#Audiospot
Hans-Wilhelm Stroetges
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 has set up an emergency bedroom, shakes with every air raid. His mother decides it is getting too dangerous and joins an evacuation train to Wuppertal. But a few weeks later, Trautchen Stroetges secretly returns to Brüggen with Hans-Wilhelm and his sister Katharina. She wants to keep an eye on their abandoned inn, 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, to look after. His name is Pietje. When Hans-Wilhelm wants to take care of Pietje, bombers come flying over. He takes cover and ends up next to a forced labourer who is also taking cover. The man throws himself protectively over Hans-Wilhelm as the bombs hit. When the two get up, the Ukrainian man takes him to the vaults. There, his mother Trautchen, Katharina and Hans-Wilhelm fall into each other's arms in relief.