July 

Hartmut

1938 came along, Easter was around, and after Easter the time had come, when I had to start school. This, however, was spoiled by an attack of scarlet fever. My sister Siegtraut and I became very ill. We were kept isolated in our room. 

 I started school six weeks late. All the other kids in the class had settled in. On my first school day, Mutti dressed me up, nice and properly, with a new leather satchel. The satchel contained a slate within a timber frame. The school was the 7. Volksschule, Public School Nº 7, Berlin-Weissensee. My teacher was Herr Buchwitz. Herr Buchwitz was a lovely middle-aged gentleman, probably in his late forties. He wore pince-nez glasses, glasses that had no frame but were attached to the nose by a spring mechanism. He helped me along during the first weeks. 

We started writing using the Gothic Sütterlin script. This script is very  much up and down, with sharp edges. I can still write and read Sütterlin script. This script was replaced during 1941. From then on we learned the Latin script, very similar to the writing styles of most other European nations with the addition of the Umlauts ä, ö and ü and the ß (s sharp). 

I had a lot of catching up to do, because I had missed the first few weeks of schooling. Back home, Mutti sat down with me, and we read through the pages of the Fibel, the first year primer. I had to read, I had to write. Mutti was probably too critical; there were few praises but a fair amount of criticism. She was a perfectionist. Even in first class we had regular homework, writing down a couple of sentences or copying a paragraph from the Fibel. Not to upset Mutti, I wrote very slowly, and very neatly. But always at the end, paragraph almost finished, I made a tiny mistake, and I had to start all over again. Sometimes three or four times. Nonetheless, I must not have been too bad. At the first Parents’ Night Herr Buchwitz said to Mutti: “Der Hartmut, ja, der liest wie ein Alter.” He reads like a grown-up. Mutti was very proud, so was my Vati, when Mutti told him. 

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  June 

Opa Fritz

Excerpts from Hart’s father's 1973 memoirs:

(translated form German)

During the summer months my sister and I stayed often with my uncle and aunt. They lived in a village and had no children. Aunt and uncle were very kind and spoiled us. My sisters was almost two years older and had already started school. I wanted to learn to write too. So my aunt bought me a slate and a slate pen. With aunty’s help I practices strokes up and down, but did not manage to write letters properly. Soon aunt and I gave up. 

                                                         my sister Frida, uncle Karl, me Fritz, aunt Marie

The law demanded that children after turning 6 had to go to school. The schoolmaster used the cane frequently when pupils made a mistake. Although my writing was always criticised and I never achieved the expected standard I learned soon to read and I loved reading. The daily news paper published novels in sequences and in a few years these became my favourite reading. Father demanded that I read more the scripture book. I did and found it interesting too. I also used the scripture book to hide the news paper novel segments. 

The last 4 years of Fritz’s 8 years of schooling happened to be during World War 1.

 May

Karin 

I remember my grandmother’s 80th birthday very well. Papa and I went to the big family reunion in a far away village near the Baltic Sea. It was 6 April 1942. I was the youngest of all the cousins there and every one spoilt me. Only one of our grandmother’s grandsons was there. All the other older grandsons were now soldiers, fighting in Hitlers World War 2, and Karl has already fallen. 

                          I admired my old grandmother very much. She was still active till she died aged 96. 

 April

Ulrike

Our daughter has created a book with illustrations of her childhood memories..

This is an excerpt from it:

The Baby

Then my sister was born and she was a real Aussie. Now our family had a solid connection to this new country, 

because no matter where else we may go, my sister’s place of birth would always be Australia.

March

Opa Fritz

 In 1973 Hartmut’s father wrote in his memoirs (translated form German):

Our first child was born on 19 April 1932, early in the morning. The birth caused some worries. It is well known that mothers have to suffer, but no one talks how the father-to-be is feeling. And what are physical pains compared to the emotional pain a father-to-be has to suffer! 

We baptised our son Hartmut.

Although we both tried our best to take good care of the little one, the first year our first child caused us some worries. But grandparents and aunts tried to help, and most of all they admired the baby.

      

 February

Hartmut:

I was born on a Tuesday 19 April 1932. My parents were very happy, and my dad was very proud that I was a boy. Then it was still regarded as something special, when the first-born child was a boy. Boys were supposed to carry on the family name and tradition. I was given the names Hartmut Fritz Ernst, the middle names after my father and grandfather as it was tradition in my family.

Mutti was happy too. She had an easy birth. I was born in the Martin-Luther  Krankenhaus in Berlin-Schmargendorf. On the day when Mutti was released from hospital, Vati picked her up. He had bought a beautiful grey pram, and it was my first journey across Berlin on a lovely late April spring day. The trees were all in flower, and the air was scented with the perfumes of spring, lilac and apple blossoms, tulips and jasmine. The birds were singing, blackbirds, starlings, sang their joyous songs and tended their nests.  

I was pampered and had a great time. Every four hours, Mutti fed me. I grew up on mother’s milk, and was weaned after one year. This was quite unusual then. Bottle-feeding was the vogue. 

I do not remember many things from those days. My earliest memory goes back when I might have been just a little over two years old. Mutti was pushing the pram towards home. Siegtraut, my little baby sister was inside the pram, I had a seat on top of the pram from where I could see the world. Why I remember this moment? I do not know. 

I also remember, that my parents frequently visited friends, And on these visits, in the evening, when I had become tired, I was put in a bed or in a pram, and I can still hear the distant voices in the room next door. It was such a peaceful atmosphere.