Walter Panknin Family

Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch 8 Part 3

/ Peter Klopp / 4 Comments

Papa Panknin’s Comments on Gertrud’s Eating Habits

Some of my blogging friends are quite right in pointing out that just because Biene was a picky eater does not mean that she was anorexic. To summarize this rather sad development, I let Papa Panknin speak through his letters to friends and family between 1959 and 1963. Hopefully, not too much of Papa’s sarcasm and irony is getting lost in translation.

1959-12-20 “After many years, we are looking to a joyful Christmas. For the first time in eighteen years, I have been thinking about having once again a roasted goose on the table and a bottle of wine. But that thought evaporated into thin air. The kids reject any poultry with an expression of utmost disgust. My wife and I cannot eat an entire goose all by ourselves. So we are planning to have a rabbit dinner. There is no harm in having two eaters less at the dinner table.”

The Twins Gertrud (Biene) and Walter Panknin 1961

1961-12-06 “Gertrud is adopting an unnatural lifestyle. It is God’s plan that a young girl should work and be in constant motion from dawn to dusk. Instead, the kids sit on school benches all morning and lazily spend the afternoons on couches. Biene only eats apples. According to books and magazines, eating apples makes you slim and good-looking. Which woman and, even more so, which girl isn’t prepared to make big sacrifices on the altar of beauty. When fashion moguls declare that an old jam pot would serve as a fashionable head cover, it would be done without questioning. Of course, the industry would not do such a stupid thing and suggest something to reduce their profits. Mamma worries a lot about our daughter’s lack of appetite. Biene eats nothing, almost nothing, only fruits. Consequently, she has no bowel movements. Someone who eats nothing has no bowel movements. I know this from my time as a POW.”

Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch 8 Part 2

/ Peter Klopp / 6 Comments

Biene, the Picky Eater

Already in early childhood, Biene had developed into a picky eater. She was taller than her twin brother Walter and looked skinny and undernourished.  When she came down with scarlet fever, a bacterial disease that was quite common among young children of post-war Germany, she had to spend a long time in the hospital. The food was adequate for the hospitalized young girl, probably more abundant and abundant than for the family at home.  One thing among many other food items Biene hated the most was the blood sausage on her diet. She reluctantly swallowed down the vegetables, until only the blood sausage was left. Then she squeezed the sausage so hard between the metal plates and spread the resulting fatty cream that the nurse on duty would not notice anything. Back at home on the road to recovery, Biene refused to eat all the good things the doctor had recommended. No pleading, bribes or threats would change her mind. In the end, the doctor and parents agreed to let her eat whatever she liked, which was very little.

Papa Pankin and his daughter Gertrud (Biene) on the Island of Corsica in the summer of 1962.

A decade later, when Biene entered her rebellious teenage years, Mamma and Papa Panknin were getting really concerned. Being tall and skinny may have been an ideal image, as dictated by the fashion moguls of the day. Still, it was a worrisome indication of an impending case of anorexia. Having successfully managed to eat only what she liked for so many years, she has now become very clever in deceiving her parents into believing that what was offered on the plate had gone into her stomach. At school, she became quite popular, when she started handing out to her classmates the most delicious and nutritious lunches her mother had so lovingly prepared for her. Biene designed elaborate schemes at the dinner table to make undesirable chunks of meat and portions of green vegetables disappear. To her mother’s chagrin, such food items were later found strewn under the table. Often the defiant teenager would take a napkin and ostentatiously wipe her mouth and then quickly cover a pile of unpalatable food as if she had made it disappear by magic.

Of course, Biene could not hide these tricks forever. The consequence was that Papa, who had almost died of starvation as a POW, was getting so upset over his daughter’s show of disrespect for the fine food that they could finally afford to eat. In the end, for the sake of peace and quiet, Papa Panknin had his supper at a different time apart from the rest of the family.

Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch 8 Part 1

/ Peter Klopp / 5 Comments

The Eternal Recurrent of the Same

The Challenge of Raising Teenagers in the Early 1960’s

Peter writes from the present post onward.

‘The children now love luxury; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are tyrants, not servants of the households. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize over their teachers.’ This quote is attributed to Socrates. While it has not been authenticated, it reflects the idea, based on painful parental experiences, that, throughout the millennia, children have always been perceived as unruly, rude and disrespectful to their parents and those in authority.



Portrait of Socrates. Marble, Roman artwork (1st century), perhaps a copy of a lost bronze statue.

Papa Panknin wrote many letters addressing and responding to friends and relatives. His literary ruminations could easily exceed the volume of a 500-page novel. The correspondence entailed a plethora of topics, such as politics, the rapidly changing customs and mores, the ills of post-war West Germany, and the challenges of bringing up their two teenage twins, Walter and Gertrud (Biene).

I will focus only on matters relating to the history of the Walter and Elisabeth family and their children. Furthermore, to make the final chapters more colourful and authentic, I will at times deviate from the strictly chronological path. I will make extensive use of Papa’s correspondence and will try my best to translate the German passages to give all of you a genuine understanding of my father-in-law, mother-in-law, Walter and Gertrud (Biene). Biene and I, as some of you may recall, met on the Pentecost weekend at Lake Baldenay and four years later, got married in Calgary on the Victoria weekend in 1966.

Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch7 Part 21

/ Peter Klopp / 6 Comments

Biene writes:

Rescue in the Knick of Time

 Time seems to stand still like in a bad dream.  Increasing panic is gripping my heart when I look at my brother’s white horrified face.  I keep on stammering in my heart,  “Please, God help us, please, dear God help us….”.   Almost paralyzed by augmenting fear we suddenly see a big motorboat approaching. Almost instantly our fear turns into joy.  Help is on the way!!!!   But our relief and joy are short-lived.  The big motorized yacht moves by us at great speed without stopping.  Didn’t they see us?  The waves are high and our overturned boat is blue.  They must have missed us. This time our desperation is almost overwhelming.   What shall we do?  What can we do?

Numbed by cold and fear I am unable to make a decision. I am worried about my brother who looks ghastly white and is very quiet.  After what seems like an eternity, we see another (or is it the same?} boat approaching from the direction it had vanished.  A small flicker of hope revives us enough to start screaming at the top of our lungs for help. The big boat slowly approaches and then starts circling us. It stops!  Two men climb down a ladder and grab our hands to pull us out of the water onto the deck. Two ladies wrap us in blankets and help us move into a cozy cabin to warm up and rest while the two men manage to retrieve our boat from the lake. Our rescuers were American tourists who had not seen us in the water initially.  One of the men, however, had spotted our paddle floating on the water.  This miraculously prompted their search for us.  Apparently, we were hardly visible in the high waves and they had almost missed us again.

Luckily our parents only found out about our near drowning after we were rescued and safely returned to them. Contrary to our expectations our father did not scold us or get upset over the loss of equipment and damage to the boat.  He loved adventures and was happy and proud that we survived. He commended us for staying with the boat and not trying to swim ashore.

Walter, Biene’s twin brother, built this model sailing ship.

Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch7 Part 20

/ Peter Klopp / 6 Comments

A Perilous Sailing Adventure

Sailing Adventure Part 2

In no time we reached the middle of the lake.  “Strange”,  I suddenly thought,  “there are no other boats here. Why do they  keep on sailing parallel to shore?”  I tried to gently shift my weight to look back to our now distant beach. Suddenly there was a strong gust of wind billowing our sails.  My brother frantically tried to maneuver the sails.  “Sit on the edge of the boat, quick! ” he commanded sternly looking worried.  Although I had reservations, I did not dare to voice an objection. I quickly lifted myself up to sit on the narrow rim of the boat,  when the wind shifted again without warning. Then everything happened like in slow motion.

I see the look of horror on my brother’s face while I am gently tilted backwards into the water with the white fluttering sails tipping in my direction. I am sinking deep down into the cold water.  When I finally surface I see my brother beside the capsized boat looking shocked and angry.  My first reaction is a fit of hysterical laughter.  “What happened?” I stupidly ask while trying to catch my breath.  It all seems so unreal.  “Stop laughing!” my brother yells holding on to the overturned boat. When he tells me to cry for help I am racked by another fit of laughter.  “Why don’t you?” I manage to reply.  “We’ll swim to shore”,  I suggest.  I am a strong swimmer with lots of stamina. Almost beside himself, my brother shouts back, “Never!!! We must stay with the boat”  Slowly I am regaining my sanity.  I am looking around trying to assess the situation.  We are in the middle of the lake far from either shore.  The waves are high. The water is churned up and cold.  We don’t have life vests. No boats are in sight except the sailing boats looking like miniature toys in the distance.  Suddenly panic seizes me.

Our desperate attempts to right the boat fail.  The weight of the water-logged sails is beyond our strength.  One of our paddles floats away on the waves.  My brother does not allow me to retrieve it.  We continue to cling to the boat bobbing in the waves, occasionally crying out for help which we realize is useless.  Nobody can hear us. 

To be continued …

Walter Panknin (1898 – 1977) and His Family Ch7 Part 19

/ Peter Klopp / 11 Comments

A Klepper Folding Boat with Sails

Sailing Adventure Part 1

Biene writes:

My brother was a bit disappointed that he had not been able to go sailing yet. However, that was to change on the first weekend.   On a beautiful Sunday morning, Walter and I went to the beach very early. Our parents had gone on a short excursion by themselves.  I was absorbed by my novel when my brother suddenly called me.  Looking up from my book, I noticed lots of boats sailing gracefully close to shore on the white-capped lake. Sitting in a secluded and sheltered spot, I had been protected from the wind.  

Twin Brother Walter Relaxing in the “Sailboat”

“Biene, do you see all those sailboats?”  my brother shouted excitedly. “Let’s go and try ours.” Suddenly, a cool breeze blew through my hair.  It wasn’t very often that my brother invited me to participate in his fun activities.  I quickly grabbed my towel, wrapped it around my book, and followed him to the water where our boat was anchored.

Walter expertly got everything ready for our first sailing adventure. To try it out,  we first sailed fairly close to shore like the real sailboats in the distance.  It was exhilarating to speed effortlessly through the waves.  My brother felt like a captain in command.  He would tell me to shift my weight occasionally from side to side. I obediently followed his commands.  Normally, we would argue about everything.  But I had never sailed before.   Imperceptibly, the wind was getting stronger and the waves higher.  We were ecstatic!  This was fun!   Lots of other boats were sailing ahead of us along the coastline.  Suddenly, my brother suggested, “Why don’t we try to cross the lake?  We have never been to the other side.  At this speed, we’ll be there in no time.”   I had no objections. I loved adventures and was curious to explore the other shore.

To be continued …