The Second Marriage of
Georg von Waldenfels
At Lagowitz two children were born, Hans-Jürgen in 1929 and Carola von Waldenfels in 1932. When the children turned seven and four respectively, the marriage between Georg and Millie had already been in a crisis for quite some time. Officially the two separated on February 22, 1936.
In 1937 Fritz Georg von Waldenfels, quite bored with the monotony and bourgeois atmosphere of Panwitz-lagowitz living, got acquainted with his future wife in the ‘House Vaterland’ (House Fatherland), the greatest cabaret and dance palace of the Reich’s capital of Berlin, Ilse Jannink (born on May 9, 1914 in Epe near Granau, Westphalia). She was the daughter of the Dutch textile manufacturer Jan Frederik Jannink (1874 – 1943). Her father had founded the company in Enschede, Holland around the turn of the century. The son transferred the firm shortly before the beginning of WW1 to Epe and carried on the business under the company name ‘Germania’. In Epe he could avail himself of a personell match larger than in Holland. The cotton industry under his management employed in the 1920’s and 30’s almost 600 workers. South of Epe stood the stately family manor, the birthplace of Ilse Jannink.
Even at the age of 82 years (in 1996), Ilse looked very much like the singing superstar Lale Anderson, a celebrity of the early Nazi entertainment scene. Georg von Waldenfels married in July 1938 the tall 24 year old manufacturer’s daughter, who fitted well into the image of the blond girl ideal of its era. In stature she must have towered over her husband by an entire head length. A catholic wedding took place in Berlin, the wedding ceremonies in the St. Hedwig Cathedral and the banquet in the luxury ‘Hotel Adlon’.
Georg and his wife Ilse carried on with the management of the castle estate Lagowitz, supported by an administrator, an assistant and a secretary. They kept about 100 cows, a sheep farm, cultivated mostly sugar beets and maintained an orchard. In 1939 387 inhabitants lived in that village.
It remained an unwritten law in the new family von Waldenfels, never again to talk about the cast-away first wife. Millie von Waldenfels left Lagowitz with her two children in 1934/35, and, although pushed out, had no doubt received a royal compensation. She lost her family possession and the glorious showpiece Castle Lagowitz. One for the Klopp family exceptional and usurpation-style seizures catapulted the Klopp-von-Waldenfels branch into a ready made nest.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 
Excellent, Peter.
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Are you going to show a portrait of Ilse Jannink?
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Unfortunately, I do not have any photos of Ilse, Steve.
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Ah, too bad. I searched online but each Ilse Jannink that turned up is alive now.
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I am not so sure how I feel about this Georg cousin of yours…Poor Millie. How unfair that she lost her family’s property in the divorce. Did Georg even maintain contact with his children?
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This is indeed a very sad story. No reason to have any good feelings about Georg! The book I have in German and which I am translating into English does not tell whether Georg maintained any contact with his children or not. I suspect he did not.
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I try not to insult people’s relatives, but it seems you share my feelings, so… 🙂
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We are on the same wavelength, Amy. I have no good feelings about my aunt Anna’s son. But the story needs to be told.
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Yep. Even our least lovable relatives need to have their stories told.
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I am glad we two share this viewpoint, Amy.
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As we do on many things, Peter. 🙂
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That’s a fascinating story, Peter! It does seem odd, by today’s standards, that the first marriage would have ended so badly for Millie. But things were different back then, especially for the upper levels of society.
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As I explained to Birgit, it was in my opinion a blessing for Emilie to be divorced from a man who was a Nazi and member of the SS. More to come …
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I was wondering what happened with Emilie, but then you explained it in the last paragraph. Tough luck she lost her family’s castle. But were the laws not that way in those times that with marriage possessions went into the hands of the husband? Unless there was a special clause in the parents’ testament.
A lot of parents don’t keep contact with their children after a divorce, mostly the fathers. I guess that was and is a cultural thing. It has gotten better though, and more fathers are really interested in fatherhood.
I am surprised that they got divorced. That was still not the “done” thing at that time and in those circles.
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Georg was a Nazi follower and sympathizer, as you will find out in the next couple of posts. I believe that the divorce was ultimately a blessing for Emelie and her children. Thank you, for your insightful comment, Birgit!
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Came across this blog and post while looking for some documentation in my family tree – very interesting and well written. I am the (sole) grandchild of Emilie von Żychliński (Millie). I see a few people wondering what happened to Emilie following these events: She seemed to be very happy to divorce Georg von Waldenfels who she described as a pretty unpleasant husband, a philanderer and serial womanizer. The divorce was quite the scandal in mid 1930s Germany, especially with both families being very high profile. She remarried a commoner by the name of Hans Nehls (my grandfather) who was an industrialist involved in the manufacture of printing materials, in particular carbon paper and moved to Berlin. This stroke of (random) luck may well have made up for the misfortune of losing Schloss Lagowitz – the manufacture of carbon paper was greatly desired by the Americans and the whole family and factory was airlifted to Frankfurt at the end of the war, with the family escaping being on the wrong side of the division of Berlin. Hans Nehls essentially paid-off Georg von Waldenfels and adopted both Hans-Jurgen and Carola bringing them up as his own children. Carola became very close with her stepfather, and upon his untimely passing (heart attack at 49 years of age), Georg came back offering to “bring her back into the (von Waldenfels) fold” to which Carola replied, “you aren’t my father, I just buried my real father.” Millie eventually remarried again and finally moved to Munich where she passed away at the ripe old age of 96 about 20 years ago. I remember her as being as sharp as a tack and very proud of her von Żychliński family line. She showed me pictures of Lagowitz, and the luxuries (for the period) she had as a child, adolescent and young adult. When asked about whether she missed all those things she philosophically replied, “you can only sit your backside into one chair at a time”.
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What a surprise! I appreciate the time and effort you invested in writing this very interesting and detailed comment on my aunt Baroness Anna von Waldenfels. Any photos you would like to share?
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