Chemnitz contemporary witnesses: Ruth Berbaum
My experience on those days in 1945 before the bomb scare.
In February 1945, as a 15-year-old, I went to the Uhlandstrasse household school and childcare class. The headmaster was Dr Nitschke and there were various teachers. The lessons had already been cut. That's what happened in January - February 1945: air raid alert!
Everyone wanted to get home. Everyone hurried away. Some of the trams stopped running. My line, then line 3 Rottluff, was cancelled. Only line 8 Weststr. was still running. I travelled with a classmate to the end of Weststr. I hurried from there via Waldenburger Straße to Rottluff. Past the Wiesenburg, petrol station and from the wooden plank (pond) Kalkstraße to Rottluffer Straße. The bombers could be heard from the route to Dresden. The alarm was sounded everywhere. One man hurried along the wooden planks. I finally reached Rottluffer Straße. I finally reached my parents' house. My mother and neighbours were sitting in the cellar. They were amazed when I arrived. A few days later, our town was bombed. Refugees from the city centre came by with some of their belongings. They stopped first and wanted to continue on to Rabenstein. It was simply terrible. I'm grateful that nothing worse happened here. There were a few bomb craters in the meadow. You often think back to events like that and they stay with you.
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