01:49

Ruth Deutschmann

Benjamin Epp

Wien

2008-06-13

Sylvia Manning - Baumgartner

The next day the doctor told me: "You were unconscious, you’ve got a concussion, you absolutely have to get to sick bay in Ivalo. That's 500 kilometres further south." "Well, how can I get there?" "You have to find a car that can take you." Then I did find a vehicle - an open truck. So I sat in it, wet as I was, and rode those 500 km south. In Ivalo: "What are you doing here?" There were four of us. "We can’t take you in." "Why not?" "The Russians are only 20 kilometres away. The Finns have capitulated and are collaborating with the Russians. We have to pack up the camp within two days." "What should we do?" "Well, get yourself some provisions." Then according to regulations, we got - 200 grams of bread, 50 grams of butter, six cigarettes and 20 or 40 grams of sausage - a daily ration. "So, you can have two days worth." In fact they had barracks ?barracks for 60 people - stuffed with food - full of butter and chocolate and bread and all sorts of things. "No one is allowed to take anything from there. Whoever takes anything will be shot." They planted explosives and detonated them ? blew the whole building up. And the troops received the allotted 200 grams of bread - per day, that's crazy.