DAY 6 - DAY OF RELAXATION IN MARZAHN-AGAIN!
Today dawned foggy and rainy and was a good day for "relaxation". Uschi and Harald were going to be unavailable today so Gerhard had me at his apartment for the traditional breakfast while we watched the news on TV. This news broadcast included many US political pieces. It was obvious that the German people are very interested in our upcoming presidential election.
Following breakfast Gerhard showed me some of the items from his grandfather, Johann Colberg, that he was privileged to have possession of. Johann, of course, was a brother to my great-grandfather, August Kolberg. One of the items in Gerhard's possession is Johann's 1931 calendar book/diary in which Johann had detailed the history of his family along with the birthdays of his family members including his parents and brothers. He also had made notations of which of his brothers had immigrated to America. It is a real treasure and Gerhard was proud to have it.
Every day of my trip has been wonderful and contained lasting memories. But this day, viewing Johann's diary, was very special. Even though I knew that my Kolberg family in the US and Gerhard's Kolberg family in Germany were indeed all part of the family of Friedrich-Wilhelm and Amalie (Kautz) Kolberg, seeing this journal gave me a shiver to actually see, in the German handwriting of Johann, actual verification of our familial connection. I cannot express the feelings that filled me in seeing this diary and Gerhard assisted me in photographing these pages as the book was very fragile:
I noted that Johann had indicated the birth dates of all on the appropriate pages of his diary and he had also listed the death dates of his father, mother and oldest brother, Friedrich-Wilhelm, Jr. However, on the pages of his 5 brothers who immigrated to the US - August, Heinrich, Otto, Paul and Ferdinand, he had written "America" indicating they had immigrated to America but he did not have death dates listed. While brothers Otto, Paul and Ferdinand had all died AFTER Johann, brother August had died in 1920 and Heinrich in 1932 before Johann died in 1936. It made me wonder if the brothers in America had kept in touch with Johann in Germany and if they had notified Johann when August and Heinrich had died.
Following this I returned to my apartment where I wrote out my postcards and worked on my photos. This was a good break on this gloomy day. I went back to Gerhard's for dinner which he had prepared with boiled potatoes, cauliflower and hollandaise sauce. He is a very good cook and manages his household well since his wife passed away several years ago.
We then decided to take a walk through the gardens to the computer store so I could purchase a thumb drive on which Gerhard would download from his computer multiple genealogical pictures, graphs and other items that he has created which I could then install on my laptop. This was a lengthy walk and I was finding myself dragging at the end as this body is not used to the amount of walking that my German cousins think of as nothing. We did find a thumb drive and came back to the apartment to download all the files and images.
At 5 pm again had to take a break for cake, tea and coffee. It would be really easy to get used to this treat of different tortes or cakes every day.
The remainder of the day was spent with photos, video tapes, viewing of a wedding tape from the recent marriage of Uschi and Harald's son and general conversation followed by supper of the breads, cheeses, sausages, etc. Then back to my apartment to unwind or "chill" as my niece would say!
When I reflected tonight on this day I had to marvel at my 30 year journey in tracing my Kolberg family. All of the research, all the letters back and forth to archives, the maps and atlases that I had pored over, the senior members of my Kolberg family that I had questioned on their memories all culminated in the living room of Gerhard today when I saw the entries in his grandfather, Johann's, diary. To have made the connection between our families and to have proved this connection was satisfaction enough but to have actually connected with a cousin who was just as passionate as myself about our genealogy and to be able to share in the archives and keepsakes that he possessed was more than I could have ever envisioned.
This was truly a wonderful day!
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