麻豆约拍

鈥淚t brings tears into my eyes.鈥�

Ulrich was 8 when the war in Europe came to an end. He was living in Kiel under Russian occupation. His father was a telephone engineer repairing the city鈥檚 infrastructure.

Although Ulrich remembers the creation of new green spaces in the city, it is his memories of Russian tanks that still haunt him today.

At the start of the war, he was living in Stettin. Following bombing raids, he and his family left for the village of Bann. It was here that he saw evacuees from neighbouring places warn of the impending arrival of Russian troops and heard their gun fire.

鈥淪uddenly the front is where you live,鈥� he says.

Fearing for their safety, Ulrich, his sister and their mother walked through the snow to the nearest train station. Travelling in covered wagons, they saw Russian tanks in the moonlight. Those tanks were soon to take Berlin and begin the end of Germany鈥檚 war.

鈥淚t was frightening because suddenly it was all chaos.鈥�

Image: A young Ulrich

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