2/6/2012 - This picture has a great story :o)

The people in the picture are: Lina Neuner, Tante Therese (sister to Anni), Karolina with Margaret in back, Tante Anni (Hahn), Walter, Sieglind (Steiner) Hadley. In Glasshütten, Nov. 11, 1957

2/6/12 Sieglind says:

I remember the time I was in Germany. (July 1957-Dec.1957)

I took 4 years of high school German and in the winter of 56-57 Papa and I were conversing and he wondered if I would like to go with him to Germany when I graduated. That sounded like a great adventure and so he went ahead and made plans. He had not been back since Dec. 1934 (his marriage) and planned to make it a 6 month trip. He had to fill out forms and apply for a visa to visit East Germany. Momi said I could go on the trip but she did not want me to go into East Germany because she was afraid I might not be allowed back.

Anyway we left for Cherbourgh, France on the Queen Mary in July 1957. I was 17. We spent a few days in Paris and then went on our way by train to Cologne where we met my Uncle Hans and Tante Martel. After a week we continued on the train to Frankfurt and then to Langendiebach where we stayed with Uncle Helmut and Tante Anni. At the time, Gerlinde was at home and Rheinholt was in the (Wehrmacht?)

In September there was a fair (Leipzige Messe) in Leipzig and I and Uncle Helmut and Papa went. The fair was open for all. I met my Uncle Walter and cousin Juergen there and I was then to go back to Langendiebach with Uncle Helmut while Papa continued on into the East Zone for a month. However Uncle Walter felt bad that I could not go on with my father to see the places where he and my mother grew up and meet all the relatives still living there besides so we went to the embassy and Papa asked if I could be allowed to go with him. "Why didn't she fill out the necessary forms when you did" was asked. "Her mother was afraid to let her go"......."Wass, wir kochen mit Wasser und wir essen Brot"(1) was the reply, along with permission to go with my father. We didn't tell my mother until I was back in the west.

I had a great time visiting Chemnitz (which the Russians meanwhile had changed to Karl-Marx Stadt, but as soon as the wall came down they were back to Chemnitz) Aunts and Uncles and cousins and seeing my mother's beloved Erzgebirge!

I do remember that the difference between the East and the West was like Day and Night.

After returning to Langendiebach I went with Tante Anni to visit her sister in Nurenberg (Teresa I believe was her name) and that is when we visited Glashuetten and met you (Karolina) and your family.

(1) "Wir kochen mit Wasser und wir essen Brot" translates into "We cook with water and we eat bread". An expression which everyone understands to mean that we don't have three heads and sprout tails, we're just like everyone else. :o)

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2/8/12 Peter adds notes from his trip with Opa during the Summer of 1977 or 1978:

Thanks for sharing that story; it took me down memory lane! I enjoyed the
read and I suppose Opa took his lumps from Oma when he returned home :).

I couldn't agree more with the comments on the difference being night and
day when comparing the East with the West. Another thing that amazed me
about the East and West cities is the fact there was no litter in the
streets. Chemnitz (East) was dark and dirty, I think from coal smoke (I
vaguely remember Opa Steiner explaining this), but no trash. Additionally I
recall the reason for no trash was in two parts, the German people demanded
cleanliness as Oma said, and the East cities were so poor they made use of
everything (Opa). In Chemnitz the grocery stores were only open certain
hours and you didn't buy bread with money, you paid with coupons handed out
by the government.

Later I learned that Uncle Walter Steiner and his wife Tanta Marianna saved
for our visit. I believe the government provided an allowance or something
but it wasn't much. Uncle Walter's hobby was taking pictures and he took me
around the city to different churches where we took pictures without flash
(because it was not permitted, to this day I am confident when taking off
the flash of a camera and setting the aperture for the proper amount of
light) then we would return to the apartment building where he had a dark
room. This is where I learned the picture development process. Uncle Walter
talked of some churches which were destroyed from bombing and the repairs.
Other churches were rebuilt. I did not fully understand the economics of the
East at the time, but looking back on this, the German people were very
industrious with the little they had after the war.

I am forever thankful that Opa and Oma Steiner shared their trip with me.
Erzgebirge was a terrific place for scenery and such. I helped one of my
Uncles assemble some rafters for a second story porch. The people were
friendly unlike the sternness of the city dwellers. We visited Oma's
grandmothers grave and saw the house she grew up in. The hill to the
cemetery was quite steep and Oma hurt her ankles walking it.

In Chemnitz (East) the "Brethren" were permitted to "Break Bread" on
Sunday's, to meet for one hour and this was in the basement of the Apartment
building the Steiner's once owned. Later the building was given back to the
family once the East was relieved from the Russian oppression. Women and
children did not sit with the men, but sat in the back rows. I didn't
understand much of what was said, but I marveled that I recognized some
hymns. We only attended one meeting so I do not remember much more, other
than, the room was darkly lit and packed with people.

We also visited the West and the Meyer family both in Glashutten and
Stuttgart. The country of Glashutten was beautiful. We had many walks
through the town and in the woods. Also it was an interesting experience in
visiting the Church in Glashutten where my mother's family worshipped. It
was very different then the assemblies I was growing up in. I imagined what
it was like to sit up stairs or down stairs while a sermon was given, very
different, on that Sunday we actually were there for an hour.

My, what a trip!

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2/8/12 Sieglind's reply:

> On Feb 8, 2012, at 4:57 AM, Peter Steiner wrote:
> Thanks for sharing that story; it took me down memory lane! I enjoyed the
> read and I suppose Opa took his lumps from Oma when he returned home :).

Actually it was very encouraging to her and that was why they made a summer
visit in 1959 with Alfred. It was her first visit back after 1939.

While I was there in '57 someone spread the alarm that "Da gibt's Bananan an die
Ecke." We ran down to wait on a long line to see if we could get some. We may
have had some coupons but that is all that comes to memory. Very rarely was
fresh fruit available!

I remember hearing that people bought things such as a lampshade when they saw
it in the stores rather than wait for when they needed it because chances were
when in need, there would be none.

Also do you remember them saying when a child was born they put him on the list
to buy a Trabant(1) because it took almost 20 years to get one?

> I am forever thankful that Opa and Oma Steiner shared their trip with me.
> Erzgebirge was a terrific place for scenery and such. I helped one of my
> Uncles assemble some rafters for a second story porch. The people were
> friendly unlike the sternness of the city dwellers.

This is what I noticed as well. The people rarely smiled in public. When you
think of what they went through you can understand that. When we arrived at
Uncle Walter's I remember that they pulled down the shades, gathered in a
central room and quietly explained all that they went through during the war.
They were careful because the neighbors might turn them in.

(1) Trabant is an East German car:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant

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2/9/12 - Stephan Steiner:

Peter, Great points about our trip. I don't recall much of what you
wrote. These are quick bullet points of things I still think about
to this day:

* We boarded a trolley one night in Chemnitz and a very large drunk
got on board and the conductor punched him straight in the face and
the drunkard fell out of the moving trolley right into the street. Up
to that point in my life I had never witnessed such force, etc

* I recall going to some outdoor park in the country with Uncle
Walter. They may have had a small country home?

* I recall feeding the pigs and cleaning glasses behind the bar at
Werner's Gasthoff. We had down comforters that I loved. Uncle Werner
showed me a certificate he received from the Nazi's in his office and
he had a piece of tape covering up the nazi symbol.

* We went on some nice hikes in the countryside in Brietenbruen.

* I recall stopping in Iceland, Stuttgart, Munich, Bayreuth, Luxemburg,
and possibly Dresden

* When leaving East Germany, they weren't going to allow me to leave
because my passport photo had completely dissolved. (It was very poor
Polaroid technology). There was lots of barbed wire and machine guns
on the train.

* To Peter's point, Chemnitz was a gray city. Ugly architecture.

Its great that these people are now free. I learned that Uncle
Werner just died this past December. He was around 90 years old. I'm
writing this from the train as I head in NYC.