Anneros Valensi's Blog – June 2015 Archive (4)

I vividly remember the ferryboat trip from Calais, France to Dover, England. The boat was quite basic and uncomfortable, wooden benches everywhere. There may have been sleeping cabins, but I didn’t know and would not have been able to afford one. We, the young people, spent the night on deck. I found a sheltered spot near a chimney to keep me warm from the cold and windy weather. I still feel the rocking and creaking of the ferry and hear the wind whistle. - See more at:…

I graduated from nursing school and became a full-fledged registered nurse. I had the dream of traveling to other parts of the world and see what lies beyond my home. We didn’t have money to travel after graduation to see some of the world and to decide what to do with my life. Such luxury did not exist in Germany. Everyone took a job to help support the family. The lucky ones continued with University studies. I may be a nurse now, but I wondered what else I could do with my training. I…

The day finally arrived for me to leave Winterberg and see what lies beyond this small community I had spent the past few years in. In September 1956, I left the quiet town of Winterberg and headed to Mannheim to study to be a nurse. I was eighteen and I had just graduated from high school. It was an exciting time in my life.



My mother had decided to take me to Mannheim in person. We could see my father, who lived there, but my thoughts were about my new beginning in a new city.…

It was winter 1955 and newly fallen snow glistened in the sunlight. As I was about to head home after class with other classmates, I noticed a group of young men coming out of the school building. They looked older and more mature than my classmates and I was curious who these students were. I learned they had come from Bochum, an industrial city in the Ruhrgebiet, and they were staying in the dorm in our school building during winter recess. -  The rest of my story here at…