Jakob
Happy_Old_Man_None.full.jpg Hello! My name is Jakob Heimlich, I am 83 years old and i come from a little town in Germany called Quedlinburg. I grew up in Quedlinburg, an I spent most of my youth there. When I was 19 years old me and my brothers, Freidrich and my adopted brother Zingh Ol, decided to move, we was in shame of our parents and our past. I moved to a little and quiet town in England, the little town is called Framlingham. I started working at the local supermarket when i came to Framlingham in 1949, and i have worked there ever since. The reason that I live here is that i wanted to go away from all the terrible things i did in Germany in my youth, my father was a SS officer, and he made me and my brothers to join the Hitlerjugend, which is a group of young Nazis.

As i said i now live in the peaceful an the quiet town of Framlingham. Framlingham is a little town in east of England. It is a very little town with only around 3000 inhabitants. In Framlingham we have a the Framlingham market, it is very unique and traditional market, Framlinham is a market town. It is also a castle here, called Framlingham castle, it was build in the 12th century, it is now open for tourism. Framlingham castle was ones the home of the queen of England, Mary Tudor or "bloody Mary" as she is called. Framligham consist of old brick houses, both big and small, actually on of the smallest houses in Britain lies in Framlingham, it is called "the check house". It is vineyard here also, its called Shawsgate vineyard, they make some delicious vines here.

My first meeting with Britain was rather special. As I said, when I was 19 years old me and my brother decided to move. We then took a train from our hometown, Quedlinburg, to Den Haag in Netherland. After that we took a boat from Den Haag to Hull in England. When we arrived Hull we separated, and traveled separate ways. I took a train south, visiting different cities and towns. I thought that England was so much better then Germany, in Germany there are ruins and destroyed building everywhere. The only thing that was the same was that there were soldiers everywhere I went. Almost everything was better in England, the nature, the locals, the atmosphere, the cities.
After a month of travelling I finally settled down in Framlingham.

The typical thing for Britain has to be that almost everybody drinks tea. Personally I think that the English language is spoken in a very feminine way in Britain, even tough you are a macho man, you always sounds like a little girl if you have that typical British accent. British people are very kind and polite, they are always in cheerful mood. The British people are very active, they go on hunting, play football, jogging and all kinds of sport. Hunting is very common activity amongst the villager in Framlingham, it is a beautiful nature her and the weather is almost always perfect, a perfect place for hunting. Football is also very wide sport in Britain, here you can find some of the worlds best football clubs, such as Manchester United and Arsenal. Framlingham is not so far away from Norwich, which is a big football club in Britain.
A thing that is I think is very funny about Britain is that outside the big cities, the houses are all the same, I mean who want to live in the same house as all of you`re neighbors. Not only does they look the same, but they are very small, Britain is known for having some of the smallest houses in the world.
Another typical thing about the British is that they are very glad in good food and drinks.

The most significant thing for British culture for me is the football culture. Football has since the start been big in Britain, especially in England. Football wasn`t big in Germany when I lived there, and I didn`t care so much about it, but that was before I got to England. I was surprised of how big it was here, its like football is their life. Everybody in Framlingham supports a football team from England, I support Norwich United, but that is only because Norwich is not so far from Framlingham and so that I have the opportunity to go and watch their games. Football has become a huge part of my life since I moved to England. It does not go day by without talking or hearing about football.

I dont see so many big problems in the UK, especially were I live. Framlingham is a peaceful little town, were everybody knows everybody, there is no crime in Framlingham nor criminals. 
When I say that I don`t think that there is so many big problems in the UK, what I mean by that is that it isn`t war in here, no dictatorship etc. But of course we have problems in the UK. Much criminality, the conflict between the protestants and the Catholics. The conflict between Protestants and the Catholics started many years ago. All of Ireland was a part of the the UK. A Catholic movement did not want to be governed from London, so they wanted to start a self-government. It was armed conflicts and demonstrations. In 1921, the Irish free state was established. “The trouble”, as it was called, claimed the lives of 3542. Even though Ireland is divided, it is still conflicts between the Protestants and the Catholics.
The criminality is a big issue in the UK. Assaults is a common thing in the UK. There are often conflicts between different football fans, and it often end up in fights. I remember when was in Manchester to watch a Manchester United match, I was going to get a drink, but unfortunately I ended up in the wrong side of Manchester and I ended up in a pub for only City supporters. When they found out that I was a United supporter, they throw me out, no respect for an old man, nothing. I don`t know why they have to fight over football, we all have the passion for it, football is about love and friendship.

You are contacted by German police because of your earlier connection to the Hitlerjugend.

On a beautiful monday morning in the end of January something terrible happened to me, I was contacted by the German police. I was drinking my coffee early in the morning, when the call came. I was wondering who would call so early in the morning, and when I took the phone, I heard someone speaking German and my first thought was that some relative from Germany, but I was so wrong. The man I talked with asked me if I was Jakob Heimlich, I said it was me and asked who I was talking to, he said he was from the German police. I was in shock first, I thought of what I could have done, but then I also thought of that they were just calling to tell me that some old relative of me had died, but I was so wrong again. He told me that he wanted to talk to about my past in the Hitlerjugenden, and he said that I had to come over to Berlin on Wednesday, and if I refused to come, he would send someone over to get me. My life fell in burst, I sank down on the floor where I stood and started crying. I cried and I cried for hours. How could they do this to an old man, I understood that this was serious when he said that "we will send over someone to get you". I tried to see the positive side of this case, but there were none. I had moved to England to get away from it, I never wanted to hear that word again and specially not talk about it again, I was so ashamed.
The following day I tried to not think of what was coming. I went out hunting in the forest, went to the pub with the boys and watched a football match on the TV. When Wednesday came I woke up early in the morning. I was shaking all over my body, I was so nervous. The plane left Norwich international airport at 9 in the morning, and I started driving from Framlingham at 7 in the morning.
The flight was suprisingly short, it was only took something like 2 hours. At the airport, there were 3 uniformed policemen waiting by the entrance. They told me that they should escort me to the police station. After a 10 minute drive we arrived the police station. They escorted me in to the building and up three floors, were I were met by a man in a black suit, he started talking to me and I realised it was him who I had talked to on the phone. He showed me the way in to a room were we sat down. He the asked me if I remember much from the Hitlerjugend, and I said I am an old man and my memories is not the best. He then asked if I could tell something about how I experienced it. I told him that it was my father who was an SS solider who forced me, my twin brother and my adopted brother in to it and that we never really had cared much about it and their purposes, we always used to run away from the camp were we received or training and education. I also told him that I was so ashamed of it that me and my brothers decided to get away from it when we were 19 years old. He than asked me about my life in England and what I did for a living. The police man told me that it had been done a mistake, they had got a tips that some of the old members of the Hitlerjugenden had started recruiting childrens to a new group. He said that I was free to go. I felt a sudden joy throughout my whole body, I leaved the office, and returned to the airport were I found out that the next flight back to England was about to leave in 30 minutes and that they had some available seats, I took one and got home to England. All was well.

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