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To Thuringia
leather breeches, and gleaming gaiters—and looked very impressive in the
Mercedes.Alfred was always correcting us when we were talking about the car.“It’s
not pronounced ‘Mersedes’, but ‘Mertsedes’.That’s how real automobile connoisseurs
say it.” It turns out that that was the name of the Benz automobile firm’s
founder’s daughter. 5
In late June, we learned that the orders had finally been given to the American
troop units to clear out. Consequently, our troops would now occupy Thuringia.
Professor Abramovich was a very sophisticated man. He was captivated not
only by his professional activity in Germany, which involved studying problems
that were dear to him, but also by the country, its old culture, its people, and their
postwar psychology. Without much trouble he talked me into traveling to
Nordhausen by car. We would mix business with pleasure by making a two-day
trip from Berlin to Nordhausen through the cities of Dresden, Annaberg, Aue,
Zwickau, Gera, Jena, and Weimar.
Before our departure, we arranged with Isayev for him to travel to Nordhausen
with his main group of engine specialists over the shortest route, through
Magdeburg.We arranged to meet in Nordhausen on 14 June.
Our journey really did prove to be interesting. I strolled through the already
cleared streets of Dresden. It was astonishing how rapidly peaceful life had been
restored in the city. Streetcars were beginning to run between heaps of majestic
ruins. In places where by some miracle the first floors had been preserved, work
was starting up again in stores, cafes, and pharmacies. There were many signs
proclaiming, Checked—No Mines.The air in the suburbs was fragrant with roses.
The air army command was still based here, and we stopped to fill up with aircraft
gasoline.To Alfred’s great joy we filled the tank and three canisters. Until then he
had filled the tank with methyl alcohol and had been upset by the obvious drop
in engine power.
After Dresden,Alfred drove the Mercedes confidently while we monitored the
route using an excellent tourist guidebook.We were surprised that it contained
so many unclassified details.We had the maps of Germany that our General Staff
had issued to troop units, but the readily available German maps were much
more informative.
Just over a month had passed since the war’s end, and we were cruising along
through villages and towns without seeing any destruction. If it weren’t for the
passing columns of our shifting troop units, the swing-beam barriers on certain
roads, and patrol guards checking documents, one would have wondered, “Was
there really a war?”
At the military commandant’s office in Annaberg, we stopped to have dinner
and find a place to spend the night.We were warned that up ahead on our route
5. The Mercedes-Benz company claims that ‘Mercedes’ was the daughter of the company’s first client, an
Austrian businessman.The company was originally known as Daimler, becoming Daimler-Benz in 1926.
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