Dorothy Anker Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Dorothy Anker
Q. You hed to have a passport just to go across the Corridor.
A. I think we had to have a passport, ja. And then you were on he
other side and came again the German officiai and we showed him the
ticket. While we mostly did travel by night because it was just a very
comfortable trip, we had these sleepers, and went to Berlin and was just
about an eight hour trip, We went to bed and woke up in Berlin.
Q. Actoally how much time did it rake the train to cross the Corridor
itself? How wide was the Corridor? Two hours?
A. Maybe t.wo, two and a half hours or maybe a little longer. It was
more diff lcult but once we made that t rip by car.
Q. Idell there is something that Hans said about the car.
A. Ja. We had t~ have this special, what they called a Triptik which
was a permit for the car and you had to put your car on the trafn and
then . . .
Q, At the border . , .
A. At the border.
Q. Or when you started in Kocnigsberg?
A. No, no. In Koenigsberg we could travel to Marienburg and then we
put it on the train and we had ro wait until the train was there who had
possibiliries to take. a car into their, who had space for a car in their
train. And then you got your car at the end, an the other end. And
picked it up,
Q. Then you had to, did you stay in your car on the train or did you
have to get in . . .
A. No, you stayed and we had our tickets for that car and we traveled
in the train.
(2. Now was that always true from the the the Corridor was made or wtrs
that later? If you tried to drive?
A. I don't know. I think it was probably all that way. We only had
once in our lives the experience, that was the anly time we drove. And
because that was quite a large trip for a German car* And our cars were
smaller and we didn't have these excellent roads whlch they bullt later
on. They had pretty pour roods.
p. And you didn't have frequent gas stations, did you? Filllng stations?
A. No, they didn't hav~. I mean you had to assume that you had enough
gas in for such a trip. I mean it was quite an enterprise to do rhis.
Q. I suppose your reason the car had to be put on a train was so you
wouldn't just take off and stay in Poland or go into other parts of
Poland.
Dorothy Anker Memoir -- Archives, University of Illinois at Springfield