Herr Engelbrecht's Story
Life in Berlin during the War
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Herr Engelbrecht was born in 1926 and was 12 when the war started. He lived in central Berlin. Both of his brothers and his father were soldiers. One brother was a lieutenant and the other was a sergeant. He had two sisters. One was married and the other was a secretary for the navy. His mother stayed at home.
He believed that the war was important for Germany because he had been told that the English and French had declared war on Germany in 1939 because the Germans had attacked Poland. He was told that the reasons for the Polish invasion was because the Germans living in Poland had been attacked by Poles for wearing "white socks" and Hitler was only protecting his people.
From 1939 to 1942, the war had little impact on his life but in 1942 his school was closed and turned into a hospital. As a result of this, 2 schools were merged and he began having day schooling. In 1943, his teacher told him that lessons would be slightly different. In the morning they would go to school as normal and have lessons, but in the afternoon and at night-time they were to shine lights up in the air to help the anti-aircraft guns that were defending Berlin. As the bombing of Berlin intensified, the pupils were required to be on the roof tops all the time and so eventually his teacher went onto the roofs as well and taught them there.
On the 3rd September 1943 whilst working in the roofs, they heard a
noise. He recalled: "Suddenly I was on the floor and I felt an
incredible pain in my leg, I called out to my friend but he did not
speak so I looked for him, he was lying about 30 metres away from me:
dead. He was my friend and had been in my class. I survived and had my
leg put in plaster".
Herr Engelbrecht survived and he was given the iron cross.
In 1944 he was conscripted into the army. He volunteered to be a reservist officer which meant he got to choose what job he wanted to do. He chose artillery. His job was to refill the flacks on tanks. By now, Herr Engelbrecht was beginning to question the point of the war and the orders that were coming through seemed to be getting more ridiculous. Many of the soldiers felt that they should stop but couldn't because they knew they would be shot.
In 1945 he was in a part of Germany that is now in Poland. He and the rest of the men got surrounded by Russians. They fought and managed to escape and headed west. They only walked at night and slept during the day. After five days of walking they found a small shed. They were sleeping in there on the third day when the Russians came again. The Russians set the shed on fire. All the Germans managed to get out but the Russians were waiting and caught them. They were all taken to a church where hundreds of other people were also being held so there was very little space. After a few days they were allowed to leave but there was a problem. His feet were frozen and he couldn't walk! In the end he was forced to walk and after one week they reached a hospital for German soldiers and he could rest.
At the end of the war he went home to Berlin and stayed there with his mother and family until 1951 when she died. Herr Engelbrecht said that the war was a terrible tragedy and he hoped it would never happen again.
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Page last updated: 25th February 2014