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.