It is often mentioned how much the Jews suffered in Germany
before and during the Second World War but barely nothing is written about the normal everyday life of the German citizens.
Born on the 22nd of December 1938, Margot calls herself a "survivor of the war". Even if her birth is just a few days before Christmas,
her life is surely not one of joy, health and abundance.
Her father, Fritz Mews, saw the world on the 16th of March 1915. A brick-layer,
he died on the 6th of July 1966, a broken man, destroyed both physically 
and mentally by the onslaughts of the war.
Her mother, Ruth Haggberg,born on the 27th of August 1920, a typical hard-working
house-wife, lived to be 81.
Margot, the first-born of a family of six, recounts how her childhood memories depict nightmares of atrocities that the poor citizens had to suffer during the Second World War.
More than anything, she remembers the echoing footsteps of the parading Gestapo
on their nightly vigil, and their knocking on doors to arrest frightened citizens or to search their dwellings for hidden enemies: sounds that scared those kids beyond human limits.
Poverty, starvation, air-raids
reside among her youth's recollections. Sadness colors her face as she narrates how her father dug a hole
in the backyard and hid, there, his wife and daughters to protect them from Russian invaders.
She tells of happy times too; the "Care Parcels" dropped by the American airplanes during the Berlin Blockade, or the taste of her very first chocolate bar,
handed to her by an American soldier.
After the war, desolation, sickness, water contamination, destruction settled in. A severe lack of sanitation, medecine and food made life miserable. Children, sick and hungry went to school, barefooted and dressed in clothes made from boiled potatoe bags. The Americans gave the students, their only meal of the day; a hot meal,
with milk and vitamins. They were also given wool and intructed in knitting. They made socks for orphaned children and for
soldiers.
During her childhood, Margot suffered a severe case of the measles and consequently lost most of her hearing. Thus disabled, she spent most of her spare time reading.
After the war, schools and teachers
were scarce and being handicapped, she had to quit school at an early age.
Later, in Canada, she finally fullfilled a childhood dream-learning how to play the piano.
Accompanied by her dog,
she enjoys walking in the woods.
There she finds solace, security and peace. As she breathes in the fresh air she lowers her stress level. She lets nature reveal itself and soothe her childhood remembrances.
She took pleasure in raising her two children
and then giving them all that she herself was denied. Her number one regret to-day is not being able to see as much of her grand-daughter, living in Alberta, as she would like.
Being sociable, she enjoys the company of friends who share the same interests. She loves animals and works on her "Bunka"
art with the help of her teacher Martine Lalonde. She studies to become a "Bunka instructor" herself.
Her philosophy to-day: "Life is beautiful, treat it with respect. and don't take anything for granted."
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