Soldbuch
12 images Created 20 Aug 2022
In 2009 I attempted to walk from my grandfather's war grave near Lyon to his last known address in Hamburg – 'a journey walked by a ghost, of which I have no memory...'
<i><small>Wednesday, 28 January
The train comes to a halt on an iron bridge, a lone crow flies overhead and I think back to this morning's departure, when – just as my grandfather had done exactly 70 years before – I abandoned my Love and left for France wearing a German army jacket.
My journey will begin at the end: I will walk from my grandfather's grave to the city in which he once lived. But, as the train carries me through London suburbs – forever changed by the air raids of World War Two – I feel ill-prepared. It is difficult to breathe; my mouth is dry and silent because I have been eating the soil from a grave.</i>
<i><small>Wednesday, 28 January
The train comes to a halt on an iron bridge, a lone crow flies overhead and I think back to this morning's departure, when – just as my grandfather had done exactly 70 years before – I abandoned my Love and left for France wearing a German army jacket.
My journey will begin at the end: I will walk from my grandfather's grave to the city in which he once lived. But, as the train carries me through London suburbs – forever changed by the air raids of World War Two – I feel ill-prepared. It is difficult to breathe; my mouth is dry and silent because I have been eating the soil from a grave.</i>
