Read Online Children to a Degree - Growing Up Under the Third Reich by Horst Christian - Free Book Online Page B

all the children were on board and departure was imminent. “We need to calm the children here on the lower deck. There are two more teachers on the upper deck so we don’t need to go up there. However, your armband allows you to go wherever you please.” She was interrupted by the ships horn which bellowed three times and Karl could feel a rumbling below his feet as the boat backed off from the pier.  Frau Niehaus went to the rear part of the ship and motioned Karl to go to the forward section.
    He strained once more to see his mother among the throng of people on the shore but gave up when he realized that there were just too many hands waving, which made it impossible to recognize an individual face. He thought about his task on hand and was glad that he had one. It kept his mind occupied. He went from row to row and noticed that the seats on the windows were ruled by the physically strongest children while the seats in the center of the boat were occupied by the more orderly ones.
    As he came near the front of the boat he saw a boy quietly crying to himself. Karl could clearly see that all the other children had stopped crying and were busy talking to their friends but this little guy apparently had no one to talk to.
    “Where are your friends?” Karl looked at the name tag dangling from the neck of the boy. “Where are your friends, Helmut?” He repeated. Helmut looked up at Karl.
    “Home,” came the answer.
    “Do you know anyone on this boat?” Karl wanted to know. The boy shook his head. Karl looked at the identification tag once more and noted that the boy was nine years old and from a different school than the other kids. This is odd he thought to himself. “Helmut, you come with me,” Karl decided to take this up with Frau Niehaus.
    Karl took Helmut by the hand and led him to his reserved window seat. “Look out of the window, Helmut. Have you ever been on a ship before?” Helmut shook his head. “Good, that makes two of us. If you see something interesting come and tell me about it.”
    Helmut kneeled on Karl’s seat and eagerly scanned the countryside.  Karl patted the boy’s back and went to find Frau Niehaus. He found her in conversation with another woman teacher near the staircase to the upper deck and told her about Helmut. The other teacher, Frau Seeger, seemed to be younger than Karl’s mother and listened to Karl’s report.
    “Good work, Karl. I will pick up Helmut and take him upstairs with me. I have a nice seat up front and will share it with him,” Frau Seeger said. Karl was impressed by the two women teachers. He could not imagine that a male teacher would have been more friendly or helpful.
    Frau Niehaus told him that they had to go further to the rear of the boat to pick up sandwiches for the boys. The sandwiches had been prepared by a kitchen staff.  They turned out to be simple grey rye-bread margarine sandwiches without any toppings or fillings. The treat was more than welcome and the boys wolfed them down. There were no complaints. None of the children were spoiled. Karl inquired if there were more sandwiches in case someone was still hungry and wanted a second one. He was assured that there were plenty more. 
    The ship was nearing the first of the three locks they had to pass on their trip to the Ostsee (Baltic sea) and everyone was crowding the windows. Karl marveled at the structure of the lock which was explained to the boys by a crewman.
    After they had passed the lock, Karl noted again that the stronger boys controlled the access to the windows. It bothered him that the younger ones did not even have a chance to look out. He counted 12 rows of seat benches and had an idea. Frau Niehaus had emphasized to him that he was in charge of maintaining order and Karl dared to test his authority. It was kind of a rush for him because he had no experience in handling unruly children. 
    “Here goes nothing ,” he thought to himself as he climbed on top of a seat bench to