I thought I would share this with the WAF.
Every 2-3 years, we take a trip to Germany to see my wifes family who is mostly over there in the Rheinland.
Each trip, my Father would ask me to look up my relatives that were from Bavaria.
(My Great Grandfather Came to Baltimore in 1888, and his daughter (my Grandmother) kept in touch with a few of the relatives up until about 1970 or so.) Also, during WW2, my father (about 9 at the time) was taken to a prison camp in New Jersey to see his Uncle who was captured in France. They said that he wanted to stay in the states, but Uncle Sam deported him after the war.
None of the letters were saved, I had no pictures, (as a strange uncle took all of them and keeps to himself), no adress, and only a name of a nephew that she wrote to in the 60's.
The search was on.
So My father gives me a name. (Josef Zipfel), who was the Nephew that my Grandmother wrote to in the 60's. I look up the name in the German Phone book and find hunreds of people with that name.
I go back to my father and ask if he has anything else to go on. He says that Josef was studying to be a doctor, so maybe he is one.
I contact my Wifes Cousin and ask for his help. He calls back in 15 minutes or so and says that he has spoke with my cousin, and he is the only doctor in Bavaria with that name. - Bingo!
Long story short, we just spent our second vacation with my Family in North-Eastern Bavaria and I now keep in contact with 17 relatives from my side of the Family. We speak often, and I am actually closer now to them, than I am most of my relatives in this country.
(Back to the Captured Uncle during WW2)
This past trip we took this fall, My cousin Marianne pulled out the family Photoalbum. Along with Pictiures of My Great Grandfather sent to them from Baltimore, was pictures of her Father who was The Relative my Father Visited.
Here are 3 pictures that I took pictures of while over there.
Every 2-3 years, we take a trip to Germany to see my wifes family who is mostly over there in the Rheinland.
Each trip, my Father would ask me to look up my relatives that were from Bavaria.
(My Great Grandfather Came to Baltimore in 1888, and his daughter (my Grandmother) kept in touch with a few of the relatives up until about 1970 or so.) Also, during WW2, my father (about 9 at the time) was taken to a prison camp in New Jersey to see his Uncle who was captured in France. They said that he wanted to stay in the states, but Uncle Sam deported him after the war.
None of the letters were saved, I had no pictures, (as a strange uncle took all of them and keeps to himself), no adress, and only a name of a nephew that she wrote to in the 60's.
The search was on.
So My father gives me a name. (Josef Zipfel), who was the Nephew that my Grandmother wrote to in the 60's. I look up the name in the German Phone book and find hunreds of people with that name.
I go back to my father and ask if he has anything else to go on. He says that Josef was studying to be a doctor, so maybe he is one.
I contact my Wifes Cousin and ask for his help. He calls back in 15 minutes or so and says that he has spoke with my cousin, and he is the only doctor in Bavaria with that name. - Bingo!
Long story short, we just spent our second vacation with my Family in North-Eastern Bavaria and I now keep in contact with 17 relatives from my side of the Family. We speak often, and I am actually closer now to them, than I am most of my relatives in this country.
(Back to the Captured Uncle during WW2)
This past trip we took this fall, My cousin Marianne pulled out the family Photoalbum. Along with Pictiures of My Great Grandfather sent to them from Baltimore, was pictures of her Father who was The Relative my Father Visited.
Here are 3 pictures that I took pictures of while over there.
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