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The White Busses
In the spring of 1945, after having dumped the ashes in the river -
- we realized that eventually the war would be over and we might go home?
One day my mother woke up and said in a happy voice:
''I had the most wonderful dream.
I dreamt that your father and Preben stood at the gate ...''
Preben was my big brother.
''... and they stood in this bright light and had come to get us.''
In February 1 945 Folke Bernadotte from the Swedish Red Cross -
- negotiates with the Nazi leadership on releasing Scandinavian prisoners -
- from camps throughout occupied Europe.
On April 13th 1945 the Danish prisoners are told -
- to prepare to leave Theresienstadt.
One day, as I was working with the 'glimmer' ...
... someone said that there was a rumour about Danes going home.
We talked about it and agreed that it couldn't be true.
I'll just light my cigarette.
When I was a child, most men wore a hat, and my father had a blue hat -
- and when we came to Theresienstadt, he took it off and said:
''Birgit, I'll put this hat back on when we go home.''
Then one April day my father came home to fetch me -
- and he said: ''I want to show you something.''
He was wearing the blue hat. In my mind I went:
''He said he'd wear it again when we are going home.''
I'm a resourceful girl, so I went to the woman in charge -
- and told her that we heard all Danes would go home -
- and would she let me go out to learn more?
Oh my! I ran out, and Sille took all the 'glimmer' and tossed it in the air.
She and I then hurried home to find out what was going on.
I got to the place where the gendarmes were -
- and to our final stop.
And there was Walther. He stood there. He'd heard.
We were told to gather in the Jäger barracks and bring our luggage.
This was the note given to everybody being transported from the camp -
- so we didn't know if we were going home or to another place.
We were told to pack our belongings.
I packed a few things -
- and in the evening we went to the barracks we'd been told to report to.
And strangely enough, the Jäger barracks is right behind the tracks -
- that are still there today, and that we had arrived on 18 months before.
But Walther had no note, so he wasn't allowed to enter.
But not many minutes passed before he sat next to me.
He'd sneaked in ... He was amazing.
The gendarmes were right there! I don't know how he did it.
There were so many different scenarios.
Couples that had found each other and fallen in love -
- who had to be separated as one was a Dane, and the other wasn't.
It was all very dramatic, and it didn't improve matters -
- that we didn't know for sure whether we would be going home -
- or whether it was yet another lie.
The night we were waiting in the barracks for the White Busses -
- rumours circulated, and we were all dreadfully nervous and anxious.
One story was worse than the next.
Some said they knew they were going home -
- while others said we'd be going somewhere else. We didn't know.
Hope vanished as the hours came and went.
I think the prevailing notion was that we were being deceived.
And that we would probably be sent to some place other than Denmark.
Because the Germans were still in Denmark.
Walther said that he didn't quite understand it -
- but that he couldn't dismiss that it might be true.
When morning approached, someone shouted:
''The White Busses! The White Busses are here!''
When we saw the busses, the whole atmosphere changed!
And the two disgusting people who were in charge -
- were suddenly all friendly, bowing ...
... can you believe it? They bowed to us!
They had no rifles. They smiled and said welcome all nice and friendly.
My head was spinning.
There was a buzzing inside my head. All the things we'd experienced -
- all the cruelty, and yet I was thinking:
''They're nice after all, they're sending us home.''
The Germans had ordered an orchestra to play for us -
- at the very last exit in 'Die Schleuse' -
- which was where prisoner transports arrived or departed.
So, there they were. Playing for us, this little orchestra.
I said goodbye, and he wished me a nice journey -
- and gave me a little letter in German.
A poem he'd written that I think I still have.
I remember he wrote:
If you, in your beloved home
are true to me and you
you and I will again feel happiness
Which means that if you are true to me in your home country -
- you and I will be happy together one day
It is sweet.
I never saw Walther again.
We left Theresienstadt -
- and crossed the mountains that Jirko and I had been looking at -
- dreaming of running under all the pines, and here I was.