Travelling to the Various Native Countries
After liberation of St. Lambrecht camp all former inmates received an identity card containing the fingerprint of the holder. The mayor of St. Lambrecht handed these over along with the liberation documents that would allow for a return journey without hindrance. Their final destination was also written on the documents.
The inadequate organisation of the transports forced the female Bible Students to remain longer in the liberated camp. The women were virtually left to their own devices. As they had no travelling experience whatsoever, they were very grateful when the Spanish former prisoners offered their help for the return journey. The British occupying forces had put a lorry at their disposal, in which the women also began their return journey. The exact date of the joint departure cannot be ascertained. It is a fact, however, that the female ex-prisoners and the Spaniards left the place together.1PA, interview Huisman, Gerdina, 15-10-2002; interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002; WTA Vienna, Lebenslauf (biography) Schreiber, Therese.
The mixed company set off in a southernly direction. In Klagenfurt the men and women parted ways. The liberated female Bible Students from the St. Lambrecht camp were accommodated there in a school that had been damaged by bombs. The care in this refugee camp was extremely inadequate.2WTA Vienna, Schreiber, Therese, Lebenslauf.
From Klagenfurt the Dutch and Belgian women continued their journey through Italy. The German and Viennese Bible Students left the refugee camp in a northerly direction. Subsequently they worked in the vegetable garden of an Evangelical home in Weyern, Carinthia. From there they went to Salzburg, where Therese Schreiber and Hedwig Hummel took leave of the German women who travelled from there to their native country. Both Viennese Jehovah’s Witnesses were taken from Salzburg to Krems on the Danube by the Red Cross. From there they finally arrived in Vienna by train.3WTA Vienna, Schreiber, Therese, Lebenslauf.
It is not known whether the Polish female Bible Students also travelled to their native country by way of Weyern and Salzburg.
The group of women who wanted to go to Belgium and the Netherlands travelled to Italy. In a refugee centre at Treviso the Dutch Jehovah’s Witness, Sjaan Pronk, fell ill. She had appendicitis and could not travel further because she had to undergo an operation at a monastery in Veneto. Jans Hoogers-Elbertsen stayed with her, took care of her and thus put up with a delay of her own journey home.4WTA Emmen, interview Pronk, Cobie, 10-09-1999; PA, interview Hoogers-Elbertsen, Jans, 16-10-2002.
The other three Dutch women and the Belgian Maria Floryn continued their journey by train through Switzerland and France. The small group had to remain in Paris for weeks in a hotel that was used as a refugee centre. There the women were given more civilian clothing and their administration was checked. Additionally, they had to undergo medical examinations. Finally, they could continue travelling through Belgium and arrived at their destination after more than six weeks.5PA, interview Huisman, Gerdina, 15-10-2002; WTA Emmen, interview Berkers, Katharina (Toos), 1985, Nr. 372; WTA Emmen, interview Volp-Rinzema, Froukje, 31-08-1995.
Sjaan Pronk and Jans Hoogers-Elbertsen did not arrive at their hometown until August 1945. The homeward journey had taken more than three months.6PA, interview Pronk, Cobie, 18-10-2002. Depending on the destination, the available means of transport and the individual physical condition, the time and effort it took for the Witnesses’ homeward journey varied. Whereas both Viennese women evidently managed to return home relatively fast, the home journey for Sjaan Pronk became a true odyssey due to illness and enfeeblement. The experience of their return journeys to their homes formed a specific part of the life stories of the former concentration camp inmates. These are inextricably bound up with the individual experience of their unlawful detention and their exploitation by the concentration camp system.
Chapter 5 – The Women of St. Lambrecht: Their Life Stories →