Where is one to begin when the pictures of the past are crowding in on one’s mind? When one relives an event as if it were yesterday?
I am Inga Martinow, born in Poserna, Germany. I wanted to share the memories of my childhood with my grandchildren in Australia to let them know about the different lifestyles of long ago Germany, about social conditions, real problems and about how World War II affected our lives, so this is my story.
My husband, Werner Weinert, had started his career with the German Navy at the beginning of World War II. In June 1943, he was to be posted to Greece and we rushed into a typical war wedding before his departure. His letters posted to me over one and a half years contain personal impressions, thoughts and feelings and the constant hope for the overdue leave which did not eventuate until April 1945. They are a record of a young man’s maturation, of his intellectual development and of his passionate love for me.
Finally he got leave, giving him just one week to get to know his little one year old son. The train which was to bring him back to his small family in Germany was bombed by US aircraft. He died on April 11, three weeks before the armistice. He was twenty-four years old, but our memories spanned a lifetime.
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