#Audiospot
Family Stroetges and the evacuation of Brüggen
Hans-Wilhelm Stroetges is twelve years old in November 1944. He is the son of the innkeepers of the ‘Burghof’. His mother returns a few weeks after the evacuation of Brüggen in November 1944. They settle in the casemates, the vaulted cellar of the castle. In November 1944, Hans-Wilhelm witnesses firsthand as a German anti-aircraft rocket shoots down a British bomber. The wreckage crashes to the ground not far from him.
The tower of the castle, where his family set up an emergency bedroom, shook with every air raid. His mother decided it was getting too dangerous and, together with her children, joined an evacuation train to Wuppertal. But a few weeks later, Trautchen Stroetges secretly returned to Brüggen with Hans-Wilhelm and his sister Katharina. She didn't want to leave their abandoned inn behind, the Burghof.
Hans-Wilhelm talks about that time as if he were still in the middle of it. He says: ‘We had to sleep on camp beds, in the vaults of the castle. Just like our soldiers. Dad is on leave from the front and is already waiting for us. He has a surprise, Mama says.’ The surprise turns out to be a pony, given to his father by a refugee from Roermond in the Netherlands, to look after. His name is Pietje. When Hans-Wilhelm wanted to take care of Pietje, bombers came flying over. He took cover and ended up next to a forced labourer who was also taking cover. The man threw himself protectively over Hans-Wilhelm as the bombs hit. After the two got up, the Ukrainian man takes him to the vaults. There, his mother Trautchen, his sister Katharina and Hans-Wilhelm fell into each other's arms in relief.