Giving Birth In Freedom

Elisabeth’s only happiness was that her child will be born in freedom. She was kept in the hospital for the rest of her months of pregnancy. And Elisabeth finally got into labor on January 1st, 1946. After listening to what the doctors told her during her labor, Elisabeth couldn’t hold back her tears.

The Double Surprise

Elisabeth was pregnant with twins and she gave birth to two underweight boys, Georg and Lucian. Both the mother and the boys were kept in the hospital in the doctor’s observation. Before the single mother could even learn to live a stable life, in 1947, Elisabeth’s life took another and the last biggest turn when she was diagnosed with a critical heart condition.

Who’ll Look After The Kids?

Elisabeth’s sole concern was her sons. In her absence, there was no one to look after them. From the hospital, she contacted the Red Cross who took the boys’ responsibility while their mother fought with her illness. To her misfortune, this was the last time she ever held her babies in her arms.

The Red Cross Intervention

The Red Cross representatives took the infants more than  150 miles south, far from the calamities of war and their mom. There they lived in a children’s center for displaced people in Aglasterhausen, Germany. These distances between the mother and her sons were only going to increase with time. 

To Poland

Elisabeth’s heart was getting weaker day by day and looking at the mere chances of her survival, the kids were relocated to the city of Katowice, southwestern Poland. Later that same year, they were given to an orphanage in Rybnik, Poland. All this transition took place without informing Elisabeth as she was not in a situation to worry for her sons.

The Time Has Come

The little ones needed proper attention which only a well-stable family could offer. But the war brought a lot of stress on almost every family of Europe and it seemed impossible to find a family that can adopt two babies. And now was the time when the Red Cross did what they didn’t want to but with no other choice left the decision was made.