Esther Posner - March 11, 1986
Waiting for Liberation
And the house was bombed out.
Mm-hm and so the people had to leave their home. And my parents had to leave where they staying and the Mussing's brought them to where I was. So this time we were all together and April 5th we were liberated there. And it was a very, very exciting, happy time for us. And we knew it was coming and we knew it was the very end. And my aunt who uh, who was a--always liked to take a bit of a, was a risk taker, said she's going to go and find out exactly when they're leaving. I remember my family was from Germany so they spoke German fluently, perfectly, I mean, like a German. And my aunt went over to whoever was in charge there and she asked to see Commissioner whatever his name was of the Germans, and she was led in and she said that she was a German seamstress and she had been living in Delden and now she had to run and she wanted to know when they were leaving because she wanted to leave with them. So they told her where to meet them and when they were leaving and she came back to the house and she told us when they--when the Germans were moving out and she went, you know, the underground came and found out. But, you know, these were the last few days and, and it was--everybody was really very happy and excited and, and, and we knew that they were moving out.
You never experienced any shooting or any--I mean, apart from the bombings--I mean, the underground didn't, didn't come up above ground with guns and attack the Germans while you were there.
No, no I never. There were incidents, but you know never--I never saw anything like that. Um, when we were actually liberated uh, the children were told to go downstairs in the basement and the basements were very well uh, all the basements in, in these homes had--they, they kept shelves there for canned goods. You know, they didn't have the refrigeration we have today, so all the--it was like--it was cold storage in the basement. So there were all these shelves. And we took all the food off there and put mattresses on there and that's where we slept and we slept in the basement for three days like that. The adults came down too because there was a lot of bombing the last couple of days. And my mother stayed upstairs doing all the cooking and providing for the family. And one day we--everybody yelled up, "Come down, come on down," and she finally came down. And within an hour there was a--the kitchen had been bombed uh, of the house we were in and the garage too. So uh, you know, there, there were people who got killed...
Right at the end.
...during the liberation. What?
Right at the end.
Right at the end--'til the very end.
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