Inge Barth's Story

Many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians had hard lives. Mrs. Inge Barth had a hard life, but it was different from that of most people. She sent along a story of her life for other seniors to read. Here is a part of what she wrote about her life, and starting out in Labrador.

I WAS BORN IN Germany in 1928. My father was called Fritz Schreiber and my mother was called Mimi. We had three farms: An animal farm, an agricultural farm and a farm to grow food for the animals.

Life was wonderful! I began to train Saint Bernard dogs. There was much work, and I earned very much money. My day began at 5 o'clock when I got up. At the first farm I trained horses for the German Army. Then my father died and I was in charge of three big farms, a herd of sheep, and I had 400 workers. They treated me very well. At first I was afraid they would not take my orders, because I was only 15 years old.

This all happened during the Second World War. We provided food for the German Army. It was a very bad time. At the same time, the Russians invaded Eastern Germany and they took all the animals. I was captured and they sent me to the camps in Russia.

I worked in the mines for about 12 hours every day of the week. This happened in Siberia, to the north of Russia. During my capture there, I received only 2 hours of rest per day, no money, no food and no shoes. I wore two bags on my feet. After a certain time, I met two German soldiers, one of whom suggested to me an escape route. I agreed. In Siberia it was very, very cold. We decided to wait until it was warmer. It was time to go home.

We began our trip. It took us 5 months without food. We were so tired, and we travelled always in silence. We were very frightened. Often, during our escape, we had to hide. When we arrived in Germany, the two soldiers stopped and I continued the trip home. It was a terrible situation at my home. No one knew me. I was excessively thin. I spoke only Russian. I was not able to speak German, but later, the language came back to me.