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POST 6: DR. OTTO BRUCK & TIEGENHOF: 1932 POCKET CALENDAR

I have already informed the reader that one particularly useful item among my father’s remaining personal effects is his “1932 Pocket Calendar” in which he recorded the anniversaries and birthdays associated with family, friends and acquaintances, and in a few instances even noted the names and phone numbers of business associates. The Pocket Calendar itself was for a business called “Rudolf Witt,” located in Danzig on what was then “Langgasse 48-49,” which sold fine paper and gift articles. (Figure 1)

Almost all the names are written in Sutterlin, the bizarre saw-tooth script previously discussed that was widely used in Prussia between 1915 and 1941; towards the front of the Pocket Calendar there are even a few lines of “shorthand,” or “stenography,” which I am still trying to decode. With the help of German relatives, I was able to decipher all the names, although in a few instances these reveal only given names. I became interested in learning about my father’s circle of friends and acquaintances and determining whether I could match up photos with each of the names, or find other evidence of how they might have interacted with my father. I was remarkably successful in this endeavor.

In his 1932 Pocket Calendar, my father recorded names and names by specific dates, along with the names and phone numbers of a few friends and business associates. Below are scans of the pages with the names and events shown, my interpretation as to who or what is recorded, and pictures, where available of the people in question.

DATES AND NAMES

January 13th, “Linchen Regehr” (Figure 2). Linchen Regehr was the wife of Heinrich “Heinz” Regehr, Director of the Deutsches Bank in Tiegenhof.

Figure 2. Pocket Calendar page with name of Linchen Regehr

February 17th, “Gerhard Hoppe Geb.(=Geburtstag (birthday))” (Figure 3). February 17th was the birthday of Gerhard Hoppe, dentist and good friend of my father living in Neuteich, Free State of Danzig [today: Nowy Staw, Poland] (Figure 4)

Figure 3. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar with names of Gerhard Hoppe & Kurt Lau

February 19th, “Kurt Lau Geb.” (Figure 3) February 19, 1892 was the birthday of Kurt Lau (Figure 5), my father’s good friend and father of Juergen “Peter” Lau to which an entire Blog post has already been devoted.

Figure 5. Kurt Lau, father of Juergen “Peter” Lau

March 3rd, “Mutter Geb. (mother’s birthday)” (Figure 6) Else Bruck, née Berliner was my father’s mother born on March 3, 1873 in Ratibor, Germany. (Figure 7)

Figure 6. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar with the birthdays of his mother and cousin indicated

Figure 7. My father’s mother, Else Bruck née Berliner

March 8th, “Heinz Geb.” (Figure 6) March 8, 1905 was the birthday of one of my father’s first cousins, Heinz Loewenstein, born in Danzig and living there while my father lived in Tiegenhof. (Figure 8)

Figure 8. Father’s first cousin, Heinz Loewenstein

March 28th, “Vater (father)” (Figure 9) Felix Bruck, born on March 28, 1864 in Ratibor, Germany, was my father’s father. (Figure 10)

Figure 9. Father’s 1932 Pocket Planner with his father’s birthday noted

Figure 10. My father as a baby in the arms of his father, Felix Bruck

April 9th, “nach Tiegenhof gekommen” (Figure 11) April 9, 1932 is the day my father first drove to Tiegenhof to begin his career there as a dentist.

April 16th, “Geburstag” (Figure 11) My father himself was born on April 16, 1907 in Ratibor, Germany.

Figure 11. Father’s Day Planner with the date he drove to Tiegenhof to begin his dental career and his own birthday indicated

April 20th, “Dr. Kurt Schlenger” (Figure 12) April 20, 1909 was the birthday of Dr. Kurt Schlenger, one of the sons of Otto Schlenger, owner & operator of Tiegenhof’s “Dampfmahlmuhle.” Dr. Schlenger was a musician & musicologist who professionally arranged many classical pieces of music, mostly for wind instruments. Otto Schlenger’s grand-daughter scanned a page from her grandfather’s address book (Figure 13), showing that Kurt lived in Koenigsberg, East Prussia [today: Kaliningrad, Russia]. My third cousin uncovered Kurt Schlenger’s Ph.D. dissertation which included a curriculum vitae (Figure 14), translated as: “I, Kurt Hans Otto Schlenger, was born in Tiegenhof on 20 April 1909 as son of the mill owners Otto Schlenger and his wife Martha born Ruhnau.” A member of the Schlenger family even provided me a picture of Dr. Kurt Schlenger (Figure 15).

Figure 12. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar with the birthdays of both Dr. Kurt Schlenger & his sister Susanne noted

Figure 13. Page from Alfred Schlenger’s Address Book showing where his brother, Dr. Kurt Schlenger, lived in Koenigsberg, East Prussia

Figure 14. Curriculum vitae from Dr. Kurt Schlenger’s Ph.D. dissertation giving his date and place of birth and names of his parents

Figure 15. Dr. Kurt Schlenger, ca. 1935 (photo courtesy of Dr. Heinrich Schlenger, Kiel, Germany)

April 20th, “Susanne” (Figure 12) My father’s sister, Susanne Mueller, née Bruck, was born on April 20, 1904 in Ratibor, Germany and perished in Auschwitz in 1942. (Figure 16) An entire blog post will be devoted to her in the future.

May 31st, “Idschi Epp Geb.” (Figure 17) May 31, 1893 was the birthday of my father’s good friend, Idschi Epp. (Figure 18)

Figure 17. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar with Idschi Epp’s birthday recorded

Figure 18. Idschi Epp in Stutthof at the house of her brother, Gerhard Epp

June 10th, “Suschen” (Figure 19) Suse Epp, sister of Idschi Epp, was born on June 10, 1877, and was also a friend of my father. (Figure 20)

June 10th, “Werner Meifert” (Figure 19) According to Danzig Address Books, Werner was a “Gerichtsreferent” (Court Speaker), later a “Gerichtsassessor” (Court Assessor), although after 1936 he is no longer listed. Likely a Jewish friend of my father who fled or was killed.

June 12th, “Hanni” (Figure 19) Hanni Wagner was the sister or possible wife of father’s once-good friend, Hans “Mochum” Wagner, and June 12th was likely her birthday. (Figure 21)

Figure 19. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar with the names of multiple friends & acquaintances recorded

Figure 20. Suschen Epp, oldest sister of Idschi Epp

Figure 21. Hanni Wagner seated between her brother Hans “Mochum” Wagner and Alfred Schlenger

June 13th, “Dicken und Hedsch Schlenger” (Figure 19) Alfred & Hedwig “Hedsch” Schlenger were owners of Tiegenhof’s “Dampfmahlmuehle,” and June 13th was Hedsch’s birthday. (Figure 22)

Figure 22. Hedsch & Alfred Schlenger standing on the steps of Tiegenhof’s Dampfmahlmuehle

June 23rd, “Todestag v. Vater (death of father)” (Figure 23) My father’s father, Felix Bruck, died on June 23, 1927 in Berlin. (Figure 24)

Figure 23. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar indicating the day his father died

Figure 24. My grandfather Felix Bruck’s death certificate showing he died on the 23rd of June 1927 in Berlin

July 26th, “Heinz Stumer” (Figure 25) According to 1931 & 1933 Danzig Address Books, Herr Stumer was a “Zahnarzt” or dentist, and likely a colleague and/or friend of my father. (Figure 26)

Figure 25. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar with Heinz Stumer’s name recorded

Figure 26. 1931 Danzig Address Book listing Heinz Stumer’s profession as Zahnarzt

August 3rd, “Fr. Jeglin” (Figure 27) Possibly the wife of Oscar Jeglin, owner of a drugstore in Tiegenhof with whom my father may have had professional dealings.

August 9th, “Herr Wiebe” (Figure 27) Unclear who this refers to.

August 10th, “Erwin Wann” (Figure 27) Unclear who this refers to.

Figure 27. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar with the names of various friends & acquaintances

August 17th, “Fedor” (Figure 28) Fedor Bruck (Figure 29) was my father’s oldest brother, born on August 17, 1895 in Leobschutze, Germany [today: Głubczyce, Poland]. (Figure 44)

Figure 28. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar listing his brother’s birthday

Figure 29. Fedor Bruck standing next to his automobile, a DKW, one of the ancestor companies of modern-day Audi

Figure 44. My uncle Fedor Bruck’s birth certificate showing he was born on the 17th of August 1895 in Leobschutze, Germany (today: Głubczyce, Poland)

September 15th, “Dr. Behrendt” (Figure 30) This person, who appears in a 1943 Tiegenhof Address Book, was likely one of my father’s professional colleagues. (Figure 31)

Figure 30. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar with Dr. Behrendt’s name

Figure 31. Page from 1943 Tiegenhof Phonebook listing Dr. Behrendt

September 26th, “Rolfi Steinbach” (Figure 32) Unclear who this refers to.

Figure 32. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar listing Rolfi Steinbach

November 18th, “Erika Geb.” (Figure 33) The birthday of one of my father’s girlfriends. (Figure 34)

Figure 33. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar listing his girlfriend Erika’s birthday

Figure 34. My father’s girlfriend Erika in Florence, Italy on June 29, 1938, when she visited my father there after he’d left Tiegenhof

December 9th, “Truden!” (Figure 35) Likely the birthday of Trudchen Wagner, one of father’s girlfriends and sister of Hans Wagner. (Figure 36)

Figure 35. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar identifying his girlfriend Truden’s birthday

Figure 36. My father with his arm around his girlfriend Trudchen Wagner

December 23rd, “Kathi Lau Geb.” (Figure 37) December 23, 1892 was the birthday of Kathi Lau, wife of Kurt Lau and mother of Peter Lau. (Figure 38)

Figure 37. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar listing Kathi Lau’s birthday

Figure 38. Kathi Lau, Juergen “Peter” Lau’s mother

ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS (“Anchriften und Fernsprecher”)

Figure 39. Father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar listing addresses & phone numbers of business associates

“Fa. M. Broh 22636” (Figure 39) Business was a “Eisengrosshandlung,” a firm involved in selling wholesale goods for the manufacture of homes. Unclear what type of relationship father had to this firm. (Figure 40)

Figure 40. Danzig Address Book listing for Firma Broh

“Bertram 27408” (Figure 39) Danzig Phone Directories from the 1930’s list an individual by the name of “Fritz Bertram,” identified as a “Zahnarzt” or dentist who manufactured bridges and dentures. (Figures 41-42)

Figure 41. Danzig Address Book listing for Fritz Bertram

Figure 42. Fritz Bertram sailing on the Bay of Danzig with friends

“Hoppe-Neuteich 47” (Figure 39) Dr. Gerhard Hoppe was a good friend of my father and a dentist in Neuteich, Free State of Danzig, located SSW of Tiegenhof. (Figures 4 & 43)

Figure 43. 1935 Danzig Address Book listing dentists including Gerhard Hoppe in Neuteich

As is evident from the above, I’ve successfully been able to decipher most of the people and events recorded by my father in his Pocket Calendar. Being a visual person, I also set out to find pictures of as many of these people as possible, using either my father’s photos or ones sent to me by descendants of my father’s friends and acquaintances; additionally, using Danzig Address Books and Phone Directories from the 1930’s, I was able to identify business colleagues with whom my father dealt and, in one instance, even correlate a picture with one of these people. It goes without saying that without my father’s surviving pictures, as well as the network of former Tiegenhof residents and descendants who subscribed to the “Tiegenhofer Nachrichten,” very little of this type of reconstruction would have been possible. The network of people with whom my father interacted, however, ranged beyond Tiegenhof to include Danzig, and included many business people in both communities.

POST 5: DR. OTTO BRUCK & TIEGENHOF: “IDSCHI & SUSE”

In one of my previous Blog posts, I discussed “the Schlummermutter,” a woman my father talked about in an almost reverential and maternal tone whenever her name came up. I explained to the reader that while I was eventually able to learn her true identity, “Frau Grete Gramatzki,” I have been stymied in learning more about her life before moving to Tiegenhof, although I find telltale traces that may relate to her and someone who may have been her husband. Two other women my father often mentioned from his time in Tiegenhof were only ever known to me by their first names, “Idschi” and “Suse.” They too were close friends and seemingly rented accommodations in the same building where my father had his apartment and dental practice, but were otherwise enigmatic figures. My reliable “go-to” source, Peter Lau, could not provide clarification as to who these ladies were, although both were known to Peter. I came to believe they were merely neighbors my father had befriended.

Confronted with this dilemma, I set myself to again carefully studying my father’s few remaining documents. Recognizing that most of the writing in my father’s 1932 Pocket Calendar was in Sütterlin, the bizarre saw-tooth script taught in Prussian schools from roughly 1915 until 1941, I nonetheless was eventually able to recognize that Idschi’s surname was “Epp,” and that her birthday fell on May 31st. Similarly, I found in my father’s Pocket Calendar a listing for a “Suschen” under June 10th, although no surname was provided in this instance.

As in my previous attempts to learn more about the persons with whom my father may have interacted during his five years in Tiegenhof, I again consulted the index in the “Tiegenhofer Nachrichten,” this time looking for people with the surname “Epp.” I came across four individuals, one living in Canada and three in Germany. I wrote to all four individuals, enclosing relevant copies of my father’s photos and asking whether they recognized anyone. Typically, this included a photo of the office building where my father had had his dental practice, and a group picture of the Schlummermutter, “Idschi,” “Suse,” and my father. (Figure 1)

Figure 1 – My father with “Suse,” Frau Grete Gramatzki, and “Idschi”

The first three responses were negative, so I began to wonder whether I would ever learn more about Idschi Epp and Suse. But, finally, a response to the last of my letters arrived on November 27, 2012, from Angelika Schuetze, living in Lubeck, Germany. Angelika responded on behalf of her mother, Ms. Rita Schuetze, née Epp (born June 1, 1920), in words that will forever resonate with me, “. . .we think we are the people you’ve been looking for.” She revealed that “Suse (Susanna)” and “Ida (Idschi)” were her great-aunts, sisters who’d never married, and, respectively, the oldest and youngest sisters born 16 years apart; Suse was born in 1877, coincidentally, on June 10th as noted in my father’s Pocket Calendar, and Idschi in 1893, on May 31st, again as indicated in my father’s Pocket Calendar. The difference in age and appearance explains why it never occurred to me they might be sisters. Ms. Rita Schuetze (Figure 2), to whom I’d initially written, is the daughter of Suse and Idschi’s brother, Gerhard Epp, about whom much more will be said below.

Figure 2 – Rita Schuetze, née Epp as a young woman

Angelika informed me that, sadly, her mother suffers from dementia, and could provide no historical information. The information she did include in her correspondence came from Rita Schuetze’s half-brother, Hans Joachim (“Hajo”) Wiebe (Figure 3), twelve years her junior who is blessed with an excellent memory.

Hajo explained to Angelika Schuetze that the coffee & confectionary shop seen in my father’s 1934 photograph, named “Johannes Wiebe,” was actually owned and managed by Idschi Epp and, possibly, also her sister Suse; the Wiebe and Epp families are related by marriage. The sisters eventually purchased the building once owned by Frau Grete Gramatzki where the business was located. In the 1943 Tiegenhof phone directory, discussed earlier, there is a listing for “Ida Epp” at “Adolf Hitler Strasse 8,” formerly Marktstrasse 8, where my father’s office and residence were located. Also, in the book entitled “Tiegenhof und der Kreis Grosses Werder in Bildern” by Gunter Jeglin, businesses in existence ca. 1935 are indexed, and there is a listing for a “Kaffee und Teehandlung” owned by Ida Epp. It appears that Idschi not only ran a coffee and tea shop, but also sold liqueur and other groceries from this location.

Angelika went on to say that her uncle, Hajo Wiebe, remembered that one of the neighbors of the confectionary store owned by Idschi and Suse Epp was a “dentist,” and that perhaps my father had been his assistant or friend. Peter Lau had also once mentioned that my father had apprenticed with a “dentist” by the name of Dr. Gillmann, when he first arrived in Tiegenhof. Curious as to this convergence in memories, I again turned to the 1943 Tiegenhof Phone Directory looking for a nearby “dentist” by this name, and, indeed, at Adolf Hitler Strasse 9, that’s to say, in the building adjacent where my father’s practice was located, there worked a Dr. Georg Gillman.

It’s worth noting that in Germany, until 1952, “dentist” was an expression for a non-academic technician, what is today referred to as “Zahntechniker.” Historically, the technician has its origins in the Middle Ages and developed from the position of “barber-surgeon”; in former times, “dentists” primarily extracted abscessed teeth after administering alcohol to a patient. But, because so many patients died due to bleeding, there arose a need for academically-trained physicians, i.e., “Zahnarzt.” In contrast to Dr. Gillmann, my father was a “Zahnarzt.” Nowadays, the “Zahntechniker” produces bridges and dentures.

Angelika Schuetze went on to relate that as the Russians were approaching Tiegenhof in 1945, Idschi and Suse escaped by ship to Denmark along with thousands of other people. They lived there in prison-like conditions, and that’s where Suse eventually passed away in 1948, at the age of 71. Idschi eventually went to live in Munich with her nephew, Rupprecht Braun, and died there in 1975. Angelika barely remembers her great-aunt but was told by her mother, Rita, that Idschi was a woman of extraordinary charm.

Figure 4 – Idschi Epp with her niece in Munich in the early 1960’s; on the wall above the radio hangs a picture of Angelika Schuetze’s great-aunt, Susanna Klaassen

Among the photos of Idschi I had initially sent to Angelika’s mother was one Idschi sent my father after they had reunited in Munich in the early 1960’s (Figure 4). Interestingly, Angelika recognized her great-grandmother in a framed photo hanging behind her great-aunt, a woman I eventually learned was Susanna Klaassen. Angelika asked me several questions about some of the pictures I had sent, so this provided an opportunity to continue our dialogue. Following receipt of the initial letter from Angelika, I sent her copies of all my father’s snapshots showing Idschi and Suse, along with any identifying information.

Eventually, I mentioned that I was planning on traveling to Germany in 2013, and wondered whether it might be possible to visit her in Lubeck and meet and talk with her uncle Hajo about his memories of Tiegenhof. Angelika responded that she and her uncle were very amenable to this idea. So, eventually, in early June 2013, I visited Angelika Schuetze in Lubeck, Germany, and met her along her mother Rita Schuetze, her uncle Hajo Wiebe and his partner, and Angelika’s daughter, Paula. (Figure 5)

Figure 5 – Hajo Wiebe surrounded from left to right by his great-niece Paula Schuetze, his partner Gunda Nickel, and his niece Angelika Schuetze

In anticipation of this meeting, I had made copies of all my father’s pictures of Tiegenhof and East and West Prussia for easy viewing. Because of his outstanding memory, Hajo Wiebe recognized many of the people and places my father had photographed. He recognized his step-father, Gerhard Epp, and Gerhard’s first wife, Margarete Epp, née Klaassen, the parents of Rita Schuetze. (Figure 6)

Figure 6 – Margaretha Epp, nee Klaassen and her husband Gerhard Epp with their Great Dane “Ajax”

Naturally, he also recognized Suse and Idschi Epp, siblings of Gerhard Epp, as well as another of their sisters, Johanna Margaretha (“Grete”) and her husband, Johannes Harder. I mentioned earlier that after their escape from Tiegenhof, Suse and Idschi went to Denmark, where Suse died in 1948; after WWII, Idschi went to live with her sister Anna’s son, Rupprecht Braun. Notably, Hajo even recognized this Rupprecht in a picture that included him with Suse, Idschi, and Grete Gramatzki. (Figure 7)

Figure 7 – Suse Epp, her nephew Rupprecht Braun, Frau Grete Gramatzki & Idschi Epp

A few of my father’s pictures showed a very large Great Dane, an apparently iconic animal in family history that was named “Ajax,” seen in Figure 6. During our visit, Angelika showed me some of her mother’s photo albums, and, remarkably, they include copies of the very same photos my father had taken in Stutthof, (today: Sztutowo, Poland), a place more notoriously known as the site of a Nazi concentration camp from which no prisoners ever escaped because marshy conditions prevented tunneling out. In any case, I can only surmise my father was invited to a family gathering at Gerhard Epp’s home, and shared pictures he had taken with Idschi and Suse following the event.

As an aside, Hajo Wiebe was the third person to recognize and confirm that the “Schlummermutter’s” real name was indeed “Frau Grete Gramatzki.” As with others, she was a very recognizable personage in Tiegenhof. Hajo too thinks that Frau Gramatzki died between 1938 and 1940, as Hans Erich Mueller had remembered.

While not specifically relevant to my father’s family history, Hajo Wiebe shared some recollections of his step-father, Gerhard Epp, and half-sister, Rita Schuetze. Gerhard met his first wife Margarete Epp, née Klaassen, in Russia prior to the 1917 Revolution. At the time, Gerhard sold Mercedes cars to Russians, but after 1917, this became too dangerous, so the family moved to Stutthof. There, he founded and operated an engineering workshop, where among other things, he provided electricity for the village and serviced agricultural equipment; interestingly, Gerhard was reputed to also have been a major smuggler of goods between the Free State of Danzig and Germany. Hajo told me that while the Epp family home no longer exists, some of the outlying buildings associated with Gerhard’s business survive to this day.

Gerhard Epp’s first wife died in 1939 at age 44, and Rita was their only child. As Rita’s mother was dying, she wanted her daughter close to her, so Rita attended the “gymnasium,” or high school, in Tiegenhof, and passed her “abitur” or university-qualifying examination there. Hajo Wiebe started high school in Tiegenhof in 1941, but lived in Stutthof, so his daily trip took more than an hour-and-a-half each way.

Of particular historical interest is the role that Gerhard and Rita played in helping Prussian citizens and German soldiers escape towards the end of WWII as the Russians were encircling Stutthof. Danzig to the west and Elbing (today: Elblag, Poland) to the south had already been cutoff, so the only way Germans could still flee the area was to make their way across the frozen “Frisches Haff,” or Vistula Lagoon, to a narrow, sandy spit (Vistula Spit); here, they could be picked up by German boats cruising the Baltic Sea looking for fleeing Germans, then taken first to the Hel Peninsula and eventually to Germany. Using Gerhard’s mechanical expertise, he and Rita drove all around the area south of Stutthof destroying the flood control dams to inundate the naturally marshy area and slow the advance of the Russians, allowing Germans an opportunity to take flight. However, even with the area flooded, travel across the Vistula Lagoon was fraught with danger as Russian bombers were always strafing escaping Germans who stood out against the frozen landscape. The exact date of Gerhard and Rita’s own get-away on one of the last German ships leaving from the Vistula Spit is recorded in family annals as May 6, 1945.

As the reader can easily conclude for themselves, I went from knowing almost nothing about “Suse” and “Idschi” to understanding their family connection, meeting their descendants, learning their fates, and hearing about how their brother played a role, albeit a relatively minor one, in the events that played out in East Prussia towards the end of WWII. Readers will recall the following database discussed in a previous post: Östliche preußische Provinzen, Polen, Personenstandsregister 1874-1945 (Eastern Prussian Provinces, Germany [Poland], Selected Civil Vitals, 1874-1945). I was very pleasantly surprised to find Suschen Epp’s original birth register record (Susanna Epp Birth Register) in this database, so in a sense I’ve come full circle to knowing where and when Suse was born to when and where she died.

POSTSCRIPT: As a result of this story, I was contacted by a gentleman from Kiel, Germany, Mr. Uwe S., asking whether I had any knowledge of a Jewish family by the name of either “Liep” or “Lieb” that had once lived in Stutthof, the town where Gerhard Epp had his business. The Jewish family, which ran a dress store, disappeared in the middle of the night in 1940; whether they were murdered in a concentration camp or managed to escape is unknown. I scoured all the resources in my possession but could find no trace of this Jewish family.

Mr. S.’s mother, Erika Rosenbaum, was born in Tiegenhof and grew up in Stutthof. From 1942, she worked in the Epp business, and after the war, when Gerhard Epp had relocated to Preetz in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, she again worked for him for a short time. Mr. S. was kind enough to send me two photos taken in Stutthof of the Epp business, which he has graciously allowed me to upload to my Blog. (Figures 8 & 9)