GB Halliday Home Page      
German Roots Trip 2003 - Contents

SEEKING OUR GERMAN ROOTS

Chapter IV

May 21 - 23, 2003

LINDLAR
Kemmerich Family History

Thursday, May 22

Today would prove to be a day of visiting and eating--no matter how you order the events--that’s what we did!

Frau Klee provided us with another good German breakfast, delivered on the dot right to our table. A very pleasant woman, she is very familiar with the American West. The Klees rented an RV in Salt Lake City, Utah some years ago, and managed to put thousands of miles on it in just two months as they hit just about every national park from California to Colorado and drove the Pacific coastal highway from California to Canada! They hiked many of the park trails and enjoyed sharing anecdotes about Utah with Karen.

Bruno and Marlene invited us over to their home for mid-morning coffee and a visit with Uli’s wife, Tanya, and little Stefan, the charmer. A sweet and happy little boy. He is obviously a frequent visitor at Bruno’s home and the delighted grandparents have an assortment of baby toys waiting for little Stefan’s visits, including a rocking horse that Bruno bought for him.

About 11 a.m. Bruno & Marlene drove us over to the village of Fenke where Bruno’s sister, Hedwig, and her husband, Heinrich, live. Their house was the Johann Kemmerich family home where she, Bruno and their six siblings grew up. Bruno was the second-eldest and Hedwig is the youngest of their father, Johann’s, brood. Bruno’s mother passed away; Johann remarried and had the one child, Hedwig, with his second wife.

Hedwig made a beautiful dinner for us: pot roast, roast pork, mushrooms, potatoes, Brussels sprouts and a cold green bean salad, followed by a yummy chocolate custard-type dessert.

Karen and I are beginning to figure out the pattern of eating in Germany: a fairly big breakfast, with boiled eggs, sausage or lunch meat, cheese, fruit and fruit juice, good bread, hard rolls and coffee, then the main meal at mid-day, followed by something similar to what Marlene served us last night: soup, bread, sausage and lunch meat, but instead of breakfast coffee, there is supper beer or wine. And, always there is bottled water, often carbonated. The Germans seem to have a deep distrust of tap water, even though it is perfectly good. We are certainly not going hungry on this diet!

After dinner, Marlene stayed at Hedwig’s home, while Bruno and Hedwig took us on a tour of the area before we reached our afternoon destination--a visit with more Kemmerich kin at Iris and Stefan Menzel‘s home, close to Frielingsdorf. Iris and Stefan, along with Hedwig’s son, Jürgen, were the first German Kemmerichs to visit the US, and they stayed with us a couple days, in September, 1986. At that time, Iris and Stefan were newly-weds.

Our first stop was at a bank in Frielingsdorf where Karen and I put in our bank cards at the ATM machine and pulled out more Euros to keep us going. The ATM machines were everywhere in Germany and by far the simplest way to change dollars to Euros. We also got a better exchange rate than offered at the money-changing stores located in the train stations. Karen found on an earlier trip to Germany that travelers' checks were NOT easy to use.

Hedwig took us to the St. Apollinaris Catholic church in Frielingsdorf which was built in 1927, but has a very contemporary interior. On one wall of the church, Hedwig showed us the memorial to the parish men who perished in World War II and among those listed is "Josef Kemmerich," Bruno’s older brother, who was lost at Konigsburg in East Germany, on the Russian front. Earlier Catholic churches also stood upon this same site and no doubt August Kemmerich would have worshipped in the church that preceded this present one.

We drove up to the cemetery on a hill above Frielingsdorf, to visit the graves of Bruno’s brother, Paul, and his wife, Eva. The most recent members of Bruno’s family to die, Paul passed away in 1997 and Eva in 1999. These were Iris’ parents. Her mother had been incapacitated with multiple sclerosis for many years.

The deceased parents have a beautiful black "open book" headstone. The entire cemetery is lovely--with raised edges around each family plot, and within the plot are beautiful blooming shrubs and flowers. Most of the plots have little candle lamps burning at one corner. At Paul’s grave, there is a little statue of a shoemaker, which Bruno gave to his brother many years ago--Paul was a shoemaker. Hedwig commented that it is very expensive to be buried here--and we believed it. We asked how often they visit the graves to tend them. She replied "every week."

By now, the weather had definitely decided to be wet, and the rest of the day’s tour was under gray, drizzly skies. As Oregonians, we felt right at home! The next stop was at the colorful ruins of the Eibach "water castle," just a couple miles from Frielingsdorf.

The castle was built in the 14th century, burned down in 1782 and was restored in 1809 at a cost of 100,000 Euros. Time and perhaps wars have once again turned it into ruins, with just the tower of the castle remaining. The name "water castle" is apt, because the ruins are situated in the middle of a lake. Later, we saw a wedding photo of Iris and Stefan taken at the castle. Probably a popular thing to do for your wedding.

The next stop was another castle, "Gimborn Castle," but this one is in very good condition, and the actual baron, Peter von Fürstenberg, still lives in part of the structure with his family. The remainder of the castle is leased to the International Police Association. The von Fürstenbergs have owned the castle and about 600 acres since1874. In 1969 the major part of the building was leased to the IPA who use it as a training and conference center. They certainly found a secluded spot! In the garden behind the castle was a colorful array of flags, representing all the countries who are part of the IPA. For more information go to: http://www.ibz-gimborn.de/history.htm

The castle and an old water mill were situated on the banks of a little creek and we followed the stream down through a wooded valley enroute to Iris’ home. Along the route Bruno pointed out the Schmidt-Clemens Alloy Steel Works where he and his brothers worked until their retirement. The company has been in Lindlar for 120 years and now forges and casts high-grade steel specialties for worldwide applications. Bruno said there used to be 1500 employees here; now there are only about 400. The company has opened a big factory in Spain and is down-sizing the Lindlar facility. More information on this website: http://www.schmidt-clemens.de/sce5/sce5_sc.htm

Bruno drove us by the site of August Kemmerich’s home in Frielingsdorf. Bruno’s mother was born in the house that once adjoined August’s home. August’s home was torn down years ago, and now a double garage for that adjoining house sits on the property.

Bruno’s father, Johann, lived in Fenke, and after their marriage, the couple lived in Fenke, in the house now occupied by Hedwig and her family.

When we got to Iris’ home some of the other Kemmerich brothers and their wives, a brother’s widow and Marlene had already arrived--others came after we did. Between us, we filled up Iris’ very long dining room table!

The new faces (to us) were the two brothers: Eugen, 3rd son of Johann, and his wife Ursel; Willi, (4th son) and his wife, Josefine, plus Cili, the widow of fifth brother, Franz, who died a few years ago.

Iris’ sister, Pia was also among the group. Eventually, Iris’ children, Tim and his sister and her husband, Stefan, filled out the remaining seats at the table. A large crowd and impressive to think that so many of these Kemmerich brothers and sisters, and their offspring all still live only a few miles from each other.

The party stayed right at the dining room table as a procession of wonderful food appeared. When we first sat down, Iris brought out delectable "kuchen," cheesecake, key lime pie, and coffee and wine from bottomless pots and bottles. Iris very quietly and efficiently did all the serving and made sure no one lacked for a goodie on their plate. The conversation continued, and after awhile, out came the beer….and more wine and fruit juice! About 5 p.m. Stefan came up and joined the group. Before too long, out came sandwiches…very similar to what we’ve been having for breakfast--split hard rolls, ham, cheese, lunch meat, and more wine and more beer.

One of Bruno’s brothers brought along a computer printout he had made from my website, with my biography of August and Barbara Kemmerich. Several other relatives here in Lindlar have mentioned (or sent me an e-mail) saying that they had found my website and August’s history when they went searching on just the word "Kemmerich." All seemed pleased to have found that contact with the USA Kemmerichs. As elsewhere on this trip, the burden was on Karen to do the conversing with our Kemmerich relatives. Among the group at Iris’ table, the only ones who spoke some English were Bruno, Stefan and Iris, and Iris’ sister, Pia. Obviously the younger generation is learning English, but not those of my vintage.

Iris & Stefan built this 3-level home a few years ago. It is a lovely house with a large, beautifully kept yard that even has room for a little soccer field for their son, Tim. Their home is also Stefan’s work place. His home office is in Munich, and he has to do some traveling to several cities in the general area of Cologne, but most of the time he telecommutes--as he was doing today. We did not see Stefan at all in the afternoon, as he was holed up with his computer in his office on the basement level of their home.

Iris and Stefan gave a tour of their home and, just as at Bruno’s home and Hedwig’s home, the washer and dryer in Iris’ basement were mini-size by American standards. Besides laundry and Stefan’s office, the lower level also contained a "party room" with bar.

One of the luxuries for this young family is plenty of space for everyone. Both 9-year old Tim and his 12-year old sister each have their own bedroom and have decorated it just as you would expect. Lots of sports posters in Tim’s room; stuffed animals and pictures of probably the current teen idols in his sister’s room. Like all girls that age, she was horrified to learn later that we had been allowed to peek into her bedroom! Both children had a computer in their room.

It was a most pleasant afternoon and our Kemmerich relatives all treated us with much kindness and hospitality. I think with all the touring and visiting, we kept Bruno and Marlene from their usual schedule, which probably would include a little naptime. They were good sports about it, though. At very close to 80, they are both doing very well. Earlier, Bruno had said to me that when he retired he didn’t think that Marlene should have to do all the work while he rested, and so he tries to help her.

Back at Bruno and Marlene’s in the evening, we had another good visit with all of their children except Franz Josef. Uli came by and so did his sister, Silvia, and her husband, Matthias. Also, Franz Josef’s wife, Gudrun, dropped in.

More pleasant conversation until about 9:30 p.m. when we pleaded fatigue and walked back to Frau Klee’s guest quarters.

GB Halliday Home Page      
German Roots Trip 2003 - Contents