Grandparents…an imagined adventure
I’d like to think of my grandparents as loving but strict enforcers of rules and regulations. Then again, I never knew my grandparents. They all passed away well before I was born. So the only way I can presume what they were like is from looking at pictures of them and the way my parents brought me up. Note that all four of my grandparents grew up and spent most, if not all of their lives in Germany.
Let’s talk about my father’s parents, Otto and Minna. Otto was the only one of my grandparents that never made it to the United States. He died in 1939 just prior to the start of World War II. The only full-length picture of him that I have was in an army uniform, assumedly during WW I. He seemed like a very proud man. He would have been the one that was very strict with my father and probably very aloof from him. My father never shared any stories about his parents with me.
Minna on the other hand died in 1941 in New York. Everything I learned about her, believe it or not, was from my mother. She lived with my parents when they first got married in 1941. According to my mom, she was a busy body. She had to watch everything my mother did and criticized whatever my mother was doing. I suspect that she was the dominant force in my father’s upbringing, demanding perfection and enforcing rules that had to be followed.
Then there were my mother’s parents, Herman and Lina. This time it was my mother that failed to share stories about them. Most of the pictures that I have of them, show them together. So I have a feeling they felt very close to each other.
Lina died in 1938 in New York. From the pictures of her, she clearly loved kids. She had 6 of them and considering all the tomboyish adventures my mother exhibited in her youth and got away with, I’d say her mother was kind and somewhat less lenient than Herman. Not that I know much about him.
Herman died in 1947, three years before I was born. All of the photos I have of him seem to be taken outside. So I would surmise that he liked the outdoors. My sisters were both born before he died. My sister Leslie was only 2 years old and my sister Marion was only 4 years old. I’m not sure either of them remembers much about him.
It’s hard to imagine what my grandparents were really like since no one ever talked about them. I’m curious whether or not being German Jews living in Germany prior to WWII might have made it more difficult for my parents to want to share any of their stories.
Luckily for my son, other than my father, the rest of his grandparents were alive as he grew up. I try to share with him some of the stories of my parents with him so that he can create an image of his grandparents that he can relate to. It always helps to know where you come from. That’s probably why I got so interested in my ancestors and genealogy and found my half-brother (https://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=320) along the way.
