Russian Refugees

The Russian refugees When the war ended in 1945 and the German army surrendered when the local Nazis were arrested the whores had had their hair shorn; peace arrived with stark poverty and need. My mother got a newspaper round, and the pay was negligible, but she got bags of old newspaper, pressed looking like bricks and warming when autumn came with cold evenings On our rounds (I was my mother’s little helper) met a Russian mother and daughter dressed in old clothes on the way to a café that gave them leftovers, probably the only meal for the day. They were the flotsam of war and had ended up in the backdoor of Europa, they spoke no local language but individual people were kind to them and often brought wood to warm their cold rooms. When we met them, Mother waved and said hello with a winning smile, they said hello also I think this little gesture warmed their starved, lonely hearts destitute as they were and far from home. Home! Yes, in the end, it’s the place we all want to go.