Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - In the Europe of Total War
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
connections had been cut off and access to water was
very limited. The councillor of the Legation, Eric von
Post, and I went out to try to contact the nearest
police station and the German foreign office in an
effort to have fire engines sent to the Legation,
which could still be saved. We started down
Tiergartenstrasse by car, but Wwe were soon stopped as fallen
trees and masses of rubble made it impossible for our
car to proceed. We continued on foot. I shall never
forget the sights we witnessed.
It was blowing hard. Soot and ashes from burning
houses were whirling about, and we were nearly
blinded. Sirens screamed as fire engines rushed by.
The streets were full of people, apathetic, worn, and
tired. Here and there were little groups of people,
families gathered around the furniture they had
succeeded in saving from destruction. This night in
Berlin, from the twenty-second to the twenty-third
of November, 1943, was one of the most terrible I
have ever experienced.
Von Post and I had succeeded in contacting the
authorities, but they could do nothing for us. All
communications were severed. When we returned to
the Legation, we found that the top floor had
already been destroyed by fire. There was not much
hope of saving the building. At that point an incident
occurred which was rather typical of the German
mentality, at least as it was during the Hitler regime.
A German is used to obeying. His ambition is to
execute an order received exactly as he has been
instructed. Outside the burning Legation building
was a division of the Berlin fire brigade. The street
had been torn up and the fire engines could not
51
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
