Waiting for Waldemar

The year is 1943. It is mid-September in the village of Billersfeld, Dnieperpetrovsk. The German army is pushing into the heart of Ukraine, with the Battle of the Dnieper only minutes away. Helene Zernickel, a mother of three, is giving birth to her fourth child as artillery falls around their home. Her husband, Waldemar, has come out of hiding to help in the delivery. He gives his daughter the name Erika. Once trusted settlers under the reign of Catherine the Great, Waldemar's family were among millions of Germans who migrated to Ukraine and Russia in the 1700s. In exchange for developing the land, they were guaranteed freedom from military service. With Germany and Russia now at war, the Soviet regime suspected these foreigners of loyalty to the Third Reich and ordered the sweep of every village, arresting all men of German descent. Waldemar and his friend Johann were captured and taken by truck to the middle of a rapeseed field, where the soldiers plotted to execute them. Johann and Waldemar managed to escape, only to witness the execution of two of their fellow men. From that point on, there was a price on their heads, and soldiers returned to their homes night after night, holding their wives at gunpoint. Waldemar stayed concealed under the floor of the barn, covered by straw to avoid detection, while Johann hid submerged in the pond, breathing through a straw. When the German army pushed into Russia, they arranged for the transport of millions of elderly, women and children by train to escape west. Waldemar brought his piano to the train station, as music was as important as food to his family. Close to the Russia / Ukraine border, Soviet Yakovlev fighter planes ambushed their caravan. A carriage full of women and children was set on fire, and the men were ordered to detach the carriage to prevent complete destruction of the train. Later, Erika, only months old, went missing in the chaos and confusion, but was later found by her mother Helene - wedged in between an elderly couple that had died during the night. Halfway between Ukraine and Germany, during a lull in the war, Waldemar's family settled outside the city of Bendsburg. Waldemar started temporary work in a bakery. He would leave on Monday, by train, and return on Friday. On February 27, 1945, after departing, the Russians advanced with little warning. Helene, unable to notify her husband, left a note with the landlady and packed up her four children, escaping on foot to the Czechoslovakia border, where she waited for him. For three days she searched the faces for him, but nobody ever saw Waldemar again, nor heard his name. She continued west, passing by the burning city of Dresden, sleeping under bridges and in barns, hiding with her children in shelters as the bombing onslaught on Germany intensified. She only prayed that if they die, they should die quickly. After the war ended, Helene continued for years searching for her husband Waldemar. The Red Cross released the names of German prisoners of war whom Russia had detained in Siberian labor camps, and the children listened for Waldemar among the names read on the radio, but it never came. Years later, after the family migrated to Canada, the ache of their loss remains. Waiting for Waldemar is a testament to the enduring love between children and their parents, and a love song to humanity. At a time when the world faces the second largest refugee crisis in over 70 years, its message is even more relevant.