Chemnitz contemporary witnesses: Waltraud Spitzner

At that time I lived in Chemnitz, Jakobstr. 12, which was the semi-detached house of the former Ballhaus Zweiniger.

I still remember that night very clearly, even though I was still so small. 2 years 7 months. Our cellar was supported by a lot of thick posts, there were pots of water in every free space on the floor, it was just like that. A neighbour gave me a rusk, which unfortunately fell out of my hand and into just such a bowl of water. I cried pitifully because the rusk was soaked immediately. We all moved close together until the noise was over. When we came back upstairs, a bomb had fallen in the neighbouring house, No. 14, right next to ours. Thank God nobody was hurt. According to my childhood memories, all the residents of the front house had gone to the back of the house. Although I was still so small, everything still sticks in my mind. Later, when Chemnitz was being cleaned up, my mother worked as a rubble woman.