I was born in Gleiwitz, Germany. Gleiwitz was in Silesia which was a province of Prussia in, then, eastern Germany. My family lived there since the 12th century. During the 12th century there was a peaceful migration towards the east and my paternal forbearers trekked there from Thuringia.
My father was born in Oberglogau and my mother in Neisse. Both cities were in Silesia but Neisse was bigger than Oberglogau. Both families were solid middle class. My paternal grandparents were the local newspaper publishers and my maternal grandfather worked for the railroads as a supervisor. Both families were large by today's standards. Each grandmother had well over 1O children but six survived to adulthood on my father's side and eight on my mother's side.
|
This picture was taken at the annual marksmen competition around the turn of the century. Every little town had such clubs and many towns still have such clubs today. The best shot got the title of "king" for one year. It was an expensive honor as one had to dine and wine his fellow marksmen. My father is the little boy, fourth from the right, at age 6. His sister Klara is holding the picture of the stag behind him. My grandfather Emil is in the lower "male" row, third from the left, looking towards the left towards his daughter. There is another lady in the picture, my aunt Gertrude, six from the left in the light dress. She was slightly retarded and because of this was killed by the Nazis.
 |
On my left is my grandfather
Emil as King of the Marksmen Competition.
Below is his building and business. This building was totally torched by the Russians at the end of the war.
|
My father had 5 siblings: two sisters and 3 brothers. His brother Hermann was killed during World War I. His oldest brother Fritz became a catholic priest and his youngest brother Klaus took over the family printing business. Klara married, what you would call in the USA, a ranch foreman. In eastern Germany were great estates and Josef, her husband, was a ranch foreman on a big estate that belonged to a nobleman. Klara had two sons, one was killed in World War II. Klaus married but never had any children. My parents had three children: Bernhard, Gunther and me. My brother Bernhard is 18 years older than I and my brother Gunther is 11 years older. Among my cousins I am by far the youngest, not only on my father's side of the family, but on my mother's side as well.
