Today I captured the wonderful Christine Julianne Litzenberger
Born 5-4-1942
Christine's place of birth was Mramorak a village in Serbia
She had one older brother Erich 31/07/1939
Both her parents were farmers, farming wheat, grapes, vegetables, poultry, & meat. They owed their own farm in Mramorak which was self-sufficient.
Her father had to leave to go to the war in 1938, her mum was left at the farm. That all changed when one night the Serbian soldiers came overnight, and thousands of people had to leave with what they had on your back. They chased you off the land, and you had to hide wherever they could. Christine remembers hiding in drains by the roadside & seeing armed soldiers standing overhead.
They were starving and had to try and escape to another farm through the drains. They were welcomed by another nearby farm & hid for a year.
They were stripped us of all self-belongings jewellery, personal items etc. I asked Christine how she managed to still have so many of her photos from her childhood. She said the small town she grew up in was a community, & special items were hidden amongst them, & kept safe by the towns folk. Sometimes they even hid items in their hair.
Christine was put in a concentration camp at Rudolfsgnad (Serbia now called Knicanin) they were held in a train like a cattle train, if you fell out of the train. too bad you were left behind they didn’t care. She said they were packed in like sardines.
Christine recalled being starved as there was no food. Her mother snuck a few sunflower seeds, just so they had something to put into their bellies.
She told me about the day her Mum had tried to smuggle a corn cob in for them. Hiding it in her dress. She was caught & severely beaten for trying to sneak food in. She was locked up into a prison type area as punishment.
Her mum and dad were separated for 10 years due to the war as he was a soldier for Germany and he fought in the German war between 1937 - until the war was over.
Christine, her mum, and brother had to get papers to be allowed to leave Yugoslavia. To go to Germany we had to first go to another concentration camp for a couple of weeks to get health checks done in Austria (biding)and then we were able to migrate to Germany ( Munich) where my father was.
Her parents got to reunite on 20/10/1951. They had papers for the 3 of them (her mother, brother & herself) but not her Nan and she remembers screaming the whole 2-day trip saying “ my nan had to be left behind” the woman who had done everything for us. Her nan did finally get to migrate in 1952. Finally her papers had been finalised!
She remembers it was snowing as they arrived on the main Munich train station, so a friend picked us all pf them up in a van and drove the to her Father's house.
Christine finished school on the 26th of July 1956 and started working on the 1/08/1956 as a shop assistant when she was 14. It was at Landsham in Munich. It was a general store which sold everything from shoelaces & food to other supplies
Christine said, my teacher helped me get this job as jobs were very hard to get.
She met Otto, her future Husband in the shop she worked in, he tapped on the window one morning to buy some cigarettes. She said she didn’t like smokers, but he was too good looking to refuse
They got married on 6/05/1961 in Feldkirchen.
Christine said, was the love of her life, and forever will be! He was the hardest working man. A very good provider. He was like a steam train to achieve all of his goals.
They had their daughter Ingrid Moser on 20/10/1962 in Munich.
She worked all through her pregnancy at a factory making clothes right up until she was born.
She returned to work after 6 weeks of having Ingrid, and her Nan watched her so they could work to pay to provide everything.
We made the decision to leave Germany and move to Australia. They left Germany on 17/02/1968.
It was Impossible to buy land in Germany, and Australia had much more opportunity. The dream was to build a house & have a pool. Christine said she was homesick for 13 years. They initially moved to Chester Hill.
Otto was driving dangerous goods trucks. Christine worked in a shirt factory. She said she has had 65 jobs in her life in Australia including Revlon & Cerebos. She said jobs often required you to be a certain height to complete tasks, or have a certain skill, so she had to change jobs often. They built their family home in Prospect Sydney.
She has now lived in the same home for 48 years.
Otto became ill but hid how unwell he really was.
Christine recalled the day they found out he had pancreatic cancer he was at the hospital & had his trademark harmonica in his pocket as always. She remembers him playing 'Happy Birthday' to a patient, even though he had just found out the devastating diagnosis. Otto sadly died in 2016 aged 75 years.
Christine has 3 grandkids, great grandkids she has 10 right now, with another one coming in June this year!
These days she enjoys cooking, making cheese and butters. And tending to her garden.
She said she now enjoys cleaning the pool - which she never used to as this was Otto’s job when he was with us but now, I have to do it, so I take pride in keeping it cleaner than he did. She also said it keeps her moving & fit.
She enjoys her family, seeing the kids and grandkids, they keep her young at heart!
She enjoys being able to live a free life! She said, I wasn’t always able to, so it’s something I will never take for granted.
Last year Christine travelled between Munich & Ibiza over some weeks to catch up with her brother & family still overseas.
