The reason I started this blog is because some have asked me about our trip ... then a few more asked & finally Beth suggested I blog. So I'm blogging my history. I promise, my next blogs won't be as long.
I thought the photo heritage album I put together a few years ago would be enough, but several family members have asked me some questions that aren’t answered in them. These will be my recollections and I hope they are correct. It's always a surprise to me when I see the same events viewed differently by all who were there. Memory is a funny thing.
In 2007, at age 72 and just finding out some things about my life. Amazing! I heard these stories and had some recollections, but from a child’s eye. Now I’m finding pieces of my life I never knew!
It actually started with my brother, Bernd and his wife, Pat. They have friends, Steve and Laura, who had exchange students from Gottingen, Germany. Steve & Laura met the parents of Clara "K" &/or Hannah "R" after college while traveling Europe ... or somewhere and they became friends. (Perhaps after I meet the "R" and "K" families I will have it deciphered correctly.) So in 2006 Steve and Laura opened their home to Clara and Hannah. There was 1 week that Steve & Laura were going away so Clara and Hannah stayed with Bernd and Pat for that time.
Sometime during their stay, Bernd mentioned my immigration to the USA from Germany. When
Dad (Berthold John, aka B. J.) and Rose, Dads’ second wife, moved from Walton, NY to Florida, they decided to give me old papers and photos they had in boxes rather than cart them to their new home. I was happy to get them, but with work and family I stuck them in a closet as most of the papers were in German. These are their passport photographs; Dad on the left and Opa on the right. One item I had was somet
hing my Opa (Max Weinberg) wrote while we were living in Chicago. I can still visulize him typing away on his German typewriter. He asked me then (1947) if I was interested in reading what he wrote and I know I disappointed him by saying I wasn’t. 13 year olds aren’t interested in family writings.While I was teaching, the aide who was assigned to me - Carol Allen, asked me if I had any work for her as she was bored. A week later I remembered the typing Opa had done and knew there were German translation programs for the computer. So the next time Carol asked me for work I asked her if she needed to know what she was typing. She didn’t and said she’d love to do the typing for me on the computer. She typed the German writings of Opa into the computer. The translation program I bought didn’t work and Opa’s missile languished this time in cyber space. One time I must have mentioned Opa’s writing to Bernd and he said he’d like a copy so I emailed a few attached pages until he had the entire 40+ pages. And then it languished at his house, too.
Bernd mentioned these German writings to Clara & Hannah and they said they’d like to see it. Then they asked if they could practice their English and try to translate it. We were elated and for Christmas each family member received a copy of the translation. The girls enjoyed the process and it turns out that Gottingen is not far from Brake and the girls visited Brake when they returned to Germany.
That spurred Bernd and Pat to visit Germany. They invited us to go, but we had already paid for an Alaskan trip which was at the same time. And I had mixed feelings about going. Dad really colored my view of the German people as he was always bitter that we had to leave Germany. Few people were defending the Jews at that time.
After the war Opa began corresponding with his former German friends. Every time a letter would come from Germany dad would become very angry and there were huge arguments. Opa could not explain to dad how he felt because Dad would get so angry and that’s what the girls translation explained to us. Opa told us about his friends and how he never felt any antisemitism from them. Opa also said his English was not so good nor was his hearing and he would love to go back to his homeland where he could at least understand all the conversations. He was in his 70’s when we arrived in Chicago. Opa also said he was very grateful to be in the USA and knew he couldn’t go back, but did want to remain in touch with his German friends. The arguments ceased after Dad read Opa’s writings, but Dad still didn’t like the letters coming.
After Bernd and Pat’s visit to Brake we see that Opa’s view of Germany was “rose” colored. Their last 5 years there were not the most pleasant, but as a child I was oblivious.
While in Brake, Bernd and Pat met Hans Berger, a man in his 80’s who remembers our Opa. I'm going to try to meet him while we are there, but a letter I wrote to him was returned. Mr. Berger told Bernd & Pat that his mother sewed for our family. Mr. Berger spoke no English and Bernd only understood some, so it was a good thing Clara & Hannah were with them. Mr. Berger gave Bernd a book, "Ist Denn Du Was Gewesen" (Did It Really Happen) and it tells the story of the Brake women that were affected by the Holocaust. The Germans kept very good records. This book primarily deals with the women in the region.
The inn keeper at the Hotel Ambiente, had asked Bernd why he would be in Brake for so long, as it is not a normal tourist spot. Bernd explained his mission. A few days later the inn keeper knocked on Bernd’s door and he also had a book about the Jews of Brake; "Juden In Der Wesermarsch" that he lent to Bernd. Bernd and Pat looked over the parts that pertained to Weinberg or Brodek, my former landlord the last year in Brake. We could read pieces of the books, but not all so when they got home Bernd & Pat found someone that could translate the parts that pertained to us. We knew the German language out of necessity, but were speaking English as much as possible. It was not comfortable to be German in the 1940’s.
After they got home from Germany and subsequently had the pertinent parts of the book translated, we decided to meet at Paul’s, our youngest child, house because it wasn’t far from Walton, NY where Bernd was going to attend his 50th high school reunion. That first night we were all together Bernd, Pat, Chuck and I. We waited until the children were tucked away (10:00 PM) and then Bernd reviewed the translations of the books.
That’s when he learned that it wasn’t only Dad that was picked up Kristallnicht, but Opa, Mom and ME, too! I was 3 then and I’d never heard that! Dad died in 1995 and never shared any of his experiences; only his bitterness towards his homeland and with good reason. I was always under the impression that only Dad was picked up and then sent to Sachsenhausen. Opa was detained by the police for a few days and Mom and I were detained only a few hours. Dad was released on 14 Dec. 1938. The mystery is how he was released.
That mystery has also been solved. In the spring of 2008 Bernd sent me a book with my name at the top of the book! At the time I wondered how he did that and was very impressed! I did not have time to look at it then as I had an appointment and decided to read it when I got home.
When I got home Chuck asked me if I saw the marker that Bernd had put in the book, The Rise & Fall Of The Nazis. When I read the page it states that 20,000 to 30,000 Jews were released from the concentration camps if they promised to leave Germany and not return. Since we had already had started that process, Dad was released on 14 December 1938.
And the book with “my” name on it? It wasn’t. The author has the same name, but no royalties for me. Bernd happened to be going through a Border’s Book Store and stumbled on the book.
When Mom, Dad & Opa got their citizenship papers (Dec. 14, 1945) they asked me what I remembered of Germany. I’ve often told the story of my trip to the bakery or sweet shop just before we came to the USA. I remembered going to the bakery with Dad and he told me to pick out something I’d like and he’d get it for me. We were the only customers and I was delighted to be able to enjoy a treat. I remember it being a chocolate purse wrapped in red foil with chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil in it. But the clerk looked frightened and didn’t want to sell it to us. Dad insisted! That’s when she went to the front door, looked up and down the street, saw nobody and then gave us the confection and asked us to leave quickly. Dad told me that was a few days before we left Germany.
Now that I’ve read the book translations I fully understand why Dad was so angry, but also understand why Opa saw with “rose” colored glasses. At his age it was easier and bitterness is not easy to live with.
I was born on 21 December 1934 in Brake, Germany at St. Bernard’s Hospital and my name IS
Claire Weinberg. There was some debate about my name. I was named after my paternal grandmother, Clara. I've inserted her lovely photo. Since I can’t read the script on my birth certificate, I really did not know how my name was spelled. When I was in college a professor translated my birth certificate and took the “Claire” that I gave him as my name, because he could not read that script either. When my maternal grandfather died there was a death notice sent to us and in it my name is spelled “Cläre.” And now I found out that I was named Claire. That’s what it states in both of the books; "Ist Denn Da Was Gewessen?" by Ursula Bernhold & Almut Setje-Eilers and "Juden In Der Wesermarsch" 1933 - 1945 by Gerd Strachotta. Again, the Germans kept great records.In September 2008 we will visit Brake and see my birthplace and go to the Jewish cemetery where my ancestors are interred. It is now preserved as a historical site.
I have not said very much about Mom. Today I realize how brave she was to marry Dad, as she was Lutheran. They met because they both were in a community choral group. Mom was a wonderful soprano and Dad a bass. They were both in their late 20’s when they met. Mom never knew Dad with hair.
I certainly understand why Opa wrote his feelings to Dad. Where Dad would explode or go on and on, Mom was quiet and thoughtful. People that knew my mother loved her.
Dad was not always so easy. And he told Ann (my step-sister) that he would not have made it if he had stayed in Germany because he would not have kept his mouth shut.
And so we are going to visit Brake and the excitement is building ... I think I may explode before I get there. After all, it's been 69 years and we left by request, but it looks like we are being welcomed with open arms.
We are so looking forward to meeting Hannah & Clara and their families. And then we will be welcomed by Ursula Bernhold & Almut Setje-Eilers and the Landkreis Wesermarsch.
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