My Mothers Biography (from her diary)

MY MOTHER’S BIOGRAPHY (from her diary)   _{(updated 11-Aug-25)}

Starting after her Wedding in 1934 

We had a nice reception after our wedding and enjoyed visiting with our guests at the Baptist Church in Dresden.  

After several hours, we drove to my husband’s Hometown, Freital. 

Freital is a small town about a 2-3 hour’s drive away from Dresden.  

My husband received an offer from a doctor where we could receive a small house rent free in exchange for doing chores around the property.  

I loved doing the gardening, feeding the chickens, and washing and polishing the doctor’s car.  

Also, my husband had to keep the window blinds in working condition and take care of some small repairs and upkeeps around the doctor’s office. 

We both loved doing this with boundless joy, but it was too far away from my husband’s full-time work in Dresden.  

 After a year, the Lord blessed us with our first daughter and 2 years later our second daughter was born.  

My husband worked for an insurance company at the time and the long-distance commute to his work became a problem for us. It took us 2 hours to get to Dresden by train and another half hour by streetcar.  

By now our two children were two and four years old, and we had to prepare for a change.   

My husband found a new job with the the Water and Gas supply company of Dresden.  

We moved to Dresden. 

The girls visit the kindergarten during the day while I became employed again. 

There were tremendous changes at the water and gas supply company in Dresden, and my husband got laid off. He went to the unemployment office and registered as a job seeker.  

It did not take long. He became a new job very quickly and was hired at the police authority in the main police headquarters. This made us very happy, but then it became our biggest disappointment. He was hired into the Gestapo.  

Already on the first day he told me that he was not going to stay there. He purposefully acted clumsy that they could not give him a fixed position. He had to carry files from one room to other and perform some handiwork services around the police station. As a result, he saw and heard what was going on in each office, and those activities bothered him very much. So much, that he became terribly ill with severe stomach problems. 

As he carried paperwork from room to room, he became friends with a nice young man. He was married and had 2 little girls just like us. We all became good friends.  

One day, after a long day of work, my husband came home very disturbed and told me, “Can you imagine, my friend threw himself out of the 4^th floor window down on to the concrete pavements, and he was totally shattered.” (Very suspicious and questionable) 

We were terrified.  

I talked to my husband and told him, do not do anything like that. Trust in God and if you think it is no longer possible, there is always a tiny light coming from somewhere. Getting out of there at the time was exceedingly difficult, almost impossible. He tried it anyway and one day, shortly before the outbreak of the War, or it could have been shortly after, I am not so sure anymore, he received an order to appear for a physical. Although he still had stomach problems. He had to report to the SS at a certain time.  

Here I would like to mention that my husband was not an SS man who left voluntarily. He was drafted and for this reason he did not have the SS Tattoo that all enlistees received.  

My husband often said that “I only do what I can justify with my conscience as a Christian and I will meet every Jew kindly and lovingly, as if it were my biological brother. No one should have a reason to talk about me.” 

In the meantime, our 3^rd child was born, and we named him Wilfried. Why we named him Wilfried because the last part of his name means Peace. Like we all like to have Peace not War. 

I became extremely ill. Could not keep the least bit of food on my stomach. The pain was so strong that I could hardly walk. Food did not agree with me and my trip to the restroom became very tiring for me. 

No one ever could imagine. Throughout the day I prayed for my husband. Together with my spiritual mother and my absolute best girlfriend Adelheid. I call her mother because she is my strength and encouragement with my faith.  

Hannelore was born during this time period. 

The Lord protected and guided my husband so wonderful. He was ordered to take care of the re outfitting of the Army and the SS Soldiers after they came back from the Front. Dirty, tired, and totally beaten down they came to my husband’s Workshop. Receiving new and clean clothing and sent back out to fight at the front.  

On one of those days there was his brother Walter standing in front of him. He was missing in Action for quite some time. His clothes were torn and dirty, but he was alive. His brother walter was in the army and had been missing for quite some time. He arrived in torn clothing, and we provided him a set of clean clothes so he could go visit with his family in his hometown of Freital.  

For awhile everything went very well; however, one day he received some orders, and he could not fulfill them in his good clear conscience, and he responded that he could not do this, and he said even if they shoot me, no, I will not do this. In the group of the soldiers there was one that wanted to shoot him. My husband later told me he was very calm and still as the soldier lifted his gun to shoot him. Most likely the soldier was so shocked the way he was calm that he took his gun and lowered it. I told my husband that this was his Godly protection… 

My husband wrote me a short letter, stating that I should go to the doctor and have the doctor write a note indicating that I was extremely ill and could not take care of the kids, so that he needed to come home. Our God is so wonderful, before receiving the letter, He had everything worked out. 

I took little Wilfried to the Playground, to play with other children, so I was able to go back home to do my chores. Wilfried was a very loving child as all of the kids were very loving. I had to work very slowly because I had no energy from being so sick. I stood in the room near the sofa. All of a sudden, I felt tremendous pain, as if I were being ripped apart in my waste area and broke into a large sweat. It was so painful I couldn’t even move a little finger. Immediately, I fell to the sofa and could not move from the position that I had fallen. I cannot remember how long I laid there. At some point, I realized I had to pick up little Wilfried from the playground behind the house, and I prayed and asked the Lord to give me enough strength in order to go to the playground and get him. I walked very slowly, at a snail’s pace, to make it to the front door. While at the front door, my neighbor just happened to notice me and immediately I knew the Lord had answered my prayer. My neighbor said “Mrs. Böhme, what’s wrong with you? You look terrible.” My whole body looked dark yellow. I barely had the strength to tell her that little Wilfried was on the playground, and our two older children were not home at that time. She was so sweet to go pick up little Wilfried and then notify the doctor. As I use the bathroom, my urine was black as coffee and my stool was very white. I had to lay motionless in the bed for several days. There was no medicine available as it was used for war purposes. After a while I was able to move slowly and yes, God helped me through that, too. He sent a 14 year old teenager living in the house to our front door. She took care of the children and prepared meals for them until I could get back on my feet and slowly do my chores, because I could not tolerate food and couldn’t eat for weeks. My Aunt Wesemann came daily visiting me and took my children on her lap singing and praying with them. 

Some days later as I was taking little Wilfried to the potty, all of a sudden, he fell over sideways. As I picked him up, his eyes rolled so much that I could only see the whites of his eyes and there were no pupils to be seen. I was shocked to death. I immediately took him down three flights of stairs into his stroller and to the doctor. When we got to the doctor’s office, his eyes were back to normal. As I was explaining the situation to the doctor, he informed me that it sounded as if it were polio. He said he hoped it was not polio but said we needed to prepare as if it is. He sent us home and ordered an ambulance, so by the time we arrived home, the ambulance would already be there waiting for us. If it was polio, he immediately needed to receive a shot in the bone marrow of his back before the paralysis set in, so we could save the child. As I was on the way home with him, the same thing occurred with his eyes that had previously happened. The ambulance took him immediately, and it wasn’t very long before a representative from the health department contacted me and requested that I go to the hospital immediately to sign the paperwork for the treatment of polio. I was able to do what I needed to do, even though I was still feeling bad with my illness and could barely walk. 

In the meantime, they sent my husband home. He also was still ill and mentally very broken. He was very quiet as he was facing the firing squad and had been stripped of his ranking. He also had been tortured, beaten and declared untrustworthy. All those actions left a deep scar within him.  

My children were very concerned about me and helped out as much as they could, as well as the 14-year old teenager girl living in the house who was always willing to help out. As my loving husband came home, he wanted to visit Wilfried in the hospital. Wilfried was in isolation, and we could only visit him through a glass window. My husband was very happy when his little son recognized him right away. As we were on our way home, all of a sudden, my husband got to feeling so ill that he could hardly walk and climb up the stairs into the street car. Also, our oldest daughter stayed at home at the time, and complained that she wasn’t feeling well at all, and both my husband and daughter laid down to rest. As I saw them both in the morning, they were both fully covered in a reddish-blue rash and were running a high fever. I ordered the doctor to come to the house, and he immediately diagnosed them with scarlet fever. The doctor gave me strict orders to isolated them in a separate room, because it was very contagious. I had to wear a white coat around me that could be boiled and sanitized every time I came out of their room. All the household water needed to be sanitized so no one else became infected with the illness. Since my little 14-year old helper was forbidden to come over and help us, I had to be the sole caretaker of my dear husband and daughter. However, there was one person who stayed loyal: my Christian mentor, “Muttel”. She told me that she was not afraid of getting infected and said she would never leave us stranded. She came daily, changed into a white coat, which she wore the whole time in the apartment. We prayed together, especially for me to have strength to take care of everything. In the meantime, I had to pick up little Wilfried from the hospital. I’m unsure how many weeks my husband and daughter were ill. After they were well again, I had to visit the department of health so they could come and disinfect the whole apartment. On the way home, I could barely climb the three floors to the apartment. Reaching the apartment, I made it to the sofa and immediately started experiencing labor pain. The ambulance came and took me to the hospital where Peter was born.  

There were no vegetables available for me to rebuild my strength, but God guided me to the health store, where I was able to buy spinach juice for myself. It gave me the strength, and I was able to nurse little Peter for six months. The spinach juice tasted awful! With God’s blessing, little Peter became strong and healthy.  

In the meantime, the doctor declared my husband well, and with this, a new chapter began, creating fear and struggle in us both. He received orders from Berlin that he need to report there, with the guarantee that he could return home within several days. However, my husband told me that he didn’t trust the orders and that he felt that there was no telling where they would send him. Because as an average soldier, they beat them and drug them through mud, so they would toughen up, in order to go to the front. In the end, he had to leave for Berlin.  

However, God didn’t give His ok to that and organized another plan. I received a telegram that he couldn’t return home. In the meantime, I asked my Christian mentor, “Muttel”, to come and stay with the children for a couple of days, so the teenage girl from the house didn’t have to come to stay with them, because I wanted to go to Berlin. Muttel was always willing and able to come and help me, so I was able to go. As I arrived at the base, there was a guard standing at the entrance and refused to allow me to enter. I pleaded with him, and wore him down so long, until it was his lunch break, and then he personally guided me in. That created a new experience for me. As I arrived at the barracks, my husband was shocked to see me. After the lunch break, the whole squad of soldiers had to appear in front of the commanders. It was a hot day, and the windows were all open. I had to crawl under a bench under the window, because I promised the gate guard that I wouldn’t let anyone see me. From there I could hear everything going on outside, even the little stones that made noise. Here I became very proud of my husband. They pressured him, in front of his fellow soldiers who became witnesses, that he should voluntarily join the SS. The commander yelled at him so much and loudly, that it sounded as if he were going to Burst out of his britches, and the commander lost his patience. However, I didn’t hear a peep out of my husband’s mouth. The whole company of soldiers stood so still, and not one person said anything. I was very happy that he was withstanding the pressure and kept praying that he received the strength not to cave in. He stood fast. As it got dark, my husband guided me out and accompanied me to the train station. His prediction came true, in that he was not able to return home anymore. God had another plan in mind. He was packed up and transferred with his squad to the Eastern front; however, they only made it to Krakow, Poland. In Krakow, they needed someone with a good business education and memory. My husband fulfilled that skill requirement perfectly. Since my husband worked earlier as an actor in theatre, he had a good memory. He received a job in a school in Krakow, where he could do good on a daily basis. He blossomed in that environment and became happy again, and his old self returned the way it had been before the war. Our whole family was then transferred to Krakow.  

We became friends with another family, and their daughter was able to play with my children, but only indoors in the apartment. Our new friends were very caring, and we became great friends, as we were all Christians and able to pray together. One day, everything came to an end. We heard the shots from the Russian soldiers. The school was dismantled, and all the families were immediately sent home to Germany. We moved back to Dresden at that time, and he stayed in Krakow. As the soldiers came near, my husband was wounded right from the beginning, receiving and eye injury and internal abdominal injury. They transferred him to a field hospital and was later transferred to a hospital in Würzburg, Germany. As my husband heard of the bombing in Dresden, even with his injuries and pain, he made a trip to Dresden to try and find us. He arrived at our old apartment, which after the bombing, was only a pile of rubble. He stood there crying, unaware of what happened to the family. We had left Dresden during the bombing to go to Freital, to our in-laws. From there, I adventured out with my children, heading the direction of Würzburg, on foot, to where I thought my husband was supposed to be. At this point, my husband and I lost contact with each other for many years.