Month: July 2020

Ernst Klopp (1900 – 1964) – Part 7

/ Peter Klopp / 19 Comments

Brief Historical Background

Ernst Klopp in the Wartheland ( 1940 – 1945)

The partitions of Poland and Lithuania were three partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 123 years. The partitions were conducted by the Habsburg Monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire, which divided up the Commonwealth lands among themselves progressively in the process of territorial seizures and annexations.

German Empire (1871 – 1919)

My readers may remember that my grandmother Emma Klopp had settled in Elsenau, West Prussia not many years after her husband Peter Friedrich Klopp has died in 1900. Due to the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, in 1920 she had to move west together with thousands of other dispossessed Germans. Also the area further south around the city of Posen (today Poznan) had to be returned to the newly created Polish State. That particular region was known as the Warthegau during the Nazi era and was named after the River Warthe. It was here in the area near Dietfurt (Znin) that my father Ernst Klopp received his assignment as director of three abandoned farms.

Map of Germany after World War I

On 1 September 1939, without a formal declaration of war, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, using the pretext of the Gleiwitz incident, a provocation (one of many) staged by the Germans, who claimed that Polish troops attacked a post along the German-Polish border.  During the following days and weeks the technically, logistically and numerically superior German forces rapidly advanced into the Polish territory. Secured by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet troops also invaded Poland on 17 September 1939. Before the end of the month, most of Poland was divided between the Germans and the Soviets.

Source of the historical background and maps: wikipedia.org

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 33 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

Mountain Air, Wildflowers and Huckleberries

Last week I took my wife to one of our favourite huckleberry spots about a 1000 m above sea level. She was extremely grateful, as she is a passionate gatherer of all kinds of wild and garden berries. For those of you unfamiliar with huckleberries, they are a distant relative of the commercial blueberries. However, the huckleberries are superior in taste and nutritious value. The heat was bad and the mosquitoes even worse, but the extra pain was worth every minute of the ordeal. I used the opportunity to capture the scenery with my video camera. Enjoy.

Huckleberries among the Wildflowers

Ernst Klopp (1900 – 1964) – Part 6

/ Peter Klopp / 19 Comments

New Responsibilities and a Growing Family

Ernst Klopp followed Pascheke and took over the administration as director of the entire complex. His assistant director was Karl Paetsch. Ernst Klopp was heading the functions of the mission establishments self-responsibly until the fall of 1940. Since the ‘entire realm for the people’s food production was exclusively a national-socialist domain’, those in control over all aspects of administration converted the church-run training home into an establishment of the state, which was now under the jurisdiction of the provincial land association. During this decisive conversion to a state-controlled training centre, Ernst Klopp, as evidenced by keeping his director position, must have made a favourable impression.

In-between three more children were born: Adolf (1932 – 1989), Erika (1934), and Gerhard (1936). In these years, Ernst managed to have a painting of his parents Emma and P. F. W. Klopp done from an old no longer existing photo. The painting accompanied the family until 1945. In Belgrade also hung the framed message of brother Otto’s death, who was killed in Russia in 1915. On January 27, 1936, the entire family celebrated on Ernst-Flos-Estate the 80th birthday of mother and grandmother Emma Klopp (née Bauer). A photo of this eventful day still exists and is in the personal archives of Eberhard Klopp, the author of the Klopp Chronicles.

Three years before the family moved from Belgrade further east to West Prussia (re-occupied by the Nazi regime) Ernst Klopp had a house  built on the Ernst-Flos-Estate property, in which the family lived until the fall of 1940. Finally, the family had their own home separate from the institutional buildings.

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 32 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

Tall Grasses, Wildflowers and a Bumblebee

Whether you believe it or not after a very wet spring the grasses along the edge of the Fauquier Golf Course grew up to two metres tall. Since I prefer the landscape format in photography there was no way that I was able to capture their full height. But I was generally very pleased with the results, especially with the setting sun shining through the luscious stalks. The bumblebee feasting on a wildflower – I am sure my blogging friend Steve would know its name – was the icing on the cake. Enjoy.

Ernst Klopp (1900 – 1964) – Part 5

/ Peter Klopp / 11 Comments

Gleichschaltung of the Belgard Institutions

The Belgard institutions of the Inner Mission were divided into three work areas: The Dr.-Klar-Foundation, the Johannis-House and the Ernst-Flos-Estate. In 1930, Ernst Klopp took over the agricultural part of the Ernst-Flos-Estate. For its operation, Ernst made use of orphans and young delinquents, agricultural apprentices of the town of Belgard, and asocial people, who were being drafted during harvest times. With this workforce at his disposal, Ernst was able to secure the food requirements for all the people under his care. In the home of the Dr.-Klar-Foundation these were mostly senior citizens and special needs persons and in the Johannis-House alcoholics and the incurable sick. For the delinquent youth and orphans there was mandatory school attendance.

Belgard, Pomerania (now Polish Białogard) – Wikipedia

Erika Klopp (my mother) in the role of a domestic administrator was in charge of the personell from the ‘Alcoholic Rescue Home’, the Johannis-House, who had beed assigned to the Ernst-Flos-Estate. After 1933, female members of the NS Work Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst) and the operators of a pig farm for the NS Food Supply Service (Ernährungshilfswerk) were added to the growing enterprise.

Reichsarbeitsdienst at Harvest Time – Bundesarchiv

Direktor Pascheke had been serving the Dr.-Klar-Foundation as House Father (Hausvater) since 1925. In 1933 or 1934, he was dismissed on account of alleged financial irregularities, an often used method by the Nazis to replace ‘undesirable’ individuals with more party-friendly people in their take-over of independently run institutions.

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 31 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

Near and At the Hart Creek

The Hart Creek provides almost all of Fauquier with fresh mountain water. It originates in the Valkyr Range southeast of our community of some 200 people. Many of the mountains tower over a vast area with a respectable altitude of over 8000 ft. In my younger years, I would take my boys up to Mt. McBride, where after a six-hour strenuous hike we could relax and enjoy the fantastic view. Sometimes, we would even set up camp and stay a day or two in the alpine meadows above the tree line. Today I present to you five photos near the mouth of the creek from a recent evening walk with my wife. Enjoy.