Reuniting with his brother
Alfred Bäcker, a soldier of the Wehrmacht, remembers his service in the army in Finland: "We were left for two years without a single vacation and we served for one and a half years in the north, in Finland. One day, a soldier – a friend of mine – came to our unit and as I introduced myself, he said 'Oh, you're Bäcker, we also have a guy named Bäcker in our unit.' Now I don't remember anymore whether it was the fifth or the third battery. One day, when we were stretching the wires, I went to that battery and I asked if there was Bäcker serving in their unit. They said that they do have a Bäcker there. And it was my brother. Four thousand kilometers away from home - and we would reunite at the front line. That was before the Christmas Eve of 1941 and thus we could celebrate Christmas together. That was the best thing that had happened to me there. Then we agreed that we'd take the first opportunity to go home together. The opportunity came on Christmas 1942. We traveled together on one ship from O'Lovernbrok to Danzig (now Gdańsk). From Danzig, we went on a train to Dresden and from Dresden to České Budějovice. It was Christmas 1942. Then we came back together, back to the front line in Finland. Then I got sick in Finland, there was a problem with my lungs, but my brother remained there. I was taken with no weapons on a Red-Cross train via Sweden to Germany again. And then I had about a year to recover."
Hodnocení
Abyste mohli hodnotit musíte se přihlásit!
Trasy
Příběh není součastí žádné trasy.
Komentáře
Alfred Bäcker
Alfred Bäcker was born in September 1921 in České Budějovice into a mixed marriage. His mother's family was originally Czech, his father's family was German. His father worked for the gasworks in České Budějovice – built by Alfred's grandfather. According to the family tradition, his brother's name was Wilhelm, and since his family was proud to be German, they wanted the younger son's name to be German as well. However, for political reasons, he was given an international name. Since the age of seven, Alfred attended a German school in České Budějovice due to the personnel changes that had taken place there. Subsequently, he attended a grammar school. He graduated in 1939 and then was sent to Nuremberg, where he was trained as a telephone operator. He was subsequently drafted to the Wehrmacht and was placed on service to Finland. In Finland, he spent about a year and a half. In the course of this period of time, he found his brother and they spent time together on their way back home to celebrate Christmas. Then they had to return to service in the army and Alfred Bäcker was wounded. He was transferred to Munich. In Munich – after his recovery – Alfred received military education and was sent back to the front lines, this time to the western front lines, to the Ardennes. Here he served as an aspiring sergeant. He was wounded again and taken to hospital. As artillery officers were in short supply, he was soon transferred to Hungary where he suffered from pneumonia after having held guard on the tower. From Hungary, he got into a hospital in Vienna. After recovering he decided to go home and it was at home where he witnessed the end of the war and the activities of the partisans. Despite imprisonment, he managed to return to Dobrá Voda, home to his parents, and they succeeded to flee across the border together with the German army. Alfred Bäcker spent the rest of his life in Austria. He died on September 10, 2012.
