Chemnitz contemporary witnesses: Rolf Schneider
Rolf Schneider was the eldest of four brothers. "I was the older one and therefore the one who was a bit responsible for the family when his father went off to war." He went to the André School on Kaßberg and was on telephone duty there as a Hitler Youth. "We had to distribute advance warnings via a telephone in the school. On 14 February 1945, I went home immediately on my bike."
Rolf Schneider and his family hid in a potato cellar in the Borna district. An explosive bomb hit the neighbour's house "I can't tell you how bad it was. There was thunder and lightning. Then I got out of the house and didn't understand why it was so bright. The neighbouring house was completely gone."
After the attack in February, Rolf Schneider was called up as a soldier and was supposed to fight against the Americans in the last days of the war. At the age of 14. "In Adelsberg, someone from the regiment said to me: 'You boys, you're from here. Get lost! You're stupid, you want to take the rap? Get lost, go home, throw away your weapons!' And then my friend and I threw away our weapons and uniforms over in the Adelsberg forest and ran home. And then the war was over."
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