Uwe and Anke Schubert

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A Miraculous Escape (Chart II – IV)

 

Contributed by Anke Schubert

Uwe’s mother originally comes from Breslau (now a Polish town by the name of Wroclaw). She was just six years old, when she had to flee with her family from the advancing Red Army. Somehow the family with four children managed to reach Dresden. But she does not remember much about it.

On February 12th, 1945, they were left stranded at the Central Railway Station and the trains were not moving anywhere. The father, who had been a governmental councilor in Breslau and also in charge of transportation, for some reason had on his key chain a square-headed key. To get his family out of the overcrowded railway station, he took the family to an empty locked train car that had been moved some distance from the station.By means of this square-headed key he opened one of those locked cars, and his family could finally find some rest. Shortly after, the ’empty’ car was moved to another location so that it would be protected from the impending bombing raids (How many people could have been taken and saved!)

And so it came to pass that during the night that followed the family could escape the devastating aerial attack. The train was parked on a sidetrack near Chemnitz in Waldheim, where the family then stayed.

Dresden after the Devastating Bombing Raids

Dresden after the Devastating Bombing Raids

The Incredible Story of the Fall of the Iron Curtain

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The Dieter and Edda Barge Report (Chart II a – IV)

Contributed be Dieter Barge

Bruno Kegler

Bruno Kegler 1901 – 1940

Edda’s grandparents on her mother’s side of the family were Bruno and Johanna Kegler. We called Johanna Hanna. She was a kindhearted woman. She too had to endure many hardships. Truly she had earned her last beautiful years together with her mother and Aunt Maria at Tulpen Street in Gießen. Her maiden name was Engel (Angel in English).

One of her cousins was Erich Engel, who lived after the war with his wife Berty in Hanover and served in the courts as Attorney General. For many years Erich immersed himself in family research and of course also explored the ancestry of the Keglers. Edda and I maintained an active correspondence with the Engels. So it comes as no surprise that Erich had also written much about our family. Unfortunately he passed away a few years before Gemany’s reunification. Thus, we never met in person. On the occasion of our first visit to the ‘West’ – I believe it was in 1987, I got to know his wife Berty. We had dinner with her together with Jürgen and Inge Kegler. Out of this emerged a long friendship with her. She passed away at the age of 94.

On November 9th, 1989, the Berlin Wall had come down. Günter Schabowski, the Regime’s spokesman made the fateful announcement that East Germans would be allowed to cross the border. When asked how soon, not being completely informed he replied, “As far as I know, effective immediately.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQiriTompdY

On the same evening tens of thousands of GDR citizens were in West Berlin, and on Saturday November 11th, 1989 our family traveled to Berty’s place in Hanover. We started out at six in the morning and arrived in Hanover at 8 p.m. From the moment we entered the autobahn, we slowly drove in the notorious stop-go pattern of a horrendous traffic jam. We will never forget this trip! Today you can cover the distance in an hour and a half.

Rejoicing at the Border
Border Crossing at Helmstedt

There was rejoicing everywhere. Right after the border crossing at Marienborn there was even a party going on. Berty looked at us. She had no idea that we were coming and said, “… and I have nothing at all to eat for you!”

On Sunday on our return trip there were a hundred people standing on every overpass waving at the Trabis and Wartburgs (East German cars). Later on I often went to the ‘Four Border Point’, where Berty lived, and helped a little in her apartment, whenever there was something to do. Often we had a couple of Jever beers and Doornkaat schnaps. Together we also went to Wilhelmshaven, where Erich came from. His father was employed there as senior foreman at the shipyard.

Back to Erich, he had put together about six thick volumes of more than 1000 pages, of which we have a copy. The huge family had several Engel-Reunions, besides others also the one in Weipoldtshausen at Jürgen and Inge Kegler’s. In volume five, Erich recounts a little story of a reunion in 1973 at Tulpen Street in Gießen. Jürgen and his 6-year old son Michael dropped in to see us. Michael looked at the backs of all the participants and said to his dad (Recall that the name Engel means Angel in English), “These are not angels at all. I looked at them very closely. They have no wings!”

Kegler Family Reunion in Hungary

Kegler Family Reunion in Hungary

Walter Panknin – Chart III – III

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Walter Panknin

Biene and Walter with Model Boat

Biene and Walter with Model Boat 1959

 

On my first post of many more to follow on my late brother-in-law Walter, I would like to highlight just one of the many fascinating hobbies that he passionately pursued  through his entire life. When he was ten years old he received as a gift a simple model construction kit with dozens of tiny parts and an instruction manual on how to build the ship. It was a humble beginning. But when he presented the finished project to his parents, he was filled with the proud feeling of having accomplished a piece of craftsmanship. It was not only the beginning of a passion for model boats and airplanes, but it also set the course for his future career as a successful engineer. When after their flight from East Germany to the West and a long wait in a refugee camp, his father and mother were finally able to find a small apartment in the city of Velbert. There Walter continued to build bigger, more elaborate and more complicated models from a Mississippi sternwheeler, a French warship, a Roman trireme, all the way up to his the masterpiece, the great American sailing ship. The lesson we parents can all learn from Walter’s amazing hobby is that  we should attempt to awaken talents and interest in our children at an early age. For once developed the resulting hobbies will help enrich their lives and the lives they come into contact with.

Sternwheeler
Roman Trireme
French Warship
American Sailing Ship

Chapter 1 of the P. and G. Klopp Story

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The Monster

“My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.”  Charles Dickens

There lives an evil spirit in us all. It puts fetters on your feet and shackles on your thoughts. It impedes good deeds and wastes precious time, not minutes, hours, or days, but years, decades, even en entire life span. Many have learned to master it, but I am not one of them. For me, it is a monster of titanic strength and insidious cunning. As long as I can remember, I have been struggling with this maleficent force that has been leering at my weaknesses and taunting me from within. Yes, I do admit, I often succumbed to it, but also successfully put up resistance against its crafty attempts to lure me into the swamp of idleness when vigorous action was required. That monster is commonly known as procrastination. It has been working hard to thwart my plan to write a family history. Continue reading →

Mateo Klopp – Chart I – V

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Mateo Klopp

Mateo is the great-great-grandson of Peter and Emma Klopp. He is attending high school in Montreal and  speaks fluently French and English. He wants to become a computer programmer. His two half-sister Azure and Eméline have already received one post each on this blog. He sent me his latest picture. He promised to contribute a short story about some important event in his life at a later date.

Mateo Klopp

Granddaughter Azure – Chart I – V

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Azure Klopp

Our family reunion in the summer of 2014 was a great success. For the first time in a long time we had the entire Klopp family united. The fine August weather allowed us to spend some time together at Taite Creek campground. Even though it was very hectic at times, we all enjoyed being together and experienced the magic of belonging together as a family.

Azure fitted right in. Her great-grandmother on Opa’s side would have been rejoicing, if she had seen Azure taking part in all the games, especially the card games. She would have learned French just to play the game I played with Azure in the gazebo not far from the beach. The game required quite a bit of memory skills, which Azure had and I didn’t have enough of. The eager tone in her voice is still occasionally stirring in my mind and brings up precious memories of summer, “T’as grandpère?” When I answered, “Oui”, she would take the card with glee and added it to her ever-increasing collection of completed sets. Needless to say, she won all the games against Opa.

The grown-ups often played the highly competitive bocce game. Of course, Azure wanted to be part of it. However, lacking the ability to handle the heavy steel balls, she was only allowed to throw the little wooden jack for the players. She soon realized that she wasn’t really participating, and she got quickly bored. So I came to the rescue and offered to play with her a real bocce game with much lighter plastic balls. Soon her disappointment about being left out was forgotten, and we two had as much fun as the players higher up on the playing field. Merci, Azure, pour avoir parlé français avec moi!

Playing Cards with Opa
Playing Bocce with Azure
Making Important Calls