Researching in Germany
Faye Schantz
"Early April 2000, we learned about a family that were Aussiedlers from Siberia transplanted to Kippenheimweiler, Baden, Germany. A possible visit would coincide with our trip to Europe.
"The woman, Amalie Maier, was born in my ancestral village, Shcherbakovka. My brother, Robert Meier, of Hays, Kansas, assisted in obtaining the address. His friend, Morris Krug, was able to get it from his mother, Mollie Reissig Krug, Russell, Kansas. Mollie Krug and Amalie Maier are first cousins, their mothers being sisters.
"There was barely time to send a very short letter to the family before we departed. With the assistance of a relative of my husband's, we were able to make contact with them to establish a date and time for our visit. We made a blunder in finding their village on the map by looking only at Kippenheim rather than Kippenheimweiler. This caused a delay for our visit as we went to Kippenheim. Luckily for us a fine person in a 'tank stelle' (gas station) was able to give us the news we were in the wrong spot. This person volunteered to call the family and describe our plight. It did mean a bit of backtracking that did take time. ----
"Obviously we reached our destination, and as we crossed a main street, we saw a small gentleman standing on the corner. Yes, indeed, it was the good old Eduard. He was not visibly tapping his foot, but it was pretty obvious he was watching for us.
"Their apartment was beautiful. It is in a complex built for these people that have been resettled. Luckily only one flight up. Three bedrooms and immaculate. We were apologetic and frustrated at the same time. All conversation needed to be in German. That is so simple when you are dealing with three people talking at once.
"Amalie was born to Katherina Reissig and Frederick Weinbender on 20 March 1920. A very petite, short woman and extremely intelligent. As with the Germans in the 1940's, she was sent to Siberia. She worked in the Arbeits Army (work army) for years. Work was brutal, but she did not complain. She met her husband there, Eduard Maier. He was born in Neu Denhof, 7 March 1923. He had four brothers. I did not check if any of them were alive. Eduard and Amalie had two children born in Siberia and two born in Kazakhstan.
"They were in Kazakhstan from 1957 through 1990 when they were relocated to Germany. They have been in Germany since 9 Dec 1990.
"They fed us a wonderful lunch in which many items were from his little garden plot outside the village. They have two adult children living with them. The son, Alexander, is a metal worker. Lydia, we did not meet, but she works in a department store. The folks wanted us to stay so we could speak English with their daughter. Unhappily, we had to get on to Munich. It was difficult leaving them, as they did not understand why we could not stay overnight! We were stunned to hear this. There had been no intention of doing that on our part. Now, we regret we did not stay, as we could have learned a lot more about their lives. ----
"They are wonderful people, and we have nothing but respect for their resilience and fortitude. The same story can be told over and over for hundreds of thousands of others. Adapting to three major moves and adjusting to the culture overwhelms us all!"
Faye & Peter Schantz
Since this was written, Faye has received a letter from Amalie which says in part: [bracketed information has been added by the editor] my grandparents from my mother's side were: Grandfather, George Jacob Reissig; Grandmother, Maria Magdalena Wassenmuller. Their children were: Maria Katharina Reissig, [died 16 Aug 1889. m. Gottfried Hanshu] Eva Elizabeth Reissig, b. 1 Nov 1877 d. 15 Jul 1947 in Russell, Ks. m. George W. Reisig] Katharina Elisabeth Reissig; Jacob Reissig, [George "Jacob" Reisig died Nov 1918 in Bay City, MI m. Eva Margaretha Bauer] and George Reissig. [John "George" Reisig b. 28 Sep 1869 d. 15 May 1932 in Saginaw, MI m. Katherine Margaret Winter] All went to America. Only my mother lived alone in Russia. In Siberia we had lived in the city, Tschinr, district Thymen until 1950. Mother died in 1949. With many greetings and all good wishes to you friends and acquaintances, with our children: Eduardt and Emilie Maier.
On Researching in GermanyAfter our personal experience in 1994, the first thing I would suggest is to know exactly where you need to search. We learned the hard way in November 1993 when trying to find an individual who came from Spielberg, according to Igor Pleve. There were nine Spielbergs within a reasonably short distance. You could never cover them all in a day. We were able to visit three and found nothing. You always need an appointment by either calling first or preferably writing a letter. The one place was our favorite as the minister's wife was so very accommodating and would run upstairs and bring back dozens of books. We limited our search to a definite time frame. You need to be able to read the script and bad penmanship. She was so willing to copy whatever we wanted. After we had her copy a few pages, we finished and offered to pay. We put down several marks which at that time were very generous--value over $50. She looked at it with wonderment and exclaimed 'That is too much!' The one church we visited in another Spielberg had beautifully preserved books---hidden under the floors during thirty-year war, etc. Perfect condition but nothing for us.
Now in July 1994 we did know the name of the church archives. Our German relative went to bat for us there in order to make the appointment and accompanied us. At the archive, the fellow was great but told us he could not help us. He suggested we go to the City Archive in Darmstadt. That is where we were given the three wooden file boxes with scraps of paper allegedly alphabetically arranged. Some mischief-maker had mangled them and none were in order. We each took a box and started going through piece by piece. That is where I found the Wassenmuller torn sheet with chicken scratches on it. Our German friend, Marianne, went to the fellow in charge to see what they meant. The scratches meant that the family history had been submitted by the archivist. When she asked how we would obtain that, the reply was that a letter must be written requesting it. She pleaded with him to give it to us on the spot as we were leaving the next day. No way, the committee did not meet until Thursday that week. Out of luck. It helped that Marianne had a local address and she sent the information on to us. We had all that material in less than two weeks.
Some folks have had great luck writing from the U.S. to make appointments, but I didn't. In 1996 we visited Reichelsheim and talked with the archivist that had submitted the Wasenmuller history. He was overjoyed, showing us all the records they use to do this it seems all areas are to submit these family histories to whatever center is deemed to receive it. In 1982, we visited Kaiserlautern where the histories are located for the Pfalz, but had no success. In short with all my wandering, it is very difficult to hit the right one unless you are so lucky as to know from your own family records, what parish the family was in. There are books with addresses of archives for land records, and church records. I have a book of addresses we bought in Germany. If you know specifics, I could see what is available. Knowledge of the language is very helpful.