The Echo of Memories

The sirens started early that morning. We had already had experience with this. We knew to slip on whatever we could reach, grab a blanket and go straight to the basement. It is winter and it is harsh and cold. The sirens howl and the buzz of the planes comes closer and closer. The chaos begins! Explosions! Bangs! Crashes! We are being tossed. We have the feeling that we will be buried under the debris in no time. It comes again and again, as though it will never end. Hours pass and silence gradually comes. We begin to move out of our basement. The two houses across the street are gone, but smoke pours from one of the downed chimneys. What remains everywhere are piles of bricks, stones, soil and snow, with people stuck underneath. And then we see all the pale, frightened faces. We go upstairs in our house. There is no electricity. The sirens howl no more. And then panic comes. Dad is in Yugoslavia and Mom is alone with Greti and me.

Evacuation begins. We pack only the essentials and go outside. There are no tramways running, no transportation of any kind. People are coming out of every building. They have their bedsprings turned upside-down and filled with luggage, children and old people. They drag them like sleds. The train station is very far from our place and it will take us hours to get there. The snow crunches under our feet. To the left and to the right are destroyed buildings. People are trying to dig out bodies. Could it be that some of them are still alive? We walk and we walk, and we ask ourselves, “What is this all for?” Nations are crippling and killing each other, destroying each other. Where are you, God? Don’t you see? Don’t you hear? Or is it that humankind deserves no better? And we walk, and walk. There are thousands of people on the station platform, clashing and cursing. Everyone wants to be the first in line when the train comes. And when it does, the worst begins! Everyone is fighting to get onto the stairs, to pass through the doors. They could crush us! Children are being thrown into the cars through the windows. They scream! Mothers shout! I see a grandmother fallen in the aisle of the train car and trampled by the crowd. Panic and self-preservation instincts take over. Everyone is trying to save himself however he can.

Kircho and I were so impatient. How were we going to find the way to do this. We were so tense, that even now I shudder when I think about it. Our tour group got on buses to see Athens, a city that once was home to a very old civilization. There is a lot to feel proud of there: mythology, the first democratic state, the first theater, the first schools of philosophic thought. This city is a combination of the old and the new. From the bus we had a glance at the part of the city where many embassies had been built. We saw the Bulgarian and French Embassies, and others also, but not the American Embassy. It should have been somewhere nearby. The important thing was that we now had some idea of the city. It was getting dark and the city started becoming very beautiful. The lights of the Parthenon were on, as well as those of the ruins of the amphitheater. We asked to be taken to the center of town so we could see them. It was the desire of the majority of the group. It was an incredibly beautiful sight, not to be missed. We had been given permission to return to the ship on a public bus. Kircho and I carefully slipped away from the group and went looking for the American Embassy. Fortunately, Kircho could speak English as well as many of the people around the world, and after asking some people for directions, we found it. Because it was late, the embassy was closed. But that was enough for us, we had found it. The next day we would try to get there again. We went back to the ship. Of course, we couldn’t sleep! But, we couldn’t talk either since the crewman and his wife were in the cabin.

The next day, after breakfast, we were taken on buses again. We visited the Parthenon and other historic places. There was a good deal of hiking uphill, especially on the Acropolis, but we could feel close to the gods and could feel the power of past grandeur. It was warm and sunny. The next day we had some free time for shopping. Since we had breakfast in two groups, and we were in the second group, we left the ship later. We left everything on the ship: the suitcase, our clothes, my housecoat on a hanger, Kircho’s tie in the window. I had bought a bigger handbag. In the bottom, I put some underwear and a nightgown, and on the top a cosmetics bag. We left. On the fore-bridge there were two “cops” who were searching through the bags as people left the ship.