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The local radio shut down in the evening. So, instead of a program, you heard only a ticking sound like an alarm clock. And when that ticking stopped you’d come fully awake, jump out of bed and get ready for another round of bombs falling. Sometimes this early warning did not come in time and you awoke to bombs exploding and anti aircraft guns firing.
That happened one night in 1944. Margo woke to the sound of explosions and anti aircraft fire and she was off her bed in a flash. She was about four months pregnant at the time and therefore had the special privilege to seek refuge in a huge concrete bomb shelter. This shelter had been built recently at the Tempelhof Airport, about six blocks away.
She also was allowed to be accompanied by one companion. That companion was her friend Maria who lived in the same house on the second floor. At the time Margo jumped off her bed Maria jumped off her toilet seat where she had been doing what one does there. And with her panties in her hand she came flying down the stairs.What comes next may be hard to believe, but crazy times bring on crazy behavior.
The two young ladies started off at a fast jog toward the safety of the bomb shelter. They had run about three blocks when Maria suddenly stopped and said, ‘I am not going any further. This is absolutely crazy. If they want to hit me they will and if not they won’t.’ And with that she plopped down on the curb. What else could Margo do but join her.
So that night, Margo and Maria were sitting side by side on the curb in the street. They watched the bombs crashing around them, the buildings around them burning, the bright searchlights stabbing into the sky. They talked and joked, waiting for the end of the air raid, while red hot flak shrapnel rained around them.
Luckily for me they were spared that night. Maybe it was St. Peter who intervened because he didn’t want to have to greet two crazy young ladies at his door, one still holding her panties in her hand.