Continued from page one, the German Sewing Diary and Helli.
Sorry no pictures allowed.
If I can go by what Barbara says (girlfriend to Oliver), Oliver has become obsessed with this story as I have. It makes me giggle to think of our own story unfolding as we search for clues in the writings of a woman more than 80 years ago. There are layers and layers to this adventure. Should we say like an onion? But that would make you think it was stinky or produces tears. Then maybe it is like a rose with petals unfurling and revealing a center and fragrance oh so sweet. I have yet to figure out which it is to be.
Onward shall we?
Since we left Helli last, I have found/acquired another document that is very helpful to our story. Our curiosity lead both Oliver and I to the internet. Oliver found the name Neutzner in the diary. It was the last name of a set of grandparents. Paternal or Maternal we were yet to know. We found a family of Neutzner’s in Omaha, Nebraska. In particular a man named Heinz. By putting the last name in Ancestry.com we found even more.
On Monday of this week I found a phone number listed in documents on Ancestry.com for a Heinz Neutzner. With fear and trepidation I called the number. Thus began a whirlwind of conversations and discoveries. All of which I wish I could put here in this blog. But alas, there are living family members that I feel obligated to protect and honor their requests.
To help ease the pain of not concluding this mystery as I had hoped, I can tell you this much about Helli and the diary. Helli and her family did live through WWII. Her entire family immigrated to the US in 1954. She is alive and well and as I understand from speaking to her brother and sister, is still very lively and willing to chat with me. I hope I can in the near future.
While Helli was cleaning out her house to make a move to a smaller apartment and the notebook was tossed, thinking it had no significance anymore. Helli’s younger sister is not happy about this. She has contacted me and asked if she could buy back the diary. Since I have scanned the whole book and contents, I agreed to sell it back so it can remain with the rightful family. I am very sensitive about family heirlooms being lost, that is, a portion of why I reached out to find the Neutzner family. This Diary was looking more and more like a baby book.
Helli’s sister has spent many years collecting and writing a family memoir, with hope to publish it. They were kind enough to share it with me. It was this book, a very comprehensive look at not only the Neutzner family but a part of WWII that has been hidden and un-researched, that allowed me to know Helli and especially her mother on a very real level. Knowing why this woman who had so precisely logged the clothing and life events of Helli’s first 6 years, was the most important part for me. I have my answers now.
Some of you (my blog readers) with whom I have shared other details about this diary, I will be able to tell you more of what I learned over dinner sometime. But, alas, those of you who do not know me personally I will have to end the tale of the Sewing Diary here. And I was so looking forward to sharing with you page 14 & 24. Maybe at another time.
Auf Weidersehn.
2 comments:
WOW! I'd feel sad about not reading the rest of the story, but I know I can have dinner with you sometime and hear it. I'm so happy you found Helli and the rest of the family.
Don was privileged to be gifted a diary once. We have become life-long friends of the family, sort of "honorary" members. They're Conscientious Objectors who live in the Midwest. They have Pacific Northwest ties (the diary took place during WW2 here in the PNW. It's a lovely love story.)
We can swap stories some time... In January - we'll have to set a date.
Since they were both schooled in Bohemia, Heli's mother's handwriting resembles Kafka's. It was very good of you to hand the documents back to the family.
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