In a row we wanted to tell about the experiences of the elderly, who can still remember the time during and after the war. Your reports, such as those in those times of crisis, which were characterized by fear and uncertainty, but also by courage and determination to face the challenges of the crisis, can give us courage, in the Corona crisis courage and creativity to shape our own lives to develop – despite all the worries and uncertainties that Corona causes. Elsa Nickel remembers that time.
Elsa Nickel was born in 1925 and celebrated her 95th birthday in March. She lives in an old people’s home. Due to the corona, the conversation with her could only be conducted by phone. Elsa Nickel had sent some memories of the time in and after the war in writing. These written memories were the starting point for the conversation.
Question: When you started the war you were 15 years old – do you remember how the war started?
Elsa Nickel: The war started on September 1, 1939. It was a Friday. I come from Waldbrunn, together with my mother I visited her sister, my aunt in Kist. We were walking. In Kist we heard on the news that the war had started. We had to walk the distance – about five kilometers – of course. The path led through the forest and I still remember that we were very scared. We walked side by side without saying a word to each other. My mother was interested in politics, and she might have guessed how much suffering would come to people. During the war I worked in an ammunition factory in Würzburg. The more it was foreseeable that Germany would lose the war, the more I was afraid to cycle to Würzburg.
In 1945, when the war was over, you were 20. What did life look like for you then?
Nickel: We had a small farm of about two hectares, which we operated as “after-work farmers”, that is, my father went to work in the forest and in the quarry. Our mother and we children had to take care of the household and small farms, when he came home from work everything had to be ready so that we could go straight to the field and do the field work. We had a team of cows that did all the field work, and of course there were no machines yet, so a lot of manual work was required.
But I still went to work, after the war I looked around, I always found jobs in casual work. So I worked in a tree nursery, in a nursery, in a herb factory. I am still grateful to the former municipal clerk of Waldbüttelbrunn, who advised me: “If you work somewhere, get registered!”
Finally, in 1950, I got a job at the Citizens’ Hospital. I worked a lot in the vineyards, often near Veitshöchheim. Of course, I had to cycle all the ways.
How about shopping?
Nickel: I can still remember that my mother sent me away with the bowl to buy roll pugs or roasting rings. They were in a barrel in the store and were loosely filled into the bowl over the counter. Rice and semolina were each packed out of a large sack in bags and weighed. For shopping at the butcher, my mother gave me a mark and said: “Get a cut for a mark – it shouldn’t cost more!”. Of course we did not know any chocolate, nor was coffee known. We made the roasted coffee ourselves from grain.
And presents?
Nickel: There was little – measured by today’s conditions: the Easter bunny brought a few eggs, the Christ child only small gifts. Back then, as I said, money was scarce.
Würzburg was largely destroyed in March 1945. How did you experience that – and what were the consequences of this destruction?
Nickel: I can still remember the bombing. Waldbrunn is about 15 kilometers away from Würzburg, we heard the bombers flying up and saw the firelight from the burning city. We were worried about our relatives: two siblings of my mother and their families lived in Würzburg. Would you survive this fire?
We were relieved that the day after the destruction of Würzburg our relatives and their families came to us in Waldbrunn. Their houses were bombed out, but they had all survived and were now looking for accommodation with us. So we lived with 16 people in our not too big house. Straw bags were spread out in the living room and other rooms so that everyone had a place to sleep. There was a wine press in the village. Large cauldrons were set up there, and everyone who found refuge in Waldbrunn from Würzburg – our relatives were not the only ones – was taken care of there and could pick up their meals there.
What memories do you have of post-war church life?
Nickel: we had to go to church every day, that was natural. The school was right next to the church, so we brought our satchels to school, and then we went to church. On Sundays, of course, in the service and in the afternoon service, followed by Christian teaching – a kind of teaching for everyone about the faith. Pastor Fröhlich, who had been a pastor in Waldbrunn for 40 years, lived up to his name, but he could also be very strict. It was a special honor for me to always be able to read from a book in class – he had taken me to his heart.
How did you get from Waldbrunn to Gernach?
Nickel: My brother had the idea of submitting a marriage announcement, I was not so much in favor of doing this at first, but then I agreed. My later husband Gregor, a native of Gernacher, obviously liked this ad and contacted me. He had been drafted into the Wehrmacht at the age of 19, was captured by the Russian Federation in the war and only returned ten years later, in 1954, from Russian captivity. That was in March 1954. In August 1954 we got married – quickly decided. “The war cost me ten years of my life” – he said that more often. I have never regretted this quick step into marriage to him. We got on well, even if we didn’t have it easy: the small farm in Gernach, the smithy that my husband ran and the care for the three sons demanded a lot from my husband and me.
What gave you the strength in these difficult times?
Nickel: I am an optimistic person from the bottom up, don’t let it get me down so easily. I inherited from my mother to be interested in many things, to be open and open to other people. The conversation helps make difficult things easier. Faith was and still is an important source of strength for me. And last but not least: I am happy that our three children are on their way – each in their own way.
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