Five days after his liberation he was still staying at the former prisoner camp, hastily converted into a hospital and Displaced Persons Camp. With fighting rampant all over the area, the British had ordered everyone to stay around.
The liberated prisoners were free to leave the camp, but not the town. Most used their new freedom to pilfer and loot anything they could get a hold of, since the new British commander had announced that the town of Lübeck was “a lawless zone with looting allowed” for the next three days. Hordes of ex-prisoners ventured out to take the much-needed food out of the Germans’ hands. Civilians – mostly women – scurried away with terror-stricken faces as soon as they saw the shabby men coming into town.
Peter hated committing such blatant war crimes, and he was gra
