5:30

Ruth Deutschmann

Benjamin Epp

Marling

2008-05-06

Sylvia Manning - Baumgartner

Nicole D´Incecco

1939

In 1939 I was still in Freising. War was declared on September first. My mother was alone at home. She never really liked that I was so far away. Now that there was war, it was not clear what was going to happen with Italy. Italy was friendly but we never knew how the Italians were going to decide or behave.I went to the train station and said: "What's happening with trains to South Tyrol, Bozen, Meran or Italy?" "Well, there�s one tomorrow, but we don't know if there�s still going to be one the day after." So I quickly said my goodbyes at the office,packed up and went home. This was around September 1st or 3rd 1939. It's hard to say if this was right or wrong. I only know this one path, I don't know where the other one would have led. There are always two paths, right? But mostly you only know the one you tread. In any case I was home in winter. What did I do? I helped my mother with sewing. For the winter of 1939/40 - - I would have liked to be in Germany again. But no passports were being issued. I didn't get a passport. There was this farmer, a very bright, clever farmer, who enjoyed doing everything but farming. In any case I knew that he sometimes crossed the border illegally, taking people back and forth. I asked him: "Could you sometime take me with you sometime as well?" "Yes, yes, we can do that." Then before Easter 1940 he came to me: "I'm off now, do want to come?" So I went with him, illegally over the Brenner border. There was still a lot of snow. That year Easter must have been mid-March or end of March. So we drove up to the Brenner pass, and walked through the forest on the right. The snow was waist-deep. We got soaked by the masses of snow. We were cold, but we finally made it to the German side. Austria already belonged to Germany then, pocketed by Hitler in 1938. So we were on the Austrian side and safe. And so we're walking at night, when these two figures appear. We thought: "Nothing more can happen to us. Now that we're safely across the border." They were two border policemen, who took us to an office at the Brenner. There, one officer - a really nasty one - had golden epaulets. I have no idea what his rank was. He took us in, scolded us, brought us to the inn and woke the innkeeper, who then made us some tea and let us sleep. The next day, we were taken to Innsbruck to the South Tyrolean re-settlement office. We were supposed to be re-located and no longer be allowed to return to South Tyrol. Luis travelled to Styria to visit relatives and I went to Bavaria. We agreed to meet again in Innsbruck after Easter.