We loaded several ships and then sailed with the A.B.A to Libau, and spent three
horribly stormy days on board. Everybody was sea sick.
We spent five months in Liebau. We had to work enormously, we had to load and
unload freighters. Often we had to work three shifts of 12 hours each in a row,
toiling for 36 hours straight without sleep. We were attacked by heavy aerial
bombings and suffered losses. One evening we lost 13 of our best people. We were
in constant danger, day and night. Entire warehouses of the A.B.A. were bombed and
went up in flames.
In February of 1945 we decamped from Liebau. We were supposed to be brought by
ship to Luebeck in order to start a new A.B.A. For six days we sailed on a coal
steamer across the Baltic, subject to heavy danger from mines and air attacks.
Returning to Germany caused mixed feelings! On board, our chief received the order
to bring us to Hamburg.
When we arrived we were brought to the prison Fuhlsbuettel, returned back to SS
control.
We spent six weeks there. The men were taken into the city to clear rubble. The
women, 76 in number, were penned up for six weeks in a house whose normal
capacity was 36 persons, and had to mend socks for the Wehrmacht. We did not see
the men during that period.
Slave Labor in workforce A.B.A.