Author: Peter Klopp

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.

Ernst Klopp (1900 – 1964) – Part 4

/ Peter Klopp / 13 Comments

Wedding Bells and Return to Agriculture

With assistance from his Freikorps organization, Ernst Klopp continued his training in agriculture. In 1923 we find him working in the Magdeburg area. From 1927 onward, he worked as administrator at Neuhof (former Pomerania) in the Schlochau County, at the estate of his sister Anna and brother-in-law Ludwig von Waldenfels.

Ernst Klopp circa 1927

In the fall of 1927 after the sale of the Neuhof property, Ernst found temporary employment at an estate in Quastenberg near Burg Stargard. [photo wiki]. In 1928, he moved into the family hotel of his sister Jula and and her husband Friedrich Steuer in Diensdorf at Lake Scharmützel.

In the same year on June 5, he married Erika Klara Else Kegler, who lived in Stolpmünde, Pomerania, 20 Willan Street. Erika Kegler (my mother) was born on March 24, 1899 in Grünewald, Neustettin County (Pomerania). She was the daughter of the Protestant pastor Carl Kegler (September 22, 1860 – June 15, 1919) and his wife Elisabeth Kegler ( August 13, 1868 ß September 14, 1948). Her forefathers had lived in villages around Obornik north of Posen (now Polish Poznan).

Carl and Elisabeth Kegler, Grünewald, Neustettin County (Pomerania)

On March 6, 1929, Ernst and Erika,s eldest son wad born in Stolpmünde (now Polish Ustka) at the Baltic Sea. In the same year through his wife’s family connections, Ernst was able to link up with the Protestant Inner Mission and its institutions in Belgard, Pomerania (now Polish Bialogard). The complex together with a large-sized farming area stretched in northwestern direction on either side of the Köslin Stree on the road to Kolberg.

My mother Erika Klopp circa 1927

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 32 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

The Miraculous Alberta Rose

On a recent walk down to the Arrow Lake and our local Heart Creek we encountered so many wild roses that I decided to devote an entire post to the Alberta rose, which is also native to much of the BC landscape. As an emblem, it represents our neighbouring province to the east. It is extremely hardy as far as roses go. It can easily take -40 degrees weather and raging blizzards, which are quite frequent in that corner of the world. It must feel like being in heaven here in our relatively mild Pacific climate. So here are five pictures of our recent evening walk. Enjoy.

My wife viewed through a frame of roses with the golf course in the background.

Ernst Klopp (1900 – 1964) – Part 3

/ Peter Klopp / 13 Comments

Chaos and Violence in Berlin

My Father’s Involvement in the Freikorps

It is not certain in which year Ernst Klopp arrived in Berlin. He probably participated in the counter-revolutionary activities of the Freikorps deployments in the capital city. In January of 1919 street battles took place, as well as general strikes of all sorts, and at the beginning of March, a major attack of the Freikorps against the Berlin proletariate shook the nation. The Reich defence minister Notke issued the martial-law order, “Each person caught with weapons is to be shot immediately!” Ernst’s sister was indeed exercising a good portion of wisdom to tell her younger brother to throw away his gun.

Communist Spartacists Taking Control in Berlin – Wikipedia Public Domain

BBC BiteSize provides the following historical background information: During 5 – 12 January 1919, 50,000 members of the post-World War One Communist Party, known as the Spartacists, rebelled in Berlin, led by Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. The government was saved when it armed bands of ex-soldiers, known as the Freikorps, who defeated the Spartacist rebels. In the aftermath, communist workers’ councils seized power all over Germany, and a Communist People’s Government took power in Bavaria. By May 1919 the Freikorps had crushed all of these uprisings.

Street Fights in Berlin – Wikipedia Public Domain

At the mass demonstration against the treaty of Versailles in 1920, army and FreiKorps soldiers caused a bloodbath. In March of the same year, the FreiKorps supported the Kapp-Coup. One year later, the last armed Freikorps attacks took place during the communist general strikes in Central Germany. The extent of Ernst Klopp’s involvement in all of these events remains shrouded in darkness.

It is likely that a few years later Ernst Klopp received assistance from his old Freikorps connections, which through work communities (Arbeitsgemeinschaften) and work camps (Arbeitslager) provided shelter and employment to the old comrades up to the years 1924/1925 and in some cases even later on Pomeranian and Mecklenburg estates.

Natural Splendour of the Arrow Lakes

/ Peter Klopp / 30 Comments

Wednesday’s Photos

Wondrous Sights on the Way to Nakusp

Last Tuesday I drove to Nakusp to do our weekly grocery shopping. It was a wonderful late spring day wildflowers blooming everywhere. I had to stop at a creek which was cascading down the mountain into the Arrow Lake. At a boat launch near Burton I captured a beautiful lakeside scene. You may remember a similar shot I took last year. At the Burton bridge, I spotted a lone duck happily cruising through the reeds. There I also captured the lake view with its dramatic cloud formation and the daisies creating a pleasant foreground. And then there were the lupines that adorn the highway on each side this time of the year from Fauquier all the way to Nakusp. Enjoy.