1978, August - Peter Steiner remembers his Germany trip. (with additional notes from Douglas and Sieglind. Pictures from Sieglind.)

Attempted reconstruction of two HTML eMails that were interspersed with color according to writer, and working them into a format acceptable to the gallery.

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From: Doug
Date: 5/22/13
Subject: Re: correction

DOUG:
Note to kids: The below email concerns my father's (Opa) parents = your great grandfather - Paul Steiner - and great grandmother – Meta Steiner (maiden name Hahn) - who took me to West and East Germany in the summer of 1971. FYI, the East German government would not allow my grandparents (and me) to cross over into East Germany in Berlin (still divided by The Wall at that time), so we entered and exited via a train stop checkpoint at a different place and time. A huge Russian soldier entered the train car and checked every passport, including mine. As a 12 year old, I was literally shaking as the stern-looking guard carried a slung rifle too and stared at me before returning it.
Love Doug/Dad
P.S. Memory says that after returning to the States Oma wrote a letter to the Russian embassy, telling them how unfair and unjustified it was that they could not cross into East Germany at Berlin. From what I understand, the embassy responded positively to Oma and on their next trip(s) to Germany they had no problems. Peter or Sieglind, can you verify?

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From: Peter & Cathy
Date: Monday, May 20, 2013 6:35 AM
Subject: correction

PETER:
Erzgebirge was not Oma’s home town it was Breitenbrunn which is a part of Erzgebirge. Oma’s father was the Mayor (?) I believe.

*****SIEGLIND:
Steve thinks he was Police Captain, other brothers of Hermann Hahn were from Johanngeorgenstadt not far from Breitenbrunn and one was Water Commissioner of -the city another one was a plumber.

PETER:
Deb in prior email on Erzgebirge the wooden likeness appears to be of the rock group “ZZ Top”, (see attached). The web site did not mention the group, only from what little German I could translate, that the old craftsman were passing on the craft to new generations and this was the example used.

Oma Meta made a big deal of going to Erzgebirge they took Steve and me there. This is where she bought some lace things and a few wooden incense smokers and candle holders. I believe she learned the craft of making them the lace things as little girl. Aunt Sieglind can you fill me in on how old was she, father history, etc?

*****SIEGLIND:
I believe Oma lived for a while with her grand-mother in Breitenbrunn who had a Christian influence on her. She tells the story of when she was 7 years old her Uncles were sitting around the table and discussing the end of WWI. "I believe the next war will be on german soil" one of them announced. She immediately went into a corner and prayed "Oh Lord, if that should happen, please don't let me be here!" She was the only one from her relatives and immediate family who didn't go through the war. She was able to send many relief packages to them over the years while they struggled during and after the war. Oma's father told the story of receiving a package from her that included a large bar of chocolate (he had not had any in years) He promptly ate the whole bar and then got sick to his stomach.

PETER:
The Hahn home was in Chemnitz and was the only one on the Helena Strasse that was bombed out during WWII.

*****DOUG:
I visited the Hahn home land plot with Oma and Opa Steiner in 1971. Yes, homes on both sides and the lot was still vacant. Oma cried a lot there, and Opa consoled her. I'll never forget it. That was when I came to understand what firebombing really was and how damaging it could be in warfare.

PETER:
The history of this area was interesting and I read over it again yesterday. This was a mining area and when the mines were completely mined the area turned to wood carvings and lace making. Perhaps you remember the pyramids that Oma, Uncle Helmut, Uncle Werner would get excited over. They had a row of candles below and when lit the warm air caused it to spin.

It was an economic recovery for them and still goes on today.

Doug do you remember the Gasthofe?

*****DOUG:
Yes, I do. We stayed at the Gasthof for about 3-4 days and I remember Uncle Werner as well. There was also a young lady there (Ursula?, can't remember her name) who was about 16 or so. I gave her my pajama top because it had USA Major League Baseball team logos printed on it (in red, white and blue) and she was thrilled – she asked me for it and I was happy to oblige. I was 12 years old. We did okay for communicating, she couldn't speak English nor I German but we made do.

**********SIEGLIND:
Ursula has a daughter Ulla, probably in her upper sixties who also has a daughter Anne (worked for Best Western in Germany,and is possibly in her late forties) and son Andreas ( 35?) Ursula was Werner's wife and Oma's cousin. I am still in contact with Harry Adner who is the son of Werner and Ursul and is about 72 yrs. He ran the Silberhof hotel in Freiberg.

***************DOUG:
Ulla sounds right! And the Adner name is very familiar to me.

*****DOUG:
We played a lot of badmitton during my stay. There was also a meteor shower that week, somehow I found out about it. So Oma woke me up about 2 am and we went outside for a little while to watch. I remember eating meals there on the ground floor and also remember an old barn behind the restaurant/hotel (probably torn down by now). I also remember hushed German conversations which I didn't understand, it seems those happened quite often in East Germany.

*****SIEGLIND:
They were tales of what they went through and were still going through under communist rule!) The people were kept in the dark about things that were happening in the west. Even in 1986 while I was visiting, one relative remarked "I understand that you don't have many potatoes in America." I replied, "If that were true then we also don't have sunshine!"

*****DOUG:
Oma and Opa warned me about speaking English in public places in East Germany; they did not want to draw unncessary attention from a society that couldn't be trusted/wasn't free. So I kept quiet and didn't talk much there at all. Even at the age of 12 I knew that they were discussing political or social issues; the seriousness of their faces and their almost whispering conversation was so highly unusual for me to observe. On the other hand, it gave me first hand experience as to how feared the government and your neighbor could be.

PETER:
The link below is where Oma, Opa, Stephan and I stayed for a few weeks while in East Germany. Doug I believed you stayed there also, I think the Vienerschnitzle <sp> story comes from there? This was Uncle Werner’s hotel it was quite big. Behind the building is where the family home was. I cannot determine if their family still runs it. I believe Uncle Werner was not a blood relative but his wife was Oma’s cousin? Aunt Sieglind can you help me with the facts here?

I sure looks like the owners have kept up with the times, the ratings on one site had them at 5.4 out of six.

http://www.adners.de/

*****DOUG:
Yes, the building looks in remarkably good shape! I do not remember the grave or cemetery at all, I do not think I went there.

**********SIEGLIND:
I have a photo somewhere of the gravestone with Oma in front of it.

*****DOUG:
The famous – or infamous – Weinerschnitzel stories have to do with my desire to eat veal cutlet wherever we went. Equivalent to my modern day desire for Lays Potato Chips :)

I have one of the wood carving fans here which is in need of repair due to some missing pieces. (SIEGLIND: "Called Pyramida") I have not put it away since I brought it back from Virginia Beach, for just looking at it brings back many memories. (SIEGLIND: "I also have two as well") Like you, Peter, I was so privileged to be taken behind the Iron Curtain when the Cold War was an ongoing reality. In a box here I still have a few items from that trip, I hope to display them one day.

**********DOUG:
The Pyramida is located on top of our living room fireplace.

Please keep me in the loop regarding any other information that comes about, thanks! -Doug

PETER:
Lastly in Breitenbrunn Oma desired to pay the church to not disturb her mother’s burial plot, I believe for a 100 years. When you look at a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitenbrunn,_Saxony The church can be seen. The grave if I remember correctly is located to the left of the picture in the link. If you look closely on the left you’ll see a gate to the cemetery. I was bored terribly and regret I didn’t explore the cemetery to find out what other relatives were buried there and look for some other history.

Oma hurt her ankle walking up the hill to the church that day. I suggested she try walking backwards and she said it helped. That must have looked peculiar to see the two of us walking backwards up the hill.

Again Aunt Sieglind please correct any misinformation and/or please add.
~Peter

*****SIEGLIND:
Below some photos I recently ran across: 35 years ago (August 1978) except for the one of Peter and Oma that was Aug. 1967!

From: Peter & Cathy
Date: 5/26/13
Subject: RE: correction

Thanks for all notes, corrections and pictures! Aunt Sieglind do you have more 1978 pictures of my trip? I have been looking for these for years, I only have about 10 of them. Maybe if you can you can scan some that would be of better quality? No hurry on this and if it is too much to ask, maybe I can get some copies another way via Deb and Ralph and a future visit?

Was Oma's Grandfather a mayor?