Ewald Rapp’s Personal History (partial)
Ewald Rapp’s Personal History (partial)¶
He was born 3 March 1880. His parents were Michael Josef Rapp, Lutheran when married Amalie Welke he was baptized a Baptist, against the will of his parents.
When he was a young boy, about 12 years old he lost the sight of his right eye. He and his brother Johan were driving posts into the ground and a splinter broke off and went into the right eye. They were making a fence to keep the cattle in. He grew up on a farm. He had no schooling. His brothers were Johan, Fritz, and younger sister Lidja. There were others also. The Russian Czar by proclamation offered free land to mostly German people. The land was mostly forest land. They were given free land and the deed to the land to come and settle.
Michael’s parents came from Wurtemberg in Southern Germany. When mother would get mad at dad, she would call him “ Schwabe”. A Schwabe was one who did everything the wrong way. If there was an easy way to do things he would make the thing hard to do.
They cleared the land of the trees and shrubs up to 6 feet high. John worked with dad as a very young boy, 7 years old, to kelp clear the land. He had no schooling. The cultivated the land ot plant wheat, rye and other grains. The land was black and very fertile. Enough rain came so they didn’t worry about water. They also raised cattle.
When he was older he wove baskets out of the willow branches and took to the bazaars to make some money. He also made flutes and slings for himself out of the willow branches.
Cities were almost a day of travel away and the roads wereonly dirt roads. When they went to the city, they went by wagon. Some had only 1 horse, some would have two. The brought grain and whatever else they thought they could sell at the bazaar. With the money they got they would buy whatever they could of products that they needed for living. In the winter time the snow would be very deep. They would then travel cross the fields, instead of following the roads as long as there were no rivers involved. Dad’s uncle Scheier also lived there.
Michael and Amalie had 4 children. Julius, born May 1903 died 14 June 1985 in Las Vegas, Ludwig, Ewald born 1 April 1912, and Sara, born 29 September 1914 on a ship at sail while we were fleeing from the Russians. The three boys were born in Alexandrov (or Alexandrow) Russia. Amalie Welke Rapp, born 24 December 1882 died January 196?in Las Vegas, Nevada. her parents were Gotlieb Welke and Louise Job. Her mother died when she was very young and her father re-married. Her father died when she was about 12 years old. Her brothers and sisters – Julius, Ludwig, Pauline Wilhelmina, Amalie, Ida and Mathilde. They all went faithfully to their church meetings. Mother had no schooling, but she learned all she could from her brothers and sisters. She had the help of some of her Sunday School teachers.
Mother and father had their own farm. Father was a very hard worker but was not a businessman. Mother took care of most of the business. One day they had 2 cows to sell, the first cows to sell after their marriage. Dad went ahead by foot with the cows towards the bazaar. About a half a mile from the bazaar he met some people who wanted to buy the cows and asked how much hewanted for both of them. Now he and Amalie had discussed at home what the price for both of the cows should be. Father told them the price for 1 cow instead of for both of them. He took the money and was very happy to have made a bargain. He was happy when mother came to be able to give her the money and that he had sold them already. She counted the money and realized that he had accepted money for both cows that was right for just one. This was when she found out that father was not a businessman. She cried and cried. Mother’s uncle Scheier came by and when he learned what had happened asked father which was they had gone. He took the money, caught up with them, jumped from his wagon and slapped both of the people in the face, right and left, took the cows and threw the money on the floor. Then he sold the cows for the right price.
Both parents were very strict about keeping the sabbath day holy. They always attended all their meetings. Mother sang in the choir all her life. Dad smoked, but secretly. When mother would catch him smoking war was on. He sometimes used newspapers to roll his own. He later quit the habit of smoking.
Mother did all the inside housework and also worked in the fields. She did all the milking, took care of the baby calves and pigs and poultry. She was always busy making shirts, socks, sweaters, pants and suits. When John left for America (in 1922 to portland, Oregon), she had a new suit made for him.
During World War One, because fo the war front, they had to flee for their lives with only the things they could carry. All their property was lost. They fled south all the way to theCaucasus and then into Egypt. They found living quarters with a family Schwartz.
Schwartz had a big farm and there dad and John, my brother had work. Schwartz had a large herd of geese and Ludwig and Ewald were to take care of them. They would drive them down into the fields and there the geese would forage and find their own food. Sometimes they would be in the fields of wheat and rye after it had been harvested. They were supposed to keep them out all day. Ewald remembers one day about noon, it was very warm and was too warm for the geese, they began to make a noise as if talking to each other and suddenly rose into the air and headed for home. Ludwig was responsible for them and when he saw them go and they couldn’t be stopped, he started to cry. He was supposed to keep them all day in the fields. Ewald didn’t think it was all that bad. The family had them to sell, to pick their feathers and for eating purposes.
Near the end of the war, bands of rebels from Turkey would come over the border at night. They would kill the farmers and steal their cattle. The farmer Schwartz was one of the victims.
From the Caucasas father and mother went down into Egypt. There they were able to get many different delicious kinds of fruit and melons, that they had never known before. They stayed but a short time in Egypt (Turkey perhaps?), then went back into Russia and finally were sent out to Germany by the German Military Government.
On the way, John then about 14 years old, at one stop in the train station, went away from the family for some reason. When hecame back, he found that the train and his family were gone. He did catch up with them several hundred miles further on.
The first place that the family went to, when they were back in Germany was to Gruenwalde, to a big ranch belonging to an uncle Kemmling, mother’s sisters husband. He was a wealthy farmer in East Prussia. The family lived there and worked as farm workers, the children too. Because they were family he tried to get by with paying them less than the other workers. Father would not take that and so he had a fight with uncle Kemmling and then he went looking for another job on a Sunday. This was something that he had never don on Sunday. He did find work for him, mother and John on another big farm. The farmer’s name was Hoffmayer and the place was Storchenberg. They stayed there till around 1920.
The farm was surrounded by meadows with rivers flowing through the area. In fall the rivers overflowed and the children were taken to school by boat. In winter the rivers were frozen over. My parents and John worked on the farm in the daytime and a night they all worked repairing shoes for the neighbors in order to make extra money. Sometimes they would work until 1 in the night and Dad hardly had any sleep. It as very hard times.
Groceries were purchased using food stamps. The store was nearly 3 miles away. Mother would send Ewald and Ludwig for things and when they would get there, there would be nothing left to get. Sugar was especially rare and hard to find. Ewald and Ludwig would try after school, mostly there was nothing, sometimes they could ge brown sugar. The change to Storchenberg was good. Dad was paid the same amount as the rest of the workers. Also he was allowed to keep a cow and calf and so they had their own milk, butter and cream. Lots of war equipment, ammunition and other things were left around in woods and on one Sunday, the older boys tried to make a fireworks with live ammunition laid close to a tree and they wanted to direct the bullets toward a tree. They made a fire under the ammunition, Ewald and Ludwig were scared to death. When the ammunition became heated the bullets started going off in all directions instead of where they had wanted them to go. All of the kids were flat on their stomachs, shaking. That was where Ewald and Ludwig started school. The kids were left alone at home as the rest of the family would be at work already. They had to get themselves up and ready to go to school.
All the workers would celebrate on the weekend. They had a gramophone and there was dancing and drinking.
After about 3 years parents moved from Storchenberg to Grunhofchen. When they had moved to Storchenberg they had brought with them only what they had to wear. When they moved on to Grunhofchen, they had their cow and calf and some furniture. In Grunhofchen in their home, the floors were all of wooden boards. On Saturday Mother would get on her knees and scrub the floors. The boards were really white from the scrubbing. All the wash for the family was don on the old fashioned washing board. The tub that was used was also the bathtub for all the family.
Grunhofchen was in the same county as Storchenberg (Kreis Angerburg), but was a bigger place. There too, Father was ableto earn more money, and to have more benefits. Some of the benefits were a place to live, had a cow and calf, could feed them in the farmers pastures. When the calf was a year old they had to sell it. The children were able to go to school in Buddern. All three, Ludwig, Ewald and Sara, graduated at 14 years of age. They would have liked to send Ewald to high school, but did not have the money to do so. They went to the same class from 7 years to 14 years. He never was interested in going to school, and Sara was not a very good student either.
The schools were very strict. If homework was assigned you had better have it ready or you were stretched over a bench and whipped with a stick. Ewald was an average student. He graduated at 14 years and had to go to work as both parents were very sick. What he earned went to take care of the family. Dad had operations, hernias. Ewald worked on the farm and when they got better they borrowed from Karl Kemmling and bought their own farm.
John never had any schooling. In 1922 he decided to go to America, sponsored by Uncle Julius Henzel. John liked to go to the dances, he liked to see and visit with girls. He was a terrible fighter. He was coming home about 4 or 5 AM, walking a girl home. Two milkers going to work walked behind and stepped on his heels. He turned and the apologized, but they did it again. John turned around, took the cane from one of them and whipped them both, until only the handle was left. He went on to bed. The manager of the farm had seen him and though it was funny and told mom and dad. They got John up and were going towork him over for fighting. They had a new closet. Dad had a piece of wood with a steel on it that they used for putting heels on the shoes. Dad swung with the wood and hit the new closet all along the front and that stopped the fight.
Ludwig and Ewald had to try to earn money while they were in school. The helped on the farm in the spring and in harvest time, riding on 1 horse. The wagon had 4 horses to pull it. They would ride on the left horse and managed to take the other from one sheaf to another and to get the wagon loaded with the sheafs. Workers would load the wagon with whatever was to harvest, such as hay, grain and potatoes. Any money they earned went to the family budget.
Ewald was not a very good athlete and couldn’t do pull-ups. The teacher would come up from behind and pinch him to get him up. His chief sport was horses. He loved them and rode whenever he could.
In wintertime, there were three rivers within 2 miles and they would freeze over.Workers would come from the city breweries to cut huge blocks of ice, 6 feet by 6 feet. They would haul them to the brewery cellars, pack them in sawdust and keep them from winter to the next to keep the beer cold. There was plenty of ice and that made plenty of fun. One time he took one of his mother’s sheets and nailed it to two posts and went ice sailing. The nailed barbed wire to the bottom of their wooden shoes and made skates out of them. The older boys put a thick pole through the ice to the ground and put a swivel to the pole and had another pole and then they tied sleds to the pole. The went round and round. Nearer spring when the ice started to meld, Ewald broke through the ice and hung on the ice by his arms, till he was rescued. Milkers took him, wrapped him in blankets till night. He went home and went to bed without supper as he didn’t want to tell his parents about the accident.
At about thirteen years of age, Ludwig was drowned in the river, but he was rescued and given resuscitation. He always had a great fear of water after that.
Two weeks before Christmas, when Ewald was about 17 years old, Ludwig, Ewald and two others had a bear mask and two fur coats. With these outfits they could dress up and look like a bear. One boy would put on the costume and had a mandolin. Ewald had a music box and would turn the handle while the bear “played” the mandolin. Ludwig was the bear lead with a chain and collar. The other boy in the fur would dance. With this act, they would go around to the different farms and perform. They performed at a big farm and had about 200 people in the audience. After their performance they were given cookies, punch and money. The people wanted to hear more and more. At some of the performances, the girls and women would scream and run away from the bears and the rest of the group.
On one easter sunday, John and others of the older boys went fishing with a net. They caught tubs and tubs of large carp, most in excess of 15 inches. They divided the fish among themselves and gave many away.
Two miles east of Grunhofchen, where they lived, there was a forest. In the summer mother and the kids would go to the forestand pick the wild fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants and mushrooms. Mother would take them to the city and to the bazaar to sell the fruit.
They lived in Grunhofchen until about 1928. Then dad borrowed 4000 marks from Uncle Kemmling to make a down payment on his own farm. He bought a farm in Marienwalde, a farm about 60 acres. Buildings were empty, land was empty and there was no machinery of any kind. Ludwig, Ewald and Sara went with them to help get things going. It was a very hard time starting out. They had to purchase cattle, horses, wagons, plows and other machinery. They had no tractors to start out. They both two horses, two cows, 2 or three pigs, and some poultry. They got some chickens and then hatched more. They mated the horses and cows right away. The ground was very good and was well known all around the area. There was a river about 80 yards away from the house. At that time the house had no plumbing of any kind. The heating was from the tile ovens in the rooms. Cooking was on an iron cook stove. There was no sink and they were able to get water after digging a well about 12 yards from the front door. There was no electricity and the light was from kerosene lamps.
Mother did knitting and sewing at night by the lamplight. All the family wore gloves, socks and shirts made by mother.
Lamps were carried from room to room for light. In about 1932 they were able to get electricity. This was 2 years after Ewald left home as an apprentice to a shoemaker about 3 miles away in Olschoewen. He was there for 3 years.
The crops that were raised on the farm were wheat, rye, redclover, feeding and sugar beets, oats, barley and potatoes. The beets were sown then later replanted. Sometimes they had to get water from the river in barrels in the wagon and then they had to water each plant twice a day carrying the water in a cup. The contract with Uncle Kemmling ran out and dad was not able to pay the entire amount. Kemmling insisted it had to be paid or he would take the farm. He didn’t need the money but he wanted the agreement to be fulfilled. So Ewald’s parents almost lost the farm. But Kemmling’s whole family got after him and he finally agreed to extend the agreement. Kemmling lived only about 3 miles away and he wanted control of the farm, even though he was a cripple.
While Ewald spent his three years in apprenticeship, he lived at the place of apprenticeship and only occasionally had the opportunity to return home. He received no pay, only room and board. He worked from dawn until 9 or 10 at night. The work that was done was the making of shoes, special riding boots and making repairs to shoes and boots. Once a week he would get a big ruck sack and a big bag to carry by hand and would walk to the train station. He would ride the train through 3 villages and would deliver the finished work and pick up anything that needed repair. He would go from door to door to try and get work. Once in a while he would receive an occasional tip, (a nickel or dime). His master had a couple of cows boarded out and to pay for the cows he would have to go and but the hay to feed them. He asked Ewald if he would like to go and do it and earn some money. This was the only money Ewald had. He saved up andafter 3 years had enough saved to buy his first tailor made suit.
His transportation was a bike that he had piece together by taking pieces from several old bikes. After 3 years Ewald finished his apprenticeship, took his exam and was promoted to journeyman. For his exam he had to make a new pair of shoes. He mad a pair of mens sunday shoes. He had to take a written exam also and passed with a mark of good. He stayed with the master for 3 months and finally received pay for his work.
When he was 21 years old, he went into the service as a volunteer for 18 months. He bought his first new bike then. As a volunteer he was sent to Insterburg and was an artillery soldier. He learned how to handle cannons. These cannons were transported by 6 horses. There was a riding school connected with the artillery. Men were selected to go to the riding school. Ewald was among those chosen to attend the school.
He loved the school and he loved working with the horses. The riding uniforms were a white jacket, grey riding pants and black riding boots. The boots always had to be shiny. Every day for 2 hours the men would attend the riding school and work with the horses. They would work in a large hall with sawdust on the floor. A trainer would call out the commands and those on the horses would have to teach their horses the maneuvers, i.e. training them to march to music. After the maneuvers, there were swing arounds, side saddles, figure riding and exercising. The horses were always controlled by the rider with the rider’s knees and lower legs. Once a week the whole group had a “ride-out”. This was a ride of about 10 miles and was for exercising the horses. It was always an enjoyable time for the men and the horses. The horses were in a stable with brick floors and brick walls.
When it was almost time for the class to be over, a whistle would be blown indicating that it was time for clean up. The stable had to be left spotless. When the whistle would blow all the riders would rush to the place where 2 brooms were kept. Tow of the men would be lucky enough to get the brooms. The rest would have to take of their white jackets and sweep the floor with their jackets. After everything was spotlessly clean, the men would be dismissed. All of those who had used their jackets for cleaning would then have to go to the outside troughs and have to make their jackets spotless for the next day of class. The troughs were outside and there were many times that the weather was bitter cold and it was hard to get everything clean and keep from freezing also.
Ewald spent part of the time in the service in Insterburg and then later was sent to Gumbinnen. When he went into the service the government was run by Field Marshal Von Hindenburg. Ewald was sworn in under Von Hindenburg but Hindenburg got sick and then the government was turned over to Adolph Hitler. When this happened, all those in the service had to be sworn in again under Hitler.
When Ewald first went into the service the salute was at the hat brim, but it was later changed to Hitler’s “Heil Hitler”. All of the oldtimers in the service hated this new salute. The training in the service was very severe. For example, the corporal in charge would make all the soldiers run and then would call out “down” and all the would have to drop flat onto the ground, he would then call out “up” and all would have to get up and run until he called out the next command. In about 200 feet they might have to get up and down as many as 20 times.
One soldier because of the heat, dust and the extreme exhaustion, could not take it and collapsed. He was disrespectfully ordered to be picked up and then was taken to the hospital, where he died.
During the 18 months volunteer service, 2 weeks of vacation was allowed. Only the officers were allowed to wear their civilian clothes at home or wherever they went on vacation. Week-end leave was allowed from 1 PM on Saturday until 12 midnight on Sunday. Before you were allowed to go, there had to be an inspection. The sergeant would inspect each person from head to toe. Some had to take of their shoes and socks. The sergeant would inspect the cleanliness of feet, body, nails and laundry. Everyone had to be “spanking clean”.
One time, Ewald had asked for a week-end leave and was standing for inspection. One button on his shirt was missing, he and put his belt over it, thinking that it would pass unnoticed, but the belt slipped and the sergeant noticed. For his punishment the corporal on duty was told to make sure that Ewald emptied the fire basins on the fifth floor. Even though there were sinks and water right there on the fifth floor, Ewald had to take the small buckets used by fire fighters, fill them and take them down thestairs and outside and empty them. He then had to clean the fire basins and refill them by carrying the water up the stairs from the outside. When he finished everything it was already dark and he was utterly exhausted and so there was no leave that weekend. He could have gone home, but the trains would not run again until midnight and he had to be back by midnight. Punishment for anyone not in bed after leave at the time of inspection was extremely severe.
Another example of the strictness of training in the service, during the pre-war times, a corporal or sergeant could come into your living quarters or at lunch time or anywhere, when he wanted his boots shined. He would walk in and call out “2 chairs”. All the others would grab 2 benches or chairs and put them in the middle of the room. The corporal or sergeant would get up on the chair and then as many men as could get around him would begin to shine his boots with their brushes and polish until the man was satisfied. Punishment for not responding was to be taken out into the hallway and made to run up and down the hall for as long as the man demanded. There was no a time when the men didn’t respond.
At the end of his 18 months volunteer service, which ended in October 1935, Ewald returned home to his parents home in Marienwalde. He remained there for only a short time as he didn’t like farm work anymore. He didn’t like getting up at sunrise or even before and working until late at night until all the animals were taken care of.
Father didn’t believe in doing any farm work on the Sabbath.If it looked as if a storm was going to hit and there were crops to be gotten in, Father would get the children up at 1 AM on Monday and they would hurry to try and get harvest in before the rain would come.
After a brief period at home with his parents and family Ewald left home again. He went back to Insterburg to take over a shoe shop. The fellow who owned the shoe shop had to go into the service for his 18 months. All German boys were required to put in 18 months in the service for their country. Ewald had the shoe shop for the 18 months he was gone.
Ewald met Marta Thielke in Insterburg in 1934. When he returned to take over the shoe shop they were married. There were married on May 1, 1936. Ewald applied to the government for a job as a shoemaker and after taking exams was accepted. The pay was very good. He was given his own chambers and set up and his clothing was paid for. He stayed there until 1939. At the end of July 1939 he was called into the service fo a 6 week maneuver. On the 2nd of September 1939, the war stared with Poland.
From his marriage to Marta, 6 children were born. The names of the children are Harald, Gunter, Wolfgang, Manfred, Ditmar and Ursula Crystal. Ursula lived only 24 hours and then died from heart failure. Ditmar was about 18 months old when he died. He had diptheria and there was not a doctor available to help save him. Ditmar died at the end of the war when conditions were very unsettled.
When Ewald went in the service for the 6 week maneuver, all soldiers were equipped with live ammunition and other war equipment.They didn’t know the reason for this but soon found out as the war started in Poland. Ewald belonged to the 413th Regiment and the 206th Division, which was a reserve division. When the army marched into Poland they had no contact with the enemy. The division was there for 7 months as an occupation army. he saw no one killed during that time. The Polish people were very poor. The food was very scarce but the people were satisfied with the very little they had. One thing they all wanted was salt.
The war for Poland was over in 16 days. The rest of the time spent there was only as an occupation army. The main reason that Hitler wanted to have Poland was to have a corridor to transport good from Prussia Germany to Mainland Germany. Poland had this corridor and anything that crossed over, Poland was able to charge duty for the crossing. Prussia raised dairy products, meats and all kinds of agricultural products. These things were needed in Germany and then Germany would ship back all kinds of manufactured products. Because of having to ship back and forth, through the corridor that belonged to Poland, Poland was able to collect a large amount of money. Therefore it was vital because of Hitler’s plans to have the corridor belong to Germany for shipping.
After he took Poland Hitler mad a friendship pact with Russia. At that time he gave part of Poland ot Russia. At the end of 7 months the soldiers were sent back to Germany but they had to return by foot. The supplies were sent by train. As they were leaving, people would hang on the soldiers and cry, they didn’t want them to leave and they wanted no part of communism.
Ewald was sent back to Allenstein in Prussia Germany, and there he was in military quarters. He expected to be released every day but it didn’t happen. While he was waiting to be released he was training new recruits. Hitler next moved to France and took it in 21 days. Ewald was sent to France. Again he had no enemy contact and stayed in France for less than 2 weeks. He did see some morrocan soldiers who had been killed. When left France he was shipped back to his same military Quarters in Prussia Germany and again was training new recruits. This was about 1940. At this time trains were rolling to the eastern front, night and day. The supplies were being sent to the eastern front even though Hitler had made a friendship pact with the Russians.
Ewald’s division was then sent to the eastern border and they had maneuvers that took them to the Lithuanian border. They stayed there for about one and a half weeks. No one knew why they were there. The german soldiers were suspicious because of the military supplies. Russia was completely unsuspicious at this time. Hitler made a pact with them but at the same time was secretly preparing for war with them. One night at about 11 PM the commander came and announced that Germany had declared was on Russia. By 1 AM we were to march over the Russian border. Between 11 PM and 1 AM every one of the soldiers was armed with live ammunition. They were ordered not to shoot except on order of the commander when they went over the border.
They were again a reserve division. There was no enemy contact until they were about 1500 miles into Russia. There were only a very few Russian soldiers and they were very poorly prepared.Our front division was marched up to about 8 miles from Moscow. An extremely cold winter set in and the german soldiers were not equipped for it. In the meantime, the Russians had mobilized and then the bitter fighting started. The russian soldiers were given whiskey which mad them completely drunk and then they were turned loose on the german army without any guns or ammunition. The germans had machine guns, artillery and tanks. They mowed the russians down and their bodies were stacked and piled.
Ewald was in the central part of Russia, and there the same thing took place. The bitter cold and snow set in and all the soldiers were not equipped with winter clothing or supplies. Because of the underground activities the trains with all the needed supplies could not get through. The underground had easy access to all that the germans had and were able to destroy everything, as the germans did not have enough manpower to guard it all. Germany had their troops spread out all aver Europe, therefore they did not have any backup support.
At this time, most of the generals wanted to have the troops dig in the ground and hold until spring, but Hitler gave the command that they must go on and not stop now. This was the turning point for the russians as they mad progress and the german troops had to retreat all along the line. At the same time, the western allies gave Russia airplane support and as much supplies and support as they needed. So far as they were able the germans destroyed the tanks, cannons, and all else as they retreated. Still much of the equipment fell into the hand of the russians and was used. The germans destroyed their equipment,because they were not able to get gasoline because of the underground to move the equipment.
The loss of life on both sides was indescribable. From the extreme cold, the loss of body parts was running about 60%.
Ewald was wounded on the 4th of December 1942 in Reschew, Russia. He was wounded by an american plane flown by a russian. America did supply the russians with equipment and then trained men to use them. Ewald was sitting in a wooden building with his back to the wall, in a room with about 50 to 60 other men. All of the buildings were of wood. Group of planes flew over, they were high and we heard them and were able to get to the bunkers that we had dug in the ground. We ran twice and were able to get to the bunkers. The third group of planes came in low and we didn’t hear them until they were right there, and so were unable to reach the safety of the bunkers. The planes dropped their bombs. One was dropped right outside the wall where I was sitting with my back to it. The blast broke the wall and the shrapnel hit me in both legs. I couldn’t move because of the heavy table which was in front of me. My right leg was torn up from the ankle to the knee in the back and both bones in the leg were broken. The left leg was torn at the top of the (Editor’s note: the manuscript ends here mid-sentence.)