People

In January 1945, Carl Horn, a young boy of 15, was drafted into the German army and was shipped, along with other young boys, to the Bavarian front in southeast Germany near the Austrian border.

The army handed him a uniform, rifle, and the only training he received was how to load and shoot the rifle. A few weeks after arriving, Carl and a friend fled their barracks and hid in a nearby framer’s barn under a haystack. The farmer supplied them with food and information during the many cold winter months. On April 20, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide, and the war was soon over. The French occupied the region and put out a directive that all German soldiers report to a detention center.

Because Carl was under the age of 16, they released him from custody. With a companion, he walked surreptitiously only at night for more than 250 miles through southern Germany back to his home in Oberachern to avoid German soldiers who continued to fight. There were no police or security forces to provide safe passage for anyone while invading troops were still battling the disintegrating German army. Twenty of Carl’s cousins never came home, but he eventually made it safely to his mother’s arms.