In Ystad they first placed us under quarantine at a hotel.
They wanted to make sure we didn’t bring in any contagious
diseases. After three weeks we traveled to Stockholm to
meet our parents. At the time they lived in a refugee camp
on a little island by the name of Kummelnaes. Directly across
from the Grand Hotel in Stockholm there was a schedule
displayed. From there the ships sailed to the different
islands.
Of course, we were under quite some emotional pressure! It
was very difficult, esp. for my sister, since it had been six
years already that we came to Holland, and that we hadn’t
seen our parents. The last time Gertrud had seen them she was
only four years of age. Now she couldn’t even talk to her own
parents, because she spoke only Dutch. Practically I became
the interpreter within the family.
Liberation and being reunited
At the left: Alfred and the nurses at the
quarantine ward in Ystad
At the right: Lilly Strauss, Alfred and Gertrud
- the family was reunited in the middle of
October 1945 in the refugee camp Tynningö
Höganäs near Stockholm
