The Valour and the Horror

Erika Wilken

The Chief of Police's Report contains several eyewitness accounts from civilians who survived the firestorm. Frau Erika Wilken and her husband had taken shelter, with a crowd of other people, in some public toilets built under the nearby roadway of the Grevenweg. Herr Wilken had stood on a toilet seat, wetting cloths in the tank above for other people to bathe themselves in the fierce heat.

But the worst was yet to come. To our misfortune, a large phosphorus bomb fell directly outside the toilet. The people nearest the door now gave way to an indescribable panic. The inner toilet doors were torn off and used as shields in front of the bomb. After a few minutes, these doors too were burning brightly.

Terrible scenes took place, since all of us saw certain death in front of us, with the only way out a sea of flames. We were caught like rats in a trap.

The doors were thrown on to the canister by screaming people and more smoke and heat poured in. In the meantime, the water in the tank had been used up. My husband was completely worn out and we crouched next to the bowl. The other people here sat down too; some collapsed and never woke up again. Three soldiers committed suicide. I begged my husband to beat back the flames with our blanket but he was no longer able to do so. So I did it. My hair began to singe and my husband extinguished it.

What now? Our hearts were racing, our faces began to puff up and we were close to fainting. Perhaps another five or eight minutes and we will be finished too. On my question, 'Willi, is this the end?', my husband decided to risk everything and try to reach the outside. I took the blanket and he the little suitcase. Quickly, but carefully so that we would not slip on the corpses, we reached the outside. One! Two! Three! We were through the wall of fire. We made it. Both without burns; only our shoes were singed. But our last strength and courage had gone. We lay down on the ground at the side of the canal. People swimming in it kept wetting our blanket for us..