Bad Arolsen, Kohlgrund, Wetterburg - June 16

Quiz for travelers in Germany:

1. Q: While traveling in a foreign country, how many credit cards can a bank reject before a traveler would consider closing their account and finding another credit card company?  A:  Probably just one--but ask John
2. Q: How many adults can you fit in a Volkswagon Polo (small car)?  A:  At least 6 (see photo below: one  person missing from the photo--Chuck Steele)
3. Q: What information should you provide when ordering water (wesser) at a restaurant?  A:  Either gas or no gas; default is gas (carbonated).
4. Q: What is the evening deadline at a hotel pool or spa when swimsuits are optional?  A: There is no set rule.  It could happen any time (see comments by Wes later in the blog) depending on the hotel.

Emily Ryba, Ann Merfeld, Gilda Syring (local) Wes Sime and Steve Sprenger

Family History Research Observations


In cemeteries in Germany, grave sites are reused. They are expensive to keep in the family. If a family cannot afford to pay the fees over time, the rights to lease the grave may be given to another family. If the family can afford to pay the fees but another death in the family occurs, the body of the recently deceased would replace the bones in the casket and the older bones would be buried under the casket. Therefore cemeteries are not the best source of family history information.  

In our discussions this week, however, we have met several people who are working on records to track the vital statistics of  family history.   One such example is a record called the "sippenbuch".  In Vasbeck we saw a copy of  the Vasbeck sippenbuch which records families units, their birthdates, marriages  and other vital information going backward in time, several  generations.  Sippenbuchs started post World War II and are only found in the Waldeck area of Germany according to Erhard Kraft (Erhard is a family history researcher who appeared at our hotel today--he had heard about our tour group in the newspaper and showed up to share what he was doing).   The practice has continued  in  recent times.  We saw a more recent copy tonight that was prepared for the town we will visit tomorrow.  Cathy Wittmer reported that a copy of the old Vasbeck sippenbuch we saw in Vasbeck was donated  some time back to the Freeborn County Historical Society and is found there today.

On the lighter side:

At the museum yesterday, we were shown a tool called a "ladehebebuehne" that was used decades ago as a lever to hoist heavy objects. The joke goes that a woman would threaten her husband who had been out drinking at the  pub the night before, if he did not get out of bed, she would use the ladehebebuehne to raise him out of bed to get him moving. This gave Cathy Wittmer some ideas because, Bob, himself admits that he is not a "morning person" (but not for the same reason as in the joke).

...and for Today's Report

Today, we visited the Kohlgrund Church and local dairy farm with the Bruhman family. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­  The name of the farm itself is called the KuckensMuhla which means Cuckoos Nest.

At Kohlgrund a small village northeast of Vasbeck. We met a church member who opened the church for us. The church there was rebuilt but still had the Alter from the old church. Very noticeable was the moments outside the church. There were   memorials of people from the eighteenth century. Inside was a   memorial of soldiers killed in WWII. A few yards was a memorial area that another memorial of both WWI and WWII dead. Many names again were the same as families from Pickerel Lake. There was a 90 year old woman that was supposed to meet us who name was Heine. She was having her hair done and we had to leave before we met her. 

At the Kohlgrand Church we saw the familiar names of Gerhard, Korn, Dresher, Wittmer,  Heine, Koppe, Bohley (Wilhelm), Brummer (Karl), Feinschmidt, Miller (Ernst) and  Muller (Fritz)  soldiers who were missing in action. 


On the bus ride back Ruth explained that Ruth and Alice's grandfather Daniel Heine came with Henry Wittmer on the ship Oder and later married Caroline Bickman, who also came with the group.  After a few years in MN, Daniel took his family to Chadron, Nebraska where most of his 7 children were born including Ruth and Alice's father Ernst who was the youngest.After a few years, the Heines moved back to MN and farmed in Pickeral Lake Township just west of Pickeral Lake Church.

Reports are that Big John should be our poster child for international relations. He successfully restrained his natural inclinations toward violence in the second bank when they told him for sure that his credit card or debit card would absolutely not be accepted for withdrawal of Euros.  He could easily have started WWIII or simply have ended up in jail.  Then we would have been in real trouble trying to come up with the cash to bail him out. No problems though – when John cooled off he was the consummate diplomat.

Over lunch I had a nice discussion with Vernell and Karen Katzung getting into their family background. Vernell had grown up south of Kiester until age seven (which I did not know way back then) and he lived very close to the farm owned by my uncle Milton (Jim) Sime. Later they moved to Hartland and then on to Owatonna to farm. I asked why all the moves and found out that it was very difficult back then (in the 1940’s) to buy a farm. One could easily rent from the owner as a tenant, but Vernell’s father finally moved to Owatonna where he then was able to purchase land for $200 / acre. It was apparently a very large price at the time, but within a few years that same land had arisen to $500-600/ acre. Vernell’s wife Karen grew up just a few miles away and they currently live on the same farm that her parents held for many years.  Karen is able to take her grandchildren on the same merry-go-round that she grew up with, simply because they live on the property where her elementary school sat on before the schools consolidated. So now Vernell has a tool shop that is partially structured with the lumber that he salvaged from the old school that had to be torn down in the interest of progress.  This is the closest example of how in Germany the communities retain the same style of construction when repairing or reconstructing old buildings.

So we just finished a tour of the dairy farm. A family of three (mother, father & son) together with 2-3 hired hands can handle a herd of 120 milk cows and 300 acres (measured in hecters).  At least an equal number of calves, yearlings and young cows also populated this farm site. Numerous tractors and haymaking equipment were found around the many buildings on this place. Bunk silos (3-4) each contained different combinations of green grain silage. It was mixed carefully in big sophisticated wagons and then augured out to the mangers which the cows ate out of. We had a wonderful tour by father and son team of owners who dearly loved the work that they do with the Holsteins (and occasional Brown Swiss) cows to develop maximum production most efficiently and cost-effectively. It has to be a difficult and complex challenge as we know all farming in the USA is ten times more technical and challenging with rising expenses for land, machinery and see products.

Heinz Bruhman, Xenia (our tour guide) and Heinz's son

Most of us were very intrigued with the computerized system for handling the cows by a sensor hanging around their neck and tags in the ears. As an aside, a long while back, I took my 10 year daughter to visit the farm that I grew up on. My father was eager to show Natalie all the exciting stuff on the farm.  As we were driving through the feed lot, my innocent but naïve daughter asked her grandpa why do the cows have those “price tags” in their ears.  Honey that is because those big, dirty, dumb animals are very pricey on the market.  Ho.

After touring the feeding areas and asking lots of questions about cost, value, numbers and all, we finally ended up in the milking parlor where everyone really wanted to see the action involved in milking cows. We were treated to a display of an 18 stanchion milking parlor which two workers can manage. It takes about ten minutes per cow to complete the milking process, thus two hours every morning and every night make up the dairy farmers pleasure daily, weekends included.  When we asked Mr. Bruhman about his days off each week, he replied that he milks cow for his work Monday through Friday and then on Saturday and Sunday he milks them for leisure or his pleasure (translation = there are no days off). Although in the off season two of the four workers can handle the milking while Mom and Dad take a little vacation.

We asked Heinz, "Why are the speakers there?"  He replied in German, "We stopped using the speakers to broadcast music in the barn, because we could not get the cows to agree on what type of music they wanted!"

Milking Parlor

After the milking parlor we got a real lesson in the birds and the bees, as Xenia says with a sheepish embarrassed smile. Insemination is the preferred method for producing baby calves once each year. However, when the insemination fails and some of the cows do not test pregnant, then they go back to the old fashioned natural method of one bull and one cow. Someone in the group asked a serious tongue in cheek question. “How do you get the bulls to contribute semen when they are not interested.” A very logical question, to be sure, though the answer was more complicated. We were told the professionals are very good at getting the cows in the mood. You can guess about where it goes from there.

At the end of the tour we were treated with the fruits of the dairy farm experience. Mr. Bruhman said, we milk in the morning and we have yogurt in the package by afternoon. Further pulling our leg a little, he said that the chocolate milk served to us only comes from the Brown Swiss cows which naturally are very dark brown in color. Then we were offered coffee flavored milk and a very strange product from the cows – little airplane size bottles of Schnapps and Bourbon. Who would have thought we could get such well fermented products from simple dairy milk. Ho ho.

This evening was another special treat.  Steve Lindeman and I made it down to the Spa. Also joining us were Ann Merfeld and Emily Riba, the youngsters of the trip. They were most interested in the Jacuzzi and the “healing water” that Steve is still selling, by the way. Steve and I could not talk them into going to the Sauna. I think when they heard that most of the people in the Sauna (men and women) were in the buff, yes they were totally nude. You will have to ask Steve whether he ended up in his birthday suit as well.  Reports are that he skipped the dinner at the Burg so he could continue collecting sociological data in the Sauna. For me, I keep my suit on the whole time and wished that I had a full body suit. But that did not stop me from making several trips in and out to cleanse my soul, my spirit as well as my body with the refreshing hot, hot sauna.

Most of us (excluding Steve and Annie) ended up at the Burg for dinner. Not sure if Annie found the Sauna or not. Steve Sprenger did a wonderful job of hosting our Arolsen / Menningerhausen and Diemstadt relatives in the form of the Dittmer Wittmer, Fritz Pistorious and their wives plus the three Emde families, Lydia, Stephanie and Phillip. He made formal introductions all around the table with translations from Zenia and then we all ate and talked for a couple of hours. Steve will add more details and I hope Chuck tells us more about the genealogy as well.

Our local hosts singing the anthem of Waldeck

To close the evening I got most in our group a tour of the upstairs bedrooms (you will have to share your own observations therein). Finally I heard from the Mrs. Wittmer and Mrs. Pistorious that they would love to come to America for a visit, but alas it was just too difficult to organize a group (like we have done).  So I spoke to Phillip and Stephanie and asked if they would like to go to America next summer and whether they were willing to do the organizing work to get it done. They agreed if the finances could be managed.  Soooo at the end of the evening I stuck my foot in my mouth as is my common tendency and I asked Xenia to translate all of this to the group. 

That is, the trip to America is a reasonable possibility if the retired guests at the table will assist with finances in return for the organizing work from Stephanie and Phillip.  So we will see what comes of it.  The onus is on Phillip – it will be his graduation present if he can pull this off.  Of course we may be asked to be the host families in the USA just like they have done for us.  Are we all willing to help out a little for a couple days that they might be in Freeborn county. I hope so.

The Waldeck Coat of Arms presented today by Fritz Pistorius to our group 

NOW Additions from Steve Sprenger

It is my first time reading this blog, and I find the experiences so far related are well expressed.  My feeling on the trip almost half way through is that our group is richly blessed.   With a few hitches, as previously related, we arrived at Tegel airport in Berlin in good shape.  With the normal overnight jetlag, the Abba Hotel was a welcome sight.  It was Monday morning and our adventures in Deutchland had begun.  

Skipping to today our, our second day at Bad Arolsen,  I arose about seven to the sound of bells.  Our room at the Welcome Hotel is large with a window overlooking the front entrance area.  The window in the bathroom is also a large hinged window that when open gives ventilation with no need for a fan.

As Ann was getting ready, I headed down to the large breakfast room and joined the table with Janan Massey, Chuck and Karen Steele, and Steve Lindeman.  I was happy to see John Perschbacher at the next table looking well rested and in good humor. After his money exchange problems, John was due for a good day—and a good day it has turned out to be.

At our breakfast table, Andrea and then Ann soon arrived and joined the fun.  We had met a German lady at the Zur Burg hotel last evening who had seen the article in the Bad Arolsen newspaper about our American group visiting the area.  Her name is Marie Louise Plukker and as a young woman she had travelled from Germany to USA  where she lived in Mankato for 2-3 years.  She and Ann bonded quickly.   Marie invited Ann to visit her home after dinner and Ann was happy to accept.  The visit at her home is for Ann to relate.  

(Wes notes)> Marie was in Mankato because her father was an indigent engineer in Germany who could find no appreciation for his creative genius building work.  Somehow he encountered the owner of the Kato Manufacturing plant in Mankato and the two of them hit it off famously. As a result Marie and her family stayed in Minnesota for quite a number of years and she got to know her relatives in Kiester (Ralph Troll and his wife Sonia Peterson) together with their young son Kelly. We understand that he drives long haul over the road semi’s.

I was pleased to stay with the group and return to the hotel on the bus.  I was soon to bed and fast to sleep,  leaving the door ajar for Ann.  Good thing, because it was about Midnight when they came to the Hotel.  Turns out, Marie has a relative who was involved in renovating the hotel and the breakfast area.  She knew a lot about the place—including the spa downstairs which has a fountain with “health water”.   She and Ann had a health water drink to top off the evening.

Naturally, after hearing about this at breakfast,  Janan and I headed for the health water down the stairs below the lobby for a healthy drink.   It must have worked since I’ve felt great all day and I think Janan has also.  (Note: Steve is easily suggest-able or gullible as Ann might say).

At 9 am we met Gilda Syring at our bus by the hotel, and the 26 well fed and coffee-laden Americans took the short ride from Bad Arolsen, through beautiful forest and fields to Kohlgund.  Special moments today were our visit this morning to Kohlgrund, lunch at an Italian restraurant in Bad Arolsen and a great time at a dairy farm near Wetterburg.

The bus parked on the street not far from the church.  The old church from the time of the immigration is long gone, and a new church built behind the spot of the old church in 1971. We met Herr Willer who had a key for the church and accommodated our visit. 

Indiviuals whose ancestors originated in Kohlgrund; Janice Nass, Steve Sprenger, Ruth Heine, Alice Ryba, Emily Ryba and Ann Merfeld

The new church is small—not room for more than a hundred to sit in the light blue pews.  It has a beautiful wood painted altar from the old church, which certainly must be the altar the Wittmers (and others who immigrated to America) addressed when they gave praise to their God and Savior.

Original alter of Kohlgrund Church that was rebuilt in 1971

We took many pictures in and around the church.  At one point the church bells rang and this was a surreal moment for me as we saw no one about who might have done the ringing and it was not on the hour.  Reverend Dean Baer led us in prayer and a short sermon from Martin Luther’s teachings.   Wow!   He shared the fact that all good ministers are a little nervous about how their sermons might be received. I guess they are human to, but we don’t usually think of the pastors in this way.

Railroad Bridge at Mengeringhausen which the American bombers attempted to destroy during World War II but failed.  Bridge continues to be operational today.