould of &ourse if one wanted to.
"ome <ust had the usual standbys of pret#els! bread sti&ks and
hard boiled eggs! the latter espe&ially at $aster time when there
were standard pa&ks of si= eggs in myriad &olours put on every
table. The restaurants relied on the honesty of the patrons to
state! when the waitress was summoned for the bill! what
9uantity of bread sti&ksJeggsJpret#els had been &onsumed! for
in&lusion. In the main! people were honest and de&lared what
they had. There were restaurants that were more or less pure
drinking dens! some with terrible reputations! espe&ially in
9uestionable 9uarters of the &ity! but all had &hairs and tables
to sit down and nurse the e9uivalent of a pint or a glass or two
of wine! even a s&hnapps. >ur father had his lo&als and of an
evening he would take mother with him for a so&ial drinking
evening. :hen they went out we were always left alone in the
flat. I &annot remember ever having had a baby sitter. >ur
parents would tell my brother that they would lo&k us in but
gave him a spare key with stri&t instru&tions not let anybody in
while they were not there! but in &ase of fire or some other
&alamity! to get out with me to alert the neighbours. 2obody
had telephones.
IIIII
Ida! our mother was a farmer@s daughter. "ometimes we
would go visiting her side of the family! in :allba&h! a small
village of mainly farm people. 'er sister and her husband ran a
small holding and 7um@s mother was still alive and living
with them. It had been her farm! but made it over to her eldest
daughter! on&e she got married and her new husband! a first
&ousin! wanted to &arry on with the farm. ;etting there
involved only a day trip! as :allba&h is only 3 miles from
%asel! but for my family this proved no less onerous a task
than going to /ad@s family. It might as well have been 3
miles away. It involved taking the tram to the station! ensuring
the right train was boarded and at the end of the <ourney it
involved a good hour@s walk on &ountry lanes to arrive finally
at the farm. 1s usual we would miss the train and arrive at the
station <ust as the train was pulling out. I think over time we
saw more ba&k lights of trains than trains we a&tually had
managed to board. It was not that the family &ould not get up
in time. It was <ust that it seemed impossible to get out of the
house as last minute hit&hes that had to be over&ome before
leaving meant getting to the station too late. >r the trams
would be delayed. 'owever hard we tried to leave in good
time! we invariably failed! and it was ba&k to draughty waiting
rooms to await the ne=t train and our father being bad
tempered and sour-fa&ed.
/ad was wary going to 7um@s family. There were
indu&ements though that made it easier for himK there was
always good high-proof home-brewed s&hnapps available and
home-made wine. 1nd home-made &iders. 1nd fresh eggs and
possibly! if we were lu&ky! a ni&e &hunk of home &ured ba&on
from a side that hung in the &himney. 2ot to mention dried
apples! plums and pears when in season. 1s a farmer! An&le
2oldi! who by the 3s was running the farm along with $mmi!
7um@s sister! was allowed to have a still and he &ould make
s&hnapps? he &ould also make wines as long as he de&lared it
all and sold the ma<ority of the distilled stuff to the state.
"&hnapps was made from lots of things. There was potato
s&hnapps whi&h tasted <ust like raw potatoes! &herry! plum!
gooseberry and red&urrant. 'e was allowed to keep a &ertain
9uantity of all manner of al&oholi& beverages for his own use.
>therwise /ad was un&omfortable there. 'e was very
fastidious and liked &lean things and a farm &an <ust never be
that &lean. 1lthough! &omparing the farm with where he grew
up! in -ues&hegg! they did have one thing in &ommonK la&k of
a flushing toilet. %oth pla&es had the toilet in the house! but in
a spot whi&h was open to the elements! though still part of the
house. In -ues&hegg the toilet was at the end of a veranda and
at the farm the toilet was ne=t to the &owshed where! sitting on
it! one &ould hear the &ows mun&hing the grass ne=t door!
separated only by a wooden partition! open at the top so! if one
stood on the seat one &ould a&tually look over and wat&h the
&ows eat. There was one other differen&eK &ob webs. The farm
toilet was &overed in them! while -ues&hegg was relatively
free of them. %ut An&le Eari in -ues&hegg always told us
&hildren not to linger on the toilet too mu&h as otherwise the
worms would get us and indeed! lifting the toilet lid! there
were around the top of the seat tiny white thread-like wriggling
things. "o! we used to be very 9ui&k about it. There was no
toilet paper as su&h then! but auntie and un&le used to &ut
s9uares from newspapers! then made a hole in the middle and
hung a bun&h of s9uares from a pie&e of string whi&h served as
toilet paper. 1t home in %asel we always had a flushing loo as
this was a &ity! but as for toilet paper we did not have any
either. 7y parents also were not fussed about s9uares of toilet
paper! but bunged yesterday@s %aslerstab! a free newspaper!
into the bathroom to be used for tearing off pie&es as and when
re9uired.
An&le 2oldi would &ome in from the &owshed? having
&leaned out the &ows! he would &ome in his wellies into the
kit&hen! bringing smell and soiled bits of straw with him. %ut I
loved the farm absolutely and did not mind the smell nor the
fa&t that the dung heap! ten feet high lay also not ten feet away
from the house and its e=isten&e in su&h &lose pro=imity
brought swarms of flies into the house in summer. To minimise
the nuisan&e! strips of fly paper would hang in various rooms
and within an hour these strips would be bla&k with flies.
"ometimes we &hildren helped by &at&hing a few and
Bhanging@ them onto the fly paper. They were doomed of
&ourse on&e there be&ause there was no es&ape for them. /ad
thought the whole thing a bit unsavoury and looked with
disdain when the glasses were brought out for a shot or two of
something to drink? though the glasses had &learly been
washed! they still had a milky look about them. 'owever
unsavoury! he still drank out of them. It seems the &ontent in
the glass was more important to him than the &ontainer it was
poured into.
The farmhouse kit&hen had a red tiled floor and in the
middle was a s9uare trap door whi&h opened into the &ellar!
des&ended on a ri&kety ladder. >n&e a month ;ranny Earoline
baked the family@s bread whi&h was then kept wrapped in
muslin in that &ellar. The massive bread oven was part of the
kit&hen range whi&h kept the whole house very warm. The fire
from the range ran through to a three-tier green tiled oven
ben&h in the living room! the top made of slabs of very smooth
flat slate! to be used for sitting on be&ause it warmed bottoms
beautifully. The se&ond and third tier were sometimes used by
my un&le and &ousin %astian for a 9ui&k forty winks after
lun&h before they went ba&k to farm work. 1part from the
bread the &ellar held multiple barrels of wine and &ider! of both
varieties? sour 5al&oholi&6 and bubbly 5apple <ui&e6 and what
was produ&ed would last an entire year. %read lasted a month!
although at the end! the last loaf was a bit on the stale side! yet
was still eaten. 2othing was thrown away and any left-overs of
any sort were feed for the pigs. The &ellar also held sa&ks of
potatoes and apples on large wooden many-tiered shelves. 1nd
there were a multitude of glass <ars bearing <ams and other
preserves! all of &ourse home produ&e. %e&ause ;ranny was
now older she was not needed in the field anymore. "he stayed
home and did all the &ooking! whi&h was a time &onsuming
business. There was the &ooking range bearing the fire inside
and for &ooking anything! the heavy lids ( there were three on
the range ( had to be lifted and the pan inserted! engulfed by
the fire. These pans! when not in use! hung over the &himney
and were &overed in soot on the outside and never &leaned!
only the inside that held the water and the vegetables. To &ook
lun&h took forever. ;ranny would go into the garden! pi&k the
peas and shell them for the pot. It seemed to take an age to get
the water to boil and to get lun&h on the table would be a four
hour <ob.
An&le 2oldi had a do#en milk &ows and there were four
pigs and &ountless &hi&kens whi&h laid beautiful eggs. It was a
typi&al smallholding with nothing me&hanised and to have a
&hi&ken for the dinner table was only for very spe&ial
o&&asions! like perhaps $aster. 7eat also was only served on
"undays. >ne $aster! when I was ten! An&le 2oldi told me to
&ome and help him with getting the &hi&ken ready. I had not
realised that this a&tually involved &at&hing the live &hi&ken
first! then &hopping its head off and my un&le wanted me to
hold the &hi&ken while he saw to the head. There I was!
holding the bird! while he swung the a=e and as the head &ame
off! the &hi&ken wriggled. I was sho&ked and let go and it flew
headless on top of the dung heap where my un&le had to fet&h
it down with a pole.
7y grandmother! Earoline! 7um@s mother! who had been
widowed for de&ades! lived at the farm until her death in 196)!
aged 9! although towards the end of her days she had the
impression she was be&oming surplus to re9uirement and
tempers were frayed at times within the family be&ause the old
and the young did not mi= very well. The younger ones had
different ways of doing things. ;ranny had &reated the farm
with her husband. 'er own father had built the house himself.
Earoline@s husband! 7um@s father! was a <oiner by trade!
employed by the railways. 'is <ob was to fi= loose timbers
over bridges and in stations to keep people safe. It was always
understood that it was his wife@s <ob to run the farm! while he
brought in additional in&ome from his work on the railways!
although he would help as well in his free time. ;ranny was a
no nonsense woman who had five &hildren! the first born!
$mmi and the last Ida! our mother ( a ten year gap between the
two. Ida was born in the field. :hile pi&king the runner beans
her mother@s water broke and ten minutes later the baby was
born. 'er mother <ust pa&ked it into her apron! pla&enta and
half the umbili&al &ord still inside her! when she was taken
home on a ri&kety &art! feeling every bump on the uneven farm
tra&ks. The midwife lived in the village and was summoned to
&ome and attend to the end bits of the birth. There was no fuss.
7other went ba&k into the field. In between $mmi and Ida
&ame three sons! 4rit#! 7ar= and >swald in that order. 1s they
grew they were all re9uired to help with the farm in all that
farm life entailedK ploughing! tilling! sowing! reaping getting
the harvest in before the rains and pi&king the fruit when it
&ame into season. ;ranny was 9uite pra&ti&al and forward
thinking for the times and told the girls that she e=pe&ted them
to earn their own living and that s&hool and edu&ation were
important fa&tors to that end. %ut $mmi de&ided to &arry on
with the farm! having married a farmer@s son. The boys soon
left homeK 4rit#! who had trained as a saddler! went to "outh
1meri&a! ,uritiba! in %ra#il and he never &ame ba&k. >ver
time he lost his ;erman language! having embra&ed
0ortuguese. The siblings were never that &lose and 4rit# never
wrote to his brothers and sisters. :hile his mother was alive he
sent letters home for ,hristmas and every year his ;erman got
worse and his spelling almost illegible. 7ar=! the se&ond of the
boys died from some never identified si&kness. 7um thought
that it might have been skin &an&er. %ut at the time nobody
knew nor paid mu&h attention to the large blot&hes that
appeared on his arms and legs and fa&e! una&&ountably! every
autumn when the weather got &old? the family <ust &alled it the
map disease! be&ause it looked <ust like a map of the world on
his skin. F>h! look! mother! 7ar= has got the map disease
ba&k!G the siblings would say and left it at that. 2obody
thought of sending him to a spe&ialist to get a diagnosis. Then
he got seriously si&k and within si= months he was dead. 'e
was only 19. >swald! the last of the boys did an apprenti&eship
in woodwork and be&ame a &abinet maker working for a
furniture manufa&turer. It was he who made 7um@s furniture
for her dowry. Ida was sent to learn tailoring and sewing and
part of her apprenti&eship was that she had to &omplete a year
in a household different from home. "he was thus! for a year
working as a seamstress for an e=a&ting lady! 4rau 0olterra! in
the $ast of "wit#erland! near ,hur! who gave her a hard time!
but where she said she learnt a lot! and upon &ompletion of that
she found a position at a girls@ s&hool in the ne=t town whi&h
she kept until her marriage.
:ith Earoline running the farm and her husband working
for the railways! this proved a su&&ess story and was profitable
and while they were not ri&h! they were self-suffi&ient and
mother had a little money put by. %ut she lived frugally all the
same and she prepared daily her husband@s lun&h and Ida! then
about 13! was &ommissioned to take it to him! to the station!
whi&h was about an hour@s walk. %ad news was on the way
though! when! while trying to fi= a rotten pie&e of timber on a
bridge! he fell some 8 feet through the gap! landing on the
tra&k below. There were no &ars in those days and it would
take four hours before a horse and &art passed to where he lay!
unable to move and in great pain. %y the time he was taken to
hospital it was too late to save him and father died the ne=t day
following massive internal bleeding. 7other was 8) and never
re-married! but ran the farm on her own while her &hildren
helped. There was no su&h a thing as &ompensation then!
though she re&eived a small but lifelong pension from the
railways.
1untie $mmi then married An&le 2oldi! a first &ousin and
they took over the running of the farm! but mother would still
have! at times! different ideas as how to run things ( after all it
had been her baby ( but it <arred on An&le 2oldi to have this
type of interferen&e! so tempers at times frayed. %ut ;ranny
was invaluable as home help while 1untie $mmi and An&le
2oldi had family. The first to be born was $rika! followed later
by %astian! then 7oni&a who was the same age as me! 1gnes
and the last! $sti! who was my <unior by about 3 years. $rika
being the first born and si= years older than me! proved to be a
handful. %e&ause she was an only &hild for some time before
%astian &ame along! she managed to soft-soap ;ranny in all
sorts of ways. The farm was very busy and her mother did not
really have mu&h time for little $rika as the farm took up all
her time. $rika had a sweet tooth. 1nd while the farm made its
own bread there were times when the family bought stuff from
the lo&al bakery in the village! flour and su&h like. The bakery
would not be paid immediately every time! but had what was
owed put on the slate to be re&koned up at the end of the
month. :hen 1untie $mmi settled up she was astonished that
the pri&e she had in mind as to what she owed the bakery was
way below of what was demanded. "he asked why the bill was
so high and was finally told that little $rika had! every time she
was sent to the shop! in&luded sweetmeats! pastry! &akes and
other sweet-tooth things! ra&king up the bill. 2aturally! there
was hell to pay when auntie got home! but ;ranny always
intervened and felt it was not really so bad after all! and she
would make up the shortfall. It was strange that while ;ranny!
as mother herself was far-sighted! yet stri&t with her own
brood! when it &ame to be in the position of grandmother!
different! more rela=ed rules seemed to apply.
1s $rika grew! so the things she took without paying for
them grew e=ponentially. "he also took money. ;ranny never
9uite knew what she had in her purse! but at times thought she
ought to have had more than there was. It was dismissed as
perhaps memory loss. 7ore serious was when she de&ided to
take ;ranny@s pension book from under her pillow! then went
to the post offi&e to withdraw money! telling the post mistress
that ;ranny was too ill to &ome herself and sent her in her
stead. :allba&h at that time was a small village of say 8
people or thereabouts and everybody knew ea&h other. The
post mistress &ertainly was persuaded and handed out the
money. 7ore hell to pay when ;ranny found out that money
was missing? she did not try and find any more e=&uses for the
ma&hinations of her granddaughter and told her son in law. The
family was resigned to the fa&t that they had a thief in their
midst and they waited with trepidation for the ne=t onslaught.
It was not slow in &oming. "he turned up on what looked like a
brand new ladies@ bi&y&le and said she had Bfound@ it. Though
nobody believed her! they &ould not disprove it and nobody
&ame to &laim it. 2e=t she went to a <ewellers and Bbought@ a
ring. ;iving a false address she was again believed and was
given the ring. "he Bfound@ that too when she wore it and was
9uestioned about its provenan&e. %ut! when a year later she
went ba&k to the very same <eweller to try her lu&k and Bbuy@
another ring in the same manner! the <eweller re&ognised her
and alerted the poli&e who promptly &ame to the farm. "he got
off with a slap on the wrist when An&le 2oldi promised and!
indeed did pay for the ring she took a year earlier. 7um often
said it would have been a better lesson for her had the <eweller
prose&uted. 1s it was! she got away with some harsh talking to.
2e=t in line were some books she took from a library. "he was
&aught and this time her father had to appear before the youth
&riminal &ourt. "he got off with a &aution. Lears later! when
%ieti and I were about 11 or 1) and we had been living in the
;aertnerstrasse apartment! she broke into our flat in %asel!
while our parents were at the wedding of /ad@s brother $rnst!
my godfather! to his se&ond wife! Hreni. This is how it &ame
aboutK
1fter his first wife! 2ellie! had left him and had taken their
daughter *oetti with her! $rnst kept the flat they had shared
together. 1nd after a time he got married again! to Hreni! who
lived with her parents in the same house! a floor or two up.
Hreni was only slightly older than his own daughter and 7um
always said that he did not look very far afield for a new wife.
1ll his brothers and their wives were invited to the wedding in
%ern! but the invitation spe&ifi&ally e=&luded all the &hildren.
%ieti and I were sent to :allba&h for a week and as was usual
pra&ti&e! my brother was given the keys! in &ase of unforeseen
eventualities. :e had been there for about three days when
%ieti found the keys were missing. 'e told 1untie $mmi and
immediately! without any proof or preamble! said that $rika
had taken them. 1untie was appalled at the a&&usation! but
%ieti insisted. F2onsense!G said she! Fyou have the keys
Bverduntlet and ver#undlet@C 5mislaid6! I tell you! you will find
they will turn up! so start looking where you were lastCG %ieti
would not be swayed. F2o! nothing like that! she has taken
them.G :hen $rika &ame home in the evening both %ieti and I
had noti&ed she was wearing very &olourful ankle so&ks!
yellow! with dark blue and dark red stripes. I re&ognised them
immediately. I had knitted them and they were mine. I told her
that these were my so&ks! but she said she had bought them in
%asel. I knew it was untrue but &ould not prove otherwise.
7ira&ulously the ne=t day the keys turned up and 1untie
$mmi said! FI told you.G %ut we both knew otherwise.
'owever! sometimes fate works in strange waysC /ad
wanted to wear his gold wat&h to the wedding! but &ould not
find it and thought he had mislaid it! so had to wear his every
day one instead. :hen they got ba&k from the wedding! my
brother told /ad about $rika and the missing keys. /ad
&he&ked and indeed noti&ed that money was missing from his
desk. It was 9uite a bit of money? he always kept &ash in his
desk be&ause people sent him &ash through the post from the
mail order business. Then there was 7r 7athis! who lived with
his family on the third floor! worked nights and so was out and
about during the day and he knew that nobody was in our flat
as we were all away. 'e saw $rika enter our flat! but even so
did not think anything about it! sin&e he saw her open the door
with a key! but he told /ad all the same. This &onfirmed she
had been in the flat and %ieti was right about her having taken
the keys. %ut our parents were loath to &all the poli&e and
make a formal &omplaint! be&ause she was family! but they
told An&le 2oldi.
+ust before our parents went to that wedding! 7um had
gone out of the house to do some last bit of shopping and when
she was out it was her habit to put the key under the mat
outside the door to the flat. Anbeknown to her! a man had seen
her! through the stairwell window! put the key under the mat
and he broke in and took /ad@s gold wat&h whi&h he thought
he had mislaid. 4or two years /ad was franti& over the loss of
his wat&h and no matter how hard he tried to find it and no
matter how many po&kets he sear&hed! it remained missing. 'e
even tried to a&&use us of stealing it and selling it and only our
sin&ere and tearful protestations of inno&en&e made /ad finally
believe us. 'e &ould not pin the theft on $rika be&ause the
wat&h was missing before she had let herself into our flat. It
was a &omplete mystery and /ad never &eased going on about
it. It was an e=pensive solid gold wat&h and /ad was an
unwilling and sore loser over it.
2early two years had gone by when one evening the poli&e
&ame round with a dishevelled looking man in tow! who
pointed out that yes! this was one of the addresses he had
burgled and one of the thefts was /ad@s gold wat&h. 1nd /ad
was totally ama#ed and delighted! to have so une=pe&tedly his
gold wat&h restored to him. >f any money or anything else the
thief might have taken! he &ould not remember. "o it seemed
that $rika had only taken the money. 1nd my so&ks. :e never
missed anything else. "till! that was bad enough. There were
good things about her years later! when $rika de&ided to leave
for $ngland! be&ame a nurse and worked gainfully in a *ondon
hospital. "he married a 0ole and had a daughter! Trisa! and
proved of tremendous help later to her mother who had had
breast &an&er and both breasts removed! but the &an&er had still
&ome ba&k with a vengean&e. The only way to keep the disease
in &he&k a while longer was for her to &ome to $ngland and
undergo a type of &hemotherapy whi&h did not e=ist in
"wit#erland at that time and it was so su&&essful! she thought
herself almost &ured! she felt so well. It was impressed on her!
however! that she was not &ured and in order to stay alive she
would need to repeat the treatment every twelve months. In
+anuary 1988 she was supposed to fly ba&k to $ngland for
renewal of the treatment! but she felt so well! she did not think
it was ne&essary. %y 2ovember 1988 she was dead. It was a
horrible death? she took 3 months to die. "he was only 88.
IIIII
The first time I was taken to the farm! there also was! in
addition to the &ows and pigs! a bla&k horse! &alled 4lorian. I
loved the &ows but was absolutely s&ared by the si#e of him
and when 7oni&a urged me to &limb and sit on him! whi&h I
did! I was so s&ared I sat on his ne&k and held onto his ears for
dear life. It looked a very long way down from up there.
4lorian was not there for very long! for one day when we &ame
up for the ne=t visit! he was gone! repla&ed with a shiny red
tra&tor. There was always a&tivity on the farm? not least
be&ause of the five &hildren! of whom two of them were more
or less my age and &lose enough in age to play with one
another. :e used to play about! &at&hing the &ats and putting
baby &lothes on them. It was always a wonder to me how the
&ats managed to get out of the &lothes. :e put them on! put
them into a disused pram and when we looked around! the &ats
had somehow managed to divest themselves of their
en&umbran&e and made off. 1fter 4lorian had gone and we lost
interest in the &ats! we turned our attention to the pigs. It was
my idea to ride them and 7oni&a thought it was easy getting
into the pen! and indeed it was? we got in and managed to
mount them! but my pig would not have it and threw me off!
right into their mire. The smell was terrible. %ut farm people
are used to smells and when I went soiled and &rying to my
granny! she <ust took an old rag and dabbed the worst of it off.
There was no 9uestion of a &hange of &lothes! nor taking a
bath! be&ause they did not have a bath either.
IIIII
>ur father was a &ra&k shot. %eing a &ustoms offi&er and
armed! the 4or&e ran shooting pra&ti&e for its offi&ers! to make
sure of a&&urate use of firearms if the o&&asion arose and /ad
wore with the uniform always a holstered revolver. 1t home
there was also a rifle whi&h had to be &leaned regularly. -ifle
and revolver had a spe&ial pla&e in our house. The rifle was
kept in his wardrobe and the revolver in the drawer of his night
table and woe betide us &hildren if we so mu&h as brushed
against it! never mind opening it and tou&hing it. :e never did!
we were in living fear of what would happen if we disobeyed
/ad@s instru&tions to leave well alone. /ad won many silver
&ups as trophies from the shooting &ompetitions and our
armoire was filled with them with his name and date engraved
on them. %ut a&tually /ad@s work &ould be 9uite dangerous
and there was an obvious reason why the 4or&e ran shooting
pra&ti&e. 1lthough it was made out to be a light-hearted affair!
giving out trophies for &ra&k shots! the underlying reason was
armed prote&tion. 0art of father@s <ob! apart from his uniformed
work at border &ontrol! also in&luded going in Bmufti@! roaming
through the forest in %asel! dis&reetly armed! looking for
people with ulterior motives. These &ould be spies or
smugglers. There were a lot of the latter be&ause! apart from
the border! there were barbed wire fen&es along where the two
&ountries! ;ermany and "wit#erland divided and of &ourse
they were not manned the whole length. The fen&es stret&hed
for miles and it was impossible to man the whole stret&h! so
offi&ers were sent out to patrol! on foot! in &ivilian &lothes! so
as not to be &onspi&uous! allo&ated areas and father@s stret&h
was in the nearby woods of the *angen $rlen. 'e had a &ouple
of narrow es&apes! but I don@t know e=a&tly what they were as
/ad did not want to talk about it. +ust on&e he said there had
been a smuggler ( or it might even have been a refugee
seeking es&ape from ;ermany ( who &ame up from behind and
held a gun to his head. /ad had kept his &ool and told him
there was no point in shooting him! as they were a patrol of
four and the others would be ba&k any se&ond and es&ape
would be futile. "omehow /ad must have looked very
&onvin&ing? the desperado had obviously been &onvin&ed! for
he fled into the thi&ket! before /ad had a &han&e to pull his
own revolver. There had not been any four anywhere. /ad had
been entirely on his own.
1part from the shooting &ompetitions the 4or&e also ran a
male &hoir of whi&h /ad was a member for a time. There were
often organised outings where the wives would be invited to go
on day trips. ,hildren though were not wanted on these trips!
so had to be looked after by other people and this involved a
sleepover! owing to the fa&t that it would be very late at night
getting ba&k as the outing obviously involved a lot of singing!
drinking and eating and probably more drinking than singing
in the end! so it was best that parents had the free time without
having to worry about their &hildren. To board us out then! so
7um &ould go on the trip! it was no trouble in getting the ne=t
door neighbours! the 4assers to take %ieti. They were always
happy to have him! but would not hear about taking me as
well. There were lots of embarrassed looks to the floor and
shuffling of feet and mumbling about having limited spa&e and
&ould only put up one &hild et&.! the real reason being that I
was obviously a handful and nobody wanted the responsibility
of looking after me. "o 1untie %runa and An&le :alter had
agreed to take me for a day and a night. 1untie %runa was
e=pe&ting her first baby! 2orma and the room they put me in
had been prepared for the new baby. I was told that the stork
had not yet brought it but would do so soon. I woke at five the
ne=t morning and was &on&erned about that stork. :hat if it
&ame here now and dropped the baby into my &ot and took me
out as there was only spa&e for one. It must have been summer
time be&ause the light was &oming through the shuttered
window. I stood up to see if I &ould see the stork &oming!
hopefully without the 2a&htheuel. 1s I was standing up in my
&ot! there was on the wall a small bubble of wall paper. 7aybe
the stork would be behind it. It was worth investigating! so I
pulled a little bit on the paper and it &ame away easily. I pulled
more and a great pie&e &ame away. I was now &onvin&ed that
the stork was behind there and pulled more until nearly a
&omplete strip had &ome away. This a&tivity obviously was
suffi&iently noisy to bring auntie into the room and the look on
her fa&e told me that the 2a&htheuel had &ome into the room
with her. I was taken out of the &ot and 1untie %runa told me
that never in her life had she had a worse little girl to stayC I
tried to tell her about the stork and the 2a&htheuel but she
would not hear about it. 1n hour later she kno&ked on the door
of our flat and 7um! who opened the door bleary eyed! was
ama#ed I was brought ba&k so early in the morning. They had
e=pe&ted to have a bit of a lie-in. "he was not best pleased and
auntie did not stay. "he deposited her &harge and hastened
away.