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Ewald Rapp’s Personal History (through approximately 1970)

My father Michael Josef Rapp was born 3 March 1880 in Russia to George and Marianna Kelbert Rapp. George and Marianna Kelbert Rapp came from Württemberg, Southern Germany. Michaels brothers were Johan, Fritz, and a sister named Lidja. There were also other brothers and sisters, but I don’t remember their names.

Michael was raised as a Lutheran. He was later baptized into the Baptist church against the will of his parents when he married Amalie Welke. My mother Amalie Welke Rapp was born December 24, 1882. She died January 26, 1963, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her parents were Gottlieb and Louise Job Welke. Her mother died when she was very young and her father remarried. Her father died when she was about 12 years old. Amalie’s brothers and sisters were; the oldest Wilhelmina, Amalie, Ida and Mathilde. They all went faithfully to their Baptist Church meetings. My mother had no schooling, but she learned all she could from her brothers and sisters. She also had some help from her Sunday School teachers.

Both Michael and Amalie were raised on a farm as children. An experience that Michael had on the farm as a young boy about 12 years old was that he lost the sight of his right eye. This happened when he and his brother Johan had been driving posts into the ground while making a fence to keep their cattle in. A splinter broke off from one of the posts and flew into his right eye causing him to go blind.

He like Amalie had no schooling. Although he had no schooling he was learned enough to make money on his own. This was especially true as Michael grew older. He learned to weave baskets out of willow branches and took the baskets to the bazaars to sell and make money. He also liked making flutes, slings and whistles out of willows for himself.

The land that Michael’s family lived on in Russia was given to them by a proclamation by Queen Catherine. This proclamation gave free land to many different people, but was mostly given to the German people. The majority of the land consisted of forest land. They were given free land and the deed to the land to come and settle there.

Although Amalie and Michael were raised in Russia they definitely had a Southern German background inherited from their parents. This can be shown by the following experience. When my mother Amalie would get mad at her husband Michael, she would call him a “Schwabe”. A schwabe was one who did everything the wrong way. If there was an easy way to do things a schwabe would make the thing hard to do. The word schwabe comes from Southern Germany.

After Michael and Amalie were married they had four children. Julius, born May 15, 1903, who died June 14, 1985, in Las Vegas, Ludwig who was born July 4, 1907, and died during the war on a ship, Ewald who was born April 1, 1912, and Sara who was born September 29, 1914, on a ship at sail while we were fleeing from the Russians. The three boys were born in Alexandrov (or Alexandrow) Russia.

My parents eventually got their own farm. They worked hard to clear the land of trees and shrubs which grew up to six feet high. Even their children helped to clear the land. John, my brother worked with dad as a young boy of seven years of age to help clear the land. John was not able to have any schooling because of the work load on the farm. They cultivated the land to plant wheat, rye, and other grains. The land was black and very fertile. There was enough rain there, so they didn’t have to worry about water on the farm. My father also raised cattle on the farm.

My father was a very hard worker but was not a businessman. It was mother who took care of most of the business. Here is an example of how business was taken care of around our farm. One day mother and father had two cows to sell. These were the first cows they had to sell after their marriage. Dad went ahead by foot with the cows towards the bazaar. About a half of a mile from the bazaar he met some people who wanted to buy the cows. They asked how much he wanted for both of them. Now, he and my mother, Amalie, had discussed at home what the price for both of the cows should be. Father made a mistake and told them the price for one cow instead of the price for both of them. He took the money and was very proud of himself and happy to have made such a bargain. He was so proud of himself because he would be able to give Amalie the money and tell her that he had already sold the cows before he had reached the bazaar. When Michael gave Amalie the money, and she counted the money she cried and cried because she realized that he had only asked and received money for the amount of one cow. It was at this time she found out that my father was not a businessman. Mother’s Uncle Scheier came by and when he found out what had happened he asked my father which way the people had gone. He took the money, caught up with them, jumped from his wagon and slapped both of the people in the face. Then he threw the money on the ground and took back the cows. He then went on to sell the cows for the right price.

On the farm mother did all the inside housework and also worked in the fields alongside father. She did all the milking, took care of the baby calves, pigs and poultry. She was always busy making shirts, socks, sweaters, pants and suits. She also made a suit for my brother John before he sailed for America in 1922. It was my Uncle Henzel in Portland Oregon who had sponsored and made possible for John to go to America at this time.

Both parents were very strict about keeping the sabbath day. holy. They always attended all their meetings. Mother ang in the choir all her life. Dad was religious also even though he smoked. He smoked secretly but when mother would catch him the “war was on”. He sometimes used newspapers to roll his own. He later quit the habit of smoking.

cities were almost a day of travel away from the farms in that area and the roads were only dirt roads. This made traveling very hard. When our family or any of the neighbors went to the city we all went by wagon. Some of us had only one horse and some would have two. One of our neighbors who traveled with us

to the city was my Uncle Scheier who lived in the same area we did. We all brought grain and whatever else we thought we could sell to the bazaar. With the money we got we would buy whatever we could have of the products we could not grow and that we needed for living. In the winter time the snow would be very deep causing us to travel across fields instead of following roads. This made traveling easier, and it would take less time. We would do this as long as there were no rivers running through the fields.

When World War I came my family found that our lives would change. Because the war front came so close to my home my family had to flee for our lives with only the things we could carry. All our property was lost. We fled south all the way to the Caucasus and at that time it was located near the Turkish border. My family found living quarters with a family named Schwartz. Schwartz had a big farm and there my father and brother John found work to help support our family.

Schwartz had a large herd of geese. Ludwig and I, were in charge of taking care of the geese. We would drive them down into the fields and there the geese would forage and find their own food. Sometimes the geese would be in the fields of wheat and rye after it had been harvested. Our job was to keep the geese out all day long. I remember one day about noon it was very warm and was apparently too warm for the geese. All of a sudden they began to make a noise as if talking to each other, and they rose into the air and then headed for home. Ludwig was responsible for them and when he saw them go and knew that they couldn’t be stopped he started to cry because he was supposed to keep them out all day in the fields. I didn’t think it was all that bad because that meant we could go home also. The Schwartz family had these geese to sell, to pick their feathers for pillows and also for eating purposes.

We eventually left the Schwartz family when we could support ourselves again. Near the end of the war there were bands of rebels from Turkey that would cross the border at night. They would kill the farmers and steal their cattle. One of the victims of their raids was the farmer Schwartz. What a tragedy. From the Caucasus, father and mother went down into Egypt. There they were able to get many different delicious kinds of fruit and melons. Many of the fruits we had never tasted or had ever known. We stayed but a short time in Egypt or (Perhaps Turkey?) then went back into Russia and finally were sent back to Germany by the German Military Government.

On the way back to Germany my family got separated from my brother John. John was about 14 years old then and at one stop in the train station he went away from the family for some reason. When he came back he found that the train and his family were gone. Fortunately he was able to catch up with us several hundred miles further on. It was a scary experience for him and for us also not knowing whether we would see each other again.

It was 1918 when my family returned to Germany and the first place where my family lived was in Grunwalde. our home was at a big ranch belonging to my Uncle Carl Kemmling. This was my mothers’ brother-in-law. He was married to her sister Pauline. He was a wealthy farmer in East Prussia. His family and children not only lived but also worked as farm-workers on this ranch. Because Uncle Kemmling considered us family he tried to pay my father and Julius less than the regular workers even though we worked as hard and as many hours as the other workers did. Father would not take the cut in pay from my uncle and so my father had a fight with Uncle Kemmling, and then he went looking for another job on Sunday. This was something that my father had never done on a Sunday, but the looking paid off, and he found better work for him, mother and John on another big farm. The farmer’s name was Hoffmayer and the place was in Storchenberg. Here we stayed until around 1920. Mr. Hoffmayer had a big farm and the workers there were provided apartments that included three bedrooms on the ground floor.

The farm was surrounded by meadows with rivers flowing through the area. In the fall the rivers overflowed and the children had to be taken to school by canoe. In the winter when the rivers were frozen over we’d walk over them to go to school.

My parents and John worked on the farm in the daytime and at night they worked at repairing shoes for the neighbors in order to make extra money. Sometimes they would work late into the night hardly allowing them any sleep at all. These were very hard times for all of us.

The groceries that we bought were mostly obtained by using food stamps which were handed out to all the German people through the mayor’s office located nearly three miles away from where we lived. The food stamps were used as the food had to be rationed out to families at this time. Mother would send me and Ludwig for groceries and when we would get there, there would be nothing left. Sugar was especially rare and hard to find. Ludwig and I would try after school to get sugar, mostly we would find nothing, but sometimes we were able to get brown sugar.

The change to Storchenberg was good for my family. My dad was paid the same amount as the rest of the workers. Also, he was allowed to keep a cow and a calf, so we had our own milk, butter and cream.

At this time there was a lot of war equipment, ammunition and other war things that was left around in the woods. On one Sunday the older boys decided to make use of the equipment. They tried to make fireworks out of the live ammunition. They set up the ammunition under one tree and directed the ammunition towards another tree. The boys then set a fire under the ammunition. My brother Ludwig and I were part of this group, but didn’t participate because we were scared to death. When the ammunition became heated the bullets started going off in all directions instead of where the boys had aimed it. All of us ended up on our stomachs shaking to death. Fortunately no one was hurt.

While we were living in Storchenberg, Ludwig and I started school. We started school when everyone else was out working. We were left alone at home to take care of ourselves, and we had to get ourselves up and ready to go to school. My family worked very hard day in and day out except for on the weekends. On the weekends all the workers would celebrate by throwing a party. There was dancing and drinking, we even had a gramophone to play music on.

After about three years my parents decided to move our family from Storchenberg to Grunhofen. When we move to Grunhofen from Storchenberg we took all of our belongings including furniture and our one cow. Everything else we left behind. In Grunhofen our home was wooden and that included wooden floors. On every Saturday mother would get down on her knees and scrub each of the boards on the floor. The boards were really white from the scrubbing my mother gave them. She was very proud of her floor. All the wash for the family was done on an old-fashioned washing board. The wash tub that was used for the washing was also used for the bathtub for our whole family.

Grunhofen was in the same county as Storchenberg (Kreis Angerburg), but was a bigger place. There father was able to earn good money and also to have good benefits. Some of the benefits were a place to live, to have a cow and a calf. We were also able to feed the animals in the farmers pastures. When the calf was a year old they had to sell it to get some more money.

While we lived in Grunhofen we were able to go back to school. My brother Ludwig, sister Sara and I all graduated at 14 years of age. My father would have liked to have sent me to high school, but didn’t have enough money to do so. Ludwig went to the same class for 7 years. From age 7 to 14. He was never really interested in going to school and Sara was not a very good student either. I was an average student. I graduated at age 14 and then had to go to work. Even while Ludwig and I were in school we had to try to earn money. We helped on the farm in the spring and at harvest time as much as possible. We only had one horse and both had to ride him. We did have a wagon with four horses to pull it. We would ride on the left horse and then would manage to pull the wagon from one sheaf to another and get the wagon loaded with the sheaves. Then the Workers would load the wagon with whatever sheaves there was to harvest. Such as; hay, grain, and potatoes. Any money we earned went to the family budget.

The schools there were very strict. If homework was assigned to you, you had better have it finished when the teacher asked for it, or you were stretched over a bench and whipped with a stick. Sports were also important in the schools. I was not a very good athlete, and I couldn’t do my pull-ups. The teacher would come up from behind me while I was trying to do pull-ups and pinch me, so I could get up. I was good with horses though, and they were my chief sport. I loved them and rode whenever I could.

After I graduated I worked hard and what I earned went to take care of my family because both of my parents were very sick. I worked on the farm with the rest of the family. Dad had acquired hernias through the years which made him unable to work very much. Eventually both of my parents’ health improved_ and when they got well enough to work they borrowed money from my Uncle Kemmling and bought their own farm. This was in the year 1928.

While Ludwig, Sara and I had schooling John never did get any schooling. In 1922, he decided that he wanted to go to America. MyUncle Julius Henzel who lived in America decided to sponsor John, and he left Germany and moved to America. Let me tell you a little about my brother John. John liked to go to all the dances that he could find time for. That was because he loved to see and visit many different girls. He also had a temper and was a terrible fighter. Here is an experience that he had that shows how he liked to fight. One night he was coming home, it was about 4 or 5 am, he was taking a girl home. It just so happened that two milkers were going to work at this time. Well, these two milkers walked up behind John and the girl and stepped on his heels. John turned around and they apologized to him. So John and his girl kept walking, but then they stepped on his heels again. So John turned around and took a cane away from one of them and whipped both of them until only the handle was left on the cane. They were pretty well beat up. John then continued to walk the girl home and then went to bed. The manager of the farm had seen what John had done to the milkers and had thought that the whole situation was funny. He thought it was such a good story that he told mom and dad what had happened. My parents didn’t think it was as funny as the manager had, instead it made them upset. They got John up to give him a beating. Dad had a piece of wood with a piece of steel on it that was used for putting heels on shoes. Dad swung the wood at John, but he missed him and instead hit a closet that was brand new. It split the new closet all along the front and that upset Dad so much that it stopped the beating right away.

By our farm there were three rivers within two miles all running the same direction and in the wintertime they would freeze over. Workers would come from the city breweries to cut huge blocks of ice. They were approximately 6 feet by 6 feet. They would haul them from the rivers to the brewery cellars and pack them in sawdust. They would keep these blocks of ice from one winter to the next in order to keep the beer cold. There was plenty of ice for the breweries from these three rivers. It was fun for us children to watch this process take place each winter. The rivers were very good for one other thing, ice skating. One time I took one of my mother’s sheets and nailed it to two posts and went ice sailing. Boy, did I get into a lot of trouble when my mother found out what I had done to her sheet, but it was worth it. We had a lot of fun ice sailing. When the wind caught the sheet we would race up and down the river at high speeds. We also nailed thick wire to the bottom of our wooden shoes and made ice skates out of our shoes. The tops of our shoes were made out of leather and the bottom of them were made out of wood. This made them very useful for us in the winter especially as ice skates. Another winter activity occurred when the older boys put a thick pole through the ice to the ground and put a swivel onto the pole. They would then let the pole freeze in. They would set up another pole which they tied sleds to, and then we would go round and around these poles. We really had fun in the winter time.

When spring started to come the rivers became dangerous because the ice started to melt. We still played on the rivers until the ice was too thin. Unfortunately we couldn’t always tell when the ice was too thin. One spring I broke through the ice. Fortunately I was able to hang on to the ice by my arms until I was rescued. Some milkers rescued me, took me and kept me wrapped up in blankets the entire day. I then went home and went to bed without supper as I didn’t want to tell my parents about the accident and worry them.

My brother Ludwig also had a bad experience with the rivers. At about age 13 Ludwig drowned in a river but was rescued and given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He always had a great fear of water after that.

Holidays were always special for us. Christmas was always a big celebration for us. The Christmas when I was about 17 years old, Ludwig, I and two others decided to do something a little different. So two weeks before Christmas we started to work on a little scheme. We had obtained a bear mask and two fur coats. With these outfits we could dress up and look like a bear. One boy would put on both fur coats and the bear mask. One coat was for the top and the other for the bottom. Another boy would be inside a music box they had, and he would play the mandolin. I would be outside of the music box, and I would turn the handle in order to make the music box play. The bear would then dance to this music. Ludwig was the leader and would lead the bear around tied to a chain and dancing. We would go around to the different farms and perform our act. Once we had the opportunity to perform at a big farm where there was an audience of about 200. After our performance we were given cookies, punch and money. The people didn’t want us to stop, they wanted to hear more and more. At some of the performances the girls and women would scream and run away from the bear pretending to be scared. This made our act more fun. This was a real memorable Christmas for me.

Easter was a special time for us also. On one Easter Sunday my brother John and some of the older boys decided to go fishing. They took a net with them and caught many large Carp with their net. Most of the fish were around 15 inches long. They divided the fish among themselves and even gave many away. This provided us with an Easter feast.

Two miles east of Grunhofchen, where we lived, was a forest. In the summer, mother and the kids would go to the forest and pick wild fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, currants and mushrooms. Mother would then take them home to eat and also take them to the city to sell at a bazaar. This helped us make some extra money.

We lived in Grunhofchen until about 1928. At that time dad borrowed 4000 marks from Uncle Kemmling to make a down payment on his own farm. He bought a newly developed farm in Marienwalde. The farm had about 60 acres on it. It came with some buildings on it, but they were all empty and so was the land. Ludwig, Sara and I went with them to help get things started. We had a very hard time starting out. We had to purchase cattle, horses, wagons, plows, and other machinery. This was very expensive. We also had no tractors this made work very difficult. We bought two horses, two cows, two or three pigs, and some poultry. We bought some chickens and then hatched some more. We mated the horses and cows right away. One asset that we had on our side was that the ground was very fertile. There was a river about 80 yards away from the house. This was really important because the house had no plumbing of any kind. The heating came from the tile ovens that were in the rooms. Cooking was on an iron cook stove. There was no sink in the house, but we were able to get water from a well that we dug about 12 yards from the front door. There was no electricity in the house so the light had to come from kerosene lamps. Mother did all her knitting and sewing at night by lamplight. Lamps were carried from room to room for light. It was not until about 1932 that mother and father were able to get electricity. This was two years after I had left home as an apprentice to a shoemaker. I was located about three miles away in Olschöwen and was there for three years .

The crops that were raised on the farm were wheat, rye, red clover, feeding and sugar beets, oats, barley, and potatoes. The beets were sown then later replanted. Sometimes we had to get water from the river which we put in barrels and brought back by wagon to water each plant twice a day. We’d put the water in a bucket then using a cup we’d dip water out and water the plants. At this time the contract with Uncle Kemmling ran out and dad was not able to pay back the entire amount that he had borrowed to buy the farm. Kemmling insisted that it had to be paid back in full, or he would take the farm away. He didn’t need the money, but he wanted the agreement to be fulfilled. My 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 three miles away, and he felt it would be an asset if he got control over our farm. Uncle Kemmling was crippled but this didn’t stop him when he wanted to do something or get something.

While I spent three years in apprenticeship I lived at the place where I worked and only occasionally had the opportunity to return home. I received no pay, but I did get room and board. I worked from dawn until 9 or 10 at night. The work that I did was making shoes, special riding boots and doing repairs to shoes and boots. Once a week I would get a big ruck sack and a big bag to carry by hand filled with new or repaired shoes. I would walk to the train station and then would ride the train through three villages and would deliver the finished work and pick up anything else that needed repair. I would go from door to door and try to get new work. Once in a while I would receive an occasional tip, a nickel or a dime. My master had a couple of cows boarded out and to pay for the cows he would have to go and cut hay to feed them. He asked me if I would like to go and do the hay cutting to earn some money. This was the only money that I earned while I was there other than the tips. I saved up and after three years I had enough money saved to buy my first tailor made suit. My transportation that I had there was a bike that I had pieced together by taking pieces from several old bikes. My living there was pretty meager. After three years I finished my apprenticeship and took my exam. I passed and was promoted to a journeyman. For my exam I had to make a pair of new shoes. I decided to make a pair of men’s Sunday shoes. I also had to take a written exam, and I passed that with good marks. I had stayed with the master for three months when I finally received pay for my work.

When I was 21 years old I went into the service as a volunteer for 18 months. It was at that time that I bought my first new bike. As a volunteer I was sent to Insterburg and there I was an Artillery Soldier. Here I learned how to handle a cannon. Each cannon was transported by six horses.

There was a riding school connected with the artillery. Men were selected to go to the riding school. I was among the lucky ones that were chosen to attend this school. I loved the school, and I loved working with the horses. The riding uniforms were a white jacket with gray riding pants and black riding boots. The boots always had to be shiny. Every day for two 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 the men on the horses would have to teach their horses the maneuvers to the commands. For example; training them to march to music. After the maneuvers the horses had to do swing around, side saddles, figure riding and exercising. The horses were always controlled by the rider by the means of 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 kept in a stable with brick floors and walls and there they were well cared for. 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 two brooms were kept. The rest would have to take off 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 wash their jackets until they were spotless and presentable 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.

I spent part of the time in the service in Insterburg and then later was sent to Gumbinnen. When I went into the service the government was run by Field Marshal Von Hindenburg. I was sworn in under Von Hindenburg who was at that time 89 years old. Then Hindenburg got sick and 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 I first went into the service the salute was at the hat brim, but it was later changed to Hitler’s “Heil Hitler” when he came into off ice. All of the old timers of the other government hated this new salute.

The training in the service became very severe. For example, the corporal in charge would make all the soldiers run and then would call out “down” and all the soldiers would have to drop flat onto the ground then he would call out “up” and all would have to get up and run until he called out the next command. Within about 200 feet the soldiers would have to get up and down as many as 20 times. One soldier because of heat, dust and 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 later died.

During the 18 months of volunteer service two weeks of vacation was allowed. Only the officers were allowed to wear their civilian clothes at home or wherever they went on vacation. Weekend leave was allowed from 1 pm on Saturday until 12 midnight on Sunday. Before you were allowed to leave there had to be an inspection. The sergeant would inspect each person from head to toe. Some had to take off their shoes and socks. The sergeant would inspect the cleanliness of feet, body, nails, and laundry. Everyone had to be “spanking clean”.

One time I had asked for a weekend leave and was standing for inspection. One button on my shirt was missing, so I put my belt over the missing button thinking that it would pass unnoticed. Unfortunately the belt slipped out of position and the sergeant noticed the missing button. For my punishment the corporal on duty was told to make sure that I emptied the fire basins on the fifth floor. Even though there were sinks and water right there, I had to take the small buckets used by firefighters, fill them with water and then take them down the stairs to the outside and empty them. Then I had to clean the fire basins and refill them by carrying water up the stairs from the outside. By the time I was finished with everything it was already dark, and I was utterly exhausted and so there was no leave for me that weekend. I could have gone home but the trains would not run again until midnight, and I had to be back by midnight and the 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 dealt with the high officers. A Corporal or Sergeant could come into your living quarters, in the dining area or anywhere and demand that his boots be shined. He would walk in and call out, “112 chairs”. Then all the men that were there would grab 2 chairs or benches 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 to the command was to be taken out into the hallway where they would be ordered to run up and down the hall for as long as the officer demanded. This made it so there was not a time when the men didn’t respond to the demand to shine the officer’s boots.

At the end of my 18 months voluntary service, which ended in October 1935, I returned to my parents home in Marienwalde. I remained there for only a short time as I didn’t like doing farm work anymore. I didn’t like getting up at sunrise and working until late at night or until all the animals were taken care of. Father didn’t believe in doing farm work on the Sabbath. In fact, he was so strict in believing this that if it looked as if a storm was going to hit on a Sunday and there were crops to be taken in, Father would wait until 1 am on Monday and then get the children up, so they could hurry and try to get the harvest done before the rain would come.

After a brief period at home with my parents and family I left home again. I 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 training. All german boys were required to put in 18 months in the service for their country. I ran the shoe shop for the 18 months that he was gone.

I met Marta Thielke in Insterberg in 1934. When I returned to take over the shoe shop we were married. We were married on May 1, 1936. From my marriage to Marta, six 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 diphtheria adn there was not a doctor available to help save him. Ditmar died at the end of the war when conditions were very unsettled.

After we were married I applied to the government for a job as a shoemaker, and after I had taken the exams I was accepted. The pay was very good. I was given my own chambers and set up and all my clothes were paid for. I stayed there until 1939. At the end of July 1939 I was called into the service for a six-week maneuver. On the 2nd of September 1939 the war started in Poland.

When I went into the service for the six-week maneuver all the soldiers were equipped with live ammunition and other war equipment. We didn’t know the reason for this, but we soon found out that the war had started in Poland and that was the reason. I belonged to the 413th Regiment and the 206th Division, which was a reserve division. When my division marched into Poland we had had no contact with the enemy. My division was there for seven months as an occupation army. I saw no one killed during this time. We did interact with the Polish people. The Polish people were very poor and their food was very scarce but the people were satisfied with the very little that they had. The only thing that they really wanted was salt.

The war with Poland was over in 16 days. The rest of the time we spent there was only as an occupation army. The main reason that Hitler wanted to have Poland was to have a corridor in order to transport goods from Prussia Germany to Mainland Germany. Poland had this corridor and anything that needed to go through the Polish corridor was charged a duty. Prussia at this time was raising important goods that were needed in Germany Prussia raised dairy products, meats and all kinds of agriculture products. Prussia would ship these important products to West Germany and then West Germany would send manufactured products back to Prussia as a fair trade. Because of this shipping that was constantly going on through the Poland corridor, Poland was able to collect a great amount of money from the German Government. Therefore it was vital for Hitler to have the corridor belong to Germany for shipping purposes and to save money for other uses. This corridor Hitler thought would help to fulfill his plans.

After Hitler took Poland, he made a friendship pact with Russia. At that time he gave part of Poland to Russia. At the end of 7 months my infantry was sent back to Germany, but we had to return by foot. The supplies were sent by train. As we were leaving the people would hang onto us and cry. They didn’t want us to leave because they wanted no part of communism.

I was sent back to Allenstein located in Prussia Germany and there I was put in military quarters. I expected to be released at any time, but it never happened. While I was waiting to be released I was in charge of training new recruits.

Hitler’s next move was to France where he took it within 21 days. I was then sent to France, but again we had no enemy contact. We stayed in France for less than two weeks. I did see some Moroccan soldiers who had been killed. When we left France I was shipped back to my same military quarters in Prussia Germany, and again I was training new recruits. This occurred in about 1940. At this time the trains were rolling to the Russian front day and night. The supplies were being sent to the Eastern Front even though Hitler had made a friendship pact with the Russians.

My division was sent to the Eastern Border, and we had maneuvers that took us to the Lithuanian Border. We stayed there for about a week and a half. None of us knew why we were there but the German soldiers were suspicious because of all the military supplies that were located there. Even though Hitler had made a pact with Russia he was secretly preparing for war against Russia and because of the pact Russia was not expecting any attack from Germany. This made Hitlers plan perfect. One night around 11 pm. the commander came in and announced that Germany had declared war on Russia. By 1 am. we got orders to march across the Russian Border. Between 11 pm. and 1 am. every single soldier in our unit was armed with live ammunition. We were ordered not to shoot except on order of the commander as we went over the border.

We were again considered only a reserve unit. There was no enemy contact until we were about 1500 miles into Russia. As we were marching into Russia we only encountered a few Russian soldiers, and they were very poorly prepared for war. Our front division was marched to about 8 miles from Moscow. An extremely cold winter set in at that time, and we were not equipped for it. By this time the Russians had mobilized and then the bitter fighting started. The Russian soldiers were given whiskey, so they were 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 in piles.

I was in the central part of Russia and there we saw the same kind of battle taking place. The bitter cold and snow set in and all the soldiers were not equipped with winter clothing or supplies. There was so much underground activity against Germany that the trains with all the needed supplies could not get through. The underground had easy access to all that the Germans had, and they were able to destroy everything because the Germans did not have enough man power to guard it all. Germany had their troops spread out all over Europe, therefore they did not have any back up support where they needed it.

While we were located in Russia during the winter the german generals wanted to have the troops dig into the ground and hold them there 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 made 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 many supplies as they needed. As the Germans began to retreat they destroyed as many of their own cannon, tanks, and everything else that they could. Still much of the equipment fell into the hands of the Russians and was used by them. The Germans destroyed their equipment because they were unable to get gasoline to move the equipment. This was because the underground had destroyed the gasoline supplies. The loss of life on both sides was indescribable not only from war but also the bitter cold. The loss of body parts from frost bite was running about 60%.

This is the part about the Russian people. When we came into Russia, the civilian people were very happy to see us coming, especially the older people who had known a different way of life then that of the communists’ regime. When we arrived in Russia it was the middle of the night. We were greeted by men and women who grabbed us around our necks and hugged and kissed us out of sheer gratitude. At first when this happened I thought that they were going to choke us. The reason these people were so happy when the german soldiers arrived was because they felt that they would be relieved from the communist regime, and then they could live a better life. As a military unit we always had a translator with us and this is how the people could explain to us how they were treated by Stalin’s government. They told me personally that they hadn’t been able to even get one pound of sugar in the last ten years. Only the commissars and the higher ups got the sugar and not any of the working people received any. The reason for this is because Stalin exported all of the sugar that he could, so that he could trade with some of the European countries. Also, much of the other foodstuffs was exported to foreign countries. Under the communists the food supply was very, very meager. The Russian people did not own anything. Everything belonged to the government which was called “Kalchos”. Men and women had to labor, day after day, regardless if they had little children or not. The women had to take their little ones to a government program which is like our kindergartens where they were taught to become communists from the very youngest age on up. In the Russian villages we found many people with absolutely nothing as far as foodstuff or supplies. We had for our military unit one kitchen and then one kitchen for the civilians. I was personally in charge to get food for our soldiers from the military commissary, where ever it was located. The man in charge of the commissary was from my church at home. He had been my choir director. I explained to him the food situation of the Russian people, and then I asked him if he could give me extra food for our military unit, so we would be able to cook for the poor people in the village where we were located. When he understood the situation he gave me the extra food.

The Russian people were very good people, especially the older ones who had known a different life before Communism. After we had been in Russia awhile we had to retreat because of the military action that was taking place there. After a short time had passed we again returned to the same Russian village only to find that the Russian soldiers had taken what little food we had been able to give the people. They were again left with practically no food supplies. All this action took place in Central Russia, including the cities of Minsk, Smolesk and Rzhev.

The living conditions there were the worst that I had ever seen in my life. The majority of the people lived in a log house, consisting of one room and a kitchen. Some of these homes only had one room which included the kitchen. Their furniture was one bench, starting from the door going around the wall to the next corner and then there was an oven built from clay. The oven was approximately 4 ft by 6 ft in size and the top of oven was nearly 3 ft from the ceiling. Then there was a wooden ladder for a person to climb in order to get on top of the oven. The whole family slept on top of the oven. These people usually slept in their clothes, only removing their boots. Whether this was always the situation or only because of the war conditions, I don’t know. Another common occurrence on top of the oven was the birth of children. Whenever a baby was born, a little handmade cradle was made for the child. From each corner of the cradle, was a thin rope about 3 feet long leading up to a central hook, which was located in the middle of the ceiling. From the cradle, there was a piece of rope attached to the end of a beam. The beam was placed over to the oven where the father slept and when the baby cried the father’s job was to move the beam slightly which caused the cradle to swing back and forth through the room. This would quiet the baby. Not only did births occur on top of the oven but people died there also. When I first how these Russian people lived, it seemed to me that I was seeing how the very first people on this earth must have lived.

The main source of food these Russian villagers had was grain. in order to grind their grain into flour the villagers, usually women, took the grain to a community mill. In this mill all grain was ground by hand. The grinder was made with one round millstone tightened on a big square block. On top of this millstone was another stone of the same size. In the center of the top stone was a hole about 4 inches in diameter, this hole was used for pouring the grain into the grinder. Both stones had grooves cut in them, positioned where the grain fell in. In the top stone was an upright handle about 12 inches high. This handle was used to turn the stones and grind the grain. The grinding of the grain was done daily and was a job that took 2 women at a time. They would take the handle and turn the top stone around and around, until the grain was ground into a very rough flour. The villagers could only use the mill when they were able to get some kind of grain.

When we, the German soldiers, came into the Russian villages we found that the Russian people did not have any grain nor flour. This meant that they had nothing to eat. In order to keep their families alive, the Russians would go into the woods where they scraped the green moss from the trees and from around the trees. While they were still in the woods they also looked for any other plants that might be usable. They would then take what they had found home and dry it in their ovens. When it was dry, they would rub it by hand into a fine powder which was like a flour. They would take this powder and make a sort of dough and turn it into a bread. I tasted this bread myself, and it was a very bitter bread. This bread was all that they would have to eat and was used to save themselves and their children from starving. Stil many people died from being undernourished. Most of the people who had died because of undernourishment were older people and children. Many of the older people had helped the Germans when they arrived in Russia and the children were those who had lost their parents through war and were unable to find sufficient food to keep themselves alive.

In 1941, I belonged to the 206 Infantry Division, 413th Regiment 3rd Battalion. As we went through a village we met a boy who was about 9 years old and his sister who was about 7 years old. They were undernourished to the point of protruding bellies. They had lost both of their parents through an air attack and when we met them they begged us to take them with us which we did. The little boy liked the uniforms of the soldiers so much that our tailor made him one. He was so proud of the uniform and was happy to be with us. Even though we worked hard to feed and take care of them in an effort to save them their undernourishment was too far advanced and they both died. The little girl died within 2 weeks and the little boy about a week later. War is terrible thing. It doesn’t matter whether you are a child or a grown-up, it destroys your life and your way of life, property, homes, lands and dreams of better things. This occurred in Russia, but it is the same wherever war is waged.

It was in Russia that I sustained a serious-injury that I feel actually saved my life. I feel that the Lord allowed this to happen to me so that I could come out of the war alive. I was wounded
on the 4th of December 1942 in Rzhev, Russia. I was wounded by an American plane flown by a Russian pilot. It was the equipment they needed and then trained the Russians how to use it. I was wounded when I was sitting in a wooden building with my back against the wall. I was in a room with about 50 or 60 other men. All of the buildings were made out of logs at this time. While we were in this building a group of planes flew over our heads. These planes flew high enough that we could hear them, and we had enough warning that we were able to run to the bunkers that we had dug in the ground before they bombed us. This occurred twice and both times all of us were able to get to the bunkers without any casual ties. The third group of planes that came in flew so low that we didn’t hear them until they were right on top of us, and so we were unable to reach the safety of the bunkers before the bombs hit. The planes dropped their bombs. One bomb was dropped right outside the wall where I was sitting. The blast broke the wall and the shrapnel from the bomb hit me in both legs. I couldn’t move because of the heavy table which was in front of me. The back of my leg was torn from the ankle to the knee. Both bones in this leg were broken. The left leg was torn in the back at the top of the knee. To this day I still have some pieces of shrapnel left in my leg. I was the only one in this building that was injured. I felt blessed that I was injured at this time because shortly after this happened to me, my whole division was captured and sent to Asia. There they were kept in an open area, surrounded by a barbed wire fence and guarded by the Russian military posts. In the daytime the temperature was very hot and
then in the night the temperature was extremely cold. The men “died like flies” because of the terrible conditions. Not only because of mal-nutrition but also because of malaria. As far as I know, none of my division came out of Asia alive. If I had not been injured I would have died also. At the time of my injury the only doctor present was a veterinarian. He helped take care of me by tying my legs off above the wound so that I wouldn’t lose too much blood. I was sent back to the hospital on the Russian Front in very bad condition due to the amount of blood which I had lost. There I was given blood transfusions. I spent 3 days in an old wooden school house that served as the hospital on the Russian Front. Straw had been placed on the floor and then blankets placed over the straw. This served as beds for all of the wounded when they were brought in for medical care. When I was brought in my wounds were cared for and all was bandaged up. The hospital personnel then wanted to ship us back by airplane to a hospital base away from the bombing of the Russians. THey were unable to get the planes as they were being used for shipping supplies and other things. I spent three days in the hospital on the Front and during that time we had several Russian air attacks. Whenever an air attack would come, I would crunch myself together, expecting that any minute would be my last. This is because I knew I couldn’t run or move to safety because of my injury. When airplanes were unavailable, a freight train was put together to move the wounded. There were thousands of wounded. The wounded were shipped back to Minsk where there was a hospital away from the Russian Front. At the train station where we had to wait in the ambulances for the train, there was another air attack. This occurred even though the ambulances were marked with Red Crosses. The Russians did not honor the Red Crosses, and they still bombed the ambulances not caring whether the men were helpless or not. Many of the wounded at this time lost their lives. Each of the freight cars in the train had straw with blankets spread over the straw this is where the wounded were placed in order to make the trip back to Minsk from the hospital on the Russian Front to get medical help. In each of the freight cars a pot-bellied stove had been placed to heat the car. This happened to be in the month of January when the temperature was around 50 degree below O. In this stove there were two doors, one in the top and one in the bottom. The top was for putting wood and coal in and the bottom was for taking the ashes out. One of the doctor’s helpers wanted to put some more coal in the stove wanting to warm the car up and not knowing how the stove worked he opened the bottom door, the fire fell out onto the straw and the straw burst into flames. There was no way to stop the train because there was no emergency brake on the train. Most of the wounded were unable to move or do anything to help put out the fire. A few of the men who were able to move around grabbed blankets and were able to help put the fire out. If the fire had not been put out other cars behind us would have caught fire also. Another worry was the activity of the underground. The underground people were blowing up the trains that were headed to the front with supplies. Most of the wounded soldiers were taken to Minsk, which was located about 2500 miles from where I was wounded. At Minsk, we were taken to a real hospital for the treatment that we needed. We felt like we were in heaven because we got to sleep in clean white beds with clean linens. I had been in Russia from June 1941 to Dec. 1942, when I was injured. During this time our beds and sleeping accommodations had been only on straw, in wagons or just any place we could get a place to sleep. What a change, a clean bed! In the hospital, all the nurses were Red Cross nurses, and we were really treated very nice. The food was good and plentiful and anything that we needed was available. All kinds of gifts, goodies and presents would come in for the wounded soldiers from all kinds of people.

When we arrived at the hospital my legs were cleaned up and cared for. The Doctors worked hard and watched carefully, trying to save my leg. During this time I had developed a high fever and anyone with a high fever could not be shipped out to Germany. We all wanted to get out of Russia because of the activities of the underground. We constantly heard stories of the underground going into the hospitals and cutting the throats of many who were wounded. So hoping that I could be shipped out I would always shake the thermometer down so the nurses couldn’t tell if I had a fever. I felt that if I didn’t have a fever I would have a chance to be shipped out to Germany. Unfortunately one day very strong bleeding started in my right leg making it impossible for me to be shipped. When the bleeding started I was taken to the operating room to see if they could pinpoint the cause of the bleeding. I was given a light anesthetic to make me more comfortable while they were looking for my problem. When they had the wound open they found out that I had gangrene. Without any delay they gave me more anesthetic and then took off my leg, about two and a half inches below the knee. I think the day was January 28, 1943. When I awoke I was back in my room. There was a funny feeling in my leg. I couldn’t uncover it, so I called for a nurse. She came in and told me about the loss of my leg, and then she started to cry, and she cried and cried and cried for me. There had been no other way to save my life. It was very hard to take in the beginning. I was not even 3O years of age. It was at this time that I lost most of my hair. I never felt sorry for myself but worked hard to learn to put my life back together. I could not feel sorry for myself because all around me were so many young people (possibly ages 16 and 17) who were completely paralyzed with no hope of ever being able to get around again. I never felt bitterness against the enemy over the loss of my leg as I knew that they (the enemy) had to protect themselves. The thing that made me bitter was that a few men like Hitler and his followers could cause such terrible things and destruction to happen. Those serving as soldiers had no choice but to fight as we were told that we were either to serve and fight or to be shot to death. After the loss of my leg, I continued to run a high fever. I was very anxious to leave the hospital and get back to Germany, to see my family and to get away from the war and the fighting. Again the threat of the underground was present. I was anxious to leave the hospital, but I had a fever, and they wouldn’t transport me. So once again to get around this problem when it was time for the nurses or helpers to come around and check us, I would shake my thermometer down to almost normal. This worked and before long I was put on the hospital train equipped for the wounded, and I transported out of Russia and sent to Steinau on der Oder. Here I was in a Catholic Convent that had been converted to a hospital. The nurses there were the Catholic nuns and the Red Cross nurses. When I was there my family was able to come and visit me. After about 4 weeks I applied for a transfer to my hometown of Insterburg in Prussia Germany. This didn’t work out as they did not have any amputee hospital there, so I was sent to Königsburg about 70 miles from my home. There I was stationed to recuperate and for a vacation. I soon was fitted for and received my artificial leg. At the hospital there was a big hall where a walking school was held. On the floor in the center of the hall was 2 parallel lines, a comfortable walking distance apart. Every day we had a two-hour walking course, learning to handle and walk with our new artificial limbs. In the beginning it was very painful to walk with my new leg, but I continued to struggle, bit my teeth together and did my best. I was complimented for my good walking and hard effort and was given a 4 weeks vacation. My first leg was made in Insterburg (a place of about 60,000 people). It was a city very famous for the international horse racing. I would go to Insterburg for a cast and then for fittings and then back to the hospital. I spent 18 months in the hospital learning to use my leg and how to walk with the new leg. If we did well in our walking we were allowed to take vacations. On July 24, 1944, all my property In Insterburg was destroyed (bombed out by the Russians) except for a few things that we had stored in the cellar. All the china and the glassware and a few other things for safekeeping had been put down in the cellar. My parents at this time were living in Marienwalde about 40 km away and so when I received an 8 weeks vacation from the hospital we went for a visit to them. While there we could see when the Russians bombed Insterburg, by the burning in the sky, we also heard of the destruction that was going on by way of the radio. My folks at this time were farming by themselves. The morning after the bombing, my father, and I took horses and wagon and went to see if we could save any of our property. We found that everything had been destroyed except those things that we had buried in the cellar. We broke the frames from the windows, climbed in and salvaged whatever we could. We took the things back to Marienwalde and there we buried the china and crystal in the ground under a haystack. As far as we know everything is still buried there. I then took my family to Andernach on the Rhine river in West Germany, this was in 1944.

Insterburg was in Prussia Germany. Prussia was part of Germany but was separated from West Germany by a Polish corridor. Andernach was in West Germany. In Prussia most of the foodstuff, dairy products meat and grains were produced and then were shipped to West Germany. The things shipped from West Germany to Prussia were textiles, machinery, etc. All of these things had to be shipped through the Polish Corridor. The Poles started to charge higher and higher duties and so Hitler tried to negotiate peacefully bud did not have any results, so he finally marched troops in and took Poland on 2 September 1939. He planned to take over the whole world. I left my family in Andernach and I went back to the service in Preußisch Eylau. There I was training recruits. My family wrote to me that they were in great danger from American airplanes. Gunter and Harald were shot at as they were walking home from school one day. THey had to lay down close to the fence to save themselves. One man out plowing in the fields was shot down by American planes. I took this letter to the commander and asked for a vacation, and I immediately received permission to go. I did go and moved my family from Andernach to Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Martin Luther’s birthplace). I chose Wittenberg because it seemed to be the safest place at the moment. It was safer because the Allies tried to preserve places with cathedrals and other historic buildings. The fronts began to come closer and closer from all around. Eventually, Wittenberg was attacked from the Allies and there was great destruction. My family lived about ten blocks from the air bunkers, and they usually have enough time to get to the bunkers before the attack would come. In the bunkers there were doctors, a hospital, food and all that was needed for living. A person could liver there for days. The bunkers were not underground. This was near the end of 1944 and the Russian front was coming so close to where I was stationed that a fighting line had to be made. The commander asked me to take over a tank destruction group, but I went to his office and told him that through all the years in the service, I had never refused an order but this was one order that I would not obey, and I refused to take it over. I explained to him that when the tanks came we would not be able to stop them and that all the soldiers with two good legs would be able to run away and be saved but that I would be unable to run or to get away because of the loss of my leg, and so I refused this order. He understood and sent me right back to the hospital to be transported back to West Germany. There were other wounded and other amputees like me, and we were driven back to Deutsch Eylau. That was as far as we could be driven as all other directions were cut off by the Russian front. There we found tens of thousands of refugees and soldiers camped in that area. The Russian planes dropped phosphorus and bombs on the people. The phosphorus was like a burning fire out of the sky. From our refuge, the only retreat was over the Kurische Haff ( a sea) and then to walk to Danzig, which was a free state. The Haff was a sea and when it was frozen over the refugees could walk over and be in the free state of Danzig. On this Haff during the winter of 1944-45, there were thousands and thousands of refugees and soldiers. Some of them had horses and wagons but most of them were on foot. The Russian planes came over bombing and strafing the wounded, the fleeing, the soldiers and the refugees. All around there were the dead and the dying, and I saw mothers carrying their dead babies in their arms. There was no place to bury anyone, and they didn’t want to leave them there on the ice. I think that many babies and young people died from hunger at this refugee camp. When we got to the Deutsch Eylau, we found out that we were on our own and had to figure out how to get back to West Germany. Each and every one was trying to save his own life anyway that he could. It didn’t matter if you were rich or poor, everyone was the same and all that mattered was to find a way to save your own life. I saw one woman with a large caravan put together and with all her working help. But when they arrived at the ice they had to leave everything but what they could carry by hand at the edge of the ice. The horses were not able to go on the ice. They would slip and fall, tearing themselves to pieces, and then they had to be shot. These were such very terrible conditions for everyone. I did make it to Danzig. My stump and leg were hurt and bloody when I arrived in Danzig, so that I could not wear my artificial leg. In Danzig, I started looking for a doctor or anyone to help me with my hurt leg. I did find a big ships hall, but when I entered I found many thousands of wounded people and soldiers, all lying on straw and all begging and crying for help. I saw no doctor or no help of any kind anywhere. I am sure that most of those people were either captured or killed by the Russians. In Danzig, we were loaded on a ship, only the women, the children and the wounded soldiers and that ship brought us back to West Germany to Westphalia. When I came into the military quarters and saw all the healthy, well-fed soldiers lying around and doing nothing I became very upset. I could not understand why they weren’t sent to the Eastern front to help fight the war. I immediately applied for a transfer to go to Wittenberg in Central Germany. My application was granted and I went to Wittenberg. When I arrived there I found that my family had been evacuated to a village named Zahna, approximately 6 miles east. I arrived in Wittenberg and was there assigned to the Distinguished Military Office, as my papers had called for me to be placed. There I was put in as a telephone operator. All of this happened very close to the end of the war. I was there about two weeks when both the eastern and western front began to close in on us. The Military organization that I worked for received orders to move westward. I did not go with them, I stayed and pressured for my release from the service, and it was finally granted to me. I was released and went home to my family in Zahna. This was about 2 weeks before the end of the war. My leg was still hurt from trying to get home by walking, so I could not use my artificial leg. It was nearly another 2 months before my leg healed so that I could wear my leg and walk on it again. At this time I was wearing my uniform and was on crutches. All of our belongings had been lost 3 times, and I had no other clothes to change into. On the 3rd of May 1945, during the night, the Russians moved into our village. It was Saturday night and on Sunday morning we were up early. One old man who lived a couple of doors from us, was up and dressed as if for church, even though there was no church. He had chains going from his vest to his pocket watch and to the other side to a small knife. This was very fashionable at that time. He was standing on the porch, minding his own business, just looking around, when a Russian soldier came up on the porch and grabbed his watch. The men tried to hang onto it but the soldier slapped him around and took it away from him. Three or four days after the Russians came into our village, I went to a neighbor across the street. I was on crutches and in civilian clothes. A Russian soldier came out, he was drunk and when he saw me with one leg and on crutches, he took his automatic carbine off his shoulder and shouted “Hey you, you’re a German soldier, and I’m going to kill you.” At that moment another Russian soldier came out and when he saw what was taking place, he jumped him from the back and took his gun away. He let me go. I had been prepared, if the Russian had aimed the gun at me, to hit him over the head with my steel crutch. It was the only chance I would have had. The Russians were brutal to the people in our villages, especially to the women. Here are some of the incidents that we knew about. They took a man, held a gun on him, then held him and raped his wife. They took a village nurse and then took turns raping her till she died. They took all the men and locked them up in the church, then captured all the women and raped them. The Russian soldiers would go from house to house and take anything and everything that they wanted and sent it back to Russia by the trains. After several weeks things settled down and the soldiers received orders to leave the women alone, that there was to be no more raping or stealing. We heard of these things through the Red Cross from Kreis Segeberg in Nutzen, about 60 miles east of Hamburg, which is where my parents lived. Because of all the bad conditions, I decided at this time to try to take my family over the Black Border into West Germany. To explain the conditions at this time the Russians had a line all along the front where the soldiers were stationed. Then there was a 2-mile strip that was called no man’s land. This is where no one from either side could live. Then there was the English and American line. The Russian line was called the Black Border. Beyond the English, American line was safety. When we decided to cross the Border, we had to do it at night, secretly and very carefully, so that we did not run into a sentry. The English greeted us when we arrived behind their lines, and they were very friendly and happy to see us and help us. At about this time my parents at Marienwalde had to leave, taking what they could by horse and wagon, to escape from the Russians. They were able only to grab what they could and flee. All of their animals, farm machinery, furniture and belongings had to be left behind as well as losing their farm. My brother Ludwig’s family (Tina and Helga) were living at this time about 9 miles from my parents, and they had to flee also. They went to Danzig and found out that they could carry with them only 2 suitcases each. All the rest was abandoned. At Danzig, they were loaded on a ship, which took them over to West Germany by way of the North Sea. Lübeck was the place they were taken and from there the Refugee Organization settled them in Nutzen. They had heard through the Red Cross, that our parents were living, and they wanted to be able to be there with them and to live close by them. They were given permission to go to Nutzen. Nutzen was a small village and there any of the people who had any extra room were made to take in the refugees who were in need of a place to live. When I decided to take my family over the Black Border I was not able to take them all at once. I took first Gunter and Manny. We pulled a small wagon with whatever belongings that it would carry. As we came from the area of the Black Border, it was raining extremely hard, and we were all soaked and hungry, Manny who was very small, started to cry, and he cried and cried. A man saw us and asked where we were from. He was most kind, took us in and fed us and gave us a bed for the night. He fed us the next morning, and we went on. We went on to the next train station and there we took a train for Hamburg and then from Hamburg we were able to get a train for Nutzen. There I left both of the boys with my parents and Helga and Tina. . I returned to the rest of my family over the Black Border. To get over the Border, I would take a train that went to about 7 or 10 miles from the border, and then I would have to walk about that far on the other side also. The west did not want swarms of the refugees to come from the east and the Russians did not want the people to leave their country. I was able to get back to my family (Freddy, Harald and Martha), and we gathered all the belongings that we could carry and once again we made our way over the Black Border, being careful to evade the guards. In order to get a residency permit to have a place for the family to live in West Germany we had to go through a refugee camp. There we were de-loused with a strong bath chemical. This was a very humiliating experience, but we had to do it in order to have a place to live. From the refugee camp, the people would be sent out and placed where the camp people decided they should go. I was able to tell them that I had 2 of my children living in Nutzen with my parents and that I wanted my family re-united. They then gave me a permit to go to Nutzen to live. When I showed the permit to the mayor in Nutzen, he about went nuts as he already had so many people that he had to place and here I came with my wife and 4 children. I didn’t tell him that I already had 2 of my children living there already. When I had my family settled, then I started to go back and forth over the border bringing as much of our belongings as I could. My Mother came with me to help bring our things over. When we came to the Russian border, we were captured by the Russian soldiers. There were many other people who also wanted to go over the border and were captured along with us. All the men were taken and loaded into trucks. The Russians were going to take me also but when I showed them my artificial leg they didn’t want any part of me. They took my mother’s watch from her, She became very angry at them and cried and cried. That was the only watch that she had ever owned. They finally let us go and told us to go back to the English zone, We went only a little way into the strip that was no- man’s land and then tried again to cross the border in another place and this time we were successful in getting across. The refugees coming and going would give messages and let the others know where and how the best ways to cross over so that all could get over and back. In the East Zone I had bought a two bedroom home for my family. When we left I was able to sell it for cash to a man who owned a small farm. Along with the cash, I received a big pig. This I had to carry over the Black Border also. On my trips back and forth across the Border I would buy herring in Hamburg and carry it across and then trade it for 200 pounds of flour which I would then carry to the West. In all I traveled back and forth about 2 dozen times, and I always had things to trade, both in the east and in the west. During all the war years my family never lacked for food. I was always able to provide the food that we needed. In Nutzen we were placed in a home with one family, who did not treat us very well. It was not too long before a family moved out of a barrack like place and the mayor allowed me and my family to move in. This was much better for us as we could be alone as a family. As I would go back and forth over the Border I would look in all the different cities to see if there was any chance to find a piece of property to buy. on one of my trips I arrived in Braunschweig. I looked around the city, and I really liked it. I decided to try and find a place to buy. I opened the telephone book and picked out a Real Estate Company and went and looked them up to see what I could find. When I arrived the man opened the door, welcomed me in and invited me in to see what he was working on at the moment. It was a very big and expensive stamp collection. The year was 1946. At that time no one wanted to sell any property as it was so uncertain what would happen with the money. The Real Estate man did take my name and address. He took a liking to me and was very kind and helpful. It was not long before I received a letter telling me that he had a bombed out property for sale. I was the first one he had notified, and he wanted to know if I was interested. I accepted his notice and went right away to check out the property. Even though It was completely bombed out to the cellar, I liked the location and the property, and I bought it. The down payment was $3000. marks, which I paid. The rest of the payment was for $7500 marks which would be due in about 6 weeks. I had saved the money to buy the property, but now I would need money to build something. I was a Master Shoemaker (I made new shoes, riding boots, and orthopedic shoes) so I decided to build my own shoe store. This old building had three stories above the ground floor. I decided to have my store and workshop with a three-bedroom house for us to live in and also a two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor. The entrance could be from the front or the back. On the first story was two rentals. One was to a Dentist and the other was to a man who was like the head of the I.R.S. On the second floor was also two rentals. One of them was to a postmaster. Likewise, there were two rentals on the third floor, then in the attic there were two-bedroom apartments. In all we had nine families in the house beside my own family. Because I had bought the property in Braunschweig, I now wanted to move my family. It was very hard to find any living quarters. A person had to go to the Wohnungsamt (a person responsible to find living quarters for those who were looking for a place to live). When I went and inquired for a place, I was told that there was nothing. I had bought some butter from a farmer and took with me. I called the head man out into the hall, as there were a great number of people in the office. He came out into the hallway with me, and I gave him three pounds of butter, and he then found an apartment for me. That was the only way to get anything accomplished in those days. If you wanted something you had to give something as the Black Market was a big thing. I went back to Nutzen, arranged everything and moved my family to Braunschweig. Any time that a person wants to move in Germany you have to go to the police and sign a form telling where you have been living and where you would be living in the new place. Within three days of arrival in the new place you had to go to the police and sign another form stating that you had arrived and your new address. Our apartment was in the big home of a big retired architect. After we moved in and settled, we began to remove the rubble from my bombed out property. We cleared the walkways around the building so that we could get around to the back entrance. The back was in fair shape, and we cleared it and were able to walk around to the back and through to the basement. I cleared in the basement two big rooms in order to make me a workshop there. I bought the necessary machines that I would need to start my business which was making shoes and boots and orthopedic shoes and selling factory made shoes. I put a big sign up in front of the house showing that the entrance was at the back of the house. This brought me so much work that I had to mostly work day and night. I started my shop in 194 7. This was the beginning of my work and taking care of the welfare of my family after World War II. I did hire an apprentice to help in the shop as I had so much business. Harold was about 12 years old and was able to help me with the outside work on the property. The property still had part of the outside wall standing even up to the third story, and loose bricks were a threat to anyone who walked by. I went to the Fire department and was able to borrow long rolling ladders which we used. We raised them to the top of these still standing walls and then using sledgehammers we were able to break some of the walls down so that they weren’t dangerous to the public. At this time the need for living quarters was so great that I decided to go ahead and build the house back up and have some rental apartments. My good friend Eberhardt Reupke was able to help arrange for the financing through bank institutions and an insurance company so that it was possible to start building in 1950 and to finish it in 1951. This made it possible to have living quarters for 10 families besides my own. I had applied in 1949 to one insurance company for $35,000 marks, but they had refused to give me the money for the building. My plans had been stopped because of the lack of finances. In 1950, I received a letter from another insurance company asking me if I was still interested in obtaining the money. I accepted it and made arrangements with other banks. Two banks were involved and also a Builder’s credit (which was the government). I received enough financing to go ahead on the building. I already had nine of the apartments spoken for before I had the financing arranged. The total amount I borrowed was $110,000 marks. We had many problems with the constructing of the building and getting it finished. One big one was getting the rain gutters on. The plumber who did the gutters had promised that they would be finished so that the building would not be harmed when the rain and storms came. Overnight the union went on strike. I was very much concerned about the walls,as they were so beautiful, and I did not want it ruined. I met with the plumber and told him of my concern. He also was concerned as he did not want any harm to come to the building. He promised me that the gutters would be on before the rains came. He went to work on the outside, and he had a man (a journeyman who didn’t go on strike) on the inside who reached the material out through the roof windows to the boss. The strikers were picketing in front of the building and saw that someone was handing material out. They investigated to see who was helping the plumber with his job. They found the journeyman up there, and they beat him up and chased him out of the building. The plumber then got one of his relatives to come help him, and he was able to complete the job before the rains came. -From this day on I hated the unions and to this day I hate the unions for their evil ways. My building was built out of solid brick. The walls were very thick and even the walls and dividing floors were soundproof. Each one of the apartments had their own bathroom and own gas heating. The old buildings usually had the bathroom and the toilet on the half stairway instead of each apartment. The outside finish was plastered so that one couldn’t distinguish the bricks. There was gold glitter in the plaster. It was especially beautiful when the full sun was shining on it. On October 3rd 1950 we had a Richtfest. This means that when the building was in rough structure and the rafters are put in place on the roof that then the homeowner had to give a feast for all the workers and anyone who was involved in that building including the city building commissioners, the architect, and all those from any of the building trades. The homeowner should give a speech before the feast broke loose. As I am not the greatest speaker, my architect Eberhardt Reupke gave a speech in my behalf. This is a copy of the speech. He greeted the city people and the workers in my name and then mentioned that we come together at this feast in behalf of a man and his family who had lost their home and homeland through the war. We welcome them, and we wish they would build his new homeland here as well as his new home. Beside him and his family there are nine other families who had lost their homes and now here have found new homes in this building. The menu for the feast consisted of a variety of sandwiches, mostly cheeses and cold cuts, to drink there were hard liquors and beer, also cigars and cigarettes. As a sign that the homeowner had given a feast at the raising of the rafters a two by four in the shape of an L was put up on the gable. After the feast was given a big wreath was hung on this two by four. It was mostly artificial pine and greenery. If the homeowner did not give a feast then a “l” shaped two by four was left hanging until the house was finished, and it gave the implication that the homeowner was cheap. Harold grew up and graduated from public school at 14 years of age. He wanted to learn painting and decorating. So he became an apprentice and worked at learning the trade,which was very hard work for him. Gunter helped me as much as possible in my shoe shop. He was about 13 years old. My building was rented before it was finished. The people were happy to move in as soon as it was finished. My family and I lived on the bottom floor, and we had our shoe store and workshop on the same floor. I applied for and got all the necessary papers for my business, and then I was able to open a shoe store (selling factory built shoes) and a work shop. I made orthopedic shoes, regular shoes and riding boots. We did have a good beginning in my business, and we had much praise from the community and people for building up the house and business facilities.

I have already mentioned that my brother Julius (known as John) had left Germany in 1922. Our uncle
Hensel, living in Portland Oregon had sponsored him so that he could come to the United States. John went first to Portland and worked there in a bakery. He later left Portland and went to Los Angeles. In L.A. he became a chef. The reason he left Portland was because he felt that his Aunt and Uncle wanted to run his life. He stayed in L.A. until about 1944 or 45. He had met and married Bonnie. They decided to move to Las Vegas as it seemed that there would be greater opportunities for them. They bought some land on what is known as the Strip. There they decided to build a motel which they did, and it became the Fiesta Motel . Bonnie ran the motel and John got a position as the head chef in the Hotel El Cortez in downtown Las Vegas. When he was settled, he wrote to me and offered to sponsor me and my family, so we could come to the United States. We thought it over for quite a while and came to the conclusion that we should accept his offer. The reason that we decided that it would be good for us is that we had lost everything that we possessed three times in the Second World War which ended in 1945. I had partly lost my heal th through losing my right leg in the war on the Russian front. We had four sons at that time, so we decided to get out of Europe. We thought that they wouldn’t have to get involved in any wars if we went to America. It took us a long while to get all our papers checked out and into the United States. We finally received permission to go to the U. s. I put the house up for sale and finally found a buyer who was interested. He took over the mortgages and paid me my equity which was 18,000 marks or about $5500. I was able to pay for our trip, and we had enough money to make a down payment on a home and to buy furniture when we came to Las Vegas. We left Germany in early March 1953. We took a train to Holland then crossed over to Southampton in England. We were delayed two days in England as the Queen Mary,which was the ship we were to take to cross the ocean, was two days late in arriving back in England. All arrangements had been made through the Cunard Line, and they paid for the two days delay in England until we could board the ship. On the ship the four boys had a room by themselves, and we had a separate room for us. Everything and anything that we wanted or that anyone could want was available to us. We were on the Queen Mary for six days and six nights. The first three days on the ocean was very quiet and very beautiful. The last three days and nights we had very high and rough seas. Freddy, Manny, and Martha became very seasick. There were swimming pools, movies and lots of sports events like shuffleboard. The children took part in all activities. The food was excellent, and we were able to order anything that we wanted, even though we were unable to read the menu. We made friends with a Dutch couple, and they explained the menu to us. The last night before we arrived in New York, the captain told us that if we wanted to see a beautiful sight that we should go up on the deck by two A.M. in the morning, and we would be able to see N.Y. from hundreds of miles away in the nighttime. It was a most beautiful sight to see the town which looked like a horseshoe with a glitter if lights. We came in on the open end of the horseshoe. Even though we had all conveniences and luxuries on the ship, it was really wonderful to set your feet on firm land after three days on the stormy sea. We arrived about 6: 30 A.M. on March 12, i953 in New York and we were really appreciative of arriving in America and being greeted by the Statue of Liberty. We got off the ship and went through customs, and then we were in a big, big ships hall. This is where the ticket office was. There were hundreds and hundreds of people coming and going, being met and greeted by people. In the ship’s hall, I met my first big disappointment in America. In Germany everything and every place was so very clean and orderly. In the cities and streets and even the fores ts there was no trash or rubbish to be found on the ground or floors. There in the big hall on floor were thousands and thousands of cigarette stubs littering the whole place. It seemed that there was not a square inch that was free of litter. I saw a big negro man pushing a 6-foot push broom trying to keep things cleaned up. The hall reminded me of a busy bee hive with all of the comings and goings. The negro man would have only a few feet of clean space when it would again be all littered with the stubs and trash. For the trip we had been taken care of by the Cunard Line people until we reached New York, but when we got off the ship we were then on our own. This was quite hard for us as we didn’t speak any English. The Red Cross was on hand, and they provided us with a lady, who spoke German, to help us. One of the first things we had to do was to go to through Immigration Service to receive our Immigration permits for the United States. Afterwards the lady arranged for us to get to the Greyhound Bus depot. There we received our bus tickets which had been arranged for us by John. We left New York the same day as we had arrived. We left about 1 P. M. We went down through Philadelphia. We had about an hour to look around in Philadelphia. I really liked what I saw in Philadelphia. twas so very clean and was pleasing to me after the litter and trash that we had seen in New York. From Philadelphia, we went on to Chicago. There we had about a two-hour stop. So we got out of the bus and were able to walk around a bit. As we walked around looking things over we found the alleys of Chicago, and we found them filthy, stinking, full of trash. Because we couldn’t speak any English we were not able to go far from the depot for fear of becoming lost and not catching our bus to continue our trip. We left Chicago and came on out west by way of Denver. We traveled from New York for three days and three nights. The feet and legs from all of us were very badly swollen, and we were hardly able to walk after sitting that long. I do not remember what we had to eat in those three days, and I don’t remember if we had any money to exchange or not. There were times that the bus trip was very frightening to us. Times when the bus went through steep canyons with the rocky walls so very close, it seemed like only 5 feet away to us. It seemed that the bus went very fast and this scared us too. When we were still about 1000 miles still from Vegas, we began to see advertising signs about the gambling and the shows to be found there. We asked people what it meant, and we thought that we were finally getting to the end of our trip. The people on the bus were very king to us, and we were able to have a fun time together on the bus. Freddy (Wolfgang) was able to speak a few words of English, and he was our “tour guide” and he was always up and around talking to people. This was at the time when Stalin had died and the people would ask us how we felt about things over there. We answered the best we could with our limited English. Every time we had a chance we would go into the restrooms and there try to wash us the best we could. In one place that we went, most likely in Chicago, I took my watch off and forgot to put it back on. I felt badly about losing it. We finally arrived in Nevada. The difference was exceedingly great from Germany. We had never such hills, mountains, desert and sand. We came into Las Vegas from North Las Vegas and at that time 1953 there was not much to North Las Vegas. It had not yet been built up. We had always pictured Las Vegas as a big beautiful green town out in the desert. The things that we saw when we came into North Las Vegas were mostly old wooden shacks about ready to fall down and sand flying everywhere. Dust and dirt was what we saw. Mother and John were at the Greyhound Station to meet us. We had shipped our baggage to Southampton, England to come on the Queen Mary with us, but it did not arrive from Hamburg in time, and we had to leave on the Queen Mary without our luggage. Our luggage arrived in New York on the Queen Elizabeth and from there was sent by mistake to Las Vegas, New Mexico. We were without our possessions for 6 weeks until it finally caught up with us. We arrived in Las Vegas on March 16, 1953. The weather was hot, and we had only our heavy winter clothing. We had to go and buy some new clothing to make do until our other things arrived. Mother and John picked us up at the Bus station and took us to his living quarters, which at the time was on highway 89, south of Las Vegas, where he was starting to build a motel, it seemed to us right far out in the desert. When we arrived he had his living quarters and 5 units already built. We slept inside John’s quarters except for Harald and Gunter. They had to sleep outside in a shed which was very primitive. In the morning they would be partly covered with sand. Even though things were so primitive, John tried his best to provide for us, and we are very grateful for it. Martha accepted work right away in a motel as a maid. It was about a mile away. I was not able to find work as quickly. The children started school right away. I had brought about 12,000 marks with me from Germany, which was about $4,000. John and I went to the Bank of Nevada. They accepted my German money, gave me a receipt for it. They then sent to San Francisco to have it exchanged. It took about 4 or 5 weeks until I received my money. The conditions in which we were living were not pleasant for either side. I soon found work at the Swiss Village Inn working for Walter Wolfinger. I had a problem to get to work as I had no car. The nearest stop of the bus was about 2 miles away at the Flamingo Hotel. I would walk to the bus in the morning, and then I would have to walk back again at night. This was very hard on me, and I had my stump really messed up. I decided that I would have to do something different, and I decided to-buy a car. John and I went to a used car dealer, and I bought a used 1946 Chevy that was very comfortable for my leg. The car didn’t have an automatic shift, but it had a hand shift for the gas so that I could manage very well. After we received our money back from San Francisco we used it to buy a house in North Las Vegas on Putnam street. The house was only about a year old. The house was made of brick with a flat roof. It had 2 bedrooms. 1 bath a kitchen and a big living room 24 by 20 feet. There were beams for the ceiling. There were no driveways. The house was on a very big lot. We bought furniture and had the house furnished. We had Sears put in the carpet. We finally were able to move in, and it was great to live in your own home and not have to interfere or deprive anyone of his own home life. It was May when we moved into our own home here in America. John was good about helping me, especially helping me be sure that it went through escrow all right. We had a fence built between the house and the street. We had 4 pillars each with a built-in lamp post on each side of the house to mark the driveways. We poured the driveways ourselves, Harold and Gunter and myself. they were 60 feet long. It almost killed us off, at least that is the way we felt. The lot west of our house was vacant, so we decided to buy it, and then we put a chain link fence around both of the lots and made 1 big lot. At this time all four of the boys, Martha and I were working in the Swiss Village Inn, and we all made the same money. $1.00 an hour. Harald was only a short time at the Inn, as he soon found work as a painter. He was such a good worker that he always had work. I was at the Swiss Village for about a year and a half, and then I found work as a garde-manger helper at the Desert Inn Hotel. There I made $18 a day in the beginning. I had always been interested in cooking, and I was able to learn the trade very fast. From the Desert Inn I went over to the Royal Nevada and there I was my own boss, and I found that my work was really appreciated. I was only at the Royal Nevada for 10 days. I quit because I didn’t have my own walk-in ice box. All the departments kept their food there in the same box. My foods which I would have prepared for the night would be taken by other departments and used, and I would have to start from scratch again to have the food ready to serve. This repeated and repeated until I got sick of it and quit. The manager came to me and asked me not to quit, and he promised to make sure that I had my own ice box. I was so disgusted. I told him that I was leaving right then. I had worked 12 hours that day. I left the Royal Nevada and went the same day to the Riviera, which had opened 5 days before. I introduced myself to the executive chef and asked if they might have some work for me. He asked me what kind of work I could do. I told him, and he said that I should start work right away. I told him that I had already worked 12 hours that day, but he insisted that I go to work. So I did, and I worked another 14 hours that day. I stayed there for three years, then I quit and went to work for the Desert Spa Hotel. It went broke after a year. I had opened the Desert Spa and I saw the reason that they went broke. There were too many bosses and each felt like they should have the cream at the top, but they went broke instead. The Desert Spa Hotel was across the street east from the Stardust Hotel. After the Spa went broke and closed the property was sold and is now a shopping center. I went to the Sands Hotel and asked for work and was hired. I worked there for over 4 years. It was during this time that Martha left to go to her cousin , who lived in Chicago. She did not stay very long with her cousin. She had some kind of misunderstanding with her cousin. He mentioned it to me when I talked to him on the phone. She left Chicago and didn’t leave a forwarding address. I called a number of times and always received the same answer that there was no forwarding address. All my letters were returned to me with the same thing. No forwarding address. I challenged myself to wait for a year for her return, and if I didn’t hear from her by then that I would file for a divorce. Harald, Freddy and Gunter had been married before she left. Only Manny was at home not married. This was in 1960. At that time we were living separately in old Max Tenesch’ place. I had sold the Twin Lakes home. Manny lived partly with Gunter and partly by himself. About three months later Manny came to me and brought Vicky and told me that they had to get married, and I needed to sign the papers to give Manny permission to marry as he was not old enough. I believed him and signed the paper, and they were married. They had absolutely nothing to set up housekeeping. I took them to Sears and bought some blankets and bedding for them. From this marriage, two children were born. Timmy and Manny Jr. I didn’t want to continue living at old Max Tenesch, so I bought a house at 1116 Nassau in Golf Ridge in Las Vegas. As Manny and Vicky did not have any decent living quarters I asked them to move into my new house with me. It did not work out as our working hours were so different, and they did not feel like it was necessary to help keep the house and lot clean. I asked them to find a place for themselves and to move out. Through the years I had had missionaries of various denominations visit me and ask me to listen to them. I always thanked them but told them that I had my own religion which was Baptist. I found that here in America that there were many different kinds of Baptist religions and beliefs. In 1961, approximately the end of June, I got very sick with my back. When I was down I couldn’t get up and when I was up I couldn’t get down. I called my own doctor, Dr. Laub. He was out of town, so I had to find another doctor to take care of me. I opened the phone book and looked in the yellow pages under physicians, and I looked down the names. My finger stopped at the name of Dr. Gerald Jones. I called for an appointment and went in the next day. He examined me and ordered physical therapy. An aid took me to a room and gave me therapy. I lay down on a table and the nurse strapped some pads on my back and then turned the switch on the machine onto on. I was laying there relaxed, and then she asked me what I knew about the Mormons. I answered that I didn’t know very much, but that I had a son Freddy married to one. I also had heard that they believed in having more than one wife. She asked me then If I would care to learn more about the Mormon religion. I thought that she would tell me more right there while I was getting my treatment, so I said that it wouldn’t hurt to get to know more. She then asked me when she and her companion could come to my home and explain more to me. Now this was quite a shock to me. I had always told the other missionaries that I had my own religion and didn’t care to study others. I wasn’t able to tell them no that they couldn’t come. We made an appointment for the Wednesday. On wednesday she showed up with her companion. I had prepared a dinner. I planned to feed them and then to let them go their way. The dinner I prepared was a soup, and an avocado stuffed with seafood salad. I had jello with a vanilla sauce over it. After we had eaten dinner she didn’t waste any time, and she said “let us go into the living room and have our discussion.” After we had finished the first lesson, she right away asked for another appointment for the next discussion. They came back and gave me two more discussions. Then she explained that she and her companion were only temporary missionaries. She was a student at Brigham Young University and was only working for Dr. Jones during the summer. She would be going back to Provo to school, so she would not be coming back for any more discussions. They would turn me over to the full time missionaries who would be continuing the discussions. Before they left that last time, she bore her testimony to me. She said, “Mr. Rapp, I testify to you that so truthful as you see me here that so truthful I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He died for our sins and that someday we can come back to our Father in Heaven.” Up until this time I had never heard anybody bear his testimony in so sincere and such a sure manner than she bore hers. At that time this testimony sunk deep into me. I thanked them and wished them the best of luck, and they left. The lady Stake missionaries were Regena Stewart and Sara Lee Sanger. Regena left to go back to school in Provo. The full time missionaries who she had asked to continue with me, came by one day, and we did have some scripture discussion. I didn’t quite agree with their interpretation, and they didn’t agree with mine. They left, and they never came back, and I never knew why they didn’t or what had happened. I was asked to by the lady missionaries to continue to investigate the church, which I did. went to Sacrament meeting and to Sunday School. One day I received a letter from Sister Stewart asking me how I came along with my lessons with the missionaries, which I didn’t have anymore. She was kind enough to write to me and was concerned about me. I wrote in German as my English wasn’t good. I did not have any schooling in English. I put $5.00 in the letter I wrote to her, so that she could get it translated as she couldn’t read German. I mentioned also that I didn’t have any problem with the teachings that they had given me, except for the Story of Joseph Smith. I said that I could not accept Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. When she received my letter and after opening it and finding the $5.00 in it. she was surprised and said “How did he know it was my birthday as I never did tell him.” She thought that the money was for her birthday, and I had meant it for getting the letter translated. When she found out what it was for she returned the money to me as she could get it translated for free by a returned missionary. She asked me in the same letter to please to continue to investigate the church. This I did. It was not too long before she came back to Vegas. She brought her prior boss, Dr. Gerald Jones and his companion Russell Hales, to visit with me and to give me a lesson. I therefore had an opportunity to see Sister Stewart before she returned back to school. This happened at Thanksgiving time. I knew that she was single and during this vacation I asked her if she would be interested in marrying me. This seemed like weather lightning had hit in the middle of all the missionary work. She answered me that she would consider it, and she went back to college, and I continued to investigate the church. She returned home in December, and again she came out with Dr. Jones and companion and gave me another lesson. This lesson did sink in quite deep within me. At the end of the lesson they asked me to say the prayer but asked me to say it in English. Always before when I said the prayer I had said it in German. This evening was a turning point for me to a new life. I broke down in my prayer and had no doubt in my heart or mind that this was the true church of Jesus Christ. I accepted it. Sister Stewart and I did have a few visits in the next few days, and we decided to get married. My baptism date into the church was December 20, 1961, at 1 P.M. I was baptized by Dr. Gerald Jones. At 6:00 PM that same day we were married at my home 1116 Nassau Dr. by Bishop Paul Judd. I had a cuckoo clock that I had brought from Germany, and it went off in the middle of the ceremony, which was a funny note. We only had members of our families at our wedding. No big reception. On Regena’s side there were her parents, two sisters, brother and an aunt Evelyn Sherratt and a few cousins and a few close friends. On my side there were my three sons and my brother John and a few of my close friends. I was working at the Sands Hotel at that time, and I could not get any time off for a honeymoon. I had a hard time getting even that day off for my baptism and marriage. Regena kept on working temporarily for Dr. Jones and I continued working at the Sands Hotel. I finally got tired of the Hotel work and decided to go into my own business. I started a landscaping business. I was able to get more work and yards than I was able to care for by myself. On account of my leg I finally gave up the landscaping business. My leg was so sore that I had to quit. As long as I had an even floor and a hard surface under my feet I could manage but the uneven ground and then the big heat caused me to have to go back into the hotels to work. Regena got pregnant and quit work and then on the 21st of June 1963 a boy whom we named Daniel Wallace Rapp was born at the Sunrise Hospital. She had a long and difficult delivery, and it took a long time for her to completely recover. She was 38 years old. I went back into the hotels to work. I was asked to come to the Dunes and I worked there from 1963 until we moved to Spanish Fork in 1972.

I would to mention that my mother Amalie Welke Rapp lived also in Las Vegas. She came to America in 1948. She didn’t speak any English, but she had learned enough to be a big help to me when I came over in 1953. She was a strong character. At age of 80 years she had ridden her bicycle from North Las Vegas to downtown Vegas. The newspaper had written an article about her. In 1962, she had an operation and the doctors told us that they couldn’t do anything for her that she was full of cancer. She became very sick, and we decided to take her into our home and care for her. She had been living on 9th Street in an apartment that belonged to John. We brought her belonging over and gave her the two end bedrooms for herself. Even though she was so very sick she kept active. She loved to go the Baptist Church. She loved Daniel so very much, and she couldn’t stand to hear him cry. She would bring him all sorts of things to try to entertain him and to keep him quiet. She became so sick that we had to take her to the hospital. It was only a few days that she lasted, and she died in the hospital in January 1964, and she is buried in the Las Vegas City Cemetery. Her birthdate was December 24, 1882. For her last birthday in December 1963, we made a birthday dinner for her. We took her to town and bought her a new navy blue dress. She was so proud of it. For her dinner most of the kids and grandkids were there. Gunter was living in Washington DC at that time. My father Michael Josef Rapp was already to come to this country with my mother when he became very sick. He went to the doctor, and he suffered a brain hemorrhage in the doctor’s chair. We never knew whether the doctor had done something to cause this. He lingered and suffered for about 5 more days. He is buried in Kaltenkirchen, Kreis Segeberg about 60 miles north of Hamburg.

After I was baptized, I became active and always worked in the church. We were not able to go to our own ward on Sundays because of my work at the hotel. I was working from 6 A.M. to 2 P.M. So we went to the ward Erva belonged to, the 12th Ward. It was on Charleston Blvd. I didn’t like it that I could not participate in my own ward, so I prayed about it and found the strength and nerve to go my executive chef and told him that I wanted to have Sunday off or else I would have to quit. He told me that he was familiar with the Mormons even though he wasn’t one. He said that he used to date the secretary from Elder LeGrande Richards and that he even wanted to marry her. She told him that she wanted to have a lot of children, but he didn’t want to have any children, so as they didn’t agree, and they broke the dating off. He gave me my Sunday off, and I was able to go to my own ward. Even though I was about 50 years old, I started out as a deacon and each Sunday I passed the Sacrament with the young boys until I was made a teacher and then a priest. In 1963, I was made an Elder, and we went to the St. George Temple and were sealed. A short while later I was asked to serve as General Secretary in the Adult Aaronic. I did have 46 families as part members with either the husband or the wife as a member. I visited all these families and found many sad experiences in each home. From that time on I could understand why the church taught that young people should not marry out of the church. I encountered many heartbreaking experiences in the Home Teaching program, such as when a husband and father would say “you can teach my wife and her children, but you can’t teach me or my children”, or the other way around. There was one case where a father came home after a 2-hour drive from the atomic test site and didn’t find his wife home and nothing to eat in the house. He knew that his wife was in a Bar with other men. In contrast to the bad experiences I had many good experiences. I was asked by one home teacher to do his assignment one month. He said that the family would not let me in, they would only talk at the door. This was in December, right before Christmas. I had my boy Daniel with me, he was about 4 years old, as my companion. When we knocked on the door the lady opened the door part way, and she stood there talking with me. They had their tree Christmas tree up and decorated and Daniel could see the lights burning and without asking any questions, he slipped in the door and went over to see the tree and lights. So then the lady opened the door and asked me in. The husband and children were there, and so I introduced myself, and then he asked me if I was German. His grandfather was German also, and we ended up visiting for about 1 and a half hours. Before that night no Home Teacher had been able to get in that home, but Heavenly Father had opened that door through a little boy. The lady and her children became active and finally the husband started coming to Scout Meetings and other meetings.

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Ewald Rapp’s Personal History (partial)