Re: Questions for elders.
Ernest Blaschke (aa568@freenet.toronto.on.ca)
Fri, 12 Jan 1996 10:35:33 -0500
KP=> Karen Player - History Teacher:
KP=> As part of the examination course we are completing we need
KP=> to interview people about some of their war time
KP=> experiences. We have compliled a group of questiona and
KP=> would be very grateful if people could find time to answer
KP=> some of them. Many thanks Year 11 Wilson Stuart School.
Dear Karen,
Just recently another school posed pretty much the same
questions. I shall answer your questions below, but for a more
detailed response, I am appending my answers to the previous
enquiry. Also note that I lived in Vienna at the time which then
was part of Germany.
KP=> QUESTIONS
KP=> 1 How old were you when war broke out?
7 years old.
KP=> 2 How did you first hear the news of the outbreak of war?
Radio.
KP=> 3 What was your most memorable event during the war?
The occupation of the city by Soviet troops.
KP=> KP=> 4 Did rationing of food effect you personally?
It did everyone.
KP=> 5 Were you in an air raid at any time ?
Yes, many times.
KP=> 6 Were you or members of your family in the armed forces?
No.
KP=> 7 How did you cope with being seperated from loved ones?
I kept busy with schooling.
KP=> 8 How did you feel when your first left home for the forces
KP=> or to be evacuated?
I voluntarily left Vienna and stayed with farmers in the country
side for a year during the war, then returned to my parents in
Vienna as the Russian troops approached.
KP=> 9 How did you keep in contact with your family?
While I was away, by mail.
KP=> 10 What of all the things that you couldn't get in the war
KP=> did you miss most?
There were many things we couldn't get, but survival seemed more
important than shortages.
========================
Hope this was helpful.
Here are my previous answers to much of the same questions:
To Mr.Peters and his students in Cottage Grove Jr.High:
I'll try to answer a few of the questions raised by you about
World War II and how I perceived it at the time. Many of you
asked the same questions, so let me reply to the common ones
first, before I go on to the others:
Q: How old were you during the war?
A: I was about your age or a shade younger, 14 to be exact, when the
war ended in 1945.
Q: Where did you live?
A: In Wien (better known as Vienna in English speaking
countries). The country Oesterreich (Austria) with its capital
Vienna was taken over by Germany in 1938, and became a German
"province" called "Ostmark". So during the war it was part of
Germany. After the war Austria again became an independent
country.
Q. Were you in the army ,did you fight in the war, did you have a
choice etc.
A. No I was too young.
Now to a few specifics:
Matt asked did I approve or disapprove of the war.
A: Due to some Jewish ancestry I thoroughly approved of the war
and was sorry that the US took so long and only joined the war
when it was almost too late to prevent a German victory.
Where was I when Pearl Harbour was bombed?
A: At the time Pearl Harbour meant nothing to us. Now I am glad
that the Japanese did bomb the fleet at Pearl Harbour, otherwise
The US might have stayed out of the war and all of Europe and
Britain might have been conquered by Hitler. That would have cost
many more lives and misery than the losses at Pearl Harbour.
Alicia's, Nicole's and Christine's questions were pretty well
answered above.
Ryan wanted to know about scary moments during the war.
A: There were many. Daily air raids were pretty scary, sometimes
adjacent buildings were hit and collapsed in rubble. Also being
searched by Russian soldiers for weapons with a gun to your head
was not a pleasant experience. But in general the Russian
soldiers which fought their way into Vienna and drove out the
German army were quite humane and fed us civilians with their own
supplies.
Kerri wants to know whether I had any good memories from the war.
A: Lots of good memories, not related to the war, but of good
times with friends, school, sports etc. Life goes on and everyone
tries to enjoy themselves as much as possible under whatever
circumstances prevail. Look at the poor people in Sarajevo
recently. They still tried to pursue everyday tasks even under
the worst conditions.
Angela and Melissa enquired about scarcity of common items during
the war.
A: Most food was rationed. If you ran out of meat and desperately
wanted some more you could eat in expensive restaurants, which
had a better supply of food, or you could trade some of your
possessions for food with farmers. You could also trade ration-
coupons for cigarettes for almost anything. Smokers would give
up a lot of other "goodies" for cigarettes. After the end of the
war food shortages became more critical and it was massive
American aid that helped out tremendously.
Melissa also wanted to know how I found out that the war was
going on and about air-raids.
A: If you meant, how did I find out that the war had _started_
It was of course front page news and on the radio. There was no
TV at the time.
In the last year of the war there were daily air-raids over
Vienna. They were invariably during the daytime between 9 and 2
o'clock and there was plenty of warning. US bombers would take
off in Italy, cross the alps, at which time radio stations in
Austria would send out a cuckoo-call, like in the cuckoo-clocks.
This was a warning that "enemy planes" were on their way and
would reach Vienna in about 1/2 hour. As soon as they were
spotted over the outskirts of town the air-raid sirens would come
on and people would go into their shelters. (Generally the
basements of the apartment buildings where they lived). Of
course, direct hits would kill many people. However, most of the
time, even when buildings collapsed, people managed to dig
themselves out or were dug out by rescuers. However there were
also two kinds of "safe" places in the city, safe even from air
attack. And many people, myself included after a particularly
close call, took shelter there. It meant taking the streetcar
daily, in the morning, to the city centre, waiting for the air-
raid sirens, and then descending into the catacombs. This was a
network of 3 story deep underground tunnels built by the Romans
and accessible from the basements of certain old buildings in
town. After the planes had left and the "all clear" siren
sounded, we would take the streetcar back home, or if the
streetcars were out of commission, walked home a few miles.
Usually repairs to utilities were done fast, mostly overnight.
Another safe place were two huge (about 5 storey high)
cylindrical cement towers. They were built to withstand direct
hits and had a flat roof with anti-aircraft guns on top of it.
Being inside those towers was also safe, although they would be
expected to be a prime target, they were never damaged.
Mandy asks what I did after the war.
A: When it looked like Vienna might share the fate of Berlin,
being surrounded by Russian occupied territory, I thought it was
time to leave, before Vienna might find itself behind the iron
curtain. So I came to Canada and lived here ever since. Luckily
Austria never suffered the complete partition Germany did, and
remained a free and western country.
Mechelle, Brian, Kelly asked questions similar to the others.
I hope I have addressed some of your concerns, and other people
will no doubt give you a different perspective as well. If you
have any more questions, feel free to write to me, I'll try to
answer them.
Ernest Blaschke - Toronto - Canada
e-mail to: aa568@freenet.toronto.on.ca