Near the end of the war, we were told that we were going to be marched out of Ludwigsdorf. The Germans knew that the Russians were coming. As it happened, the Russians came so quickly that the Germans didn't have time to take us with them. In the morning when we got up, none of the guards were there. At first we didn't know what to do. We were afraid to go out. Then we heard singing. It was the men from Kletterdorf coming to find their wives. People were shouting that we were free. I didn't know what freedom meant. Where do you go, what do you do, who will take you? I was thirteen years old. I immediately started to search for my family. I showed everyone I could the picture of my family that I had folded and kept hidden all those years. I knew that my mother wasn't alive but I still hoped to find my father and brothers.