The Fehmarn Cousins Newsletter
Issue #22
Our 2002 Trip to Germany
By Judy Kostick Cummings
My brother, John and I have just returned from our fourth trip to the Island of Fehmarn. Two days of research at the Church and City Archives were done to benefit this website. We also visited all the cemeteries and churches on the island for the purpose of taking pictures that are posted in various sections of this website. This was a very successful trip.
We truly enjoy visiting the Island each year and feel a little like we are going “home”….. as we feel very welcomed by the new and old friends that we see each year. Over the past four trips, we have had many adventures and feel very fortunate to have become so familiar with the Island.
Anyone who has read the “Journals” of our daily travels knows about our adventures and misadventures. From all the learning we did on our first trip to becoming seasoned travelers, we have had many enjoyable times. We actually drove into a ditch with our rental car on the first trip! We were fortunate to have toured Fritz Mackaprang’s private home, participated in the parade for the Rapsblutenfest, and climbed all the way to the top of the St. Johannis Church steeple in Petersdorf. We’ve met and visited with many local people who shared our common interest in genealogy. We have even been in the local newspaper twice! So much has happened in the past four years….. and you can read about this year’s trip (and the three previous year’s trips) on this website.
“A TOUR OF FEHMARN”
This year, John and Judy toured the Island of Fehmarn with digital cameras. Lots of photographs were taken with the intent of creating a Photo CD for the website. Now you can see the island as we have seen it during the past 2 years. 219 photographs are available for your enjoyment. Included are many photos never seen before on this website.
Photographs of the mountains and castles in the Bavarian area in the south of Germany are included as a free bonus. Also, Judy has taken many beautiful photos of the flowers of Fehmarn….. also, included as a free bonus. These photos can be used as screen-savers and wallpaper for your home computers.
Click here and Purchase this
Photo CD at the Fehmarn Gift Shop
And support the Website.
Thank-you
The Bűgge Reunion 16.04.2001
By: Anne Marie Hewett
On a recent Autumn day in Melbourne, Australia, thirty-five members of the Bűgge Clan gathered for a re-union in the Duke of Wellington Hotel, a popular central venue.
All present were adult, mostly female and with a few males accompanying each family. There were some apologies received, based mainly on ill health, advancing years and geographical distance. Our best wishes to these our cousins also.
Our reserved room provided comfortable eating arrangements, privacy and warmth. We gathered in our family group at first and then started to mingle with our new acquaintances.
Everyone there obviously places importance on their heritage and in taking time to be present, affirmed the whole notion of family. People generally remarked on the sense of relationship they felt towards people who earlier would have been total strangers.
An interesting menu provided a tasty meal to make the gathering special. A colorful display of photographs from two previous reunions – in ’87 and ’91 - were displayed and enjoyed by all.
During our time together and in the absence of Robert Bugge, Robert Cannon (grandson of Amelia Bugge) hosted and around the room introductory session with each guest giving a little of their story.
The day offered companionship and family friendship.
Guests departed, eagerly anticipating our next re-union and I suspect filled with a sense that “It is a small world after all.”
I had to present the "Proof of Aryan Authenticity"
“Ik müß den Arier-Nowies bibring'n”(IN LOW-GERMAN) By: Klara Kramer
Translated from the Low-German into English by: E. Bügge-Wood
Nineteen-hundred-and-forty, - At war! What can tomorrow bring? Those thoughts ran through many people's minds, and what sudden change it could bring into their life. My fiancé was in the navy in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, to secure my future, he thought it best for us to get married. My parents had no objections. Many official documents were necessary. Soon they were all acquired. But, soon my finance received the returned documents with the objection, that I had to produce proof of my “Aryan lineage”, four generations back, because my family name was “Freudenthal”. Yes, none of us knew that the name Freudenthal was “Jewish”. My fiancé was a professional soldier and was obliged to keep the Aryan race pure. I had to file the necessary documents with my municipal council and local clergy. All this I had soon accomplished.
Actually, nothing should hamper our wedding plans now. But we were surprised! - It got a lot more difficult for me. I had to produce testimonial evidence that I was fit for marriage, they wanted to know if I could have children. Mother had brought eight children into the world and raised them. No, I was certainly willing to have children and was sure that I could have children. Since my fiancé was stationed in Kiel, I was assigned to go there for the examination, they had already given him orders and set the date. I set out early to start my trip to Kiel. From the railway station I had to take the streetcar to the Wyk, where the navy hospital was located. My fiancé was expecting me and accompanied me immediately.
Dear God, how I shook. There I stood, I had just turned twenty years of age, in front of a tall naval officer, he was the staff officer Dr. ‘So-and-so’, (I have forgotten his name), as he introduced himself. I answered friendly: "Freudenthal". - "Freudenthal, very interesting, do you have your proof of ”Aryan lineage” with you? Your name doesn’t ring as if it could be Aryan, and your appearance strengthens my doubts," he said cold and demeaning. The mentioned document is presented to the fourth generation without a missing link, as it was requested. If you have any doubts concerning the color of my black hair, I would like to add, that I have inherited that trait from my mother. Her maiden name was Fulendorf. That name can often be found in Holstein. My father, who gave me the name “Freudenthal” has light blond hair, blue eyes and a reddish beard. These external markings should prove to be pure Germanic", I replied in short. Fear for my life had placed these words on my lips.
Now came to pass, what mother had already warned me of, after I had dressed myself again, the doctor said: "You'll receive a written report, but do not hope for positive news." Suddenly I was outside and I must have looked rather sad. My fiancé also felt very put out, when I told him what the doctor had said to me. From his company chief officer he received the news that he could not marry me, because I could not bear children.
Now I was in a lot of trouble! Mother knew how to comfort me and sent me to our family doctor, Dr. Alfred Behrend, in Königriek. At least a person could speak to him. - He told me, that he would perform a small operation and then I could have loads of children. For the Navy in Kiel, I also received a written statement about this temporary condition. I sent this letter to my fiancé immediately. Now all should be in order. But no! It was only a short while when I received a new citation to come to Kiel. The doctor was the same cruel man. But with him were now five more young ship men.
The staff officer said to the young mid-ship men, who stood around him:
"Gentlemen, this Miss Freudenthal, the name should tell you enough, has
renounced my diagnoses for "marriage unfit" and has tried to produce a feigned
medical certificate, to sneak into marriage with an Aryan". I would rather not
talk about the examination, but it was a bad thing. With the words: "I don't
want to see you here again; because I will not change my diagnoses", then he
pushed me out of the door.
Right the next day I went to our Dr. Behrend and told him everything that I had experienced in Kiel, while crying bitterly. "Oh, girl, stop your crying, I am certain that you are able to get pregnant. You will have children! What advise can I give you, go ahead and get pregnant! This is the only possibility to prove to those gentlemen, they were wrong. This advise helped me get my courage up. But doctor, I cannot bring this shame to my parents and I won't get permission from the church to marry with a closed Myrtle-wreath, this I gave him to understand was a deep concern of mine. But he replied, that is one thing you want to do, but it is important that you know what you must do; now-a-days it is an honor to be pregnant, just remember how difficult they are trying to make it for you. And so the doctor convinced me to go ahead and get pregnant. But my mother was not so fond of that idea.
After two
months my fiancé had the statement that I was pregnant and he took it to Kiel,
now we got permission from Kiel to get married. At home we got rather busy
preparing for a beautiful wedding, because my husband was a sailor, he,
himself had to sew the hem in my wedding dress by hand. It is an old wives’
tale [superstition] that a sailor, if he follows that rule, he will have good
luck when landing in the harbor. On the 31st of May 1940 was our wedding day.
It really was high time. We had a sunny day and Hans Ohlober drove us with his
beautiful carriage and his well-groomed horses to our "Esbrügger Church",
where I had already been baptized and confirmed.
Five months later our Diether was born, by the rising tide. The boy was healthy,
he weighed 8 1/2 pound and had my dark black hair. The midwife remarked about
5:30 PM: "The ebb is coming in, if the boy is not born by 6 PM you'll have to
suffer another 6 hours. During ebb tide it's not so good with the birth. And she
was right, the boy was born 20 minutes after midnight, just when the rising tide
came in. All the excitement and all the hardship I have forgotten, when I held
my baby Diether in my arms. He had a brother and later a sister.
Addendum: I researched all the way back to the 16th century, until I found out from where the name "Freudenthal" originated. At that time there was a jew by the name of John Freudenthal, who moved from Leipzig to Hamburg. Now it is a fact that a few drops of Jewish blood runs through my veins, as well as through the veins of my children and grand children.
Newsletter submissions
by E-mail:
jkostick@bellsouth.net
John Kostick
131 NE 172nd Street
Miami, Florida 33162