Further Media
Christel Nieske’s birthday fell during the difficult time shortly after they arrived in the West. Although the reception process left them little free time and money was tight, they celebrated anyway. She even received a present: a new apron.
Christel Nieske remembers:
“Although my aunts had smuggled money to the West for us before we fled, we were not well off financially because of the unfavorable exchange rates. There were daily fluctuations so we tried to minimize our losses by only exchanging small amounts. We only received 486.55 West DM for 3,020.30 East DM, which meant that our East mark was suddenly only worth about 16 Pfennigs. We couldn’t make any major purchases with that, but on my birthday, on February 17, I received an apron and a pair of nylon stockings. I used the apron for many years, but the stockings turned out to be a bad buy.”