Hi Kelley,
if you need anything translated from German to English you are very welcome
to get in touch with me bilateral. This is my email address:
_erikamlodoch@aol.com_ (mailto:erikamlodoch@aol.com) . Just don't give up looking
for your ancestors and/or any of their descendants who have somehow stayed
behind in the former Westpreussen!
As you will know, the majority of people had to flee or were expelled from
their homes right after Christmas 1944 as the Soviet armies were rapidly
approaching, and the territory was added to Poland at the end of the second
world war.
I wish you good look in your search. Best regards from Erika in Leeds
(England)
In a message dated 11/03/2015 18:48:59 GMT Standard Time,
kelly.simons@state.mn.us writes:
Guten morgen Ingrid,
We great and great-great grandchildren are limited in our ability. Some of
us only have had 4 years of high school German and live in the United
States and read German POORLY.
Many Germans did not pass their language on here because of WWI and WWII
, one grandpa had to change his last name to Simons and my other grandpa
had his dog killed only because it was a German Shepherd and they thought
great grandma was a Nazi. They both lived in high German born and German
ancestry areas of the USA!! Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
It was not until high school when I spent a summer living in Essen did I
realize how German I was! Most of my class mates were all in culture shock
living in a German run home. Not this girl. I was the grandchild always
begging my grandpa to teach me German and he refused! "Grandpa, old Germans
never die, they just because Saur krauts!" was my retort. If I was lucky he
would say the Lord's prayer auf Deutsche.
I wish I could read it better and do not have the time to practice and be
proficient above an elementary school age level. LOL
The Norwegians sites have both Norwegian and English options on their
websites.
Trust me, if I find anything related to my Germans, I'm on it. I have
plenty of Teutonic tenacity. Unfortunately most of what I'm looking for is
probably on a Polish language site anyway, just because my folks were East
Prussians. Very limited information available on my 1880's arriving relatives
and in both families the past was the past, so not even stories to go on.
I have a hard enough time trying to figure out how to decipher that
beautiful old German script!!
I do understand enough to know that even real Germans are having a hard
time locating records, so I feel somewhat relieved and not such a failure.
If I see a site without any English, I feel like I'm intruding and do not
want to ask a question in English and or expect everyone to know English.
I hate that "America is holier than thou" attitude. I always try and write
a little bit, so they at least know I'm trying to be culturally relevant.
That site just totally overwhelmed me. Thank you for your kind challenge.
I will keep trying!!
Vielen Dank!
Kelly
Kelly Simons | Technical Liasion, Child Care Assistance Program
Minnesota Department of Human Services
651-431-4036 (w) | 651-431-7483 (Fax) | Kelly.Simons@state.mn.us
Healthy People, Stable Families, Strong Communities | mn.gov/dhs |
-----Original Message-----
Be aware, you do not need a lot of German to find information...and learning the language is 'just like' finding part of your family.