One Half

Once upon a time, there was a young girl called Helene, who lived in the very east of Poland. She lived on a farm with her parents, two brothers and a sister and times were good. Her father was tall and strong with a large moustache and looked after the family well. Although Helene and her family lived in Poland, they spoke German at home and were of German background.

Gradually, rumours began to reach the family that times were not good and that changes were ahead. This was brought home one day when Fritz, Helene's beloved older brother, appeared in a bright new uniform and said he was going away for a while.

The next few years were very hard. Helene's father died, and her brothers were away, leaving Helene to look after the farm with her mother, as Helene's sister had married and moved away. Fritz, her brother, was able to help when he came home on leave, but one day a man came to the farm with a piece of paper and they knew Fritz wouldn't be coming home anymore.

One day the mayor of the nearest town came running to the farm. Russian soldiers were coming from the east and Helene and her mother had two hours in which to gather as much as they could and leave. They packed up what they could and joined a long convoy moving west. It was a terrible journey with a lot of death and disease. As ethnic Germans, they also encountered a lot of hostility on the way.

Finally, they found a place much further west where they could be safe. Helene found work on a farm. One day, a quiet, thin man appeared who needed work. He didn't say much and only had the clothes that he was wearing. His name was Leo and he came from the same area further east as Helene. It was never quite clear what had happened to him but they formed a bond and married.

Ten years, and three daughters later, Helene and Leo were leading a quiet life on their small holding. They realised, however, that there was no future for their daughters where they lived. It was a society in which free speech was discouraged and everyone was encouraged to tell the authorities what their neighbours were up to. They decided to moved further west again.

The problem was that this was not allowed. So they packed up a few clothes to make it look like they were going away for a weekend and travelled to the capital. Later this town would have a wall, dividing east from west, but their trip was in the days before the wall. They took a huge risk by just boarding a tram into the west and praying that their documents wouldn't be checked. It worked. They made it across but with only the clothes in their bag. Their eldest daughter cried when she realised she wouldn't see her bicycle again. The children didn't know they wouldn't be going back until they were safely in the west.

After two years in a refugee camp and two more years living in Leo's employers garage while they built their own house, Leo and Helene and their three daughters moved into their own home in the very west of the country. Helene, however, would always refer to her village in the very east of Poland, as 'home'.

This story ends with Helene's and Leo's eldest daughter marrying her pen-pal - a handsome soldier from England. They had a beautiful, flaxen-haired baby and called her 'Booky Goatherd' (what a bizarre name!).