Wednesday in Barth

Tuesday evening I had supper at a Hotel in Barth. I called Helga Radau, a 68 yr old woman who was born and raised and lived in Barth her whole life. She put on an amazing exhibit of the prison camp, and I met with her Wednesday morning to go to the camp. While I worked on the internet, she read through Dad's war log. We then left to go a few blocks to the exhibit. 68, and she hopped on that bike like a kid. I stopped for bread and milk, then we were off. A moment later, there was a loud crash behind us. Helga slowed and stopped to look, and I had my right foot clipped into my pedal. As I got near her, the bike fell to theground with me attached. Two men came scurrying to help stand me up, and I kept muttering Ow! ow! Later she said I heard a loud sound and thought it was you! I said And then it WAS me!!
She has about 30 logs similar to Dad's in her collection, and showed me many, allowing me to make pictures of them. She then walked me through her exhibit and told me of it, the original plaque which only said the prisoners were liberated by the Russians. Huh?!? She was effective in writing a new plaque, which says more about the prisoners from the United States and Britain, and that "what happened will not be forgotten". As she told me some of the occurrences in the camp-escape attemts (she has a picture of a man standing in front of a building, and there is an escape hole beneath the bldg's corner right behind him!), the commondandts of the camp- one called "the butcher" and much hated-, as she told me stories the hair rose on my arms. The meanness of mankind to others....I videoed her telling one story, and videoed the covers of many books on Stalag Luft 1, including one by Missoula's own Hubert Zemke! My time with Helga was incredible, and we will stay in touch. We gave each other a strong warm hug when I left, as she called out, "success!!"
I boarded the train to Baarn, and had to buy a ticket for my bike. In Hamburg, the ticket agents were most helpful and got me a faster connection for me to arrive in Baarn by 11pm. When switching trains in Munchen, I pushed my bike onto the train and thought I was on a baggage train in Calcutta. Yes, India! There were bags all over the floor, people filling most every available space, and a German lad sitting on a crate of beer, with an open one in his hand! A little while later I asked if he spoke English, asked if I could make a picture of him. Yes!! He and his 6 friends have a 4 day holiday (weekend) so are going to camp out and spend time in Holland. They all talked with me and laughed and shared stories and information on their lives.
At one stop a junkie and her boyfriend got on with a dog and bike, and the man tried to pick a fight with the young man talking with me. The young man said he was trying to provoke conversation, not a fight. I said His bike is a Hercules, maybe he thinks HE is Hercules! The young man said In germany we have a saying, the bigger the car, the smaller the-" and he looked down between his legs. His friend said "how you say, family jewels?!" He had a very mischievious grin and we all laughed and laughed! I made 2 pictures of them all together before they left the train.
I made good connections the rest of the way, and met a sweet family with several children from Nashville. Mom was middle eastern, and the youngest boy, 6 or so, was Sammy! I made a ppicture also of them. What a wonderful delightful day!!