Many years ago, I asked my husband about his escape from Rabenstein, Germany. At that time, he told me the story from a child’s point of view.
Rabenstein was a small town on the newly created border between East and West Germany in the state of Saxony. At first, it was on the West and then with another iteration of the map, it was on the East.
I decided that if I wanted a more complete answer to my question, I would need to ask my mother-in-law. Hertha had learned English after arriving in Texas, but without the luxury of spare time to learn it well. I had started taking German in college but quickly came to the conclusion I was not going to do well. So we stumbled along in English.
Hertha’s Story
As best as I can, I am going to recount the escape story as she told it to me and not include details that the family found later. I want to pass her story down to her descendants as she told it.
I will never forget the look of shock and remembered fear on Hertha’s face when I told her that my husband only remembered a relatively uneventful train trip from their home in Rabenstein to an apartment building in West Germany.
Why Did They Need to Escape?
Hertha was a child of Liddi and Franz Lippert. She said her father was an “enemy of the state.” East Germany was now communist and her parents owned a store, a brewery, and a brewery distributorship. Her father had not in good standing with the Nazi regime that preceded the war and was just as belligerent with the new communist regime. And if these were not enough crimes, he had managed to sneak others out of East Germany including his eldest daughter’s son.
Hertha’s younger sister had immigrated to Texas to marry an American soldier. Her brother had worked extensively to overcome his father’s political stance and had earned a position in the Nazi party as a chauffeur. In the communist regime, her brother was now an issue too.
Hertha was a recent widow with three young children when the escape took place. This photo seems to be the last one before the death of her husband.
Under Surveillance
Due to all these issues with her parents and siblings, she was under surveillance by the Russian soldiers. The soldiers stationed at the border towns were violent thugs, so just being noticed was dangerous. She knew she needed to get her mother and her children out of Rabenstein before they were beaten or raped, but the constant surveillance made planning difficult.
Downsizing
Hertha started getting rid of their possessions. She traded everything she could for jewelry, cameras, or fur coats. She hoped to be able to sell these items in West Germany. Other items she gifted to trustworthy friends, hoping someday to be able to reclaim them. But she had to do this without the children noticing. She couldn’t take the chance that someone would hear the children talk about the things she was doing to prepare for the escape.
It was still possible to legally leave East Germany – but only for a temporary visit to family.
Escape Day
Hertha’s mother traveled from her home to Rabenstein. My mother-in-law and her mother put on layers of fur coats and even put one fur coat on her eldest daughter. Hertha had sewn some jewelry in the lining of the coats, but the women wore the rest of the jewelry hidden under their clothes. They didn’t need to be targets of thieves in addition to government officials.
The Train
My husband’s grandmother and older sister left first and got in one train car. A little while later, my husband, his younger sister, and their mother got in another train car that was a few cars back. The two groups could have no contact until they arrived in West Germany. Each group had a rehearsed story about who they were visiting and how long they would be gone. The stories were intentionally different.
The Soldiers
At one of the regular train stops, Hertha saw her mother and daughter walk off the train and go with soldiers to the train station. At that point, she didn’t know if she would ever see her daughter or mother again. She was terrified but couldn’t let her children or any of the other passengers see that she was agitated. The rest of the train ride seemed like an eternity.
The Immigration Station
When they arrived at the end of the train line, they were taken to the immigration station. According to my husband and his younger sister, it looks much like it did back then, other than a new coat of paint. And it is easy to see why my husband saw it as an apartment complex. When we visited, it was still being used as an immigration station.
Successful Escape!
I no longer remember if Hertha said the family was reunited at the train station or the immigration station, but they all made it. And after a couple of years in West Germany, Hertha’s older sister got permission for her parents, siblings, and families to join her in Texas.
