A few weeks to go until we leave for Eastern Europe with Jim and Nancy Youngerman. These dear and capable friends have eagerly volunteered to plan every detail of the entire trip. No doubt they have spent countless hours and days making the arrangements . I only have one day to plan and it has taken weeks. This is the problem: there is more than one Linda, Germany.
In 1945, my father, Max Gendelman, was as he said, "a guest of the Nazis." Missing in action for 5 months after capture in The Battle of the Bulge, having endured grueling marches, cattle car transport, hard labor and starvation, he ended up in eastern Germany near the Czech border. American soldiers were put to work picking crops in a makeshift prison on the farm commandeered from the Fischer Family by the Nazis. The location, Linda, Germany.
His book recounting the events at the farm, including his escape with Karl Kirschner, the Fischer's grandson are chronicled in A Tale of Two Soldiers to be published November 5, 2013.
www.taleoftwosoldiers.com
When I realized we would be near the Czech German border I floated the idea of trying to find the farm property to my traveling companions. They enthusiastically gave it a green light, so I went to the map store seeking the Michelin driving maps to eastern Germany. Yes, there was a Linda near the Czech border. I saw that it was approximately four hours drive from Prague and would not take us too far out of our way back to Berlin. I reserved a car, made hotel reservations near the town and thought about how to make contacts there. As a librarian, I am partial to using the often creative and unsung resources public libraries have to offer, so my first thought was to begin there. A quick journey to Google Earth brought me to the village of Linda, and keying in "libraries" in the search nearby box offered a list of libraries. By coincidence, our friend Barbara had a German speaking guest staying with her, so I leaned on her to call the city library for me. it turned out that Frau S. the only English speaking employee would not be there for a week. A young friend, Patrick, a German major, performed the next good deed by phoning upon her return. She recommended we speak with Herr P. in the city archives. Calling takes some planning. Some of these offices are only open two days a week. Also, in order to reach them in the morning before lunch break it is wise to initiate calls very early in the morning.
I sent Herr P. photos and an explanation of what I wanted. In the meantime I thought it might be helpful to provide the name of the Kirschner's cousin who they had willed the farm to. I emailed Chuck Kirschner and received an unexpected surprise; the inheritance documents to the property, which pinpointed the location. I promptly forwarded them to Herr P. in hopes it would expedite the search. Imagine my disappointment when he notified me that the village named Linda of our pursuit was the wrong town. We wanted the other Linda, 150 miles to the east. Yes, that one is near the Czech border as well, in Saxony. So, I cancelled the hotel, thanked my new friend, Herr P. and began again.
The larger city very close to the new Linda is Frieberg. Google, who usually knows all, brought up Freiburg. Not noticing at first the spelling problem, I made my pan of attack as above. Luckily the first person I spoke with at the public library was a kind English speaking gentleman. I explained about my search for Linda archives. He had never heard of the town, which struck me as strange as it is only 5 miles from Frieberg. I heard him clicking computer keys and emit a long ooh. He told me I wanted the other town, spelled with an e, and I was talking to the town spelled with a u. He wished me luck because he said it was possible I would not find an English speaking person in the smaller locations, but maybe Russian. The area had been East Germany for 40 years.
Back to the drawing board,and another early morning on the phone. I have gotten over my embarrassment of phoning foreign numbers and blurting out "I only speak English, can you help me?"
Finally, at the Frieberg library the receptionist called on her colleague Astrid, who speaks English. She was most encouraging. I emailed the document, photos and background information. She emailed back that it would be forwarded to the proper people, and she said she would talk to her friend in Linda whose parents have lived there for many years.
Stay tuned.
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