Patrizia Schween interviews her 85 – year – old grandfather

P.:  Where and how did you spend your childhood? Tell us about a normal day.

G.: I grew up in a well-ordered household together with my parents and my two sisters up to the beginning of World War II. We usually had to get up at 6.30 a.m., school started at 8:00 und finished at 1:30 p.m. Then I went home for lunch. Our father arrived later – he was a miner. After the meal, we did our homework. During spring and summer, the children had to help in the garden with orchards and potatoes and then our day was almost over. We sometimes had time to play football in the school yard.

At that time we all thought to have too little leisure time, but today I would say that there was an equilibrium between free time and duties.

P.: Do you have other memories of your childhood?

G.: I have several good and some bad ones. First the good ones: I grew up with parents who appreciated us children und who educated us well. As a bad memory I recall the fact that our house was situated between two schools and that is why I could constantly be supervised.

P.: If you compare your free time as a youth and that of the young today.

G.: Well, TV, which is very important today, did not exist. Our parents had a radio and that was all; radio was the only source of entertainment. Apart from that we played games or we children did sports.

P.: Do you see a difference in the way of children’s education then and now?

G.: It seems to me that nowadays children are educated more freely. We in our childhood would not have noticed this because it was normal for children to obey adults and follow our parents who were in control. We had to fulfil our duties without questioning them. We followed a common pattern and thus never judged our education in a negative way.

P.: Give an example of such ‘duties’ or of your parents’ expectations.

G.: I was expected to hand in good school reports. Our written papers had to be signed by them. Above all, I had to be an applicant scholar. After the first four years at primary school I attended a Grammar school for the following 9 years, from Sexta, Quinta, Quarta to Oberprima and then did my A- Levels, which we call ‘Abitur’.

P.: Did you like school?

G.: I took a great pleasure in attending school. This was, of course, due to my good results.

I assume there was more discipline than there is today, not only at school but in society as a whole. Youth respected their elders – respect was taken for granted. This is an important difference to today.

P.: Was your ‘social status’ at school important?

G.: Yes, I wanted to be accepted by my classmates. So I tried to be good at sports.

P.: What about teachers then and now?

G.: I can only refer to my own experiences: We always had excellent teachers who tried hard to give their best, who helped us in difficult situations and who were fair to each of their students. This was the more important as part of my years at school took part during WW II, a time when learning had become difficult. Air raids often interrupted our school day and at home we often had to seek refuge in sheltered rooms.

P.: Let us approach the topic of gender roles then and do you realize a different role of  men and women?

G.: Yes, the role of the sexes has become different. Nowadays many women have got jobs, which in the past was a rare exception. Women used to be the guardian of the house. They worked in the garden and were responsible for the education of the children. Take, for example, the laundry for a family of five persons. This was hard work as there were no washing machines. The laundry was done every 5 to 6 weeks and by then there were piles of it. Tumble driers did not exist either.

 I remember that it was out of the question to bring a girl-or a boyfriend home, which seems to have become normal today.

P.: Do you think that people were more helpful in your youth than they are today?

G.:  I would answer in a positive way. This was in particular due to the war situation: bombardment of towns, destroyed houses and thus lack of accommodation, difficulties in providing oneself with sufficient food – all this made people more willing to help one another.

P.: What was it like for you to go to war?

G.: In the beginning, we young ones were enthusiastic. It was just like that. As boys we had been drilled in the ‘Hitler Youth’ organization and had been influenced by Nazi ideology.

So we did not think of war as negative. My father’s opinion though was quite the opposite. He as an anti-Nazi was often threatened to be imprisoned.

I can never forget the time of war, especially the bombardments and the hardship we had to endure. Like all other youth of my age, I was drafted in 1943 and had to join an anti aircraft unit. Our school had already been evacuated to a town in the East because of air raids in the industrialized area of the Ruhr. Heavy industry supplied the Reich and the Army with coal, iron or steel. Our battery of 16 –year-old soldiers was first transferred to Upper Silesia and was finally moved to the concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. There we realized what had been going on. No one today can imagine the shame and grief we felt.

P.: Which pieces of advice would you now give to us young?

G.: One should reflect about the enormous changes that have happened since the 1950ies.

Today we live in what might be called a ‘consumers’ society’, in a world of abundance and affluence here in the West where most of us possess more than is needed in everyday’s life.

We have sufficient food, often too much so that people waste it or throw it away.  Incredible to those people who have experienced hunger and misery in their youth. I remember the first years after the War when, for example, oranges were first offered on the market: one family of 5 persons could purchase 3 oranges after queuing up for a long time. Nobody today can imagine such a situation any more. Our experiences were quite different from those of the present generation.

 So my advice  to the youth is: be less materialistic and consider more human values, be more thoughtful and never forget how well-off we are and, last of all, do not only criticize each and everything.

P.: Thank you for this interesting interview.

G.: You are welcome.

Britta Bienek interviews her 83 – year – old grandmother

B.: Where and how did you spend your childhood?

G.: I spent my childhood in the country. We lived in the East before the War and had a farm there. We played with all and everything.

B.: Which are your memories?

G.: I have a lot of nice memories about my childhood as I enjoyed great liberties: no fences for us, only for our animals.

B.: Could you tell us about your average school day?

G.: All pupils from year 1 to year 8 sat in one class at our primary school and all had the same teacher.

B.: How many pupils were you then?

G.: From the village and the surrounding farms came about twenty, 7 of my age in the first year. Each year group was given different tasks as the teacher was mainly occupied with the elder ones. I spent four years at primary and then changed into secondary in town with a teacher for each form. So as it is still today.

B.: Tell us about your teachers. Were they different from ours?

G.: They were rather serious, strict and in most cases older than yours today .When the Second World War started, most male teachers had to join the army and women replaced them as substitutes. Teachers were persons who commanded respect and their words counted. We simply obeyed.

B.: Did you learn a lot?

G.: Yes. We were taught the same basic subjects as you today. My favourite subjects were Geography, German or Natural Sciences. I hated History as dates were a dead matter to me.

B.: How would you characterize the main differences of school now and then?

G.: You are taught more subjects and school today is more internationally orientated. School life now seems to have become more hectic and full of stress. The system has undergone too many changes in too short a time and this not always for the best. I am a bit sorry for you today.

B.: Tell us about the relationship of parents to their children.

G.: It was quite good. I had 4 brothers. Our parents did not have much time for us, but the relationship was cordial. We felt like a big clan. My father had 10 siblings and my mum 6. We all – the huge number of cousins included - had great fun.

B.: In how far did the War have an influence on your childhood? What did your parents expect from you?

G.: I survived. The war caused a lit of grave changes for my family and me: we, as refugees, had to leave our village, our farm, all our belongings behind in the East. We had to find a new home in the West, find a place where to settle . At first we were put up in emergency accommodations. School for me was over and we had to find work and enough to eat to survive. You had no expectations then. In such a situation you can only fight for yourself and that is what I did.

B.: Let us talk about gender roles .Was there a clear allocation between men and women?

G.: Yes, there was. Differences between the sexes were much greater. Women today have a lot more liberties. In my youth women were a sort of servants and had to fulfil their duties in the family. Their main aim was marriage. Marriages then were mostly arranged by adults. All this has changed a lot as today you choose your partner yourself which is much nicer.

B.: Let us approach the importance of values. Were good manners in your youth more important than today?

G.: Good manners have always been important but today they seem to be practised less. In my youth, bad manners were regarded as a ‘faux pas’ and caused a bad reputation. Good manners meant: cleanliness, good behaviour, politeness : the young used to greet their elders or offered a seat in the train, bus or tram. Today this sort of behaviour seem to have vanished or has become rare. Ethics and moral standards have immensely changed. After the war, society has changed enormously with the millions of refugees. Later the change was caused by a ‘muddling up’ of all sorts of people such as immigrants, political or economic efugees or asylum seekers. They all arrived with different moral values. Today our society faces a lot of changes . Let us, for example, only mention the fast sequence of electronic inventions which influence us and change our lives. We had no computers and when calculating, we used our brains. I still do so. In the supermarket, I add the prices and then pay to the astonishment of the woman at the cashier the exact amount of money. This is a hobby of mine.

B.: What about the importance of material things?

G.: Yes were important, of course, but less than today where human values are less considered. In my family luxurious things did not count, we only catered for things we needed for everyday life. There were also rich people living in villas; we called them ‘decadent society’. Differences between the rich and the poor have always existed. In my youth in the country, we had no magazines or TV, only the radio was available. So we knew a lot less than people do today.

B.: You lived in different countries. Which differences did you experience?

G.: My vision of the world has changed. My attitude of tolerance has increased. I have no prejudices. This is also due to my education as we grew up in a liberal way and we have always been tolerant to other people.

B.: What about ‘mobbing’?

G.: This word was unknown to us. At school, we integrated all: newcomers, strangers, bombed-out ones and no one was excluded. Only during the last two decades I have noticed a negative development in our society.

B.: What is your advice to young people?

G.: To be more thoughtful. You should understand how good your lives today are and you should not grumble so often about this or that.

B.: Thank you, grandmother, for the interview.

G.: You are welcome.

Pia May interviews her 78 – year – old grandmother

P.: Where did you spend your childhood and which are your memories of that time?

G.: I lived with my parents in Northern Germany. It was very nice at home. We had a river behind our house in which we swam a lot.

P.: Would you describe an average day when you were at my age.

G.: We children had to help a lot at home and on the fields: collecting potatoes, milk the cows or bundle the corn. But we also played a lot: rounders, dodgeball, tennis and we learnt how to play the piano.

P.: If you compare your and my leisure time activities, what would you say?

G.: Our lives were quiet whereas life today has become ever so hectic.

P.: Describe your school life.

G.: In my time teachers were much stricter. Today, I suppose, they are sometimes too lax. I don’t know which way is the better one though.

P.: How were you educated?

G.: In former times education was quite severe, in general. As to my family, however, we lived in a more liberal way. Today children are educated in a free way, too. My parents did not expect me to follow them blindly, and so I enjoyed my personal freedom.

P.: What about gender roles?

G.: At school, I cannot remember any differences between the sexes. In society, men had a greater authority. I was even allowed to bring a male friend home.

Especially shortly after the War, religious denominations - being a Catholic or a Protestant –

played an important role. There were even separate school which now is the exception.

P.: Were people in your youth more socially inclined or more helpful?

G.: No, I don’t think so.

P.: Did or does your family mean a lot to you?

G.: Yes, this is the case. I had a very good relationship with my parents.

P.: How important were material things for you?

G.: Social aspects, values and good manners have always been more important to me than material things.