Tag: Kurt Lau

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

Figure 1. Father’s 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
Figure 4. Gerhard Hoppe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Figure 16. Susanne Mueller née Bruck

 

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 2: DR. OTTO BRUCK & TIEGENHOF: JUERGEN “PETER” LAU

After my wife and I returned from our first visit to Nowy Dwor Gdanski (NDG) in September 2011, I was recounting the highlights of our trip to my now 87-year old mother.  She was particularly curious how Tiegenhof, and the town where my father was born, Ratibor (today: Raciborz, Poland), which we’d also visited, look today, and whether I had been able to recognize any of the places my father had photographed; as with me, my father had spoken fondly to my mother of his years in Tiegenhof.

It was during this conversation that my mother reminded me that my father’s good friends, Juergen “Peter” Lau and his wife Hannelore “Lolo” Lau, were still alive, then-living in Oberhausen, Germany; my mother explained that Peter Lau had spent part of his childhood in Tiegenhof.  Having by this time scanned my father’s entire photo collection and having thoroughly studied them for any identifiable landmarks or captions, I was extremely curious to speak with someone who might recognize some of the unidentified people in the pictures, particularly those from Tiegenhof.  Reminded of Peter Lau’s childhood connection to this place, I immediately contacted him, first by phone and, subsequently, by mail.  I asked him what he remembered of Tiegenhof, about my father, about some of the people and places that featured prominently in my father’s photos, as well as his own family’s connection to the town.  In passing, I mentioned that my wife and I were planning another trip to NDG in 2012 at the Muzeum Zulawskie’s invitation.

Some weeks later, I received a very gracious reply from Peter and his wife, detailing his family’s association with East Prussia and identifying on an enclosed map various towns he talked about.  Peter briefly explained how his parents had wound up in Tiegenhof and how they became life-long friends with my father, and told me he had lived in Tiegenhof from about age 5 to age 15.  Since I’d mentioned my interest in having Peter look through my father’s pictures, he suggested my wife and I incorporate a visit to Oberhausen the following year on our way to NDG so we could meet in person, he could peruse my father’s photos, and we could discuss his memories of Tiegenhof.  Given Peter’s advanced age, he was 88 at the time, we eagerly agreed to this suggestion.  In the interim, I had also asked the Director of the Muzeum Zulawskie, Mr. Marek Opitz, if he could send Peter a copy of his book on Tiegenhof, so that we would have additional visual prompts to work from when we met.

Figure 1 – Lolo & Peter Lau at their home in Oberhausen, Germany in 2012

 

Finally, in May 2012, my wife and I drove to Oberhausen for the first time to meet Peter and Lolo Lau (Figure 1).  Peter has an excellent memory of many of the people and places that figure in my father’s pictures.  During our visit, he explained that his father, Kurt Lau, and his mother, Kathe, married in 1919 and moved to Danzig that same year.  Kurt Lau worked there for the Deutsches Bank.  Jurgen Lau was born in Danzig on August 23, 1923.  Around 1927 or 1928, when Peter was four or five years old, the Deutsches Bank, which owned shares in the rapeseed oil mill factory in Tiegenhof, needed a manager to run operations, so they tapped Kurt Lau for the position of Managing Director of the “Tieghenhofer Oelmühle.”  To this day, rape or rapeseed, grown for its seeds which yield canola or rapeseed oil, is widespread in the Zulawy region.   In any case, during his time in Tiegenhof, Kurt Lau slowly began acquiring shares in the oil mill, so by the time he returned to Danzig in about 1936, he owned the oil mill.  Peter attended elementary and high school in Tiegenhof.  It was there that my father, Kurt, and Kurt’s wife Kathi became close friends, a friendship that lasted throughout their lives.  Towards the end of the war, as the Russians were closing in on Tiegenhof, Kurt Lau convinced the German authorities that the oil mill was critical to the war effort so they agreed to dismantle it and ship it to the Hamburg area.  While newer technology eventually rendered the old mill obsolete, the replacement technology formed the basis for Kurt Lau’s future rapeseed oil business in Deggendorf, Germany.

My hope that Peter Lau would recognize some of the people in my father’s photographs was partially borne out, although his equally important contribution was in providing some historical and geographic context for Tiegenhof, as well as Danzig.  Not surprisingly, Peter picked out his parents in a few of my father’s photos, identified some of his own father’s business associates, gave names to a few of my father’s friends and acquaintances, and even told me the eventual fate of some of my father’s associates.

Given the rather hasty and chaotic departure from Danzig of Peter’s parents and Lolo Lau as the Russians were approaching in 1945, predictably, few pictures survive of their lives in Tiegenhof and Danzig, making the survival of my father’s collection of photos that much more remarkable.  One photo that did survive was given to Peter by one of his dear friends from his days in Tiegenhof, Rudi Schlenger, and shows Peter and Rudi’s graduation class around 1937 (Figure 2).  Another, post-dating Peter’s time in Tiegenhof, shows Rudi’s widow, Hedwig or “Hedsch,” and Peter’s mother, Kathi Lau, when she visited the Laus in Deggendorf, Germany.

Figure 2 – Peter Lau in his 1937 high school graduation picture in Tiegenhof

 

In subsequent Blog posts, I will focus on several people identified by Peter Lau who formed part of my father’s circle of friends and acquaintances, what and how I was able to learn about some of them, and, in one instance, how I even met the descendants of a few of my father’s friends.

It was during our initial visit with Peter and Lolo Lau in May 2012 that Peter showed me his copy of the “Tiegenhofer Nachrichten,” an annual periodical for former German residents of Tiegenhof and their descendants that ceased being published in December 2014.  Naturally written in German, it reported on annual trips to the former German town, interviewed former residents, their current whereabouts, people who’d passed away, the history of still-standing historic structures in NDG, and more.  As a non-speaker, however, the most intriguing part of the periodical was the list of member’s names, addresses, and, in the case of women, maiden names, found in the back of the publication.  This proved to be a real treasure trove of information, and provided the basis for the next phase of research into my father’s life in Tiegenhof. Following my return to the States after our vacation in 2012, I focused on writing letters to various people with variants on the surname “Dicke,” having mistakenly, but amusingly, misunderstood that the name of one of my father’s friends was “Grete Dicke.”  The people to whom I wrote to with this surname were names I found in the “Tiegenhofer Nachrichten.”  My next post will focus on this “Grete Dicke,” and how I was eventually able to discover her true identity.