Chemnitz contemporary witnesses: Günter Baumhauer
As always, my mum put me to bed at around 19:00 on the day in question. I was woken up again after the bomb scare at around 8.30pm. I wasn't in a particularly good mood. My mum quickly got me dressed. Off we went to the cellar, which was designated as an air-raid shelter. All the cellar rooms were shored up with strong tree trunks. The house community gathered near the cellar opening into the neighbouring house. 17 adults, plus eight children aged between two months and 15 years. Everyone was excited. What could we expect? Then the noise of the aeroplanes started. The first bombs fell, along with the aerial mines, the shaking of the earth, the terrible sounds of explosions, and we were terrified. Amidst the wailing and whimpering and the crying of the children, who could not be calmed, Mrs Steinbach, little Jürgen's mother, said to my sister Edith: "You can pray, so pray for us all. My sister prayed aloud, with the Lord's Prayer as her final prayer. We all became calmer and more thoughtful. Little Jürgen slept soundly in his pram.
When the attack was over and we stepped outside, we saw a fiery red sky. The smell of burning was very strong.
The whole household gathered in our kitchen-living room on the ground floor. My father had put the double windows in the washhouse in the courtyard. They were wrapped in blankets. These were used, a fire was lit in the kitchen cooker and tea was made. All the windows in the big house were no longer in glass. The front door had also been damaged, caused by the air pressure from the bombs and air mines. We were all happy and grateful that we had survived the attack reasonably well.
My grandparents arrived in the early morning of 6 March. They lived in Äußere-Johannis-Straße. They could no longer stand the smoke and the heat. My aunt Dora also came. She lived near St Nicholas Church. The house she had lived in was completely destroyed. All she owned was what she had on her body. She was also taken in.
Many bombed-out families walked towards the Ore Mountains with the last of their belongings on handcarts, carrying children. It was all just a misery.
All citizens who have learnt nothing from history, who try to create a mood through gestures, symbols or speeches, should come to their senses and decide in favour of peaceful, friendly coexistence.
Contemporary witness brochures
The eternal March
Memories of a childhood during the war
The last witnesses
When the old Chemnitz died in a hail of bombs