Jan Teichmann

"I still remember that sentence, how my mother said: 'What are we going to do now?' It was Christmas, the cakes were baked. My father wasn't dead yet, but he was very ill. 'What are we going to do now?' My mother didn't have much idea how to work in the fields because she had children. And now she was alone. I was the oldest, but I was only ten years old. And now what? Who's going to do it? She had to hire people who rode horses. I don't know if we already had horses or not... It wasn't pleasant. My mother must have been really competent to do all that. Both with the cattle and in the field. And also with the family."

"Each family member was allowed to take one bag of essential things. We had these ready and were waiting for the car. As the car came from behind the neighbours, we were told that we would not leave now. Not until the next transport. So everything was unpacked again and it was over. And then there was no more expulsion. It was discovered that we couldn't go to Germany because my parents were in a mixed marriage. - Have you thought about it since then? Did you think it would be better if you went to Germany too? - Well, you know... That first time in Germany, it wasn't easy for those people. Because they were told that if they were decent people, they wouldn't have been thrown out. From home."