Futile Rescue Mission for Brother Friedrich

Klopp Family Tree – Chart I – II

Already in the middle of 1919 the Diesing family resettled in Gommern near Magdeburg. Mother Emma, having to abandon her place in West Prussia, which now belonged to Poland, found temporary shelter with the Diesing family. From here according to a postcard written from the inn “Gasthof zum Stern” Emma made contact with her son Ferdinand in Elbeu.

City Hall of Gommern – Photo Credit: wikipedia.org

In 1921 Rosa made a last-ditch attempt to seek reconciliation between the family members most of them leaning towards the Emma Klopp faction and the few others of Emma’s eldest son Friedrich (see the Klopp Grandparents VIII for more details on the bitter family feud that lasted half a century). Friedrich had been written off and treated as an outcast by the rest of the family.

Magdeburg – Monastery of Our Lady – Photo Credit: wikipedia.org

So August Diesing, acting on Rosa’s urgent plea, got together with his brother-in-law Friedrich Klopp. He acquired by auction an abandoned school building with the intention to open up a construction business. The plan seemed to be a promising one, since August with the expertise in masonry and carpentry was well qualified for the envisioned new venture. Friedrich, however, in view of his impoverished financial situation, could at best offer merely his good will and hands for this new type of business.

In a time, when August faced the fate of many others in Germany and struggled with financial problems and increasing unemployment, he gave up his noble plan to help out his wife’s eldest brother with employment and a modest income. Instead, he turned to the other financially more robust members of the Klopp family to support his business. This treachery according to an oracle pronounced by Friedrich’s mother-in-law in Zielitz could not be left unpunished. “Whoever gets involved with the Klopps should know exactly, what he is letting himself into.” How this oracle is being fulfilled will be the subject of the next post on Anna Rosa Klopp.