After the war, I went to school in the DP Camp in Groedig, Austria, about 12 Km from Salzburg. We had all ages in a one room classroom, and we started out using small chalkboards. Paper and pencils were not available until 1947, and by then, classes were divided into grades one through three in one group and four through five in the other. Boys and girls....all together. Our teacher was also a refugee, but lived in a local farmer's house (also did some farmwork to earn his food and lodging). In my second and third grade years, our teacher was strict, and used the 'paddle' when he deemed it necessary to maintain control. I was never paddled because the thought of a getting a paddling , and then my mother hearing about it, apart from the shame, it would only lead to another paddling from mom, kind of a two-for-one-deal. That did not appeal to me, so I behaved. :-) On the brighter side, we took many walking class trips into the surrounding areas, and that was a treat...just to get out of the room, out of that camp. Once we even visited the nearby German border where we learned about the 'roten Streich auf der Landkarte'. In class, our teacher often smoked Pall Mall cigarettes while teaching, and as a treat, he oftentimes read a Chapter of a Karl Mai American Western fiction book. Those readings were real treats....it brough dreams of foreign sights I never knew I'd see....little did I know that I'd wind up in America one day and see those badlands with my own eyes. When I was able to attend sixth grade (1951), I had to travel from Groedig to Salzburg on the train. The last traincar was reserved only for students because of the noise they made. The conductors never were friendly to us Lager-students, and it was my first introduction to being considered 'different'. Once, I forgot my student pass, so the conductor kicked me off the train and I had to walk 10 KM home...in a snowstorm. (He never checked for the pass on the trip to school) I never forgot that trainpass again..never! I saw similar discrimination in the Hauptschule in Austria, though a few of the teachers were empathetic. However, I was one of the few Auslaender (foreigners) in that school, and my heart always felt the pain of being considered 'second class'....not knowing why, other than I was not Austrian. It was somewhat subtle, a sideways look, a whispered comment, a mocking laugh at the meager lunch I brought, always being chosen last for recess play teams, my clothes were laughed at......quite a hurtful education that has stayed with me...till today, at age 77! On 9/2/2017 8:09 AM, Dennis Bauer via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES wrote: > Cuz...ok to use this in our new club newsletter? Den > > Sent from AOL Mobile Mail > Get the new AOL app: mail.mobile.aol.com > > On Thursday, August 31, 2017 Rose Vetter via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: > I was born in Neusatz (Novi Sad) in the Batschka. I started school in 1942, I think it was in the fall, a time of war and political upheaval. In 1941 Hungary, as a member of the Axis powers, had reclaimed the larger part of the Batschka which they had lost to Yugoslavia after World War I. We were once again in Hungary without having moved! The official language and the bureaucracy became Hungarian, the street signs were changed to Hungarian, etc. I never forget my first days at school. Outfitted with a new schoolbag, a wood-framed slate, slate pencils and an abacus, I was quite excited about my new adventure. My mother walked me to school, and again on the second day. When the third day came around, I was expected to go alone, but I refused; I cried and insisted that Mom to come with me. When I couldn't be persuaded, my father gave me a spanking. That worked. From that day on, I promised myself I would behave, rather than risk getting a spanking again--and I didn't. As for corporal punishment by the teachers, that was accepted in those times. I remember that boys in particular bore the brunt of the teachers' anger by getting the end of the rod. Minor infractions were usually dealt with by a slap on the cheek. I remember getting slapped once and being so humiliated that I tried to hide the red streaks on my cheek from my parents. Those certainly were different times and we've come a long way. I grew up speaking three languages: German at home, and Serbian and Hungarian outside the home and at school. At that time the German Sütterlin or Fraktur script was still taught, but I had to switch to the Latin script once we got to Germany. Our lessons were mainly in Hungarian. I remember being able to sing the whole Hungarian anthem off by heart. When my mother, sister and I packed our bags for our flight in October 1944, I made sure I included my Hungarian schoolbook, which I kept for a long time. Unfortunately, once we were in Germany and I was no longer exposed to the Serbian and Hungarian languages, I forg! ot them in a short time, which I regret to this day. Unfortunately, my schooling was disrupted by the accelerating war conditions and bombing of the city, so I was not able to attend much school during grade 2. We lived only a block away from the Danube, right across the famous Peterwardein fortress, between the two main bridges which were the constant targets of Allied bombers. I will never forget being awakened by the air raid sirens in the middle of the night and rushing to a nearby air raid shelter. Some nights we didn't bother to get up, but the night our home was turned into a pile of rubble, we had been in the shelter, otherwise I would not be alive today. About a month later we boarded one of the last refugee trains to leave Neusatz. Rose On 29 August 2017 at 22:21, DVHH-L Administrator via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: > Forwarding to the mailing list. > Darlene > > ----------------------------------------------- > Darlene Dimitrie > DVHH-L Email List Administrator > > On 29 August 2017 at 15:42, Hans Kopp <[email protected]> wrote: > > > We were very unfortunately and had our schooling interrupted by three > > years in Gakowa > > A dead camp were the people were taken to die. I started Kindergarten at > > age 6 because in Yugoslavia children started the school at seven. Now we > > had two age groups in one class. The girl school was located in the nuns > > monastery wile the boys went to the boys school. We were more than 100 > boys > > in the school. The girls so what less and therefore it was necessary to > > take t he July ages of the boys to go with the girls to school. I found > > there was actually no corporal punishments by the nouns. > > When we were deported to Gakowa, several of the priest there attempted to > > hold school in the houses, but the was forbidden and stopped when several > > of the priests were taken out of the camp and some of them were killed > and > > became Mardirers > > When I came to Austria I had lost 3 years of school and had t! o go to > > school with children 3 years younger. Here in Austria we still had > corpora > > punishment, like putting someone over the knee or hitting on the hand > with > > the rulers or standind outside in front of the door. But we grew up to > > become successful citizen of Austria or the USA. I still visit my school > > friends in Austria. I even skied with in 2003. Since than several have > > passed away. Two years ago I did visit my friend I usually stay with to > > celebrate the 60 anniversary of the sports club there I was a founder and > > was honored with several items. I also learned the soccer team I > captioned > > is among the top team in the league and their youth teams have won > several > > championship in their respective leagues. > > > > > > Sent from my iPa > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Aug 28, 2017, at 11:12 AM, DVHH-L Administrator via > > DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > Hello everyone, > > > > > > Conversation on the list has been kind of slow lately. Guess everyone > is > > > busy enjoying summer! > > > > > > Was just thinking about the kids going back to school and wondering > about > > > school back in the old country. My mom went to school from the ages of > > > 7-12, for five grades. She repeated grade 3 because she was very sick > > that > > > year and missed a lot of school. It was a one-room schoolhouse. She > > > really liked watching Little House on the Prairie. The school and life > > > reminded her of home. At some point it was divided into 2 rooms, for > > older > > > and younger kids. > > > Yes, there was someone who stuck her pigtails in the inkwell! They had > > > slates to do their work. One of her "friends" used to change her > answers > > > to incorrect ones so my mom would get in trouble. > > > My uncle has an incredible knowledge of European history. He told me > > that > > > because there was not a lot of books available they had to really learn > > and > > > remember what they had been told, which is why he still remembe! rs all > > this. > > > > > > She learned Serbian, both in Latin and Cyrillic letters and German in > > both > > > Latin and Gothic. She also spoke a smattering of other languages > because > > > of going to two different markets each week to sell farm produce. She > > > really loved working at the markets. > > > She lived in Hrastovac in western Slavonia, a town of about 700-800 > > > residents. She always felt under-educated here in Canada because she > > only > > > went to 5 grades, but I think she was quite intelligent and knew as > much > > as > > > people who went through the whole elementary and secondary school > > systems. > > > Maybe not the calculus and trigonometry, but the languages, everyday > > > mathematics, history and geography and she certainly knew a lot of > > growing > > > crops and raising farm animals and how to fix just about anything. > Very > > > practical life skills! > > > > > > Would anyone like to share stories about school life, especially those > of > > > you who went to school there? When did school start? What months did > it > > > run? Did you get let out at certain times to help in the fields? What > > were > > > your teachers like? Where did they come from? How were things > different > > > in smaller towns and larger towns and cities. > > > > > > Feel free to share any other stories about childhood life during the > good > > > times. > > > > > > Darlene > > > > > > > > > ----------------------------------------------- > > > Darlene Dimitrie > > > DVHH-L Email List Administrator > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------! ------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

This recent e-mail traffic brings back so many memories. I was born in a refugee camp in the Hotel Europa at the train station in Salzburg and then spent the next nine years of my life in the Sitzenheim Lager in Maxglan in Salzburg. School in Austria was no fun, but I didn't know anything else. When I arrived in school at age six, life in Austria had settled down a little after the war, but Austria was still very poor and full of refugees. The teachers did not like us refugees and made it pretty obvious. My school was an all-girls' elementary school from grades 1 to 4. I had the same teacher all four years. The ruler in the teacher's hand was always ready to strike my hand if the teacher thought I misbehaved, which was pretty often. (I never thought I misbehaved!) Often there were comments to me and some of the other refugee girls about "don't you wash your hands?" What the teachers didn't think about was that there was no running water in the barracks where we lived; my mother had to take pails over to the next barrack where there was one spigot with cold water for about three other barracks. The toilets were a large six-hole outhouse across the road that separated the rows of barracks. The school did have one regular flush toilet--the only one I had seen at that point. We had to ask permission to use the toilet and the teachers rationed out the toilet paper. In addition to the three RRR's, handcrafts were also taught. We made an embroidery stitch sampler in the first grade and later made a crocheted doily. Because of my "unwashed hands", my doily was made with brown yarn instead of the pretty white yarn some other students received. (The materials were provided by the school.) Salzburg is/was a very Catholic city and all the refugees from my mother's village, Kisker, were Lutheran. Religious education was included in the curriculum. The priest came six days a week for Catholic instruction, and Lutheran students were excused. I don't remember what we did with that time, but I think we had fun. The Lutheran teacher came twice a week. The Catholic students had no doubt that we Lutherans would never share heaven with them. On the other hand, on Fridays, if any meat was available, we could happily eat it while they could not. I did get an excellent education, especially in reading, and when I arrived in the US, learning English and reading were really easy. I was also ahead in handwriting and arithmetic. The treatment by American teachers was so different from my Austrian teacher--what a contrast--no more rulers hitting my hands. I started liking school in the US! On food--my mother made Zwetschgenknoedel just as Eve's mom did--dough wrapped around pitted prune plums, dropped in boiling water, and then browned with sweetened bread crumbs. She didn't make it very often because it was something of a bother to make and she was always working and tired after a full day at work. Her favorite thing to make with prune plums was Zwetschgenkuchen, a sweet yeast dough topped with sliced prune plums, dollops of sour cream and sprinkled with sugar. She made that pretty often, whenever prune plums were available, and we all enjoyed it. I would like to make this Zwetschgenkuchen sometime, and know how to prepare the yeast dough; however, I'm not too sure about the topping. Are the prune plums put on the dough skin side up or skin side down? How much sugar gets sprinkled over the top, and about how much sour cream is used? Chris Spooner On Saturday, September 2, 2017, 4:23:40 PM EDT, Franz via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: After the war, I went to school in the DP Camp in Groedig, Austria, about 12 Km from Salzburg. We had all ages in a one room classroom, and we started out using small chalkboards. Paper and pencils were not available until 1947, and by then, classes were divided into grades one through three in one group and four through five in the other. Boys and girls....all together. Our teacher was also a refugee, but lived in a local farmer's house (also did some farmwork to earn his food and lodging). In my second and third grade years, our teacher was strict, and used the 'paddle' when he deemed it necessary to maintain control. I was never paddled because the thought of a getting a paddling , and then my mother hearing about it, apart from the shame, it would only lead to another paddling from mom, kind of a two-for-one-deal. That did not appeal to me, so I behaved. :-) On the brighter side, we took many walking class trips into the surrounding areas, and that was a treat...just to get out of the room, out of that camp. Once we even visited the nearby German border where we learned about the 'roten Streich auf der Landkarte'. In class, our teacher often smoked Pall Mall cigarettes while teaching, and as a treat, he oftentimes read a Chapter of a Karl Mai American Western fiction book. Those readings were real treats....it brough dreams of foreign sights I never knew I'd see....little did I know that I'd wind up in America one day and see those badlands with my own eyes. When I was able to attend sixth grade (1951), I had to travel from Groedig to Salzburg on the train. The last traincar was reserved only for students because of the noise they made. The conductors never were friendly to us Lager-students, and it was my first introduction to being considered 'different'. Once, I forgot my student pass, so the conductor kicked me off the train and I had to walk 10 KM home...in a snowstorm. (He never checked for the pass on the trip to school) I never forgot that trainpass again..never! I saw similar discrimination in the Hauptschule in Austria, though a few of the teachers were empathetic. However, I was one of the few Auslaender (foreigners) in that school, and my heart always felt the pain of being considered 'second class'....not knowing why, other than I was not Austrian. It was somewhat subtle, a sideways look, a whispered comment, a mocking laugh at the meager lunch I brought, always being chosen last for recess play teams, my clothes were laughed at......quite a hurtful education that has stayed with me...till today, at age 77! On 9/2/2017 8:09 AM, Dennis Bauer via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES wrote: > Cuz...ok to use this in our new club newsletter? Den > > Sent from AOL Mobile Mail > Get the new AOL app: mail.mobile.aol.com > > On Thursday, August 31, 2017 Rose Vetter via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: > I was born in Neusatz (Novi Sad) in the Batschka. I started school in 1942, I think it was in the fall, a time of war and political upheaval. In 1941 Hungary, as a member of the Axis powers, had reclaimed the larger part of the Batschka which they had lost to Yugoslavia after World War I. We were once again in Hungary without having moved! The official language and the bureaucracy became Hungarian, the street signs were changed to Hungarian, etc. I never forget my first days at school. Outfitted with a new schoolbag, a wood-framed slate, slate pencils and an abacus, I was quite excited about my new adventure. My mother walked me to school, and again on the second day. When the third day came around, I was expected to go alone, but I refused; I cried and insisted that Mom to come with me. When I couldn't be persuaded, my father gave me a spanking. That worked. From that day on, I promised myself I would behave, rather than risk getting a spanking again--and I didn't. As for corporal punishment by the teachers, that was accepted in those times. I remember that boys in particular bore the brunt of the teachers' anger by getting the end of the rod. Minor infractions were usually dealt with by a slap on the cheek. I remember getting slapped once and being so humiliated that I tried to hide the red streaks on my cheek from my parents. Those certainly were different times and we've come a long way. I grew up speaking three languages: German at home, and Serbian and Hungarian outside the home and at school. At that time the German Sütterlin or Fraktur script was still taught, but I had to switch to the Latin script once we got to Germany. Our lessons were mainly in Hungarian. I remember being able to sing the whole Hungarian anthem off by heart. When my mother, sister and I packed our bags for our flight in October 1944, I made sure I included my Hungarian schoolbook, which I kept for a long time. Unfortunately, once we were in Germany and I was no longer exposed to the Serbian and Hungarian languages, I forgot them in a short time, which I regret to this day. Unfortunately, my schooling was disrupted by the accelerating war conditions and bombing of the city, so I was not able to attend much school during grade 2. We lived only a block away from the Danube, right across the famous Peterwardein fortress, between the two main bridges which were the constant targets of Allied bombers. I will never forget being awakened by the air raid sirens in the middle of the night and rushing to a nearby air raid shelter. Some nights we didn't bother to get up, but the night our home was turned into a pile of rubble, we had been in the shelter, otherwise I would not be alive today. About a month later we boarded one of the last refugee trains to leave Neusatz. Rose On 29 August 2017 at 22:21, DVHH-L Administrator via DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: > Forwarding to the mailing list. > Darlene > > ----------------------------------------------- > Darlene Dimitrie > DVHH-L Email List Administrator > > On 29 August 2017 at 15:42, Hans Kopp <[email protected]> wrote: > > > We were very unfortunately and had our schooling interrupted by three > > years in Gakowa > > A dead camp were the people were taken to die. I started Kindergarten at > > age 6 because in Yugoslavia children started the school at seven. Now we > > had two age groups in one class. The girl school was located in the nuns > > monastery wile the boys went to the boys school. We were more than 100 > boys > > in the school. The girls so what less and therefore it was necessary to > > take t he July ages of the boys to go with the girls to school. I found > > there was actually no corporal punishments by the nouns. > > When we were deported to Gakowa, several of the priest there attempted to > > hold school in the houses, but the was forbidden and stopped when several > > of the priests were taken out of the camp and some of them were killed > and > > became Mardirers > > When I came to Austria I had lost 3 years of school and had to go to > > school with children 3 years younger. Here in Austria we still had > corpora > > punishment, like putting someone over the knee or hitting on the hand > with > > the rulers or standind outside in front of the door. But we grew up to > > become successful citizen of Austria or the USA. I still visit my school > > friends in Austria. I even skied with in 2003. Since than several have > > passed away. Two years ago I did visit my friend I usually stay with to > > celebrate the 60 anniversary of the sports club there I was a founder and > > was honored with several items. I also learned the soccer team I > captioned > > is among the top team in the league and their youth teams have won > several > > championship in their respective leagues. > > > > > > Sent from my iPa > > > > > > > > > > > > > On Aug 28, 2017, at 11:12 AM, DVHH-L Administrator via > > DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > Hello everyone, > > > > > > Conversation on the list has been kind of slow lately. Guess everyone > is > > > busy enjoying summer! > > > > > > Was just thinking about the kids going back to school and wondering > about > > > school back in the old country. My mom went to school from the ages of > > > 7-12, for five grades. She repeated grade 3 because she was very sick > > that > > > year and missed a lot of school. It was a one-room schoolhouse. She > > > really liked watching Little House on the Prairie. The school and life > > > reminded her of home. At some point it was divided into 2 rooms, for > > older > > > and younger kids. > > > Yes, there was someone who stuck her pigtails in the inkwell! They had > > > slates to do their work. One of her "friends" used to change her > answers > > > to incorrect ones so my mom would get in trouble. > > > My uncle has an incredible knowledge of European history. He told me > > that > > > because there was not a lot of books available they had to really learn > > and > > > remember what they had been told, which is why he still remembers all > > this. > > > > > > She learned Serbian, both in Latin and Cyrillic letters and German in > > both > > > Latin and Gothic. She also spoke a smattering of other languages > because > > > of going to two different markets each week to sell farm produce. She > > > really loved working at the markets. > > > She lived in Hrastovac in western Slavonia, a town of about 700-800 > > > residents. She always felt under-educated here in Canada because she > > only > > > went to 5 grades, but I think she was quite intelligent and knew as > much > > as > > > people who went through the whole elementary and secondary school > > systems. > > > Maybe not the calculus and trigonometry, but the languages, everyday > > > mathematics, history and geography and she certainly knew a lot of > > growing > > > crops and raising farm animals and how to fix just about anything. > Very > > > practical life skills! > > > > > > Would anyone like to share stories about school life, especially those > of > > > you who went to school there? When did school start? What months did > it > > > run? Did you get let out at certain times to help in the fields? What > > were > > > your teachers like? Where did they come from? How were things > different > > > in smaller towns and larger towns and cities. > > > > > > Feel free to share any other stories about childhood life during the > good > > > times. > > > > > > Darlene > > > > > > > > > ----------------------------------------------- > > > Darlene Dimitrie > > > DVHH-L Email List Administrator > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message