““Brigitte was a big help to Richard’s parents. During the day she looked for firewood and later helped her grandmother with the cooking, which she did on an old cast iron stove. It was a relief knowing that my children were safe and cared for, allowing me to work and earn money. Things we now take for granted were just not available at that time, but we learned how to make do! My mother-in-law found some salvaged material and after washing it, made me the skirt I wore to work. My father-in-law fashioned hooks and eyes for it out of some hairpins I had given him. We also set up a small soup kitchen for the German employees at work. The soup we made was so thin that we had to search, often in vain, for a piece of potato or sausage. If we were lucky we could get some rations from the Army, but food was always a scarce commodity and within an hour of eating, we would be hungry again.””
