Diary of Annie's War (19 page)

It seems very strange to read today that the English have left Gallipoli after it having cost so much blood. But of course I only read it in these papers.

I have been ill again and went last week to a specialist and he ordered the ‘Röntgen Rays’ so I have been photographed today. I was dreadfully nervous but I think it will turn out well. I have no fear of cancer and think that it is all nerves. But the pain is a bit stiff at times and nothing relieves it. I am so thin at that. Perhaps it is an old ulcer breaking out again but I shall be glad when all is in order and I know what to expect.

Arthur writes me today that he has hopes of a visitor and that it will indeed be a day of joy when he sees me again. I daresay it will be even if it is only one hour in a crowded room. Ten days is the longest we have been apart since we were engaged and now it is fifteen months. Belle says it will teach us to have more regard for each other and may do us good. For my part it is an unnecessary lesson. I could have gone along without this and my fear is that this worry has done harm and unnecessarily shortened life. One never knows, it might be for the best. Or the opposite may come of it. I only know that if the present anxiety could be removed I would give all I have at the present moment. I daresay that there are plenty in the same boat.

Received a letter from Arthur today and he has had permission to enclose one from Ettie. She sent it on the 30
^th
of December and Arthur got it on the 11
^th
of January. It did not take long.

Been to the doctor and he says most is nerves but my heart is enlarged. So I
must
be big hearted (what oh!).

We are filling up our papers for milk and potatoes. I have to say how many pounds I have in the house, how many people, and if they will last until the middle of July. Also how much milk I can manage on, give the age of us all, and say if milk is at all necessary through doctor’s orders. If you have children under five-years-old you get milk for certain but not at all certain otherwise unless sickness is in the house.

I read today that the English have given up the Dardanelles. Here they have always made fun of the English stopping in such an impassable place. They criticise all the boasting speeches that the English have made.

Ettie says she thinks we shall be together next Christmas but I do not think so. For these past few months I seem to have lost all hope.

It is strange to see how the people are now willing to buy English preparations. The first months of the war they insulted you if you asked to buy them and now they tout them in their windows. They even have the English directions in them. I have bought salmon, cornflower, tea, whisky, soap and medicines, all English packed, this last week.

There seems to be unrest in the people today.

It is announced that the capital of Montenegro is in German hands and there is lots in the paper of conscription in England. Here they are glad it has come to pass so that the English will know what it is to be a servant to the government. If only they can bow the Englishman down to know servitude then they do not care.

The butcher told me today that meat will be very scarce in a month or so from now. And a friend said that there was a deal of people grumbling at the town hall about rice, sago etc. They publicly told the crowd that England had forbidden the neutral lands to sell Germany anything so they could starve her out. I said no neutral land dare refuse to trade with Germany because, if so, she was no longer neutral and had taken the side of the enemy. But they believe what the magistrate said. I think it is because Germany has no gold and that the neutral lands will not accept the paper money at all.

We also read of a breakfast being given by the Chancellor. The Kaiser was there and various members of the cabinet. It seems to me as if it has been a cabinet meeting, but not in name, with the War Minister, Finance Minister, and Chancellor etc. I wonder if we shall hear of anything that passed. If only it would bring peace.

I had the enquarterings in to supper and they say that we shall soon have peace for the people of Montenegro have begged for freedom and it has a great political significance. Also that the Austrians have gained a high fortress that is the Gibraltar of the Adriatic Sea and England’s flotilla is as good as done for as regards warfare. There is great jubilation over it and a certainty that peace is in the air.

I have been thinking a lot about Kittie and her little son. How strange it seems for so much to happen to ones nearest and dearest. All I hear is that Kittie is married and then that Kittie has a son. Is it two or three-weeks-old? I wish her luck with her little one from the bottom of my heart and would give a deal for a line from her. What a change this last two years has brought. But I know each day will be one nearer the end.

Had very sad news today. This evening came a letter from Königswinter to say that Mrs. Durselen had dropped down dead at a coffee party in Ronsdorf where she was staying with her sister. It has upset me a deal. I had a letter from her only two days ago. What a sudden end and how very sad for the two girls, Lena and Emily in England, but it is a death she would have liked for she often told me that she did not want to lie in a sick bed and be any trouble to anyone. I look back with pleasure on her visit to me in 1914 when she spent seven weeks in Woltershausen. It will be a big shock to Alice Graeinghoff.

Strange news in the paper. It reports that the Montenegro people deny that they are in want of peace. The papers say that they cannot say if it is true or not. We had made a great victory of it here and had all the flags flying. It’s very strange and we must await further news.

It is such miserable wet weather with rain all day and yet so warm that the trees are in full bud and many rose trees are in leaf.

There is a new order that all children must be out off the streets at seven o’clock. It is because their fathers are not at home to make them obey and they are disobedient to their mothers. Also they do not learn any good in the streets running wild after seven o’clock. The mother is fined fifty pfennigs if it is her fault. Such as not being at home or not reporting a disobedient child to the police. If it is the child’s fault he is punished by the police.

Here, as in England, January is devoted to an annual sale in all the shops but this year it has been forbidden by the government. Why is not told.

I bought some fish for dinner today at eleven pence a pound (cod) and I said that it was dear. The man said that we should be lucky if we got any at all next week for there had been less in the market every week this past two months. I do not know why, and the meat is very scarce.

Had a letter from Alice Graeinghoff telling me that Mrs. Durselen’s death was a stroke. She died at once after remarking ‘I do feel bad’ and she gradually sank to the floor. They thought she had fainted and ran to her assistance but she was dead. What a nice end for her. She had no pain at all, but how dreadful for the children. I feel so very upset over her and cannot get her out of my mind.

It is advertised today that all firms using steam or electric power are not to work their machines more than twenty-eight hours a week. But they are obliged to pay their workers the same wages as if they were working full time. Or at least the wages they were receiving in January 1915.

All the remnants of brass or copper have to be given up this month. Also the
walnut trees
must be chopped down because the government want the wood for guns. Rosie v.d. Busch writes from Celle that she has to give up her two trees. In a village near here over two hundred trees (walnut) are being cut down ready to go away. It is so sad to see them go. In some places they are planted all along the roadway for a couple of miles.

They report today that it is quite true about Montenegro but that England does not know it yet. The King of Montenegro is so angry with England that he has not even sent them word of his giving in. One does not know what to believe these days.

Received a postcard from our Willie today. It is such a pretty photo of Joan and it did me good to see it.

Now we hear of the deceitfulness of King Nicholas of Montenegro. The papers do give it to him for his cunning. He has gone to France, so it says, but he is more a prisoner of England for they have sent a bodyguard of over sixty soldiers with him.

Such a lot of things are called up by the government and the lists of forbidden things (to sell) are every day announced, and each day it is more.

Feel bad today. I wish I could get a little better.

It was the Kaiser’s birthday yesterday and a great feast. There is a collection on Sunday in every church in Germany for the Kaiser’s birthday gift and then he will give the various sums to the Red Cross or to the Soldier’s fund etc.

Had a letter from Arthur and he says that they have had no answer to the petition for visitors. Still I have hope of it.

Herr Stoffregan was here on a visit today and tells me that the man Rutt, who accused us of being spies, met with an accident and was buried yesterday. I am sorry for him and his wife also as she is badly left with five children. Everyone thought it was him that cut our telephone wire. Well, poor fellow, he will cut no more.

I read in the papers that the English were once more ‘too late’ in getting somewhere in Albania. They have nicknamed them here
‘too late nation’
and make great fun of them always being last.

We hear of mobilisation in Romania. I never expected that. How foolish of a nation to go into war if they can keep out. Here the war is felt very much as regards work and food. It’s difficult to get the latter and there is great trouble over the butter. One wonders where it will all end.

Hannah Stoffregan has written from Leipzig and says she can only get a quarter pound of butter per week and it is three shillings and sixpence a pound and now fat bacon is three shillings a pound. Potatoes are not to be had, but it does not matter much for people all have them stored – we get them in sacks here.

It must be very bad for the poor people and especially those with children. One poor fellow I heard of today has lost one eye and an arm and he was in a good position before the war. He earned four pounds per week and now he has a pension of forty-five shillings per month and has a wife and three children. He will not be allowed to work any more. I do not know how they can exist at all.

It is stated that England is waiting to see what Germany is doing to her foreigners’ properties before she taxes. We are still in suspense until it is settled.

We hear very little of the conscription act of England, just a report that it has been passed with a big majority. Single men are first and then married men up to thirty. I cannot think it is like the German conscription at all. But of course I do not know.

There is sad news in the paper today. We read of a terrible battle in the air over England on the night of January 31
^st
. I myself cannot see how so much damage can have been done unless it is that England has no watchmen. They report that the airships, eight in number, went into Liverpool and spread death and destruction there and then on to Manchester. Sheffield and Nottingham were also surprised and though they shot at them the Luftships returned intact to German headquarters. According to these papers Manchester and Liverpool are in parts and are a heap of stones and ‘the land of England is at last in the air flown’. I only half believe it. The last bombs were flung on Yarmouth and the Humber. The people here are very pleased and quite believe it.

House in Hildesheim