Living In Berlin by Ruchia aka Roo (Eargle) Moran

It was February, 1967, I was 12 years old and living in Atlanta, Georgia. My father and mother had just told me we were moving to Germany. Times were turbulent, it was the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Four years earlier, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. My parents decided it was time to act on their dreams. My dad had a successful financial/real estate business and my mother was pursuing a career in opera.

I remember boarding the Pan Am Jet Clipper with my parents and my three year old brother. It was a long ride, but very exciting for me. I had no idea what Germany was or even where it was, but I was all for an adventure! One of the first amazing things to happen to this little southern girl was when my father woke me and told me to look out the plane window. It was the one and only time I have ever seen the Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights. It was magical and awesome.

I stepped off the plane and entered into another world, or so I thought. It even smelled different. It smelled like fresh dirt, green lush trees and delectable foods I had yet to taste. We had rented a small townhouse near the corner of the American Berlin Brigade housing and a few streets over from the high school. I was not able to attend that school. We were there for my mother to study opera under the tutelage of Elizabeth Grummer.

I was enrolled into John F. Kennedy International School. I was excited that there were some American kids that went there. Some had dads that were missionaries, some were with John Deer or diplomats. But the most fun was meeting the kids in the housing area of the brigade. For the next two years, I was actively seeing Berlin, learning to ice skate, finding my favorite kiosk with bratwurst mit pommes frites, clothes and shoe shopping and learning the language.

My dad has finally gotten a job working as a civilian in the Berlin Brigade and I was able to enroll in Berlin American High School. I was issued dog tags as well as an identification card, I was on cloud nine! My teachers, both at JFK school and BAHS were the most wonderful, loving caring and encouraging people ever. I was so blessed and having the time of my life. I made so many friends and was able to travel and see places like England, Italy, Spain, and North Africa.

Because I was living on the economy at first, I made many friends who were German. Our landlord’s father came to supper one evening and in the course of dinner, he handed me a basket of rolls. I noticed that he had numbers tattooed on his arm. I didn’t know what tattoos were and I asked him what they meant. The next hour was a very sobering history lesson I will never forget. This gentle and kind man was a concentration camp survivor and he told me about the rise and fall of a man named Adolf Hitler. I was horrified, enraptured and curious. I was told never to forget and to tell his story all my life. I made a promise to him that I would. My parents then thought it might be worthwhile to take me to Dachau. I never made it through the front gate. My heart felt like it was going to explode and I was very upset. Since then I have met four other survivors and 30 years later as a journalist, wrote my first human interest story on a survivor for a local newspaper.

In 1971, my father was assigned to USAREUR Heidelberg, Germany. Another fairy tale began. I was able to attend both my Junior and Senior prom and graduated in a 12th century castle. I also met my husband there while in the 10th grade. This coming December, we will celebrate 36 years of Brat Bliss! In 1973, my father was assigned to the Pentagon, in Virginia. I cannot begin to tell you the immense culture shock I was subjected to. After a while, I was able to settle in, and eventually ran into some classmates. Whom, I might add, I thought I would never see again-- because it was before the age of the world wide web! Off to college I went. I spent the next 20 plus years working in newspapers, and raising my two beautiful children.

Now my time is spent enjoying a quiet life in a small east Texas town and loving being a grandmother. My one wish is to return to my beloved Berlin and Heidelberg. It’s on my bucket list. I never tire of telling people who will listen, of my wonderful adventure of growing up in Germany. I am truly blessed. Tschüß, my friends!

Ruchia aka Roo (Eargle) Moran '7

Monday, September 26, 2011

Berlin- Ruchia at Nikolaikirche

(St. Nicolas Church confirmation 1968

#books #reading #bratsoverseascom