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Without a doubt, the greatest producer of refugees around the world is war. Often those who suffer the most are children. Gisela Jurgeneit was a young child refugee during WWII. Her family was torn apart, her older brother died, her mother contracted TB. On the run, hiding in barns and sleeping in the woods, often with no food but plenty of fear -- this is Gisela's story.
Gisela was born in east Prussia, Germany. Her father was drafted into the German army and her mother managed the family's 12-person textile business and raised four children alone.
Since they lived in Hydekrug, a farming community in the far north-eastern part of Germany, they had been spared from the allied bombs. But at the end of the war in 1944 the Russians advanced on her town, ransacking homes and raping the women. Her family fled the city. After a short time they were able to return home but were forced to flee again in the winter of 1945. At that time her mother sent her oldest brother ahead to Eisleben, near Berlin, to help her grandparents prepare a place for them. Gisela, her two older siblings and a nanny were sent a little later by train while her mother stayed behind to arrange to have the inventory of their business transported. When the railway line was bombed, the nanny set off on foot with four year-old Gisela and two of her siblings. They slept in abandoned barns and sometimes in the woods protected by nothing more than their rabbit fur coats. Gisela was very frightened of the bombs during the day and even more at night.
If the farm was occupied, the farmers would often share their rations with them. Once, while taking shelter in a barn, the farmer gave them a pot of lard for food. But Russian soldiers caught them in the barn and forced them at gunpoint to hand over the pot of lard.
"It was a miracle we survived," Gisela said.
Gisela's parents had worked hard. They owned a well-established textile store. But suddenly they were poor refugees among thousands of other refugees fleeing the advancing armies to a safer place. A Christian couple joined their little band. Gisela remembers passing near the harbor of the Baltic Sea as the bombs fell all around them. Finally the railway lines were repaired and they were able to catch a train crammed with other refugees to Eisleben. But when they arrived, after their six month trek, they were shocked to discover that their mother wasn't there. She had arrived first and when her children were not there she returned to Russian-occupied Hydekrug to find them.
It was a very dangerous journey but Gisela's mother could not be stopped. She joined a group of fleeing Germans and hid under a wagon as it crossed over the frozen Baltic. Somehow she fell and the wagon crushed her leg. She was rushed to a German army hospital. Her leg was set and she was transported out.
"It was a miracle because everyone else in the group was caught and sent to Siberian work camps," Gisela said. "My mother made it through the bombs and fires by God's grace."
Reunited once again, Gisela's family was supported by her grandfather who made shoes that he exchanged for food. But it was never enough. They had nothing and they always felt hungry. Occasionally her uncle, who had immigrated to Canada, sent food parcels. Christmas was coming and every night little Gisela prayed for a doll with sleepy eyes and a ball.
"It must have torn my mother apart to hear me praying that prayer," Gisela said, "because there was no way my parents could even afford food let alone a doll and a ball. But God answered that prayer! It was a miracle! A Christian family in the US sent a parcel with chocolates for all the children and colouring books and cutout dolls and in amongst that there was a beautiful doll with sleepy eyes! We Germans were the enemy! When you see love from an enemy that's when you see the love of God."
Nevertheless, it was a very difficult time. All the children caught typhoid. In 1946 her older brother died in an overcrowded hospital of typhoid complicated with mumps.
The family flew to West Germany in a coal plane from Berlin to Hannover. From there they travelled to Hamelin where they lived for 6 months in a refugee centre set up in a factory. It was 1949 and Gisela was 7 years old. There were 100-150 families packed into a small space. Only a sheet separated one family from another. There was no privacy, no personal space and not much food. Gisela's mother contracted tuberculosis in the camp. Her mother's tuberculosis was so serious that she suffered through several experimental operations on her lungs after which she survived but her lungs collapsed.
At the refugee centre, Gisela's sister met her future husband, Rudy. Rudy became a soldier when he was 17 years old. He was captured in Africa and sent to the US as a POW. There he worked on a farm for 2 years and learned English. When he was released he returned to East Germany and ended up in the refugee camp in Hamelin. Gisela's sister and Rudy met, fell in love, married and emigrated to Toronto in 1952.
The remaining members of Gisela's family lived in Hamelin until 1955 when her uncle sponsored them to come to Canada. In 1955 they arrived in Halifax harbor, travelled to Toronto and lived with her sister.
"It was a miracle that the Canadian government allowed us to come to Canada since my mother had tuberculosis," Gisela said. "But six months after her lung collapsed her TB became inactive and she was allowed to come."
Eventually, however, Gisela's mother died of tuberculosis in 1970 at the age of 59 after spending months in a Canadian hospital.
In Toronto Gisela met her husband, John. John was also a child refugee. His father was in a Russian prison camp when his mother and 3 brothers were forced to flee their home. Then his mother developed brain tuberculosis and she died in 1946 when John was only 10. Suddenly the 4 boys were orphans. A Christian couple took them in until their aunt was located. She assumed responsibility for the boys. For two years she risked her life by crossing the border into West Germany trading goods for food and returning. When their father was released from the Russian prison camp in 1948, the Red Cross helped reunite him with his boys. In 1953 John emigrated to Canada and met Gisela.
"We had so many miracles in our lives," Gisela said.
Gisela and her family suffered tremendous loss as refugees. They lost their home, all their belongings, their business, their health and some in their family also lost their lives.
"My heart really goes out to refugees because I know what it was like," said Gisela. "I think the RIDE for Refugees is a really great idea. I'd like to do more but there's only so much one person can do. But when we get together we can do more. It's primarily the Christian church that is doing something for refugees."
As a result of their experiences as refugees, Gisela and John understand the suffering of refugees and are enthusiastic riders and generous supporters of the RIDE for Refugees.
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