My father, Siegfried Mikuteit, was born on July 9, 1929 in Pagrienen, East Prussia, which was then part of the German Republic. Ethnically Lithuanian, my ancestors on my father’s side moved from the area governed by Lithuania, into that ruled by the German Republic. Many Lithuanians lived in this north section of Prussia.
This is a record of his birth provided by a priest in his village, since his original birth certificate was lost in the war.
Another birth record provided during the war: My father died on October 24, 2019, at 90 years of age, from complications resulting from pancreatic cancer.
These are some of his documents to help tell the story of his life.
My father was not very emotional, so it was difficult for him to share aspects of his life that pertained to his emotional experience. I found some insight into his early interests in science, from this early autobiographical document which he wrote in 1958 when he was 28 years old. I believe that this autobiographical document was written at the request of someone helping him seek employment, as I found some questions/prompts for this writing, written in someone else’s handwriting, together with the document. This is a transcription of his writing:
Early report cards: This first report card from 1938, when Siegfried would have been 9 years old, is written in both Lithuanian and German languages, which shows the cultural overlap in this area. Card from Summer 1941: A report card from Weinachten 1941, or Christmas 1941:
March 1942:
June 1942 and Christmas 1942:
Report cards 1943: Record of education in Germany: My father’s certificate of naturalization: His military induction order: A military record: Photos of his platoon, Company B – 13th Armored Infantry Battalion Fort Knox, Kentucky:
His Radio Operator certificate:
His report cards from Ohio State university:
Placement on Dean’s List: Addresses in Ohio: A security questionnaire he filled out: More home addresses from another security questionnaire:
Record of military duty:
My father’s documents included records of compensation for WW II refugees: I will put all of those in a separate post.
This is his handwritten resume, which details his educational and work experience:
This chart of “heaven” shows my father’s sense of humor:
My father at work and backpacking: And backpacking:
My father received a letter thanking him for helping someone solve an engineering question:
My father went on many backpacking trips with his work friends, but he was not the type who would write about his adventures. So this is an account written by one of his friend’s of their backpacking trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon at Havasupai falls in 1997 and 1998. It is unclear if this was one trip or accounts from several trips.
I am in the process of converting old Super 8 family films, made in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, to digital form, so that they can be preserved for future generations to see.
This one shows Deborah and Eric at their grandparent’s house, at Christmas, 1965:
https://youtu.be/F_4ZS7OrXrc Deborah and Eric “hat dancing” at grandma and grandpa’s house, and then playing in the backyard of their Columbus OH home, at 120 East Chase Rd (home built in 1954) in June 1966.
This one features Deborah and Eric on the swingset in their backyard, at 120 East Chase Road, in Columbus, Ohio, in August 1967:
This one features Deborah and Eric at Christmas, 1966, and then at Easter, 1967. Plus, “The Exercise Dynamos”!!
If you look closely at the orange colored building beyond this yard, you’ll see the same orange colored building in some of these films. This is a brick building — the street behind this house has several of these brick apartment buildings — so, being unpainted brick, the color of the building has stayed the same for over 50 years….
Eric and Debbie talk to Mom in 1967. This video contains a portion of a 40 minute audio tape from 1967 and 1969 — the only surviving audio recording from their childhood — the transcript of which is here.
The video covers material on pages 5, 6 and 7 of that transcript.
The longer video, containing the entire 40 minute audio recording, is here:
There was no video made simultaneous to the audio recordings, these video clips and images shown in the video were made at other times. There are notations within the video about when they were filmed.
As a nice complement to these childhood films, is a film made which tells a story about Deborah (aka Debbie) as an adult in her late 20’s, as narrated by Debbie’s co-worker from the late-1980’s era, Kathy Bruin:
The first 2/3 of the film is Kathy’s narrated story, the latter 1/3 of the film is Debbie’s telling of the same story using her photographic images, and music called “Versace Beat” by a creator called Yung Logos.
Some documents from that video:
Pookie the Squirrel saga;
Bobcat Adventure:
The bobcat in its coffin:
Bobcat in final resting place
Dinky Mouse Correspondence:
The story I wrote about the bobcat adventure shortly after it occurred, in January 1989:
The Hohoss (Hohoš on the Croatian side of the family) surname comes into my family through my great great great grandmother (3X great grandmother) on my mother’s side. My 3x great grandfather Joannes Galvanek married Anna Hohoss.
A Croatian relative, Slavko Hohoš, has written a whole book about the Hohoš family in Croatia.
The Edelowitz (Idolovitz, Idolovice) surname enters into my family tree through my sister in law’s great grandmother on her father’s side. Her grandfather was Jules or Julius Holzman, and he was the son of Abraham Holzman and Sophie Edelowitz, whose last name was Idolovice in her native Romania.
Sophie’s parents and she and all her siblings were born in Romania, and the whole family immigrated to the US in about 1903.
Her parents were Wolfe Idolovice and Syma or Sarah Idolovice, and her siblings were Sam or Shmul, born 1887, Francis or Fradel born 1893, Isidor or Idel born 1892, and Harry born 1899/1900.
A 1905 NY census shows these family members and ages:
Name:WolfIdolovice Birth Year:abt 1853
Birth Place:RomaniaAge:52Gender:MaleRace:WhiteResidence Year:1905Residence:Manhattan, New York, New York, USARelationship to Head:HeadAssembly District:08Election District:14Household Members:
This is a 1910 census showing the family members: (name spelling has changed_).
Wolfe Gdelowitz [WolfeEdelowitz] Age in 1910:55Birth Year:abt 1855Birthplace:RomaniaHome in 1910:Manhattan Ward 10, New York, New YorkStreet:RivingtonHouse Number:79Race:WhiteGender:MaleImmigration Year:1902Relation to Head of House:HeadMarital Status:MarriedSpouse’s Name:Syma EdelowitzFather’s Birthplace:RomaniaMother’s Birthplace:RomaniaNative Tongue:YiddishOccupation:TailorIndustry:ShopEmployer, Employee or Other:Wage EarnerHome Owned or Rented:RentFarm or House:HouseNaturalization Status:PapersAble to Read:YesAble to Write:YesYears Married:38Out of Work:NNumber of weeks out of work:5Neighbors:View others on pageHousehold Members:
The reason that Sam is not included in the household in 1910 seems to be that he married in 1909 and moved elsewhere with his wife. Perhaps Francis and Isidor also married — in any case they are not living in the household either at this time.
Sam or Shmul Edelowitz married Malka or Mollie Pascal on May 22 1909:
A record for Samuel Edelowitz born 1887 shows him immigrating in 1901 and petitioning for naturalization in . At this time he lived at 5 Whipple Street, Brooklyn NY. He says he immigrated to the US in 1901 aboard the Pretoria on Dec 27 1901.
Name:
Samuel Eidelowitz
Record Type:
Petition
Birth Date:
20 Jan 1887
Birth Place:
Rouman, Roumania
Arrival Date:
16 Dec 1901
Arrival Place:
New York
Petition Place:
New York, USA
Petition Number:
6639
A 1920 Census shows Samuel and his wife Mollie and their children:
That record does not show Nettie, so she may have died. It shows a new child Lillian.
A 1930 Census shows their last name spelled differently, as Adelowitz:
Name:Matilda AdelowitzBirth Year:abt 1920Gender:FemaleRace:WhiteBirthplace:New YorkMarital Status:SingleRelation to Head of House:DaughterHome in 1930:Brooklyn, Kings, New York, USAMap of Home:View MapStreet address:Hoff StreetWard of City:2d ADBlock:DHouse Number:85Dwelling Number:93Family Number:371Attended School:YesAble to Read and Write:YesFather’s Birthplace:RomaniaMother’s Birthplace:RomaniaAble to Speak English:YesHousehold Members:
Neither Nettie or Lillian is shown so perhaps both those children died. New Children William and Hyman are shown.
A death record for Samuel shows him dying Feb 2 1955
What about the other Edelowitzes? Matilda married twice — first a husband Cornell, then a Langer. She died in 2006.
The Holzman family surname comes into my family through my sister in law. The Holzman family origins go back to the city that is now Sokal, Ukraine. An article on the website http://www.JewishGen.org states that:
” Sokal was the city of the Holy Jewish Rabbi Shmuel Rokeach and son Shulem.”
Before the Holocaust, it was a city of 6000 Jewish residents. of whom only 30 survived. Because it is so painful to see the decimation of the Jewish communities in Poland and throughout Europe that occurred during WWII, many have little interest in exploring their roots in this region. I spoke to a man who runs a Judaica store in my area, and he said that for him, he views Israel as his ancestral home, not Poland where his relatives are more recently from. So, depending on one’s views on this and one’s capacity to cope with the utter destruction and devastation of the Holocaust or Shoah, for Jewish people and their families, searching for their ancestral roots in Europe or the Pale of Settlement in Russian lands may not be of interest.
However, for those who are interested in this pursuit, it can be rewarding, and many have traveled to sites of former Jewish Communities in Poland and throughout Europe and been touched by the experience. Some have posted stories about their travels — and there is even one story, which became the book entitled Three Minutes in Poland, about a man who found an old 3 minute film, which led to a whole discovery about his family’s Jewish community in Nasielsk, Poland, just before the war.
The Holzman family lived most recently in Simi Valley CA. Grandfather Jules or Julius Holzman was born in New York City in 1914. A 1930 Census shows him as the son of Abraham and Sophie Holzman , and having two siblings, Minnie and William . In the same household are living Leon Holzman and his daughter Celia. Initially I read the record wrong and assumed Leon was the father of Julius, but it’s actually Abraham who is Julius’ father. A personal conversation on Aug 28 2017, with Stanley Kolber, son of Ceil Holzman and Harry Kolber, grandson of Leon Holzman, helped clarify — Stanley said that Abraham and Israel Holzman were the brothers of Leon Holzman and that all of them and their wives and children lived in one big extended family household in Brooklyn in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Stanley recalled this time fondly and said it was a special time in his life — and recalled the exact address — 299 Saratoga Avenue, “above a meat store.” This is the address shown on Sophie Holzman’s naturalization document (she was born Sophie Edelowitz or Idolovice, —I only found her surname through a death record for her daughter Minnie Holzman Hellman)
So what can be found about Abraham Holzman and Sophie Edelowitz?
Since I first mistakenly assumed that Leon was the father of Julius Holzman, I looked back for information on Leon’s origins, so that research follows here.
First a note about a search for Abraham Holzman records. Stanley said that Abraham was Leon’s brother, along with Israel, but though I do find a brother Israel born to the same parents of Leon (born with the Yiddish name Lieser) in Sokal, Poland (now Ukraine) , I do not find a birth record for Abraham as Lieser/Leon’s brother. Is it possible Abraham was a cousin of Leon’s rather than a brother? And lived in another town? The only Abraham Holzmans I find born in that region of Poland in that time frame (the Lviv township or Lwów Wojewodztwo as it is termed, were born quite far away from Leon’s family. Leon and his parents and siblings lived in Sokal. But the other Abraham Holzman birth records I find, are of one Abraham Holzman born to Fischel Holzman and Neche Holzman in Sambor, Poland on October 12 1887, and one Moses Abraham Holzman born to Salomon Hersch Holzman and Feige Spinner on March 9 1883 in Boryslaw, Poland. Both those cities are somewhat far….Sambor is about 160km from Sokal, and Borylaw about 190km.
Leon was a machinist, and a talented one, recalls Stanley — he believes Leon went to special training for this career. A 1910 census shows Leon Holzman living in Rzeszow, Poland — also about 122km from Sokal, so it seems he might have had his apprenticeship there. Other than this, would he have traveled and known a cousin Abraham? I don’t know, but the birth/marriage and death records for Poland are not complete, so it’s possible a birth record for Abraham is missing. Thus for the time being I will assume that Stanley is correct (he lived with and grew up with these family members after all) and that Abraham is Leon’s brother.
A 1915 NY state Census shows these people living together:
A census record indicates that Celia was born in Austria — which would have been Poland. , which suggests that the father Leon Holzman immigrated from Austria after Celia’s birth in 1913. The census states that Julius’ father was born in Austria, and his mother in Romania.
A 1940 Census shows Jules Holzman married, living with his wife Pearl Holzman in Queens NY.
Leon had submitted a petition for naturalization:
Leon was born in May 1887 in Galicia, Austria…which was actually Galicia, Poland. This article describes the region. Indeed his arrival date, 27 November 1913, does fit with his daughter Celia being born in Europe and Julius being born in the USA. It’s stated on his petition that he is a widower, his wife Sarah having died.
A 1940 Census shows another Leon Holzman, age 52, living in a rooming house at East 205th Street with many others — he’s working as a musician and is recorded as being married. So there is at least one other Leon Holzman in NYC at this time, born around the same year.
However, we can tell that isn’t the correct Leon HOlzman by his work– the grandfather of Stanley was not a musician but a machinist. The record below shows the correct one, as he’s stated as having been born in Poland (instead of Russia) and he is living with the others in the family. He is working as a machinist.
I found another family tree online, on Ancestry, where someone has Leon Holzman in their tree, but they have the wrong birth year. I think they are confusing these two Leon Holzmans in New York City. Theirs they show born in 1890 (ours is definitely born May 18 1887 — stated in his documents and fits the census reports) and theirs they show married to Helen Gerber from Germany. Our Leon could possibly have married again, but his daughter Celia was the daughter of Sarah in Poland. This is the profile they have for him which confuses the two Leon Holzmans:
In 1924 Leon Holzman applied for a passport application and this document has his photo: (Leon’s is the photo in the 2nd document below)
On the passport application, dated Nov 29 1924, Leon’s father is stated as being Jonas Holzman. Leon states his birth place as Sokal, Austria — this would be Sokal, Poland — until it was annexed by the Habsburg Empire and thus became part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire.
Leon’s co-signer on the application was friend Moses Bard, a tailor living at 97 East 3rd Street, New York NY. Photo of Leon Holzman.
this is an obituary listed in a NY paper:
Ceil Kolber would have been his daughter Celia. She must have married a man with surname Kolber. This 1940 Census indicates she married Harry Kolber and had two children at the time, Stanley Kolber 4 yo and Benjamin Kolber just 1 month old.
Celia Holzman was born in Galicia Poland. Father Leon’s petition for naturalization states her birth date is jan 10 1911. But US 1940 Census records suggest her birth year around 1914. She remained in Galicia with mother Sarah while her father Leon went to the US in 1913. While he was in the US, Sarah died in 1918 in Galicia. Leon went back to fetch Celia and brought her to the US after he received naturalization in 1924. She arrived with him in the US aboard the ship Berengia sailing from Cherbourg France, arriving in the US on Feb 24 1925.
The Alien Passenger manifest from the ship Berengia shows Celia arriving in the US at age 12. She is noted as being a “scholar” on the ship document. It’s stated that the person she lived with in her home town of Sokol was Nathan Brule.
I find a Nathan Bruh married to Cirel Han also in Sokol area. Could Cirel Han have been related to Leon’s mother Pesche Han? She is also born in Uhnow like Pesche. This is a birth record of a child Ronie Rikel born to Nathan Bruh and Cirel Han in December 22 1898.
but then, of even greater interest — there is a birth record showing they had a child Sara in 1890>
I believe this Sara is the same Sara who was the wife of Leon Holzman. There are several clues pointing to this.
First the year of birth 1890 is one digit off from the 1899 shown in Leon’s passport application. Secondly there is a notation beside her birth record, faint and in the margin, with the date 24/1 1917, or January 1 1917. I believe this is the date of her death, as I have previously seen death dates noted in the birth record. Finally it makes sense that after Celia’s mother Sara died, she would live with her grandfather Nathan.
In 1940, Celia lived at 2110 Atlantic Avenue in Brownsville Kings NY with husband Harry and 2 sons.
Can any info be found about Leon’s father, Jonas, born in Poland and still living there?
There are some websites which may provide information. One is this site, Gesher Galicia, which has information about Jewish families in this region. Another is this site, which is cataloguing information about Jewish families in Poland. As stated on the Gesher Galicia site:
Gesher Galicia is a non-profit organization carrying out Jewish genealogical and historical research on Galicia, formerly a province of Austria-Hungary and today divided between southeastern Poland and western Ukraine.
This is the area where Leon Holzman was born.
Going to the JewishGen.org site, I look under Holzman and region Lwow province Galicia, and city Sokal, and I find one birth record for a male child Lieser not Leon Holzman, born May 18 1887, to father Jonas Holzman and mother Pesche Han. This is Leon’s exact birthdate.!! Was Lieser a version of the name Leon, …maybe Lieser chose to “Americanize” his name as he turned his thoughts to immigrating to the US?
I contacted one of those who organizes the JewishGen site, and he gave me information, stating that in fact, Lieser is a version of the name Leon! So there it is…the birth record for Leon Holzman in Sokal, Poland/Austria, now Ukraine.
There is another record for Israel Holzman born to the same parents in 1889
Leon’s brother Israel immigrated to the US in 1913, records show, and Stanley recalls him living with Leon and Abraham in the apartment they shared in Brooklyn.
Stanley also says that Israel’s wife’s name was Ethel, and they had a daughter Hannah. This info matches with US Census and other records. Israel changed his name to Isidore.
US Census records of 1930 and 1940 show Isidore’s family:
Isidore’s wife Ethel petitioned for naturalization and in that document is a lot of info about her and Isidore:
Ethel entered the US in September 1920, as Etka Gurman, aboard the Leopoldina, sailing from Le Havre France, with her sister Dora Pick (later spelled Peck) and Dora’s daughter Anna. At first I thought Ethel’s maiden name ws Pick or Peck, but rather I think this was Dora’s maiden name and Dora was born Gurman also.
Isidore and Leon had a sister Etel Beile Holzman born to the same parents in 1892:
Records show that Etel moved to Krakow Poland and married Solomon Goldstein, and worked as a hairdresser. A record of Shoah or Holocaust victims in that area indicates she was a Holocaust victim in Krakow.
Also an Osias Moses Holzman born to the same parents as Leon in 1883:
However, Osias Moses died 3 years later in 1886.
There is also a record for a birth of Josef Hersch Holzman to Pesche Han (oddly the father’s name does not appear in the record, leading me to wonder if the father was a different man) but he also died a few years later as a young child.
A recent record addition shows a Leon Holzmann, born in 1887, in a 1910 Census of the city Rzeszow, living at 2 Lwowska Street, unit 400, born in Sokolow, and this suggests he was single at the time. He may have been in Rzeszow to receive training as a machinist.
Now one thing I notice here is that the name of his birthplace is given as Sokolow, which seems similar to Sokal, but actually it seems it’s not the same town. But, I think Sokal is meant here. Rzeszow is the largest city in southern Poland….
I find no records for a Leon Holzman birth on this website in any other region of Poland during this time.
Let’s begin with a question, to test your historical knowledge.
What was the worst maritime disaster in world history?
No, it was not the sinking of the Titanic, which has been broadcast all over the media and in stories and movies, wherein 1500 lives were lost.
The worst maritime disaster in world history is a tragedy which, like the entire tragedy in East Prussia, almost seems to have been almost intentionally hidden from the world. The worst maritime disaster in world history, was the sinking by Soviet torpedoes of the Wilhelm Gustloff,
The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff — greatest maritime disaster in world history yet hardly known
in which 9350 to 9600 people perished, or over 6 times the number who died on the Titanic.
In fact, the top four maritime disasters in world history — all several times greater loss of life than the Titanic — all occurred during 1944-1945 during WWII in the Baltic Sea and involved civilian loss of life. As is reported by Peter B Clark in his book The Death of East Prussia: War and Revenge in Germany’s Easternmost Province, the second largest maritime disaster in world history was the sinking of the freighter Goya, also filled with thousands of fleeing refugees, where 7000 lives were lost. Then there was the sinking of the luxury liner the Cap Arcona, wherein another 7000 perished, most of whom were former inmates of the concentration camp Neuengamme near Hamburg. That one, quite tragically, appears to have been sunk by British forces. Then there was the steamer Steuben, a former luxury liner, which carried both wounded soldiers and refugees. It was torpedoed by the Soviets and resulted in a loss of life of 3600 souls.
But who knows about any of these events, outside of those studying the history of WWII? Just like the maritime disasters that seem to have been lost to public awareness, the massive tragedy and wholesale expulsion of the East Prussians from their homeland (it has been termed ethnic cleansing by one author) at the tail end of the war and afterward, is hardly known to most of us, and was certainly never taught in school. Actually, it’s only been within the last decade that several books in English on the subject of the Wilhlem Gustloff tragedy have been published — one called Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff by Cathryn Prince. The other is a novel by Ruta Sepetys, herself a daughter of East Prussian refugees, called Salt to the Sea. A third book entitled The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of A Doomed Ship in World War II, has a title that may not be helpful in encouraging compassion for the thousands of civilian lives lost in its sinking. A couple earlier, less known books in English were published in the 1970’s — The Cruelest Night: The Untold Story of one onf the Greatest Maritime Tragedies of World War II, by Christopher Dobson et a. And then The Damned Don’t Drown: The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff by A.V. Sellwood.
The Nazi Titanic
Why is this massive disaster so little known? In her book on the subject, Cathryn Prince points out that both German and Soviet governments forbid their subjects to discuss this tragic event. “Inge Bendrich said her mother was threatened with dire consequences if they uttered one word about the sinking.” (pg 179) She also writes that “The Soviet Union had its own motives for suppressing the story…to question the events surrounding the Gustloff and its sinking could have sparked questions of why those civilians felt a visceral need to flee the oncoming Red Army, an army that liberated people from Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.” (pg 180) Then too, it has taken many years after the end of WWII for the public to begin to recognize the humanity of the German people.
Starting in 1944, Russian forces invaded East Prussia, and most of those living in this area — many of whose families had lived in the region for hundreds of years — were forced to flee as refugees. In total, 15 million East Prussians and ethnic Germans were expelled from their homelands (including areas of Central and Eastern Europe other than East Prussia ) at the end of WWII. (pg 1 A Terrible Revenge by de Zayas) . My father and his entire family were refugees from Memelland in East Prussia — they had to flee and leave behind all their land, all their property, and they were never able to return. Yet this was their homeland — they and their direct ancestors had lived in this area for at least 200 years, perhaps much longer.
Many who did not flee in time or tried to stay, faced grave danger and violence at the hands of the Soviet forces…many were raped, murdered — others put into slave labor or sent to Siberian work camps, where at least half perished, and many lingered for several years after the war’s end. Others starved or succombed to illness. Those who fled as refugees, generally south to what today remains of the nation of Germany, were sometimes on the run for years, as it was very difficult to find a safe haven in a Germany that had been so devastated by WWII. Many starved even after reaching “safe” lands. I count among my own immediate family at least one such who “died on the run” as they called it.
Moreover, since the allies had decided that Prussia was to be taken away from Germany, and these lands given to Poland and Russia, those who fled as East Prussian refugees were never allowed to return to reclaim their property in their homeland. Germany, already limping badly with the devastation wrought by the war, absorbed 12 million refugees from Prussia around the end of the war and thereafter.
World War II was the single deadliest event in human history, with 60 to 85 million deaths. (pg 1, The Bones of my People, by Gertrud Baltutt). In the United States at the present time, even though we have here many refugees and immigrants from WWII devastated areas of Europe, including both my parents, there has been little attention to this suffering. Maybe it is because it happened in Europe and not the US (yet, many who suffered immigrated here) , or maybe becaues the politics of race in the US have been such that we gave a myopic gaze fixated on the institution of slavery in the US, and if there is mention of anything to do with WWII, it is usually the Holocaust that we focus upon.
So, the suffering of East Prussians and ethnic Germans is still little known in the USA. Consider though, that the number of German civilians taken as prisoners and held as slaves in work camps in the Soviet Union, well after the war’s end, is about 270,000, according to this article, a number which is 75% of the total number of Africans taken as slaves and brought to the US (about 400,000).
Consider as well, that the number of East Prussians expelled from their homeland, about 12 million, is 24 times higher than the total number of Africans ever taken as slaves in Africa and brought to the USA (400,000 total), and 3 times higher than the total number of slaves who existed in the US by 1860 (about 4 million). (See this article by Henry Louis Gates ). Given the sheer numbers of people involved, one would think that there should be more awareness of the plight of the East Prussians and other expelled ethnic Germans, forced out of their homes in Pomerania, East Brandenburg, Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Transylvania.
Yet in the USA, particularly at the present time, we are so obsessed with the politics of race, that it often seems that the only people deemed to have a “right” to claim (and study or even know about) their own ancestor’s legacy of suffering, are those who are not white. White people, so the politics of race in the USA goes, have not suffered, they have perpetrated suffering on others. Such a distorted view of modern history deprives us all of our ability to understand and appreciate each other, and in particular, it deprives many of us of our own history, connections with our own ancestors, an understanding of the context in which they lived and from which they emerged, and it mitigates against the way that so many people find healing from such large-scale historical pain and trauma: by sharing our stories.
The invasion of East Prussia by Soviets was termed, by one author, a “Terrible Revenge”, in his book by the same title: . This revenge refers to the fact that the Soviet people were the first to experience atrocities and mass murder of civilians, at the hands of the German Reich, who had invaded this area earlier in WWII. The German forces, operating under the Nazi ideology, exalted not the “white race” (as in the alarming development of the modern day neo-Nazis in the US) but specifically the Germanic race. They directed ethnic hatred not only at Jews, but also at non-Germanic whites or others viewed as “Untermenschen” or subhuman. Mentally disabled Germans fit into this category, as did homosexuals, nd many ethnic Germans died in concentration camps simply because they were disabled individuals or homosexuals. Likewise, the Nazi ideology viewed the Slavic people as “Untermenschen”, and hence there was a deliberate campaign of brutality against the Russian people, replete with atrocities and war crimes.
The Russian people thus have their own stories of atrocities — but since I am writing from the perspective of my father’s family and ancestors who were East Prussians, I seek to gather stories and facts about these experiences. An article from Der Spiegel goes into some of these stories.
Below I list several stories by East Prussian refugees or their children. (After this list I will offer a series of evocative exerpts, statements, and vignettes from these books. )
One book is called “Ruined by the Reich” and this title well accounts for the author’s perspective, which will be shared by many, that the devastation and violence perpetrated upon civilians by the Soviet army in East Prussia, was set in motion with the actions of the German Third Reich in the Soviet Union. As well, the Third Reich made virtual prisoners of the German populace, living under totalitarian rule. With particular relevance to those in regions that would be overrun by Soviet forces, Nazi authorities strictly forbade, under pain of death, anyone from fleeing the region before orders were given to do so. As Cathryn Prince writes in her book Death in the Baltic, pg 43, “In early January the Gestapo shot the Reuter’s neighbor for trying to flee.” When orders were finally given permitting the East Prussians to flee, it was too late for many. And many were furious to see that the Nazi party members saved themselves first, having fled the region before allowing others to do so. One story is telling: a group of East Prussian residents went to the local office of the Nazi party, seeking instructions on fleeing the area. When they arrived there,they found the office vacant, with signs of a hasty departure. “The pigs: they saved themselves first and left us here“, spat one of the villagers.
The German people as a whole have been burdened with the guilt for being the nation who supported Hitler and the Nazi regime of the Third Reich — a guilt which I think affects, in perhaps unconscious ways, many Germans and descendants of residents of the German Empire, to this day. Yet — how difficult it was to deviate even the slightest from the required attitude, views and actions in a totalitarian regime, where even a small deviation could lead to the penalty of death. To be constantly watched and patrolled by SS officers, Nazi party officials, the Gestapo and neighbors perhaps quite willing to settle old grudges by “informing” on other villagers.
As said by Marion Donhoff, of the noble Donhoff family, herself an East Prussian who fled by horseback in 1944 from her family’s large estate at Friedrichstein near Konigsberg — “How hard it is“, she said, “For someone who hasn’t lived under a totalitarian regime to understand the difficulty of any kind of opposition.” Even so, “the German resistance to Hitler was essentially driven and directed by the Prussian nobility and the Prussian corps of officers” (pg 17 A Terrible Revenge). Below, I will post some stories and excerpts which give examples of just this difficulty of opposing a violent totalitarian regime, where German people could be (and were) shot dead for something as seemingly innocent as listening to a British radio station during WWII.
It seems conceivable to me that even if the group of military forces running the Third Reich under Hitler had been small compared to the population of the German Empire as a whole, (and perhaps it was), still, a very small group of people, setting up a totalitarian regime and using appalling violence to defend their power, could potentially put an enormous number of people into fear and submission. Hence the grave danger of allowing a political structure or leadership to exist, which can veer into totalitarianism. And hence the very wise words which we would all do well to heed, spoken by American Abolitionist Wendell Phillips. Speaking to members of the Massachusetts anti-slavery society, on January 28 1852, he said:
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty;
power is ever stealing from the many to the few. The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten. The living sap of today outgrows the dead rind of yesterday. The hand entrusted with power becomes, either from human depravity or esprit de corps, the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.”
Here follows some evocative statements and exerpts and vignettes from the devastation in East Prussia, to help the reader understand what happened there:
(to be continued)
My Mother’s country, now called Slovakia or the Slovak Republic, went through many changes in its history. At the time of my ancestor’s immigration to the US, there were considerable changes going on, and this may be part of what led those doing official census reports to designate their country of origin, somewhat offensively, as “Slovakland.” This photo shows a portion of the 1920 US Census:
The whole page is shown here:
In some cases, the nation “Austria” was originally written in, but then crossed out and changed to “Slovakland”.
What was this “Slovakland”? Those from Poland were, after all, not denoted as Poles from Polishland, nor were Germans indicated as being from “Germanland.” It’s unclear whether the US Census takers were reacting with bile and an anti-Slavic xenophobia when they realized they were required to record so many Slovaks in their offical records. Or were they genuinely confused about the name of the nation these people came from?
“Slovakland” — what was it and how did it come to be?
In this article/blog I want to explore some of the history of what is now Slovakia or the Slovak Republic.
Briefly, Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence in modern times, from year 1000 CE to 1918 CE. From 1918 to 1993 it was part of Czechoslovakia, and then starting in 1993 became its own nation. The details are summed up in this Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia
This would mean that prior to 1918, Slovaks would have been Hungarians, although the Slovak language is quite distinct from the Hungarian language, and is not of the same family. Slovak is a Slavic language, similar to Czech, and Russian. Slovak and Czech languages are West Slavic whereas Russian is an east Slavic language, as shown on this chart:
One of the things most motivating me to study my father’s ancestry and genealogy, is the disappearance or obliteration of the area where he and his family lived, probably for hundreds of years. When I was younger, I thought my father was German, because he came from Germany and spoke German. But he was born in East Prussia. What was East Prussia, and how was it related to Germany? In pursuing that question I was led to a whole series of discoveries, which gave me a better understanding of my family’s background, as well as a massive tragic scenario of the 20th century that none of us are taught about in school.
I live quite far away from the places where my father’s and mother’s ancestors lived — in fact some might say it would be hard to get further away. I grew up in the United States, and actually in that part of the US which in a sense has the “least” amount of history — the West, specifically in California, where my family moved in 1972, and where we’ve all lived ever since. California has a reputation for being a place where one can go and start one’s life over — re-invent oneself as it were. So for immigrants coming from a Europe devastated by WWII, it could be hard to find a place where one could put all that tragedy further behind, than by starting life in California.
I’m aware as well of the dichotomy between my own life at present, and the lives of my ancestors, and in particular, the East Prussian refugees around the end of the war. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, an area which I like many who live here consider one of the most desirable places to live in the world. It’s warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. We have a great abundance of cultural and spiritual treasures in this area. There is no other metropolitan area in the US which has as much open space and parkland — I counted 150 parks in and around the Bay Area, before I gave up counting. There is tremendous ethnic diversity in the area, a climate of tolerance, and plenty of California enthusiasm and optimism.
A redwood forest in California takes you beyond human history …into the dawn of time
Within a 2 to 5 hour drive, I can visit a National Seashore at Point Reyes, go hiking in Yosemite or the High Sierra trails in the Sierra Nevada mountains, drive the magnificent coastline of Big Sur, or visit the high desert in East California and Nevada. Just today I went bicycling among tree-lined shady lanes in Marin county, from Sausalito, tourist mecca on the Bay, through Fairfax, home of the mountain bike, and the town of Ross, the 2nd most exclusive/wealthy neighborhood in the United States. With this much to enjoy and be grateful for, many would wonder why in the world I would want to look back to what happened 75 years ago halfway around the world in little towns in places many people have never heard of. Why not just go out for a walk along the majestic ridges of one of the many parks in my area? Well, when I go there, I’m finding that it’s actually the experience of being on the land itself, that is pointing me towards the land of my ancestors. I think it’s the land spirits themselves who want us to know where we came from.
One of my first discoveries was that although the region referred to as East Prussia was most recently part of the former German Empire, Germany ,the nation by that name, itself only existed since 1871. Prior to that time this region was part of the Holy Roman Empire. But Prussia had existed for hundreds of years prior to the formation of the nation of Germany.
Christopher Clark, author of Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947, says it well: (pg xvi)
“Prussia was a European state long before it became a German one. Germany was not Prussia’s fulfillment — here I anticipate one of the central arguments of this book — but its undoing.”
See this map showing territories in Europe in 1140 CE:
And this is Europe in 1360 CE: (the Teutonic Knights were Christian rulers who battled the pagan Prussians and eventually took over rulership of the Prussian region)
Europe in 1721:
Europe in 1810:
Europe in 1815:
Europe in 1914:
Europe 1922 to 1940:
Europe present day:
So instead of saying Prussia was part of Germany, it would be truer to say that Germany formed out of Prussia. Moreover, Prussians were not all ethnically German simply because the region was Germanized over time and then in 1871 Prussia became part of the German Empire…any more than Russians would become ethnically Chinese if tomorrow all of Russia became part of the nation of China.
Prussia was, to be sure, a “German” region, and from what I can gather, this began in the 13th-14th century when the Prussian population began to be Germanized by the Teutonic Knights. What happened before that? In the book The Baltic Revolution: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Path to Independence, Anatol Lieven writes (pg 40) that the “Old Prussians” were eliminated at the hands of the Germans in the Middle Ages. I am not clear what this means. Apparently Old Prussian was a language — was Old Prussia a nation, that was wiped out in the Middle Ages? This article explores the language relationships of the old Baltic tongues.
What ethnicity were the Prussians? And what ethnicity were my paternal ancestors? This is a puzzle. My surname, Mikuteit, from Mikkutaitis, is not German…it seems it was originally a Lithuanian name. So what ethnicity was my father? Actually based on the surname I surmise that he and his ancestors are descended not from Germanic people but from Baltic tribes, and their people were called the Preussen, or the Balts. From pg 52 of “Forgotten Land: Journeys among the Ghosts of East Prussia”:
“The Prussians were a Baltic Tribe…akin to modern Lithuanians or Latvians.”
My father and his ancestors actually lived in the “very tippy top” of Prussia..not only in East Prussia, which itself was far eastern Germany (viewed by some like Thomas Mann as the wildest region of Europe) but the region in East Prussia that was to the furthest north that one could go, and still be within Prussia, or later, the German Empire. They likely descended from one of three Baltic tribes who had lived in that region from the 5th to the 13th century — the Curonians (Kursiai) or the Lamatieciai, or the Skalvians (Skalviai).
The area where my father was born (Pagrienen, East Prussia, now Pagryniai Lithuania), the town where my grandfather had his mercantile store (Kukoreiten, East Prussia, now Kukorai, Lithuania) and the town where my 4x great grandfather Jurgis Mikkutaitis lived (Minge, East Prussia, now Minija, Lithuania) , as well as the town where the church was where the families were married (Prokuls, East Prussia, now Priekule, Lithuania) were all in the region of Silute, the area of the Lamatieciai.
Map of Baltic Tribes from book “The History of Lithuania before 1795” by Zigmantas Kiaupa.
Living in East Prussia close to the Lithuanian border he was aware of distinctions between his German-speaking family and the Lithuanians on the other side of the border, A distinction appeared because of the use of language, as well, perhaps , due to regions that had been controlled by the Teutonic Knights, a group of Christian rulers who took over the region with the goal of converting the pagan Prussians to Christianity. However, it seems that my father and his family were ethnic kin to the Lithuanians, having common ancestors with them, the Balts, and if so they were not ethnically related to or derived from the German peoples.
Another map of the baltic tribes
This helps explain why when I have DNA test results done, in spite of the fact that nearly all my relatives on my father’s side live in Germany and think of themselves as Germans, I have zero percent German ethnicity. These DNA tests are new, and my understanding is that the attribution of ethnic-nationality may be questionable. But the results seem to support the clues shown by the surname….it seems that I am a Balt, and so is he.
It is not clear to me, and it may be difficult to determine, how many Prussians were ethnic Germans versus ethnic Balts. But Prussia as a whole consisted of a large area , stretching from areas now within the nation of Germany, up through the top of East Prussia, a region now in Lithuania. West Prussia very likely had a different mix of ethnicities than East Prussia, closer to and including these lands of the ancient Balts and the modern day Balts. Many Lithuanians, who were certainly ethnic Balts, and not ethnic Germans, lived in the part of Prussia, which was called “Lithuania Minor.” Pg 363 of The History of Lithuania before 1795, Zigmantas Kiaupa writes, “A fair number of [Lithuania’s] people lived in another country, Prussia, called Lithuania Minor.”
In fact this term, Lithuania Minor, and the information I find about it, gives the clearest indication of the ethnicity of my father and his ancestors. From the Wikipedia article on Lithuania Minor:
The area of Lithuania Minor embraced the land between the lower reaches of the river Dangė (German: Dange) to the north and the major headstreams of the river Prieglius (German: Pregel, now Pregolya) to the south. The southwestern line ran from the Curonian Lagoon (Lithuanian: Kuršių marės) along the Deimena River to its south, continued along the Prieglius River to the Alna (now Lava) river, up to the town of Alna and hence southward along the Ašvinė (Swine) river to Lake Ašvinis (Nordenburger See) and from there eastward to the border of Lithuania Major. The region embraced about 11 400 km². The broader understanding of Lithuania Minor includes the area west from the Alna and south form the lower reaches of the Prieglius and the Sambian Peninsula, making up 17-18 thousand km² in total.
Prior to 1918, all of Lithuania Minor was part of the Kingdom of Prussia‘s province of East Prussia, the core of medieval Prussia. It was a region outside of Lithuanian state, inhabited by a large population of Prussian Lithuanians. The ethnic Lithuanian-Prussians were Protestants in contrast to the inhabitants of Lithuania Major, who were Roman Catholics.
All my ancestors definitely lived in this area called Lithuania Minor — actually at the very northern region of it, closest to Lithuania. From this it seems clear that, as my surname suggests, my ancestors were not simply Prussians, but “Prussian Lithuanians” or “Lithuanian Prussians.” And thus they were ethnic Balts, not Germans. It seems an accident of fate that they lived on one side of the border and not the other, and thus experienced the fate of East Prussia and later the German Empire rather than that of Lithuania.
Where did the ethnic Germans originate? German people existed before 1871 of course…but not in any country called “Germany.” As this article explains it, “The English term Germans has historically referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages” The article also states, “The concept of a German ethnicity is linked to Germanic tribes of antiquity in central Europe.[25] The early Germans originated on the North German Plain as well as southern Scandinavia.[25] By the 2nd century BC, the number of Germans was significantly increasing and they began expanding into eastern Europe and southward into Celtic territory….The Germanic peoples during the Migrations Period came into contact with other peoples; in the case of the populations settling in the territory of modern Germany, they encountered Celts to the south, and Balts and Slavs towards the east…..The migration-period peoples who later coalesced into a “German” ethnicity were the Germanic tribes of the Saxons, Franci, Thuringii, Alamanni and Bavarii. These five tribes, sometimes with inclusion of the Frisians, are considered as the major groups to take part in the formation of the Germans.”
This map shows the general location of the Germanic tribes, which is in the central European area of modern Germany.
When did Germans come to and first live in the region of East Prussia? How was East Prussia related to Prussia as a whole?
It seems likely that the Prussian rulers and aristocracy were mostly or even all ethnic Germans. What I gather is that the rulers, as well as the aristocracy of Prussia came from the Holy Roman Empire to the south. The rulership of Prussia as a whole was centered in Brandenburg, which was one of the 7 electoral states of the Holy Roman Empire, and is now a region in the northeast of the nation of Germany. In Prussia the term “Junkers” was used to refer to landed nobility or estate owners who controlled large parts of the land in Prussia. In his book Forgotten Land: Journeys among the Ghosts of East Prussia, Max Egremont refers to (pg 45) three of the primary Prussian Junker families:
“There were, a German friend told me, three landowning families that, before 1945, were among the richest and most important in East Prussia: the Donhoffs, the Lehndorffs and the Dohnas.”
The Donhoffs were ethnic Germans, and as this article indciates, they were:
Dönhoff, (Polish: Denhoff, sometimes also Doenhoff) was a noble German family, first mentioned in 1282, from the County of Mark in Westphalia; a branch moved to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century and became recognized as szlachta (Polish nobility), but later mostly served the Prussian government. The main seat of the family from 1666 until 1945 was at Friedrichstein Palace in East Prussia.
Countess Marion Donhoff, who lived at the Friedrichstein estate, describes her flight as a refugee from East Prussia in her book Before the Storm: Memories of my Youth in Old Prussia. Sadly the magnificent estate was burned by the Soviet Army in 1945.
Friedrichstein estate
While on the subject of the Prussian aristocracy…
As I’m reading books about the history of Prussia, and the history of the Holy Roman Empire, one of the dilemmas I encounter is that these history books are heavy on the stories about the rulers, the aristocracy, the emperors, monarchs or governments — but here’s much less said about the lives of the common people. The ordinary Prussians. People like my father and his father, my ancestors.
This is a problem with “history” in general…there’s no “generic” or all-purpose “history”, that suits everyone and has everyone’s story in it. History always has a certain focus — and it’s usually focused on large events such as the changes in nations, and rulership. So history is usually the history of “the important people”…but that’s of less interest to us “unimportant” people, as much of our lives ends up not included in such stories.
I’m less interested in the stories about the rulers, the emperor and the aristocracy, and more interested in — what was the day to day life like, in this region, in the early 20th century, or the 19th, or 18th century, or earlier? What were people’s cultural traditions, values, views, beliefs? What was their relationship to their neighbors, to their lands? Did they love the wide blue sky, strewn with trails of white clouds, there at the edge of the Baltic sea? How did they feel about the forests of East Prussia? About the seashore? What was winter like, in that cold place, and how did they welcome the spring? Was it very hot in summer? What kinds of trees grew there? What herbs? What did the air smell like? What stories did they tell by the fireside? Did any traces of ancient paganism remain in these places, or in Lithuania to the north? (Lithuania was last European nation to be Christianized — very late, it held to its pagan roots…I find this appealing and I think there are some interesting stories there.)
So really perhaps I’m more interested in the anthropology or ethnology, or the mythos of this region…but all I can find (written in English..) are books of history, and some personal accounts of the flight of East Prussian refugees. So for the rest, I have to use my imagination to try to construct what may have been.
But Prussia has many meanings beyond what I am looking for….many threads, and these too may have relevance to my own family and ancestors. For instance, in the opening pages of the book Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark, I read that one of the primary reasons the Allied occupation authorities abolished the state of Prussia (all of Prussia, rather than East Prussia specifically) on Feb 25 1947, was because they believed “the core of Germany is Prussia…there is the source of the recurring pestilence.” In particular, the unbroken political power of the Junker class, the noble landowners, was considered to have created (pg xiii) “A political culture marked by illiberalism and intolerance, an inclination to revere power over legally grounded right, and an unbroken tradition of militarism.”
And yet these “traditions” …Clark says (pg xvi) “The core and essence of the Prussian tradition was an absence of tradition.” So he points to Prussia as a sort of accidental creation, a conglomeration of disparate parts and peoples who may well have thought of themselves otherwise than as “Prussian.” What did it mean to the Prussian people to have one ruler or another, to be enfolded within one nation or another? Clark says that “Well into the 19th century there were many parts of the Prussian lands where the presence of the state was scarcely perceptible.”
One of the aspects of life in East Prussia which I stumbled across, in pursuing genealogical records, was the apparent great division between the Lutheran families on one side, and the Roman Catholic ones on the other. I’d have not given this much thought since I’m not familiar with making much fuss about what religion one follows. But in Prussia this apparently constituted a great divide. The area of East Prussia had been formed as the Duchy of Prussia or Ducal Prussia in 1525. It was established as a Lutheran duchy after the conversion from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism of Albert, Duke of Prussia, in 1525. Even in the 20th century, in the Donhoff family, they had decided that “any Catholic child…should not inherit…Marion Donhoff said that for a Catholic to be squire of Friedrichstein had been unthinkable. Roman Catholics were thought of as foreign hypocrites.” (pg 129, Forgotten Land: Journeys among the Ghosts of East Prussia)
Ducal Prussia was largely Protestant, but Lithuania was primarily Roman Catholic. In 1923, 85.7% of Lithuanians were Roman Catholic, and only 3.8% Protestant, as stated here. My grandfather was Roman Catholic, and apparently my paternal ancestors switched from Lutheran to Catholic at some point. I am curious about this and to what extent this may have to do with their living up hard against the Lithuanian border.
One of my biggest pet peeves, is when people ask what they think is a simple polite question, but which turns out to be a complicated question/issue that really isn’t appropriate to try to discuss in the 30 seconds that they have allotted to it. For instance someone is writing me a check, and they see my last name and ask “what nationality is that?” Well if I say “Prussian” they dont’ know what that means since Prussia is not a country any more, and some people have never even heard the term. They will reply , “Russian?” . If I say “Balt” they are likely to be even more puzzled. I can say “Lithuanian” , but if I do that, I am then also participating in the obliteration of Prussia that has been such a tragedy for my family — and so traumatizing for them and, somehow, also for their children. And part of what I feel called to do to heal that tragedy, is to bring Prussia back, not cover it up and make believe that my father was just Lithuanian and lived in a country called Lithuania. For that was not the truth. So when people ask, I say that my name and nationality of origin is “Prussian” but then they stand there with an uncomprehending look on their faces and no, I dont’ feel in the mood to spoon feed them on 20th century European history.
Prussia no longer exists, but the Balts do. And though I have never been to my father’s homeland, I feel a connection with it, which may come from reading about it, or perhaps from some mysterious blood-memory of the region.
And now…I want to explore what actually was involved in the obliteration of the region of East Prussia and the loss of millions of East Prussian families of not only all their property but also their homeland, as they were forced to flee the region during the Soviet invasion in 1944-1945, and were never allowed to return. This story continues in the next article, which I call “The Terrible Revenge: the Obliteration of East Prussia in 1944-1945”.
I’m quickly finding out some of the excitement that can be involved in genealogical pursuits.
Like finding out that I am 32 people away from Albert Einstein in my family tree.
My first excitement came 14 years ago, when I began doing genealogy. Armed with the names of some of my father’s and mother’s more recent ancestors, I was thrilled when I found the first birth and marriage records that confirmed not only what I already knew about these family members, but provided new information and led me to new relatives.
From those new relatives, I did more research, and found still more. I was disappointed when some of the branches of the burgeoning family tree led to dead ends — no more records beyond a certain point, or others with the same name born around the same time, so it was not possible to know for certain who my relatives’ parents were.
For a while, I thought I had come to a stalemate, unable to find any more relatives. But genealogy has developed quite a bit online since I had begun. There are spectacular possibilities now in terms of being able to find relatives that you might have in common with someone else who also has a tree online. So by searching under the names I had, I was able to make some connections on my mother’s side of the family tree, which first led me to additional living relatives, and then, via those they had on their tree — to my first thrill, which was to find a connection (10 people away from me) to a family of nobility in the 19th century Hungarian Empire, the Zamarovsky family.
Once I had found the Zamarovskys, I sensed I would find some other important people, as the elite tend to associate with the elite. So, I searched online under some of the Zamarovsky names, and then obtained a “Smart Match” for one of them. A Smart Match is when you set up a family tree on a genealogy website (such as MyHeritage.com) and then the site software sifts through the family trees of everyone else who has a tree on that site or on some other sites. The software looks for people on your tree who are on someone else’s tree, a tree that has more information about that person, and notifies you of a “Smart Match”. Well I got a Smart Match for a Julianna Baumgartner, who’d married into the Zamarovsky family in the mid 1800’s. From her, connections then led through her brother to the Adler family, then the Kassowitz family, the Bauchs, the Dannhausers, the Moos, and then the Einsteins.
So what’s my relationship to Albert Einstein? Geni.com has a fun way of articulating the connection :
“Albert Einstein is your third cousin once removed’s wife’s great uncle’s wife’s brother’s wife’s aunt’s husband’s brother’s wife’s uncle’s wife’s father’s wife’s sister’s husband’s great nephew.”
Doing more work on the tree from Albert Einstein on out, finding his relatives, and children, led me to another fun discovery, which is that Albert’s son Hans Albert Einstein, and his wife Elizabeth Einstein, lived in my area, in Berkeley California, up to the time of their deaths in 1995. I found records that showed they lived at 1090 Creston Road in Berkeley, and have another address as well for Elizabeth Einstein as 2150 Shattuck Avenue. Looking up the former on Zillow I find the house depicted and there is a note that the Einsteins did formerly live in this house:
Charlemagne: my sister in laws’ 37th great grandfather
I didn’t think anyone in my family were directly descended from Kings or Queens, but recently I was excited to discover that one among us, namely my brother’s wife is in fact descended from many lines of royalty, extending to Charlemagne, first of the Holy Roman Emperors (of the Holy Roman Empire of West and Central Europe) and further back. She is descended from several English and Scottish royal families, namely the Plantagenet family in England and the Stewart Line of Scottish kings in Scotland. I traced her ancestry back to Charlemagne, who is her 33rd great grandfather!
Apparently, though, it is extremely common for those with ancestry in Western Europe to descend from Charlemagne..in fact one website I looked at said that over 90% of Western Europeans descend from Charlemagne!
I myself am not likely descended from Charlemagne, since my father’s roots are in Baltic tribes to the north of the Holy Roman Empire, and my mother’s ancestry is in the Slavic lands to the east of this region.
These first two parts of the family tree extending up to show the ancestors of my sister in law, which indicate the lineage to the most recent members of royalty she is descended from, namely the Scottish kings of the Stewart family.
There was no emperor in the west between 924 and 962.
While earlier Germanic and Italian monarchs had been crowned as western Roman Emperors, the actual Holy Roman Empire is usually considered to have begun with the crowning of the Saxon king Otto I. It was officially an elective position, though at times it ran in families, notably the four generations of the Salian dynasty in the 11th century. From the end of the Salian dynasty through the middle 15th century, the Emperors drew from many different German dynasties, and it was rare for the throne to pass from father to son. That changed with the ascension of the Austrian House of Habsburg, as an unbroken line of Habsburgs would hold the Imperial throne until the 18th century, later a cadet branch known as the House of Habsburg-Lorraine would likewise pass it from father to son until the abolition of the Empire in 1806. Notably, the Habsburgs also dispensed with the requirement that emperors be crowned by the pope before exercising their office. Starting with Ferdinand I, all successive Emperors forwent the traditional coronation.
The Emperor was crowned in a special ceremony, traditionally performed by the Pope in Rome. Without that coronation, no king, despite exercising all powers, could call himself Emperor. In 1508, Pope Julius II allowed Maximilian I to use the title of Emperor without coronation in Rome, though the title was qualified as Electus Romanorum Imperator (“elected Emperor of the Romans”). Maximilian’s successors adopted the same titulature, usually when they became the sole ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.[13] Maximilian’s first successor Charles V was the last to be crowned Emperor.
In the royal family tree below, Charlemagne (Charles Magne) is my sister-in-laws’ 37th great-grandfather, and his father, Pepin the Brief, her 38th great grandfather.
This family tree is a little easier to read:
The house of Plantagenet:
Eleanor of Aquitane is her 24th great grandmother:
And several of the early kings of the Holy Roman Empire were also her multiple-times great grandfathers…for instance Frederick II King of the Holy Roman Empire is her 22nd Great grandfather.
When I have time for it, I’ll trace her lineage through the different royal Houses in Scotland, England and Europe.
Urte Strangulate was a relative of mine born in 1844 in Daumanten, East Prussia.
Her husband was Jokubs Szkisznus, and her two children were Jokubs Sziksznus and Martin Szicksznus.
Really!
This sends me on a flurry of imaginative whimsy:
“It was a dark and stormy night…a wolf howled in the woods and the moon was eclipsed by ominous grey clouds and stabs of lightning bit through the wind and scorched the church steeple…this was the night when Urte Strangulate was born….”
What did she look like? What did she do? From whence did she derive delight and comfort?
Well she seemed to delight in Szicknus, as she married him.
“But as she grew older, …Urte Strangulate was unhappy…once the dark and stormy night passed and the sunshine arrived…she sought out comforts appropriate to her temperament, and found them in a certain Szicknus….”
But though I will always believe she was born on a dark and stormy night, her name only sounds odd to modern, American ears. In the time and place where she lived it’s quite likely that one of our common American children’s names, like Kaitlyn or Gracie, Jade or Autumn, might sound like a disease or a Sziknuss to them.
One of the great adventures of genealogy research, is coming into new and curious names and places. You never know what unique treasures and unexpected connections you’ll find as you go seeking out family connections!
So where did Urte Strangulate come from, and how is she related to me?
It seems to all begin with Jurgis Strangulis, the first forefather in Urte’s own line of Strangle and Strangulate. He was born around 1750, and had five Strangulis children. One of these was Willems Strangulis, born in 1773 in Kalwiszken, which was probably an earlier spelling of the town name Kallwellischken, in my father’s area of East Prussia. Willems had several Strangulis children, including Kristups Strangulis (Kristups was a very common male name of the time, as was Jurgis). Urte Strangulate was one of Kristups’ 11 children (all Strangulis or Strangulate children). Z
How is Urte Strangulate related to me?
She’s 30 people away from me in my family tree:
“Urte Strangulate is your first cousin thrice removed’s husband’s brother’s wife’s brother’s wife’s first cousin thrice removed’s husband’s aunt’s husbands’ second great nephews’ wife’s nephew’s wife’s aunt.”
So no, she is not closely related to me. But I like her all the same.
There were many in the Strangulis and Strangulate family. One married Szicknus…another married a Killus. Ewe Strangulate married Jurgis Killus, in the Catholic Church in Prokuls, East Prussia, on Feb 18 1886. I’m thinking there were bats flying out of the belfry at the time of the wedding.
The Zamarovsky surname enters my family tree through someone marrying into the family of descendants of my maternal great-great grandfather’s brother…so the connection is distant, but it is intriguing, mostly because it carried a connection point of my family tree into regions further back than I have yet found at any other point. This diagram shows the connection (two different paths of connection) between myself through 10 people to reach the Zamarovsky family connection, and I am 27 people away from the most distant Zamarovksy ancestor (not a blood relative of mine) born, according to my calculations, sometime before 1380.
Because relatives along the Zamarovsky line were traced (not by me but by a relative) to the late 14th century, I believe that people in this family were nobility, as the ordinary people in Slovakia would not have kept records of their family line dating so far back in time. The church records dont’ go back so far…this information comes from family records kept by the Zamarovsky family.
The Zamarovsky family is linked with a particular place, and this is something that I have found elsewhere in genealogy work as well. If you go sufficiently far back you find that the town that the Posingis family lived in, was Posingen, the town where the Aspurwis family lived was Aspurwen, and the Zamarovsky family lived in Zamarovce.
The Zamarovskys are 24 relatives away from my mother– as is stated on the Geni.com site:
“Dobin-Abraham Zamarovsky is your third cousin once removed’s wife’s 16th great grandfather.”
Visual depiction of the stretch back in time:
Google image of Zamarovce from above – close to Trencin;
This website describes how the history of the Zamarovsky family is linked with the village Zamarovce, and states that the Zamarovsky family was one of the oldest and most powerful in the Trencin county as well as in the Kingdom of Hungary. A museum about the family is in the works:
The first literal remark about the village Zamarovce comes from 1208 in which the name of the village was Samar. The village belonged to the family Zamarovsky. The history of the family Zamarovsky is linked with the history of the village Zamarovce since its beginnigs and it has affected its development significantly. The family belonged to the oldest and the most powerful families in the former Trencin county and also in Great Hungary. The village is trying to establish a museum which will map the history of the village and the family Zamarovsky.
The workcamps in the village Zamarovce had been organized in 2012 and 2013.
The village of Zamarovce is located in the northern tip of western Slovakia, in the middle of the province of Považie, in the Trenčín region. Zamarovce, through the cadastral area of the D1 motorway, have a beautiful location: it is surrounded by forests of surrounding forests, peaks and hills. The beautiful view gives views of the village itself, the river Váh and the historical, regional and university town of Trenčín with an ancient castle. In his rock fragments were carved r. 179 AD Roman soldiers unique inscription with the name of this place – Laugaricio. In addition, there is another jewel – Malá a Velká Skalka, legendary, the seat of a former abbey and an ancient, important pilgrimage place. History Skalky dates back to the 12th century AD. The village of Zamarovce has approximately 800 inhabitants and is mostly located on the right side of the river Váh.
The first written mention of the village is from 1208, when it is mentioned as Villa Samar. She belonged to the Zamarov family, whose roots lead to the world-famous writer Vojtech Zamarovsky, who spent some of his childhood in Zamarovce. After the Zamarovsky family, the classical manor house of the first half of the 19th century remained in the village, as well as the ruins of his predecessor in the upper part of the village. Until the 19th century, there were also brickworks where brick and tiles were produced manually. Gradually, this production was mechanized. Currently, only remains of objects remain.
In addition to that, it is necessary to mention that several Zamarovcians have become important personalities, Outstanding pedagogue and historian Pavel Hičoldt (1701 – 1752), doctor, researcher. Traveler and gold digger in Alaska dr. Alexander Liška (1883 -1941) and others. Many individuals, as well as social organizations, deserved the development of the village. New political conditions after November 1989 did not include Zamarovce. They re-become independent because, 1972 do r. 1990 were part of Trenčín. With the abolition of the construction closures and in accordance with the approved municipal plan, the interest in the original housing stock, its reconstruction and modernization, as well as the opening of new building circuits with the construction of family houses, roads, walkways, sports centers, nursery schools, etc. began to grow gradually.
Some Zamarovsky records: Birth record of Francis Xavier Zamarovsky (Franciscus Xavier Paulus Michael Zamaroczi)
Just down the page from Francis is another Francis,, who was born “illegitimate” and marked that way
Other individuals who have the Zamarovsky family on their family tree:
The Kawohl surname comes into my family through a brother of my great-great-grandfather Martin Saletzki. Martin’s brother Joseph had a daughter Maria, who married Michael Kawohl on July 23, 1894.
The Saletzki family surname comes into my family tree through my great-grandmother, Anna Saletzki, also apparently called Heinriette Johanne Anne Saletzki, her birth date from my father’s records says she was born on APril 3 1860, and that she was baptized April 29 1860 in the Lutheran church. This is her profile where she is shown as the spouse of my great-grandfather Miks MIkuteit, and shows her birth date as 1861.
This record shows a marriage date of July 6 1880 when she married my great grandfather Miks in Szibben in the Catholic Church there — My father’s records have this same date for her marriage though his say she was married at the Catholic church in Heydekrug. The record of her marriage says she was 19 years old at the time, and that Miks was 25 yers old. These ages match their birth dates.
My father’s records say that her father was Martin Saletzki and her mother was Henrietta Loleit.
From the 2nd marriage of her husband to Maria Rugies, my great-great grandfather’s daughter Erdme Eva Mikuteit begets a whole new branch of the family tree. This was begun in the article about the Rugies. Continuing that story with the marriage of Catharina Rugies’ daughter Elze Lamsat to Franz Endrikat.
Finding out who our ancestors are, who our “people” are and where we come from, can be intriguing, and perhaps lead to new interests, questions or mysteries.
Family tree information can connect us with others on a wide scale, but is limited by written or oral records or remembered facts — and these may be limited in some instances. DNA testing can lead to correlations which prompt curiosity and wonder, but the connections found in that way are difficult to tie to facts and particular places and people.
I think at the very least, being tied to people that we would not have expected to be related to, can expand our sense of ourselves and allow us to redefine who we thought we were. We can become larger…and encompass more of the world and more of humanity…and isn’t that always a desirable outcome?
I think the DNA testing with regard to nationality is a little bit youthful and early in its development, though. I found that two different websites had pretty different interpretations of the nationality/region of the world origins implied by my DNA tests.
I did a DNA test with 23andMe. This test showed me as 99.8% European, of which 76.8% was Eastern European. 11.6% was “Broadly Northwestern European” (but I had 0% French and German!) and 8.7% “Broadly European” with small amounts of Southern European, Balkan, British/Irish, Ashkenazi Jewish, and a very small amount of Mongolian.
However when I transfered the results of that same test to the MyHeritage website, they interpreted those results quite differently, using quite different categories. They also indicated that their assignment of “ethnicity” (really more like regional origin) is in beta testing:
They describe me as 100% European, of which 92.1% is Eastern European, and that is further divided into Baltic 46.9% and 45.2% Balkan. I am not sure what the Eastern European which is not Baltic or Balkan would be under this arrangement. Slovakia is not generally viewed as either a Baltic nor a Balkan nation but is rather a Slavic one, and the Slovak and Czech people are categorized as West Slavic, as compared to Russians and Ukranians who are Eastern Slavs. However, Hungary is right at the border between the Slavic and Balkan region, and until quite recently, Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary.
This is the description of the Balkan region given on MyHeritage site:
Balkan
The Balkan Peninsula of Southeast Europe was the first in the continent to incorporate the practice of agriculture brought over from Mesopotamia some 5,000 years ago. It has long stood as a socio-political meeting point, bridging between Latin, Greek, and Slavic cultures in antiquity, Christianity and Islam in the early modern period, and opposing sides during the World Wars and Cold War in recent history. Despite strife and ethnic conflict, the region continues to be a bridge between rich cultures and identities. Balkan music has become internationally popular in recent years; it incorporates Slavic and West Asian influences and is distinguished by its rhythmic energy and danceability.
This description on that website of the Baltic region indicates it encompasses just the region of the former PRussia, and modern day Lithuania Latvia and Estonia.
Baltic
The Baltic states have seen many masters, having been conquered by neighboring lands many times, but the Baltic ethnic group is Indo-European from an ethno-linguistic point of view. For example, the Balts, as they may be called in English, are “Baltai” in Lithuanian and “Balti” in Latvian. “Baltic” first referred to the sea of that name, and Balcia was supposedly an island therein. Many small ethnic groups in the area, including those of Baltic origin, eventually merged into the larger groups, including the Prussians, and those who are today considered hailing from the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Then it says I am 7.9% Scandinavian, but not at all Irish/Scottish/Welsh or Finnish.
From the descripton MyHeritage gives for Scandinavian, it includes only Sweden, Norway and Denmark:
Scandinavian
Scandinavia is a region of Northern Europe that includes Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Scandinavian people share a common North Germanic heritage. Germanic tribes of antiquity traveled south to continental Europe along trade, fishing, and conquest routes, eventually colliding with the Romans. Migration from Scandinavia to other parts of Europe began centuries ago, while in the late 19th century millions of Scandinavians emigrated to the Americas. Scandinavian cultural influence is readily apparent in the Midwestern United States, where many locals bear Scandinavian surnames and pass family recipes for Scandinavian foods — like lefse flatbread — from generation to generation. Ancient Norse mythology has also entered into regular English lexicon; some of the days of the week in English are named after ancient Norse gods.
Although the 23andMe site says I am 76.8% “Eastern European”, the MyHeritage site says that this Eastern European is defined only as Baltic and Balkan, not broadly Eastern European…where Eastern European is defined this way:
East European
People of Eastern European descent trace their roots to Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Hungary. The early Common Era saw the region largely populated by Slavic and Baltic tribes with later Roman, Mongol, and Ottoman invasions. Bridging Europe to Asia, the region has been the epicenter of rich cultural diffusion; arts and sciences have flourished there despite the often inhospitable climate and political upheavals over the last couple of centuries. Eastern Europe has long been considered an important center for major trends in the performing arts, as the birthplace of the Russian ballet and of modern acting. Russians were responsible for feats of engineering such as the construction of the world’s longest railroad line a hundred years ago — the Trans-Siberian Railway — and scientific breakthroughs including being first to send a human into outer space in 1961. With the advent of Soviet nationalism, Eastern Europe has experienced significant internal emigration. Following the fall of communism in the early 1990s significant East European diasporas are now present across Europe and in North America.
Many mysteries remain…and when looking at the “DNA Matches” that MyHeritage is showing me, and I am puzzled by a surname which has no relationship to the regions of the world from which my father and mother so recently came forth….I find myself wondering again about the possibility of an “illegal immigrant from Mexico” ancestor,…
As my ancestry issues out of Memelland in East Prussia and Slovakia, in Eastern Europe. My parents came to the US from Europe in the 1950’s. I would not have expected to discover a possible “illegal immigrant from Mexico” in my family!
But this illegal crosser from Mexico shares my surname — and it’s an unusal surname to be appearing anywhere in North America, not to mention South or Central America. As I was growing up in California, when asked about my unusual name, I sometimes replied that the only Mikuteits in the United States were those in my immediate family. I think it may still be the case that the only Mikuteits in the United States are directly related to me.
Emil Mikuteit crossed illegally from Mexico into San Ysidro California on September 18 1936. What was the story behind this, I would love to find out.
It’s hard to read this document, but the word “illegally” does stand out. It also appears that he originally came from East Prussia, as I expect was the case with all the Mikuteits. And it appears that his intent was “to reside permanently” in the US.
Perhaps like many modern day “illegal immigrants”, he thought it would be easier to sneak into the US than to go through the standard naturalization process!?
I found myself wondering whatever became of Emil Mikuteit. Did he remain in the US?
The answer came shortly, as it was also available in the results of my search on http://www.ancestry.com Emil MIkuteit died in Placer County, California, at age 39 in 1939 and is shown here in the California Death Index from 1905 to 1939:
I am wondering if this Emil Mikuteit illegal immigrant from Mexico helps explain why when I look for people with my “DNA matches” in the MyHeritage database, I am seeing a few people with names like Gonzales.
The Schapals surname comes into my family from my grandmother, my father’s mother, Marta Maria Schapals. The earliest location information I have about her family places her mother’s ancestors in Miedellen in East Prussia.
Miedellen was probably in the Memel or Heydekrug area closest to the then border with Lithuania, as this was where most of my relatives lived.
As with the name Mikuteit and other surnames found in East Prussia, there was quite a bit of changing of the form of the name over the years, through the connection with Lithuanian forms of these names. The Schapals name apparently started out as Szapals, with the relatives I find links to who were born in the late 18th century.
Here follow the charts I’ve made to show the family tree on my father’s mother’s side
The ancestors of my grandmother’s father, were MIchael and Greja.
Michael Schapals, who would likely have been called Mikkel or Mikkelis Szapals, was born in 1786.. He died June 14 1868. His wife was Greja Warnorf, but this name too was likely different form at that time. She was born in 1798 and she died December 12 1858.
They had a son, born October 8 1924, who from records I have is also called Michael Schapals (it was apparently quite common among both my father’s and mothers’ ancestors in the late 18th and early 19th century to name their children with parent’s names). This would have been Mikkelis Szapals and that is how he is found in the record available on http://www.genealogy.net:
Michael’s wife Maria must have died young, as records show that Michael remarried in 1866. He married a J. Burkeit in 1866 in Pagrienen. But she also died not long after that, her death date is Sept 24 1876.
MIchael then married a third wife, Amalie Richter, on December 2nd 1881. I have her birth date from my father’s records as August 9 1851 born in Sausgallen. This matches an Amalie Richter found on the genealogy database — the birth dates are not exactly the same but close, and the death date on the profile September 24 1932 (buried in Werden) is the same as the one I have in my records. This profile could show an earlier marriage, since she would have been 30 at the time of marriage to Michael. This is that profile: http://www.online-ofb.de/famreport.php?ofb=memelland&ID=I337773&nachname=RICHTER&modus=&lang=en
Amalie and Michael had a son Friedrich Schapals, born November 18 1882 in Kallwellischken. He received his confirmation on SEpt 6 1897 at the church in Werden.
The only problem with that profile matching, is it states that he died before 1939, but my records show he died June 19 1954 in Winseldorf.
On October 9 1903, he married Maria Jakstedt, who had been born Jan 28 1874 in Kallwellischken.
Going back to Maria Jakstedt’s line — her grandparents on her mother’s side were March() Mikuszeit (there’s my surname again in a different form!) and Katharine Porlit. March was born Feb 28 1818 in Miedellen, and died Oct 15 1889. Katharine was born April 5 1822 in Taggrken, and died March 3 1870 in Miedellen.
They had a daughter Katrine Mikuszait born Jan 7 1850. (she died June 11 1937)She married Mikelis Jakstat, who was born Jan 26 1848. (he died Dec 28 1873) Their daughter was my great grandmother Maria Jakstat or Jakstedt.
Maria and Friedrich had four children, Anna, Willi, Metha Auguste, and my grandmother Marta. Anna Schapals was born June 2 1902 in Heydekrug, and married Albert Koehler. She died March 12, I’m not sure what year. Albert died on Dec 28 1952.
Metha Auguste was born Oct 23 1914, and she married a man with the last name Jankowsky.
My grandmother Marta Maria was born July 13 1910. This is a photo of her from perhaps around 1935 to 1938, with my aunt Eva to left and my father Siegfried to the right:
Willi and Anna had four children: Will born March 15 1935, Herbert born Oct 7 1938, Siegfried born Dec 23 1932, and W. born April 20 1936. Willi went into military service during WWII, and was Missing in Action in 1942. When the Russian forces invaded East Prussia in 1944, his wife Anna and all his four children were murdered. The death date of the four children is shown in my records as November 21 1944.
When I visited Germany in 1981 with my father, we visited my grandmother Marta’s grave, where her sister Anna is buried as well and Willi is remembered. In 1981 took this photo of that grave.
This is the newspaper report of my grandmother Marta’s death in Hohenlockstedt in 1960:
It shows his two children, my father and aunt. However, it shows the wrong death date for him, saying he died before Feb 26 1960 . That information seems to be confused with the death date of his wife Marta. Bernhardt lived until about 1984. I visited him in 1981 in Gottingen, where he lived with his second wife, Marie Meierhofe.
Here I am with my grandfather Bernhardt on the left, my aunt Eva in the middle and me on the right — in 1981 in Gottingen, Germany.
The Rugies family enters into my family tree through Maria Rugies, the second wife of Endriks Lampsat, who was the husband of Erdme Eva Mikuteit, sister of my great grandfather Miks Mikuteit.
This chart shows the branching off of the Rugies in the upper left corner of this part of my family tree:
IIt is not clear if Endriks Lampsat had children with his second wife Maria Rugies, whom he married in 1905 after Erdme Eva died sometime between the birth of her last child in 1899, and this marriage in 1905. If he had no children with Maria, then my family tree doesn’t actually extend into the Rugies family tree beyond this point. However, these records are not complete and if Endriks and Maria had any children, they would have been half siblings of the children of Endriks and Erdme.
This again is Endrik Lampsat’s profile on the Memelland genealogy site http://www.genealogy.net:
First let’s note Catharina’s father and siblings — there is no information about her mother, but her father was Jons Rugys, born in 1823, and died October 30 1883 in Trakseden. Her siblings were Maria Rugies and Jurgis Rugys.
Catharina Rugies had three husbands. Maria Rugies was the daughter of Catharina’s first husband, about whom there is no information. But there is much information about the Catharina’s second and third husbands and the children descended from those.
Catharina’s second husband was August Lampsat, born in 1848. (This surname takes us back to the Lampsats, but to keep things more clear I will just continue her line here on this article)
With August, Catharina had seven children. These were as follows:
(1) Anna born in Feb 27 1876 (2)Jurgis born April 9 1878 (3) Catharina born March 22 1880 (4) Else born (5) Johann born (6) Magdalena born (7) Eva Erdmutte born
Catharina Rugies married her third husband Jacob Dikschas on June 18 1895 in Szibben. This was Jacob’s second wife — he had just been married Feb 18 1895, a few months earlier, to an Elisabeth whose last name is not known. She must have passed away right after they were married. http://www.online-ofb.de/famreport.php?ofb=memelland&ID=I391098&nachname=DIKSCHAS&lang=en
For the daughter Else Lamsat of Catharine Rugies we should start a new article, as the web of relationships starting from her marriage to Heinrich Endrikat brings a lot of other individuals into the tree. https://mikuteitfamilytree.wordpress.com/2017/07/19/the-wiegratzes/
The Lampsats enter my family tree through the marriage of my great-great grandfather’s sister. My great-great grandfather was Miks Mikuteit, and his sister Erdme Eva Mikuteit, born in 1863 in Minge, later married Endriks Lampsat, born in 1860.
This chart shows the relationships
Erdme married Endriks Lampsat on April 25, 1883 at the Catholic church in Szibben. They had nine children. She must have died sometime between 1899 and 1905, as records show he remarried in 1905, to a second wife Maria Rugies.
Their nine children were as follows:
(1) Heinrich Lampsat born October 14 1884 in Szieszgirren and died a couple months later, (2) Johanne Erdmutte Eva Lampsat born May 21 1887, (3) Elsbetha born April 22 1890 and died a few months later, (4) Maria Karolina born November 23 1891, (5) Jons born May 7 1893 and died a couple weeks later, (6) Anna born March 13 1894 and died the next day or stillborn, (7) Catharina born September 23 1895, (8) Ludwiga born December 9 1896 and died a year later, (9)
For some of these children, Johanne Erdmutte Eva and Maria Karolina, there is additional information in these records which gives the names of their husbands. Before going to those records, let’s go back to the fact that Erdme Eva Mikuteit died sometime between 1899 and 1905, and then her husband Endriks remarried to Maria Rugies, — this is the profile information on Maria Rugies:
It appears that Endriks had no children with Maria, however, following Maria’s mother Catharina Rugies’ profile (no information is given about her father) there is a whole chain of additional correspondences and relationships which can be explored. Strictly speaking the Rugies appear to not be my relatives since there are no offspring shown between Endriks and Maria. However, it’s important to remember that these records are not complete and they may have had children. Even if they did not, depending on one’s genealogical interests and how far one wants to cast the net to embrace more people into one’s family web, it could be interesting to follow the Rugies family tree here.
Getting back to the Lampsat children who had marriages recorded —
First there is Johanna Erdmutte Eva Lampsat, who married Johann Daugiell in the Catholic Church in Szibben on October 10 1912.
Finally there are two additional husbands of Auguste, whose first husband Georg, being over 40 years older than her, naturally died while she was still in the prime of life.
First is Miks Macik whom she married in 1894 when he was in his mid-eighties (she seemed to like older men)
Here I will present some excerpts from my relative Reinhold Mikuteit’s autobiography, entitled “Zeitreise” — he sent me a copy of this book in 2003 when I contacted him then during the beginning of my genealogical research.
Reinhold MIkuteit
Reinhold has since passed away, but I think his writing is important, as is that of others who lived through the tragedies and atrocities in East Prussia and the massive exodus of ethnic German refugees from this region — who lost so much. They lost not only their homes and property, but even the names of their cities and towns were changed — and thus there is a quite significant obliteration of history.
Here Reinhold begins his autobiography with a quote from poet Rainer Maria Rilke:
Meine Zeitreise Eine Kurzfassung Versuch einer Biographie Ich lebe mein Leben in wachsenden Ringen, die sich über die Dinge ziehn. Ich werde den letzten vielleicht nicht vollbringen: aber versuchen will ich ihn.
—Rainer Maria Rilke
“Ich habe lange um die Frage gerungen, ob ich eine Selbstbiographie verfassen soll, die
zwangsläufig das Ich herausstellte und die Gefahr einer Selbstbeweihräucherung
enthielte. Zudem würden dabei subjektive Wertungen von Vorgängen offenbar, die als
Anmaßung empfunden werden könnten.
Vierfünftel dieses letzten Jahrhunderts des zweiten Jahrtausends habe ich bewusst erlebt
und dabei die tiefsten Tiefen und größten Niederlagen des deutschen Volkes als Schicksal
– wie die meisten meiner und der vorangegangenen Generation – auf mich nehmen
müssen, um dann allerdings, von Glück und Gunst eben des gleichen Schicksals begleitet,
einen erfolgreichen Lebensabschnitt zu erfahren.
Das unablässige Drängen der Kinder hat mich letztlich beflügelt, an das Werk zu gehen,
wobei mir – insbesondere für die Zeit meines Soldatseins – authentische Quellen
gestatteten, die Darstellung so objektiv wie möglich zu gestalten.
Ein Umstand hat mich geradezu in die Pflicht genommen, diesen Lebensbericht zu
verfassen: Kinder und Enkel kennen nicht meine Heimat weit im Nordosten Europas; sie
sind in eine neue Heimat hineingeboren. Meine Heimat gehört heute mehr und mehr zu
einer fast mythischen Vergangenheit. Ich lebe nunmehr in meiner zweiten Heimat, die der
Zahl der Jahre nach meinen Lebensweg viel, viel länger bestimmt hat. Und doch
entstammen zahlreiche grundlegend prägende Eigenarten der ursprünglichen Heimat, und
nur dieser Heimat. Deshalb sollte ich ihnen Eindrücke aus meiner alten Heimat
vermitteln, damit sie wissen, woher Vater und Mutter, Opa und Oma, ihre Vorfahren
kommen.
Ich beginne am 20. Juni 1998, meine Erinnerungen niederzuschreiben. Ich werde
demnächst 78 Jahre alt.
Mein Geburtsort
Wer kennt schon Heydekrug? Eine beschauliche kleine Stadt, mehr noch ein
langgestrecktes Straßendorf im „Memelland“, bis 1918 Bestandteil des Deutschen
Reichs, danach unter dem Protektorat des Völkerbundes, von französischen Truppen
besetzt, 1939 bis 1944 wieder deutsch, dann russisch und seit 1993 Teil des baltischen
Staates Litauen, 40 km südlich von Memel (etwa auf dem Breitengrad von Kopenhagen).
English:
My time travel
A short version
Try a biography
I live my life
In growing rings,
Who are pulling over things.
I’ll be the last
Perhaps not accomplish:
But I will try him.
Rainer Maria Rilke
I have been struggling for a long time to ask whether I should write a self-biography
Inevitably, the self, and the danger of self-conquest
contained. In addition, subjective valuations of transactions are described as being
Arrogance.
Fourths of this last century of the second millennium I have consciously experienced
And the deepest depths and the greatest defeats of the German people as fate
Like most of me and the previous generation
Must, however, then, accompanied by happiness and favor of the same fate,
A successful life section.
The incessant urge of the children ultimately inspired me to go to the work,
I have authentic sources, especially for the time of my soldier’s life
To make the presentation as objective as possible.
A circumstance has taken me almost to the obligation, this life report too
: Children and grandchildren do not know my home far in the north-east of Europe; you
Are born into a new home. My home now belongs more and more to me
An almost mythical past. I now live in my second home, the
Number of years after my life way has determined much, much longer. And yet
Originate numerous basic characteristics of the original homeland, and
Only this home. Therefore, I should give them impressions from my old home
So that they know where father and mother, grandpa and grandma, their ancestors
come.
I begin to write down my memories on 20 June 1998. I will
Soon to be 78 years old.
My birth place
Who knows Heydekrug? A small town, a little more
Long stretched Straßendorf in the “Memelland”, until 1918 part of the German
Reich, then under the protectorate of the League of Nations, by French troops
Occupied, 1939 to 1944 again German, then Russian and since 1993 part of the Baltic
State of Lithuania, 40 km south of Memel (about on the latitude of Copenhagen)
Reinhold goes on to describe his beginnings in Heydekrug:
Der Krieg zerstört alle Pläne
Wer hätte von uns jungen Leuten 1939 ahnen können, was ein von Hitler in Gang
gesetzter Krieg bedeutet? Wer hatte je erahnt, dass als Folge des totalen Krieges die totale
Niederlage, der Verlust der Heimat, Flucht und Vertreibung aus dem eigenen Land
unerbittliche Konsequenzen werden würden?
Doch im Glücksgefühl des im August 1939 bestandenen Abiturs wurde zunächst gefeiert
und nochmals gefeiert, bis wir alle Einladungen der achtzehn Abiturienten hinter uns
hatten. Man spürte wohl eine unbestimmte Angst im Nacken, ein ungutes Gefühl, es
könnte etwas Bedrohliches geschehen. Am 1. September 1939 tönte es aus allen Radios:
Der Krieg gegen Polen hat begonnen; die Westernplatte vor Danzig wird beschossen,
deutsche Truppen marschieren in Polen ein – und dies ohne Kriegserklärung.
Musterung und militärische Ausbildung
Es war nun sicher, dass wir „Jungs“ Soldat werden mussten. Und bald
fand die Musterung statt, deren Ergebnis war, dass ich zur Infanterie, zu einer
Nachrichteneinheit eingezogen werde. Die Frage nach der Offizierslaufbahn beantwortete
ich immer wieder mit dem Hinweis, dass ich sobald wie möglich studieren wolle. Wir
rechneten mit einem Krieg von kurzer Zeit.
Ich strebte jedoch eine andere Lösung an und meldete mich in Tilsit zur Luftwaffe.
Wenige Tage später erhielt ich eine Einberufung zu einer Eignungsprüfung für die
fliegerische Laufbahn. Ich dachte an eine Ausbildung als Beobachter oder Bordfunker.
Aber – wie eigentlich in meinem gesamten Leben – war ein guter Geist bei mir und
eröffnete mir eine größere Chance: ich kam zur Pilotenausbildung.
Es war schon seltsam, dass der prüfende Offizier nach Abschluss der schriftlichen Tests
nach meinen besonderen Interessen fragte, worauf ich die Musik nannte. Offensichtlich
war er auf der gleichen Wellenlänge. Ein Gespräch über Beethoven, Wagner und über
den großen Dirigenten Wilhelm Furtwängler ersetzte quasi den Test. Das Ergebnis: ich
wurde als einer der wenigen für die Ausbildung als Flugzeugführer zugelassen.
Fliegerische Ausbildung
Endlich Mitte November 1939 fing die
Pilotenausbildung an. Zunächst viel Theorie über
die physikalischen Eigenschaften des Fliegens, über
Navigation, Motorenkunde, Wetterkunde,
Sicherheitsvorschriften u.v.a.m. Es war dann Ende
November, als ich die ersten Flüge mit dem
zugeteilten Fluglehrer, einem Piloten namens
Loewe aus Hannover, der auch in seinem zivilen
Beruf Flugschüler ausbildete, machen durfte. Und
schon am zweiten Tag stürzte eine Maschine mit
2
3
Die ersten Flugstunden auf einer „Stieglitz“
Fluglehrer und Flugschüler ab; bei einem zu niedrigen Landeanflug streifte sie einen
Mast auf dem Dach einer Baracke: zwei Tote gleich zu Beginn der Ausbildung, die
darauf für mehrere Tage ausgesetzt wurde, damit wir den Schock überwinden sollten.
Doch dann ging es jeden Tag zehn- bis zwanzigmal in die „Kiste“ – meist eine FockeWulf
44 (sog. „Stieglitz“) oder auch eine Klemm 25 (fast ein Segler) – , für Platzrunden
von fünf, höchstens zehn Minuten Dauer, wobei der Lehrer in der offenen zweisitzigen
Maschine vorn saß. Dabei wurde dem Flugschüler vermittelt, dass das Fluggefühl –
insbesondere bei der Landung – „im Arsch“ sitzt.
Höhenflug mit Folgen
Bei einem Höhenflug in einer offenen Maschine von etwa einer Stunde Dauer in 4000 m
Höhe, bei ca. minus 40° Celsius, erfroren drei Finger der rechten Hand. Als ich meine
gefütterten Handschuhe unter Schmerzen herunterzog, kam eine kalkweiße Hand hervor.
Der Fluglehrer brachte mich schnellstens zum Truppenarzt in die Sanitätsstelle; dieser
stellte schwere Erfrierungen fest, die zur Unterbrechung meiner fliegerischen Ausbildung
von fast zwei Wochen führten. Einige Nägel lösten sich; aber allmählich begann die
Heilung.
Die Erfrierungen hatten Folgen. Die Finger blieben dick und kälteempfindlich, die
Fingernägel wachstumsgestört. Damit aber konnte man leben. Es musste jedenfalls nicht
amputiert werden.
Kriegseinsätze
„Seelöwe“ – ein geplatztes Unternehmen
Neun Ausbildungsmonate waren vorüber. Das Datum wies auf Juli 1940. Manche meiner
Kameraden fürchteten angesichts der Blitzsiege deutscher Truppen in Belgien, Frankreich
und den Niederlanden, der gelungenen Operation in Narvik (Norwegen), sie kämen gar
nicht mehr zum Einsatz. Mit Narvik hatte man die Bastion Norwegen vor den Augen der
Engländer eingenommen.
Unser Kampfgeschwader wurde dem XI. Fliegerkorps unter General der Fallschirmjäger
Student zugeordnet. In Wittstock/Dosse wurden große Verbandseinsätze mit
Fallschirmjägern geübt. Bei einem Formationsflug stießen zwei JU 52 zusammen: 16
Tote wurden in einem großen Begräbnis als Helden, die „für Führer und Reich ihr Leben
geopfert“ hätten, mit allen militärischen Ehren bestattet. Auch dies war ein Schock, der
uns alle sehr mitnahm, zugleich zu fliegerischer Disziplin gemahnte.
Den Luftlande- und Fallschirmjägereinsätzen maß man mehr und mehr Bedeutung zu,
nachdem der entscheidende Durchbruch im Westen über die Niederlande und Belgien
dank des überraschenden, zugleich „heldenhaften“ Einsatzes von Fallschirmjägern gelang
(10. Mai 1940 – Festung Eben Emael).
Es sollte nun wirklich ernst werden. Luftwaffenverbände wurden im Westen
zusammengezogen. Köln-Wahn war mein Standort, von wo aus der Einsatz über den
Kanal nach England starten sollte. Die Atmosphäre war hochgespannt. Das Warten
jedoch schien kein Ende zu nehmen.
Es war Ende September 1940. Wir übten immer wieder Verbandsflüge. Es sollte –
English translation:
The war destroyed all the plans
Who could have guessed from us young people in 1939, what was going on by Hitler
Set war means? Who had ever guessed that as a result of total war the total
Defeat, the loss of home, escape and expulsion from their own country
Would be unrelenting consequences?
But in the happiness of the Abitur, passed in August 1939, was first celebrated
And again celebrated until we all invitations the eighteen high school graduates behind us
had. You could feel an undefined fear in the neck, a feeling uneasy
Something threatening could happen. On 1 September 1939 it sounded from all radios:
The war against Poland has begun; The western plate in front of Gdansk is bombarded,
German troops march into Poland – and this without war declaration.
Mustering and military training
It was now certain that we had to be “boys” soldiers. And soon
The mustering took place, the result of which was that I became the infantry, to a
Message unit. The question of the officer’s career answered
I always come back with the hint that I want to study as soon as possible. We
Reckoned with a war of short time.
However, I was trying to find a different solution and contacted Tilsit about the Luftwaffe.
A few days later I received a convocation to a fitness test for the
Aviation career. I thought of training as an observer or a tyker.
But – as in my entire life – was a good spirit with me and
Gave me a bigger chance: I came to the pilot training.
It was already strange that the examining officer after completion of the written tests
Asked for my special interests, which I called the music. Obviously
He was on the same wavelength. A conversation about Beethoven, Wagner and about
The great conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler almost replaced the test. The result: me
Was admitted as one of the few for training as an aircraft pilot.
Aviation training
At last in the middle of November 1939 the
Pilot training. First, a lot of theory about
The physical properties of flying
Navigation, motoring, weather,
Safety regulations and similar. It was then the end
November when I made the first flights with the
Assigned flight instructor, a pilot named
Loewe from Hanover, who is also in his civilian
Professional flight school pupils. And
Already on the second day a machine crashed
2
3
The first flying hours on a “Stieglitz”
Flight instructor and flight attendant; At a too low landing approach she grazed one
Mast on the roof of a barrack: two dead right at the beginning of the training, the
Was suspended for several days, so that we should overcome the shock.
But then every day ten or twenty times went to the “crate” – usually a FockeWulf
44 (so-called “Stieglitz”) or also a Klemm 25 (almost a sailor), for place rounds
Of five, a maximum of ten minutes duration, with the teacher in the open two-seat
Machine at the front. The flight instructor was told that the flight feeling –
Especially at the landing – “in the ass” sits.
High altitude flight with consequences
During an altitude flight in an open machine of about one hour duration in 4000 m
Height, at about minus 40 ° Celsius, frozen three fingers of the right hand. When I mean
Fed mittens under pain, a lime-white hand came out.
The flight instructor took me to the doctor’s office as soon as possible; this
Found severe frostbite, which interrupted my aviation training
Of almost two weeks. Some nails dissolved; But gradually began the
Cure.
The frostbite had consequences. The fingers remained thick and cold – sensitive
Fingernails growth disturbed. But one could live with that. It did not have to be
Be amputated.
military operations
“Sea lion” – a ruptured company
Nine months of training were over. The date pointed to July 1940. Some of my
Comrades feared the lightning strike of German troops in Belgium, France
And the Netherlands, the successful operation in Narvik (Norway), they would even come
Is no longer used. With Narvik, one had the bastion of Norway before the eyes of the
British.
Our combat squadron was assigned to the XI. Airborne corps under General of the parachute hunters
Student assigned. In Wittstock / Dosse large dressing inserts with
Parachute hunters. In a formation flight, two JU 52s came together: 16
The dead were in a great funeral as heroes, who for “guide and empire their lives
Sacrificed “with all military honors. This too was a shock that
Took us all very much, and at the same time reminded us of an aviation discipline.
Airborne and parachute journeys were more and more important,
After the decisive breakthrough in the West over the Netherlands and Belgium
Thanks to the surprise
Some photos of pages from Reinhold’s book which have information about family members:
The surname Sidlo or Schidlo (German form) enters my family tree through my great-grandfather’s sister’s husband’s mother. Elisabetha Sidlo was born on Christmas day, December 25 1851, to Stephanus Schidlo and Veronica Chuska.
Elisabetha had a sister Veronica born in SEpt 26 1857:
Elisabetha’s father Stephanus Schidlo was born on December 24 1826, to parents Joannis Schidlo and Catharina Brank.
Stephanus had a brother Georgius born July 26 1823:
And Stephanus also had a sister Catharina
Stephanus’ father Joannis Schidlo was born in the Necpaly Region of Slovakia, near Zilina, on March 27 1803, and Joannis had a brother also named Joannis who was born March 6 1811. Their parents were Georgius Schidlo and Catharina Hornik.
There was another sibling — Paulus Schidlo, born on APril 27 1817.
And one named after the father born on Feb 22 1801:
Catharina Schidlo was born Feb 19 1805:
Anna Schidlo born May 11 1809
Father Georgius himself was born June 23 1773 to parents Georgu Schidlo and Catarina Valacs. Note this is two generations in a row where the father is Georgius and the mother Catarina…and three generations in a row where there is a wife named Catarina, and four generations in a row where there is a son named Georgius.
There are a couple directions to go back from here and it is not clear who are the parents of Catarina Valacs or Valach. She may have been born September 23, 1740 to Joannes Valach/Valacs and Barbara (no maiden name given for the mother in this record). in the Rosina, Zilina regin of Slovakia.
Rosina is a villiage and municipality in the Žilina District in the Žilina Region of northern Slovakia. It has 900 houses with 3200 people (2016). In 2003 there lived 2888 people.[1]
Unofficially the first mention is in year 1135 when there were 16 shacks and a priest Paulus Rosinaj was preaching Christianity as they were still heathens.[2]
Another unofficial record is from 1208 along with a village Banova. Rosina then belonged under Strecno castle’s domain until the year 1848 with exception of years 1685 – 1773 when it belonged to jesuits in Žilina.[3]
In official historical records the village was first mentioned in 1341. (it is called Rozina, 1386 Rosna, 1416 Rossina, 1508 Rosyna, 1598 Rozzina, 1808 Rosyna; magyar Roszina, Harmatos)
It was a small villiage in 1135 and is not much larger today.
Alternatively, Catarina Valacs may have been born on July 26 1739 to Michaele Valach and mother Anna, in the Dolny Hricov, Zilina region of Slovakia which is described in this Wikipedia article. This is a village in the Zilina region, which has a population of 2251 people in 2012.
There are however several other Catarina Valacs that records show were born in that time frame — one in December 30 1744 to Matthai Valach and mother Catharina, in the Drazkovce, Martin region of Slovakia also near Zilina.
Then there is one Catarina Valach born December 1750 in the Komjatna , Ruzomberok region of Slovakia, which is also the Zilina region, to parents Matthais Valach and Catarina — these seem to be the same parents of the Catarina born in 1744 though it is hard to tell when so many people used the same names in those villages.
And there was another Catarina Valach born January 10 1748 to Joannis Valach and Sophia, in the Liptovske Klacany, Liptovske Mikulas region of Slovakia as described in this article.
this town is also in the Zilina region.
And there are several more records. Catarina Valach apparently was a common name in this region and time!
In any case, Catarina Valacs and Georgiu Schidlo born around 1740 are the oldest ancestors I’ve yet found on my family tree, and though I’m not descended either from the Schidlos/Sidlos or the Majdaks, they do figure into my tree and are ancestors of my relatives.
The Hrjankay surname enters my family tree through the mother of the grandmother of my maternal grandmother — she is my great great great grandmother Maria Hrjankay, who married Franciscus or Ferencz Kollarik sometime between 1835 and 1843, when their first child, my great great grandmother Veronica was born.
Records for my mother’s ancestors, who lived in Kyscuke Nove Mesto in Slovakia (then Hungary) show two possible Maria Hrjankay births –either of which could be my ancestor — intriguingly they are both daughters of the same parents! Using the same name over and over seemed to be a common practice in this time period.
The first one was born on July 13, 1817 to Joannes Hrjankay and Anna Imrich — intriguingly, just 3 lines down from the entry for Maria’s birth, is the entry for the birth of a sibling (Petrus Galvanek) of the individual who would later marry Maria’s daughter — the parents listed there (Joannes Galvanek and Anna Hohoss) are also my great great great grandparents:
Mikuteit is my own surname, from my father Siegfried Mikuteit, and this name is related to the Lithuanian form of the name which is Mikkutaitis or Mikkutaitas (fem). I am told by a Lithuanian woman that this name means something like “Son of Michael” …the implication is that those so named are descendants of Michael. So, much like the names Michelson, or Henderson.
The Mikuteits lived in the region of East Prussia or Ostpreussen, a region now lying within the nations of Lithuania, Poland and Russia, that used to be part of the German Empire. This Wikipedia article describes the boundaries and history of East Prussia. My ancestors were a mix of ethnic German with Lithuanian and other nationalities of Northwestern Europe, and may have lived, like others in this region, in this part of Prussia for many hundreds of years.
However, during and after World War II this all changed, as this whole part of the German Empire was lost to other nations. Those who lived in this area were forced out, and have come to be called the “German Expellees”, amidst devastation caused by the invading Russian forces. This is a very large-scale and tragic history (millions of people were forced out of a region that had been their homeland for centuries) that has not been sufficiently understood. It is documented in books such as A Terrible Revenge which describe as “ethnic cleansing” the forced removal of ethnic Germans from this region. In another article I will explore this tragic situation. This article gives an introduction to the region of Prussia from the book “Forgotten Land: Journeys among the Ghosts of East Prussia.”
One of my relatives, Reinhold Mikuteit, wrote an autobiography about his life beginning in the East Prussian town of Heydekrug where he was born. He sent me a copy of this book called “Zeitreise”, and part of it can be found online here: http://www.polizei-poeten.de/texte_pdf/Mikuteit-Biographie.pdf
I am creating a separate blog/article to present selections from Reinhold’s book — see here:
The Mikuteit part of my family tree was put together with assistance from my father Siegfried, from oral recollections and his written records, as well as some of my relatives in Germany, and material found on the website http://www.genealogy.net/ which provides information about inhabitants of the Memel region in East Prussia.
Here follows the basic genealogical story of the Mikuteit family from the oldest records I have available, to the present time:
Beginnings in Minge, East Prussia
First I will present the family tree in scanned charts — then fill in details about the various members of this family tree.
Going back to the children of Miks or Michael Mikuteit who was born in 1851 — first the offspring of Franz Mikuteit, from a diagram provided to me by Wolfram Mikuteit:
These are the wife/descendants of Albert Mikuteit:
Then the descendants of Josef-Ludwig Mikuteit:
And the descendants of Bernhardt Mikuteit:
These following records show the details of my ancestors and relatives to the present day:
The oldest place location that I find for my family on my father’s side, is the town formerly called Minge, in the former East Prussia. This was a town on the edge of the Baltic Sea, which had several canals. Information and photos of the town can be seen here: http://genwiki.genealogy.net/Minge_(Ort)
Minge was a seaside town full of canals
This town of Minge was the home of my great-great-great grandfather Jurgis Mikkutaitis and his wife, Eriphrosice Baaudzeite, or Ephrosine Bauzate.
Jurgis was born in 1789, and his wife Eriphrosice was born in 1787. They were married on January 31, 1819 in the church in Kinten, a town just to the north of Minge, also on the Baltic Sea. This was the church where they were married:
This shows another view of the church in the town center _- Minge is in the middle on the spit of land
This map shows Minge and Kinten — Minge is in the middle on the spit of land just near where the “Lorreck Knaup” bay is shown. Kinten is a bit to the north.
The seven children of Jurgis and Eriphrosice were: (1) son Jons, born June 23, 1822 (2) daughter Annusze born November 11, 1824, (3) son Erdmons born March 3 1826, (4) Miks born February 9, 1827, (5) son Dowidas born June 2, 1830, (6) son August born June 19 1834 , (7) daughter Anne Barbe born July 26 1839. Records of these from the genealogy.net website are shown here:
This firstborn child of Jurgis and Eriphrosice, Jons Mikkutaitis, was my great-great grandfather. The family records on this genealogy.net website have gaps in them, as many records were lost, but my father’s own written records help fill in the gaps here. The profile for Jons son of Jurgis does not show his wife or children, but there is another profile on this website with a different spelling of his name, which links him to my great-great grandmother Evtme Burkandt (from my father’s records) whose name is shown as Erdme Burkan in the genealogy.net website.
this record shows the parents and siblings of Erdme, if indeed it is the same Erdme. She is shown as being born in Suweinen, which I think was close to the town Minge where Erdme married Jons.
getting back to Jons and Erdme….Jons and Erdme lived in Minge as well, and had 4 children as shown on the record for Jons above. They were likely also married at the church in Kinten though that is not shown on their records. Note that each of the children has a last name with different spelling! This just goes to show how much variation there could be in this Mikkutaitis name, as it was changed so much even within records on one family ! The children were: (1) Miks Mikkulait or Mikkutait born October 18 1849. (2) Jons born Feb 20 1851, (3) Miks born January 21 1855 (4)
Miks Mikkuteit shown as profile ID#391356 on this site, is the same as Miks Mikuteit with profile ID#395372. The birthdate on the former is given exactly as January 21 1855, but on the latter profile it is only given as 1855. This is the same person. Other aspects of these two profiles match as well, such as the name of Mik’s mother and name and birthdate (1851) of one of his siblings, Jons. This profile adds another sibling, a fifth child of Jons Mikkutaitis and Erdme, namely Erdme Eva, born 1863.
My great-grandfather Miks and his wife Heinriette Johanne Anne lived in Paszelischken, where all their children were born. This website shows information on this town: http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Paszelischken
This photo shows an old gravestone in Paszelischken:
This map shows Paszelischken to the east of Heydekrug:
My great grandfather Miks and his wife Anne had fourteen children, but several of them died very young. These children were as follows: (1) Franz Michael, born February 10 1881 (2)Martha Maria born Feb 10 1881 (died age 1 — a twin of Franz Michael born on the same day as he) (3) Anna born April 13 1883 (4) Albert born December 22 1885 (5) Maria born February 5 1888 and died 2 years later (6) Michael born July 7 1890 (7) August born June 15 1892 (8) Emma born June 13 1894 (9) Bernhardt born May 27 1896 (10) Heinrich born June 10 1898 (11) Josepha born July 22 1899 and died 2 weeks later (11) Helene born Feb 6 1901 and died a month later (12) Bernd born May 1 1902 and died about 6 months later (13) Hedwig born July 1 1908 and died 2 months later. Also one more which is not shown on this list, but known by my father and our other relatives, (14) Josef-Ludwig born _____. (out of 14 children, 6 died within 2 years of their birth)
Then there is one additional child of Miks Mikuteit and Anna Saletzki not listed in these records, Josef-Ludwig Mikuteit.
Before going further forward into the present time with the children of these children of Miks and Anna, I want to go back to Miks Mikuteit’s sister Erdme Eva Mikuteit, born in 1863, (her profile is here) and record the records of her husband and children. These will be continued on another article/blog, under the surname of her husband, Lampsat. Find that article here.
Albert Mikuteit and his children:
Albert Mikuteit married Elisabeth Klapper. They had four children — Christel Mikuteit, born Feb 1 1919, Gertraud Mikuteit born June 30 1921, and Reinhold MIkuteit born July 17 1920. Reinhold is the one who wrote the book “Zeitreise” which I look into in another article on this website.
Reinhold Mikuteit
Reinhold married Gisela Schacht, born July 7 1925. Together they had four children.
The Family of Franz Michael Mikuteit
The Family of Josef-Ludwig Mikuteit
The Family of Bernhardt Mikuteit
I visited Germany once, in September 1981, with my father, to visit some of my relatives. At the time of this visit I was 19 years old. This map shows where my father Siegfried and I traveled during this trip:
Starting at Frankfurt, we visited Heidelburg, then Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and then Wurzburg, Kassel, Gottingen where my grandfather Bernhard Mikuteit lived with his second wife Maria (born Meierhofe) and the border with East Germany at Duderstadt. Then up to Hanover and a visit to Papenburg to visit my great aunt Emma Mikuteit. Then to Oldenburg, Bremen and finally Hamburg where we visited with my father’s cousin Lieschen Mikuteit, and her husband Wolfgang Dwenger and their family. I remember trying to talk to them and their children in German.
THis photo shows my father Siegfried, his sister Eva, and their father and my grandfather Bernhard Mikuteit, with his second wife Maria Meierhofe.
This is another photo of my grandfather Bernhard taken in 1977:
Maria and my father talking on a walkway near Gottingen:
This photo shows my father Siegfried, my great aunt Emma Mikuteit, and Maria when we visited Emma in Bockhorst or Papenburg.
Only a few months after I visited with my great aunt Emma Mikuteit, she passed away, and this is the notice from the church about her death:
My grandmother Martha Mikuteit, Bernhard’s first wife and my father Siegfried’s mother, had died before I was born. We visited her grave which I believe was in the Harz mountains region, and I took this photo of her grave stone:
This is an early
Martha Mikuteit
photo of Martha Mikuteit with her children Eva and Siegfried, my aunt and father.
My father Siegfried Mikuteit emigrated to the United STates in 1952, traveling aboard the SS General Harry Taylor ship. He arrived in the US on March 29 1952.
This is the Ellis Island manifest showing his arrival in the US on March 29 1952, from Bremerhaven GermanY:
This ship was later named the General Hoyt S Vandenburg, and was sunk off the coast of Florida in 2007 to create an artifical reef:
Siegfried went back to Germany on Sept 25 1956, aboard the Trans World Airlines.
He went back to visit Germany in 1957-8, around the time he and my mother had been married, and then returned to New York on January 21 1958 aboard the SS America, as shown in this record:
His address at this time as 3567 Blanche Ave, Cleveland Heights. This is that house:
“3567 Blanche Ave, Cleveland Heights, OH is a single family home that contains 1,298 sq ft and was built in 1925. It contains 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. This home last sold for $23,000 in November 2016. “
My father Siegfried submitted a petition to become a US Citizen in ___ and on it indicated that he had served in US Military service (the Korean War) from Nov 10 1953.
His place of birth is listed there as Pagrienen, Germany — it was actually in East Prussia, and the town Pagrienen ceased to exist — the town name was changed and its original inhabitants had to flee.
My father died on October 24, 2019, at 90 years of age, from complications resulting from pancreatic cancer. 
Report cards 1943:
His report cards from Ohio State university:
Photo of Leon Holzman.
which is cataloguing information about Jewish families in Poland. As stated on the Gesher Galicia site:
Then there was the sinking of the luxury liner the Cap Arcona, wherein another 7000 perished, most of whom were former inmates of the concentration camp Neuengamme near Hamburg. That one, quite tragically, appears to have been sunk by British forces. Then there was the steamer Steuben, a former luxury liner, which carried both wounded soldiers and refugees. It was torpedoed by the Soviets and resulted in a loss of life of 3600 souls.
But who knows about any of these events, outside of those studying the history of WWII? Just like the maritime disasters that seem to have been lost to public awareness, the massive tragedy and wholesale expulsion of the East Prussians from their homeland (it has been termed ethnic cleansing by one author) at the tail end of the war and afterward, is hardly known to most of us, and was certainly never taught in school. Actually, it’s only been within the last decade that several books in English on the subject of the Wilhlem Gustloff tragedy have been published — one called Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff by Cathryn Prince. The other is a novel by Ruta Sepetys, herself a daughter of East Prussian refugees, called Salt to the Sea. A third book entitled The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of A Doomed Ship in World War II, has a title that may not be helpful in encouraging compassion for the thousands of civilian lives lost in its sinking. A couple earlier, less known books in English were published in the 1970’s — The Cruelest Night: The Untold Story of one onf the Greatest Maritime Tragedies of World War II, by Christopher Dobson et a. And then The Damned Don’t Drown: The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff by A.V. Sellwood.
This revenge refers to the fact that the Soviet people were the first to experience atrocities and mass murder of civilians, at the hands of the German Reich, who had invaded this area earlier in WWII. The German forces, operating under the Nazi ideology, exalted not the “white race” (as in the alarming development of the modern day neo-Nazis in the US) but specifically the Germanic race. They directed ethnic hatred not only at Jews, but also at non-Germanic whites or others viewed as “Untermenschen” or subhuman. Mentally disabled Germans fit into this category, as did homosexuals, nd many ethnic Germans died in concentration camps simply because they were disabled individuals or homosexuals. Likewise, the Nazi ideology viewed the Slavic people as “Untermenschen”, and hence there was a deliberate campaign of brutality against the Russian people, replete with atrocities and war crimes.
Briefly, Slovakia was part of the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence in modern times, from year 1000 CE to 1918 CE. From 1918 to 1993 it was part of Czechoslovakia, and then starting in 1993 became its own nation. The details are summed up in this Wikipedia entry:
When I was younger, I thought my father was German, because he came from Germany and spoke German. But he was born in East Prussia. What was East Prussia, and how was it related to Germany? In pursuing that question I was led to a whole series of discoveries, which gave me a better understanding of my family’s background, as well as a massive tragic scenario of the 20th century that none of us are taught about in school.
From pg 52 of “Forgotten Land: Journeys among the Ghosts of East Prussia”:
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Urte Strangulate was a relative of mine born in 1844 in Daumanten, East Prussia.
The Zamarovsky surname enters my family tree through someone marrying into the family of descendants of my maternal great-great grandfather’s brother…so the connection is distant, but it is intriguing, mostly because it carried a connection point of my family tree into regions further back than I have yet found at any other point. This diagram shows the connection (two different paths of connection) between myself through 10 people to reach the Zamarovsky family connection, and I am 27 people away from the most distant Zamarovksy ancestor (not a blood relative of mine) born, according to my calculations, sometime before 1380. 
Obec Zamarovce
I
It is not clear if Endriks Lampsat had children with his second wife Maria Rugies, whom he married in 1905 after Erdme Eva died sometime between the birth of her last child in 1899, and this marriage in 1905. If he had no children with Maria, then my family tree doesn’t actually extend into the Rugies family tree beyond this point. However, these records are not complete and if Endriks and Maria had any children, they would have been half siblings of the children of Endriks and Erdme.
I am creating a separate blog/article to present selections from Reinhold’s book — see here:
Mikuteit Family Tree 