European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

“Mother, that doesn’t help! I will not go back to the ones that sentenced us to death.”

So I went and the commander of the partisans said:

“We will come and pick you up.

We will bring enough people so your family won’t be resettled or get locked into jail.”

The evening came.

No partisan called up, but the commander had told me I would be gone in the evening.

I went back to Bleiburg and picked up my military equipment.

On the next day I met the commander of the partisans and said to him:

“Why didn’t you come?”

He said to me:

“You know by yourself where you belong.”

That was easily said in those days.

But it was not an easy thing to do.

But the English bombarded Klagenfurt in those days.

When the police came afterwards to ask if I had reported somewhere, my mother said:

“Maybe he has been killed in the air raid.”

My Mother was clever. There was an illegal co-worker of the partisans in Bleiburg.

After 2 to 3 weeks, my mother gave one of them a parcel to take it to this woman.

Later this woman took the parcel to the post with my military address on it,

the one I should have reported to after my holiday.