Growing up in Post War Germany
A biographical conversation embedded in our recent history
With the intention to give a testimonial for the younger generations about how those times were like – in many ways radically different from our present time (2019)
We were two sisters and 3 brothers in our family. Marianne left Germany in her twenties for the USA, Heidi left for Italy in her early 30ies.
Thanks to modern technology they can now connect and talk about the past, their family, their surroundings, the way of living in that time.
The intention, certainly, is also to refresh the memories which do not always coincide. But more than everything else they want to leave some information “first hand” for future generations, in case they would like to know how life was for their parents, grandparents and ancestors.
Most of the people getting old today haven’t known a lot about their parents’ life, they hardly talked about it but were concerned to feed and grow their children. Their experiences during the world wars were not something people easily talked about. We didn’t really know our parents on a deeper level and how they grew up.
That’s why we want to give a chance young people and future generations to hear about previous times. Naturally, we are talking about our own subjective experiences, our own fallible memories, which nonetheless can be a piece in a puzzle for who desires to reconstruct the reality of people living in a different epoche.
EXPLORING THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
GROWING UP IN POST WAR GERMANY #3
Marianne West und Heidi Hörnlein
The first day in school: Heidi with the German “Zuckertüte”
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After watching session # 1 & 2, I just have to make a comment. I can’t believe how similar our lives were. My father also went to war and our family had a dynamic as a result. Grandmother took an active, controlling role with fairly rigid judgement. I too learned to cook & sew, knit and crochet but I learned most of it in school and from my mother-in-law while a young mother. I remember my mother saving everything and “gift wrapping” her wet garbage. I remember myself boiling the diapers on the electric stove. Lots of commonalities. There were times when I wish I could have texted the English words you were looking for.
One thing I regret is not being interested when my mother wanted to tell family history stories. Perhaps it is as Heidi has suggested. It’s about our stages of development.
Hi Lowell Ann! Thanks for your comment. This seems to have been common practice in those days. Are you of German origin? Your name seems to hint to that!
We are doing these shows to show how much times have changed. Young people of today have no idea how life looked like only 5 or 6 decades ago.
What a shame that you didn’t listen to your parent’s life stories. Our parents didn’t tell us a lot. Once my mother answered many of my questions and I took notes – which then I gave to her. And now they have disappeared. Too bad.
Fuglsang (my husband’s name) is a Danish name meaning birdsong.