Suitcase, 1940
Out of fear for his “danger to body and life,” in 1954, the farmer and Reichsbahn employee Gerhard Schulze left his hometown near Halberstadt (now Saxony-Anhalt). Although Schulze held a prominent position within the local agricultural production cooperative (LPG), he used it to advocate against the loss of property for small farmers – and thus against the state-forced collectivization of agricultural land. Apparently, these efforts led to plans to arrest him. The village policeman warned Schulze of his impending arrest, which allowed him to escape to Berlin in time. After the first escape attempt to West Berlin failed, Schulze returned to the Harz region. There, with the help of local farmers who appreciated his commitment to the LPG, he managed to cross the border. However, his position in the LPG raised suspicions in the Federal Republic of Germany (BRD), resulting in several interrogations and a brief stay in a prison in Hesse. His wife Ella and their two little children initially stayed behind and were subjected to harassment by the East German authorities from that moment on. To increase the pressure on them, their seven-year-old son Siegmar was taken to a children’s home near Magdeburg. For several weeks, the family did not know where exactly the boy was. Humiliations and beatings were part of Siegmar’s everyday life in the home. Through the efforts of his uncle Erwin Schulze and the mayor of Harsleben, the boy was eventually able to return to his mother and sister. It was not until April 1955 that Ella Schulze received news about her husband’s whereabouts. Thanks to a wedding invitation, she was granted permission to travel to the BRD in October 1955. The main means of transport for the few belongings was the suitcase, originally made for Ella Schulze’s father.
