Weeds Like Us by Gunter Nitsch:

Reviewed by Douglas Brough.

“If I can eat maggot soup, why not second-hand candy?”

                                                                                 Gunter Nitsche on his experiences of being a German expellee.

The German easternmost province of East Prussia had a population of somewhere in the region of two and a half million people; all typically stubborn and inconceivably willing to work at whatever labour called their way: It was a population far in excess of today’s state-funded lifestyles where the respect generated by work and family principles took precedence over more liberal types of lifestyle. There is no denying that it was harsh and to some extent primitive existence but they took respect and in turn they gave it to those deserving.

However, at the end of World War II this community of men, women and children was wiped from the face of the map by the so-called victorious Allies’ ability to write the history books in such a manner, that the barbaric effects of the 1945 Potsdam Conference and the consequential war crimes committed by Soviet-Russian soldiers were seen as acceptable to the ‘Allied’ populations under an “eye for an eye” principle of collective retribution.

The southern two-thirds of East Prussia was awarded to Poland and the remaining third to Soviet Russia – their population forced to accept no demographic consultation, treated as an expendable commodity, and awarded as the prize for Allied victory during the preceding war.

This World War II ‘never happened’ story and all its brutal horrors has been shielded from public scrutiny for more years than is morally acceptable: That is, until Gunter Nitsch joined the small group of people who felt that history should be told ‘as is’, and wrote his shocking story as a child during the final and subsequent years of World War II: It is a story that deserves to be read by all those who believe in the truth; a story that deserves to be remembered for its bitter legacy.

Gunter’s story opens when he was little more than six years old as he struggled to understand his families’ fear of the advancing ‘Russian front’. Whereas he should have been starting his school career or playing with the small toys his parents could afford, he was instead packing in rapid preparation to flee the near encirclement.

Highlighting Nazi propaganda and the bitter suppression of their own people, Gunter identifies Nazi cowardice as the Nazi Mayor flees and it becomes “every man for himself” as they flee in horse and cart taking only what they could carry, leaving their home, their life and, having released them, their animals.

Joining other refugees not knowing what lie in front of them, nor indeed what was behind them, they headed en masse, into the unknown “secure in the belief that Opa [Gunter’s grandfather] had worked things out with God”.

At first heading for the ferry at Pillau, they had a lucky escape after discovering that two ships, the Wilhem Gustloff and the General Steuben, had been torpedoed by the Russians only a matter of weeks beforehand.

Despite managing to get a roof over their head with various families or in a ruined building on route, they were constantly fearful of the advancing Russian army which had by now encircled them, fearing the by now legendary brutal treatment by intoxicated Russian soldiers 

Mindful of the difference between the likes of German army Master Sergeant Hanson, holder of the Iron Cross and a host of other medals, who offered Gunter and his family goulash soup, offered them some work and saved Gunter when he fell through the frozen ice; and Nazi SS officials who told Gunter and his family “civilian swine like you have no business being on a paved road – Get off, or I’ll shoot you”, they were soon over-run by Russian soldiers who soon put them to work painting crosses, attending graves, or in Opa’s case, digging out the Jewish corpses from their mass graves, while all the time enduring vicious mass raping, personal degeneration on a horrific scale, malnutrition and the risk of summary execution because they had stole a potato – to eat – to live:

This picture is of some Prussian refugees fleeing the advancing Soviet armed forces.

The picture is from the Bundesarchive in Berlin and has been released into the public domain Here and is subject to copyright restrictions which you may read Here.

Please note that this picture does not appear in Gunter Nitsch's book Weeds Like Us: It is reproduced here merely to offer some visual imagery to Gunters story.

Pictures not in book:

Many members of Gunter’s family died from expulsion-induced illness and disease; death was a common occurrence, illness even more frequent – the sight of corpses littered the roadside, the stench of rotting human flesh filled the air, the misery of their existence, and indeed some would say that they barely managed that, filled their hearts with sorrowful horror – a horror that should be endured by no-one; no-one at all!

Gunter speaks with some disgust about his father who had abandoned them in favour of another woman; war affects people in the strangest of ways but Gunter felt at first horrified and abandoned at his fathers lack of care and support, especially when he needed books for school: It was a Russian run school that preached the virtues of Russia and Communism but it did give Gunter the shove he needed, the shove to survive the Allied victory

Albeit through some miracle they found opportunity and chance to cross to the ‘West’ where they found treatment somewhat less stringent yet still on the harsh side of compassion. Gunter speaks, however, with some joy about the time he and his mother spent at the Ammo Camp, a place were prisoners used to be housed and where standards, somewhat predictably, were none too humane, but yet where, as a young boy he sought adventure and excitement in the surrounding woods looking for ammunition, weapons and artefacts that could be exploded, thrown or generally deviated with by young boys subjected to the horror of war.

They had assumed their lives into “God’s hands” and this blind obedience was soon proved when religion knew no barrier and large food parcels began to arrive from America in the form of “CARE” packages from a Mennonite Christian family in Pennsylvania. Full of encouragement and material sustenance from America, Gunter’s standard of living slowly improved, as did the relationship with his father who he met in Cologne in 1950 – the year the German Expellee Statement was issued renouncing retaliation or retribution for their horrific experiences in the previous years.

Gunter’s story warms to the heart, yet turns the pit of your stomach; it will shock yet please; make you smile yet let you cry. However, if there is ever a aphorism to Gunter’s story, let it be this, “With heartfelt gratitude to the late Daniel J. and Naomi Peachey whose CARE packages sustained Gunter and his mother in a West German refugee camp and who, years later, made Gunter and his wife unofficial members of their family in Pennsylvania”.

As Gunter offered the above dedication to the Peachey family, I, in turn offer this review in dedication to their wholly unselfish, compassionate offering to those they didn’t know, yet were in their time of need, regardless of any dividing factors: I offer my prayers to those who acted with similar compassion, and also to those who didn’t act so that they read Gunter’s story; it should be a lesson to us all.

It is a ceaseless regret to note the disparity within the human race, be it in times of war or in times of peace, as Gunter’s story of courage and faith shows, but it does incite me to make one final comment to those who still think he deserved it……

 “And you think you had it tough”.

© Douglas Brough 2009 All Rights Reserved. Reproduced with Permission. 

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