Otto Klopp (1898? – 1915)
Killed in Action in World War I
It was very difficult to obtain any concrete information on Otto Klopp, as no birth and place records were found. It is not even certain if mother Emma had taken him with her to her new residence in Elsenau, West Prussia in 1903 or 1904. In any case, he was mentioned among family circles as a 15-year or 16-year old in Wolmirstedt.
Hermann Weihe (1888 – 1947), the brother of his sister-in-law Marie-Luise Klopp (née Weihe) of Zielitz, arranged a job for Otto at a farm in Farsleben near Zielitz before 1914. There Otto in all likelihood started an apprenticeship program in agriculture. He was, therefore, the only one of the Klopp-Bauer children with whom mother Emma maintained a connection with the otherwise avoided Klopp-Weihe family. The author, Eberhard Klopp, offers the following explanation. Emma tried very hard to keep financial and family responsibilities within a manageable scope. For that reason Otto had to be taken care off in Farsleben.
At Wolmirstedt, Otto was presumably drafted into the German army to fight on the Russian front where he was killed in the 1915 offensive. As cause for his ‘hero’s death, several events during that year in World War I could be considered: his involvement in the Winter battle of February March 1915 in Masuria, East Prussia. Furthermore, he could have lost his life during the establishment of a new front and munition line of the Tenth army northeast of Suwalki. Finally, in connection with an attack at Kowno, he could have been killed during an enemy counterattack in the summer operation against Russia in July or August 1915. Otto Klopp received a shot through the lungs and bled to death in a wire entanglement.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 
I am enjoying your look into the past. There have been many courageous people who came before us!
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What an awful death!
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And what an aweful war it was!
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Yes, it annihilated an entire generation of young men from all participating countries … utter craziness, and for what?
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Thank you Peter for sharing with us this family history, it’s very saddening to hear what happened to Otto Klopp. I just wished that the world would have learned by now from that devastating past, at times it seems that the learning process is taking way to long.
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The song “Where have all the flowers gone” comes to my mind, when I think of Uncle Otto’s terrible death. Thank you, Cornelia for your kind words!
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Just listened to that song again of Peter , Paul and Mary, such a meaningful song.
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How terrible. To die such a gruesome death—so very sad.
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That is so sad! It makes us realize how very hard war is on everyone. Poor Otto never had a chance to really live his life, it seems.
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My father who was born as the sixteenth child two years later was drafted for military service at the age of 18, but fortunately the war ended before he was going to be sent to the front.
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That is an amazing piece of luck, and I’m so glad for your father! Still, your family certainly had it share of suffering from this war. Your stories make it real!
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His life story is being published starting tomorrow.
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Sad to hear of his unfortunate end! At the very least, one hopes everyone gets a painless ending.
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“To best one can hope for is to die in one’s sleep”.
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