Month: February 2020

Friedrich Wilhelm Otto Klopp (1886 – 1937)

/ Peter Klopp / 10 Comments

Chart I Peter and Emma Klopp Tree simple

The stories of the first eight children of my paternal grandparents have been told in earlier posts last year. Here are the links to the first half of Friedrich and Emma Klopp’s sons and daughters: Friedrich, Juliane, Karl, Ferdinand, Rosa, Alma, August, and Anna.

Friedrich Wilhelm Otto Klopp (1886 – 1937)

The Innkeeper of the “Brown Elk”

As the ninth child Wilhelm was born on 8 December 1886 in Jersleben. Due to the sparse memory retention of the descendants, Eberhard Klopp, the author of the Klopp Family Chronicles, had not been able to dig up any information on Wilhelm all the way up to 1919, when after the lost WW1 the latter returned from the eastern German provinces (given to Poland by the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles) to Elbeu. At the Magdeburg Street of Elbeu, Wilhelm bought a house, presumably with agricultural land attached to it. With his brother Ferdinand he seemed to have come to some sort of financial arrangement involving a considerable sum of money paid out by the state to compensate for lost property in the eastern provinces.

From Wilhelm’s first marriage with Maria Söchting come two sons: Wilhelm and Gerhard. Their mother died in 1912. In 1912 Wilhelm married his second wife Louise (née Grünwald). From this marriage originate four children: Viktoria (1914), Fritz (1916), Heinz (1919) and Günther (1924). It is safe to assume that 28-year old Wilhelm became a soldier in 1914. When he returned from the war with his brothers, he procured for his brother Ferdinand Klopp (1879 – 1952) the lease of the Elbeu Inn “Brown Elk”. Over financial disagreements in August 1922, the two had in the barroom a fight, during which Ferdinand shot his brother. Wilhelm was wounded at his left shoulder. Louise, who was standing behind him, was grazed by the bullet. Mother-in-law Emma Klopp must have heard about this incidence either at her daughter Rosa Diesing’s (1881 -1924) place at Schöneberg or experienced it first hand right on location in Elbeu. At any rate, it had been passed down through the grapevine that Emma had used the highly defamatory term “Satan’s wife” in describing her daughter-in-law. Mother Emma condemned Wilhelm’s excessive alcohol consumption, which she blamed on his wife’s bad influence. Louise died in 1924, presumably on account of the injury she suffered from the grazing bullet. Wilhelm was reconciled with his brother Ferdinand – at least on the surface, took over the “Brown Elk”, and remained innkeeper for the rest of his days.

Around 1925 he married for the third time: Ruth (née Grünwald), the sister of his second wife. Six underage children needed to be cared for. From this marriage descended two more sons: Hans-Georg and Hans-Joachim, both were born in Elbeu. On 7 August 1937, Wilhelm passed away at the age of only 51 years. At the end of his short life, he had apparently become his own best customer of the local watering hole.

Über menschliche Werte im Geiste der Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben – 18. Teil

/ Peter Klopp / 12 Comments

To my English speaking blogging friends: Today’s post is the last instalment of the Schweitzer inspired series on human values. I thank you all for your patience and for the effort of some to translate these rather difficult posts. Next Friday I will return to the Klopp Family Story.

A012

 

Vertrauen

Auch das Wort Vertrauen ist kaum noch gebräuchlich. Die Herrschaft der Ökonomie im Denken und Handeln der Menschen führt dazu, dass alles, was man nicht berechnen und Voraussagen kann, wertlos ist. Denn „Vertrauen ist etwas Geistiges”, sagte Albert Schweitzer. „Es kann nur in geistigem Geschehen entstehen … Ich bekenne, dass ich Vertrauen in die Menschen setze. Mein langes Leben hat mich gelehrt, dass wir alle denkende Wesen sind und dass es nur darauf ankommt, dass dieses Denken erwacht und bis in die Tiefe unseres Seins geht.”

Aber auch für alle Unternehmen ist Vertrauen „das große Betriebskapital, ohne welches kein nützliches Werk auskommen kann. Es schafft auf allen Gebieten die Bedingungen gedeihlichen Geschehens.” Ohne das Vertrauen in die Worte Jesu: „Du aber folge mir nach!”, ohne das Vertrauen in alle seine treuen Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter und ohne das Vertrauen in das „Symbol seines Werkes”, das Spital in Lambarene, hätte er all die Mühsal, alle die Rückschläge, alle die Verleumdungen und alle diese Widerstände nicht überwinden können. Aber auch seine Mitarbeiter und Patienten ‘lebten davon, dass jemand an sie glaubt’ und ihnen vertraut. ‘Was ein Mensch an Gütigkeit in die Welt hinaus gibt, das arbeitet an den Herzen der Menschen und an ihrem Denken.’

Was zwischen einzelnen Menschen gilt,  hat ebenso in den Beziehungen zwischen den Völkern und Staaten Bedeutung. Auch hierzu hat sich Schweitzer mit dem Hinweis geäußert: „Gemeinsame Ideale allein bieten die Möglichkeit, dass der Einzelne wie auch die Völker sich gegenseitig verstehen, sich gegenseitig achten und Vertrauen zueinander haben.” Die geistige Kraft des Vertrauens ist das beste Mittel zur Wahrung des Friedens. Den guten Staatsmann erkennt man auch daran, dass er internationales Vertrauen schafft.