We call the onslaught of one storm after another sweeping in from the wild Pacific the Hawaiian express. The rainfalls were at times so severe that several towns have been put under evacuation alert or even evacuation orders. On Monday many of the major highways in our province have been blocked by terrible landslides. So far here at the Arrow Lakes, we have experienced more moderate weather but we had to stay indoors as it was raining most of the time. When the rain finally let up for a few hours, my wife and I went to the golf course and visited our creek which provides the drinking water for our little community. Here is a glimpse of this short but joyful moment. Enjoy.
Any part written in the first person singular has been contributed by my wife Gertrud (Biene) née Panknin
Being without a job and having no regular income turned out to be a more severe problem. Where would he find work in the Soviet occupation zone as a former police officer and a Wehrmacht battalion commander in Croatia? As such, the Russian authorities viewed Walter Panknin with suspicion and kept a close eye on him.
Papa once experienced joblessness after returning home as a young man with the rank of lieutenant at the end of World War I. How fortunate it was that now he could use the skills he had acquired while training to become a dental technician! He had also built up considerable work experience in Gassen in the 1920s. Good or bad times, there will always be a need for skilled people in the field of dentistry. Finally, a job related to these skills provided hope on Walter’s prospects of a steady income after his return from the POW camp at Bad Kreuznach.
Motti Panknin and the Twins
But there was a major hurdle that the Soviet secret service had placed before my father-in-law. The Russians must have received the list of POWs returning from the infamous Rhine Meadows camps. Undoubtedly, they were especially interested in the higher-ranking officers. They aimed to extract valuable information from those with a Nazi background. They also wanted them to rat on former military friends and colleagues.
Brilliant sunshine greeted us at the start of a usual gray and foggy November day. Foul and colder weather was in the forecast. So my wife and I hurried to make good use of such a rare opportunity at this time of the year. Unfortunately by the time we reached our destination, ominous clouds had rolled in and covered the sky. To our great delight, most trees were still showing off their autumn colours. So despite the dark sky, we had a leisurely photo session down at the local golf course. Enjoy.
The Local Golf Course at the LakeMy wife enjoying a happy time amidst the fall coloursA ‘bird’ hidden among the fallen leavesFeeling sorry for the poor soul who has to rake up all these leavesA carpet of gold and brown filling up a nearby ditch
Any part written in the first person singular has been contributed by my wife Gertrud (Biene) née Panknin
Great was Elisabeth’s joy when her husband suddenly and unexpectedly arrived at their home at Gotha. Papa could finally embrace his beloved wife, hug his stepdaughter Elsbeth, and hold the baby twins Walter and Gertrud in his arms. He had not seen them for over half a year.
Mutti Panknin with One of her twins
Unfortunately, several flies in the proverbial ointment all too quickly disturbed the family bliss. The house owner had covered up his illegal black market dealings by having a high-ranking police force officer renting the ground-floor apartment in his house. As many essential items were getting scarce during the war, he used Captain Panknin’s status to deflect suspicion from his shady activities. Now that the war was over, the landlord found him no longer useful and tried to get rid of his tenants. Perhaps he knew some well-to-do people able to pay a much higher rent. With so many destroyed cities, Germany experienced one of the worst housing crises in history.
Oma Panknin with her Twin Grandchildren
Being without a job and having no regular income turned out to be a more significant problem. Papa got by for a while, trading in the plum brandy for things they were lacking. Indeed, his foresight and the effort of collecting and bringing home the liquid gold are remarkable.
I took about 10 photos of the Arrow Lake with the camera in the vertical position and 16:9 format. Then I stitched them together to transform them into a huge panorama image, cut it in half and processed the two pieces in my video editor. Enjoy the beauty of our lake captured on November 2, 2021.
Any part written in the first person singular has been contributed by my wife Gertrud (Biene) née Panknin
The American forces under General George Patton had advanced with lightning speed into Thuringia in April 1945. There, along with thousands of other German officers and soldiers, Walter Panknin became a POW. If the German high command had placed him at the Western front a month earlier, he would have enjoyed spending his captivity in the United States. Life, food and treatment would have been generally good for a German POW.
The Twins Walter and Gertrud Panknin
In the late summer or early fall, the notorious Rhine Meadows POW camps were shutting down. The western Allied Forces began shipping the POWs to their designated regions of occupied Germany. If you were a soldier with a permanent address in the Soviet-occupied zone, then there they would ship you. By now, the Americans had handed over Papa’s home province Thuringia to the Soviet administration. They had withdrawn their troops to the American Zone in Bavaria and Hesse. Before they left, food was already scarce. However, life was tolerable even in the bombed-out cities if you were among the lucky people who still had a roof over your head.
Mutti Panknin and Her Children Walter, Elsbeth and Gertrud
Papa’s wife Elisabeth recalled a heart-warming event in the spring of 1945, which she passed onto to her daughter Gertrud. An Afro-American G.I . regularly came by the house in Gotha. There she had been living with her family since the early 1930s. At first, Mutti was terrified and believed he was threatening her when he was wildly pointing as if wielding a gun at something at her doorstep. He kept shouting, “Milk for the babies!” Finally, she realized what the kind-hearted soldier intended to tell her when she saw the bottle of milk at her doorstep. Mama Panknin kept this miraculous story in her heart for the rest of her life.
The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family 