The Personal Memories of Sr. Anna Bittner, DW, Part 3

Once a day, around 4:00 in the afternoon, a meal was served. Consisting of a piece of dried up corn bread and bean or split pea soup, our daily meal was meager, but we relished it.

Theresia would bring me bread and meat when she could. As often possible, Dad would bring me to his quarters at night and give me food that he had somehow smuggled from the soldiers. What a daring and resourceful person he was. Love does such things....

Dad's plans to escape were carefully crafted. One night he came to get me. He asked me not to question but just to come with him. I anxiously inquired about Theresia. He told me that he would bring me to safety first, then bring Theresia there later. He brought me to a Slavic woman name Slavanka who was related to us through marriage. She pleaded with Dad to at least spend the night (he must have looked terrible with such worry and so many sleepless nights). However, he refused to stay. I overheard him saying that if he were missing at the morning headcount, ten men would be picked at random and shot. Since women and children were not counted, I would not be missed.

I lived with Slavanka for only 8 or 10 months, but it seemed like an eternity.

The time was filled with intense anxiety for me, not knowing if Dad and Theresia would ever come back.

Slavanka was an old, frightened, and insecure woman, probably overwhelmed with the responsibility of a 9 -10-year-old. Keeping me in hiding was no easy task. I resented her for telling me that I should play stupid if anyone asked me my name; tell them that I don't know.  Why couldn't I just not tell my name? She also used scare tactics, like saying that if she died, the Russians would come and put a knife down my throat.  This only added to my anxiety. At night the house was securely locked and protected by 3 or 4 vicious dogs. The windows had also been nailed shut.

Many times, I would lie awake at night, listening to her breathing, and trying to figure out a way of escape, or what to do with her body if she really did die.

On Sundays, we'd go to Mass and vespers, which I always looked forward to, mostly because it meant getting out of the house. One day I was told that, because I was old enough, arrangements had been made for me to receive first confession and Holy Communion.  I was to go to church earlier and couldn't eat anything.  That was the extent of my preparation. I had no idea what it was all about. I decided to get out of this mysterious experience by eating in front of Slavanka. To my delight, everything was called off.

Shortly after that incident, Dad and Theresia finally came in the middle of night. Of course, I was overjoyed and relieved beyond words. Shortly before his escape, an official form was circulated for anyone to sign who wished to leave the camp. He signed it but soon learned that those who signed were being deported to Russia. Anyone who objected was lined up by the cliff of the river Danube and shot.

Pictured above, Sr. Anna Bittner, Sr. Christine Scherer and Sr. Marie Chiodo.