A history of us, part 1

On the twelfth of September each year my family celebrates “family day”, the day my grandfather escaped from a communist country in Eastern Europe. This is my history.

It was the early 1950s. Ludwig had been imprisoned by the communist government in a work camp—there was no term of imprisonment, he would leave once he had “changed his mind”—so for countless days he worked in the coal mines. He was imprisoned not so much for his own beliefs but for those of his father, a prolific published author and journalist, who spoke out against the excesses of communism. One night, the night of the twelfth of September, he escaped.

He, along with another prisoner who he allowed to tag along more for the convenience of having someone to look out for him than for any actual friendship, swam across the Danube River into Austria at 10.30 pm, under cover of darkness. He remembers the exact time because his watch stopped in the cold water.

Across the border, there were police officers and army personnel everywhere; they had the power to demand to see identification papers and make arrests for not having them. This meant that Ludwig and his friend had to be very careful not to get caught when they ventured into towns and villages. Camping in the forests of Austria, venturing into villages only for food, the two men lay low before applying for refugee status. During one such trip to town for food, Ludwig noticed a policeman asking to see the papers of several people on the street. Unperturbed, and much to the astonishment of his friend, he approached the policeman with his shoulders back and his head held high. “Do you know the way to the library?” he asked in perfect German. The policeman turned to him and gave him the directions. Before he had a chance to demand to see Ludwig’s papers, Ludwig was off in the direction of the library with his astonished friend in tow.

Once he had received refugee status, he applied for a university scholarship to study in Madrid, Spain. The scholarship was granted and he travelled to Spain. It was in Spain that he met and quickly fell in love with Maria.

To be continued…