TO CELEBRATE A HISTORY OF LOVE, DETERMINATION AND FAITH
OUR PARENTS
Margarete (Gretel) Mathilde Schakat
March 14, 1923 (Königsberg, Ostpreußen)
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May 3, 2012 (Ottawa, Canada)
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May 3, 2012 (Ottawa, Canada)
Arno Walter Fischer
April 12, 1904 (Klein Engelau, Ostpreußen)
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September 21, 1982 (Ottawa, Canada)
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September 21, 1982 (Ottawa, Canada)
Our mother is the author of
WHERE HOFFMAN TOLD HIS FAIRYTALES!
WO HOFFMANN SEINE MAERCHEN ERZAEHLT HAT!
Her personal memoirs of growing up in Königsberg, East Prussia (Ostpreußen) and then moving to the country to live with our father on a prosperous farm in the small village of Klein Engelau.
She recounts the heartbreak of losing her twin brother, Hansel, to illness as a teenager and shares the frightening story of how, in her early twenties while our father was a prisoner-of-war, she gathered their two small sons and her mother and escaped the encroaching Russian army on a horse-drawn wagon in the middle of winter.
Her story is not the only example of heroic women who stayed behind in Ostpreußen while their husbands fought battles in WW II. There are thousands more just like this. But Margarete is our mother, and she wrote her story as a legacy for her family. We will never forget her and we will love her forever.
This journey is for you Mutti. Toi toi good luck.
This journey is for you Mutti. Toi toi good luck.
From "Where Hoffman Told His Fairytales" [Page 127]...
As soon as
the band struck up its first tune, the brother that Tante Grete had described
as a farmer came to ask Gretel to dance. Gretel was taken aback, but accepted
his offer and had a chance to discretely assess him. He seemed a bit older, and
cut a good figure in his well-tailored, dark pin-striped suit.
He told
her that he had taken lessons at a dance school in Wehlau, which Gretel didn’t doubt,
because he led her expertly in a brisk waltz, changing the step forward from
natural to reverse, and from one end of the hall to the other as if he owned
the place. He swung her around so jauntily that she practically got dizzy, but
he held her tightly as if intending never to let her go.
He was
keeping up a conversation at the same time. He seemed pleased when Gretel told
him that she was from Königsberg and that she was completing her service year
at her aunt’s place in Groß Engelau. A bit later, he asked for another dance,
and this time began to flatter and compliment her. He boasted that he owned the
largest and best farm in all of Klein Engelau. When he sensed that this failed
to impress her, he added that he had just purchased a new car and that he would
like to invite her for a drive. Would the following Sunday be convenient?
At this
point Gretel stopped abruptly in her tracks. She pulled away, gave him an
indignant look and asked, “Herr Fischer, tell me, where exactly is your wife?”
He laughed, unfazed, and reached for her again. “Don’t you know? I’m holding her in my arms!”
He tried to resume the dance, but she pulled free once more, turned and left Herr Fischer standing, dumbfounded, on the dance floor.
He laughed, unfazed, and reached for her again. “Don’t you know? I’m holding her in my arms!”
He tried to resume the dance, but she pulled free once more, turned and left Herr Fischer standing, dumbfounded, on the dance floor.
