So many memories have remained. In 1940I moved I moved with my parents to Freidberg , to the area near the barracks in Friedberg. At that time, the barracks were still used for Wehrmacht troop training. The so-called 36er had to drill there and I could watch from the apartment window. The war years so close to a target point were terrible – and yet still bearable because we were so many children who grew up there. Then came 1945 and with it "the Amis".

The day they occupied Friedberg, we as housemates were just in the basement (laundry room of the house) eating together. There was noodles and hash from captured stocks of the Provisions Office. We left everything at the arising excitement and were active in hearing and seeing outside in the environment. The tanks were coming closer and closer and there was also a lot of shooting. On the Kaiserstrasse all hell broke loose and fortunately it was then said, "the city has surrendered". Everyone was also afraid that somewhere there might have been soldiers ready to fight.

In the time after the capture of the city and also the barracks all hell broke loose, it was a rough pack that had come there. We had to clear out our apartment very quickly and were only allowed to take the most necessary things with us. No matter where we ended up! We ended up with our family members on Kaiserstraße. It was reasonably good, although very cramped. My grandfather and an uncle had come by chance to look after us and were able to help to transport a lot of things.

There were now the "Americans" who acted as victors and brought a lot of unrest. They had a lot of money and could splurge with it. Cabs were in use day and night and drunkenness came with a lot of noise. For us children, however, the Americans were a piece of life after we were back in the apartment. They supplied us affectionately at the barracks fence from the officer's building with mountains of pancakes and also other food. They became/were our friends.

We got to know and accept them and also saw the first colored people. With increasing age, love affairs developed and then the first girls moved to America with their "Ami". Also my neighbor and somewhat older playfriend moved away with her mother and also the brother. I got to know America much later, when my daughter also married an "Ami" and left Germany. But those are other stories. Another chapter.

Also that I still have a very interesting letter (mail) friendship with a David, whom we had invited as an "apprentice of German customs" as a house guest over Christmas in 1991. A very good and helpful friendship developed. So much for the report of an 86-year-old Friedberg woman who still remembers the "Yanks" well and with pleasure.