Schweidnitz today is called Wroclaw (Poland). It must have been fascinating to hear how she escaped from behind the iron curtain (which didnt fall until 1990).
Świdnica is the new post-war name given to it by the Polish government after most all German residents had fled before the Russian Army on the Eastern Front near the end of the war. Wroclaw is a totally different town, but most believe is the city of BIRTH of Manfred and possibly others of the von Richthofen family.
Here are some decent chunks of our conversation:
(She had evidently arrived at the airport at Frankfurt very early like I did and checked her luggage early because her's was the last luggage to come off the conveyer with mine. She had this HUGE black steamer trunk that HAD to weigh well over 100 pounds and there was NO way a fine lady of her age could be toting it around so I kept advancing it up the line for her--she was very nice about thanking me for doing it. Turns out the trunk was not only her stuff for a 2 month stay with her daughter's family in Evergreen Park, IL, but choked full of gifts for all her grandkids.)
She spoke no English and I noticed her accent was a tad different than I had heard before, so--to make pleasant conversation, I asked here where she was from. She seemed to brush it off and said "you would never know where it is,
none of the young people know...it's not even a part of Germany anymore." I asked, "are you from Silesia?" You should have seen the look on her face! " Why yes, I am!" she said. I said, "Are you from Schweidnitz?" Her jaw dropped and she turned all but white. "Why should you ask such a thing? Who told you to ask that of me!" She actually took a stern tone and looked a bit "cheesed off" to say the least. I was horribly afraid I had offended her in some way.
I started to apologize if I had offended her and she softened her tone and asked again "How do you know of Schweidnitz?" I tried to explain that that was the place the von Richthofen Estate was...and before I could even get any further she actually cut me off and she asked "What do you know of the family von Richthofen?" I explained I had done quite a bit of research on the parents and children and started to mention the silver cups Manfred had made to celebrate each air victory until (then she cut me off again) .."until the silver ran out..." she said. I agreed that that is what I had heard. She looked me in the eye and just blurted it out..."I am Anna, the gardener." I didn't quite know what she was saying. "I am Anna, the gardener for the Family von Richthofen." I was shocked! What were the odds?
When I asked her about Manfred, she had this quirky smile on her face when she talked about him (I got the feeling she had some sort of young girl crush on him back then). She said she was about 17 or so during the closing year or so of WWI. I said I had heard that I had heard Manfred was more serious and that Lothar was more of a jokester. "Kwatch!" she said, don't you believe that!" she said. "Manfred was just as playful." She then related a story about how she looked forward to times the brothers came home on leave, although she said she usually didn't see them much. She told me a story about doing some gardening and being so focused on what she was doing did not notice Manfred sneaking up on her. "He pinched me on the (backside)" she said, almost blushing like a school-girl. "One didn't think about him being famous, although he most certainly was."
I asked her about how how it was she got out when the Russians came. "We had heard the Russian "great" guns for some days, and the rumors were they could break through at any time". She told me that mother von Richthofen had hastily stuffed some items in a car and that they had decided to travel West, specifically towards the American lines, who drove she didn't say. She said the family specifically offered her to go with them. They ended up around the Baden-Baden area when the war was over and she had appreciated the "ride" the family had given her.
She didn't say where she lived at the time, but she didn't mention anything about moving away from the Baden-Baden area after that. She did hint that some of Manfred's WWI war years friends did keep in touch with the family, I think she was hinting at Gen. Karl Bodenschatz, but did not mention him by name. It was kind of implied.
She flew through customs and I put her bag on a porter's cart who took it from there. After I had a tad of customs problems (I was carrying an Isreali orange in a lunch packed by my German "mom" who packed for me to eat on the train, and had to surrender it to the customs official who promptly began peeling it and eating it as he walked away when I was cleared).
When I came out of customs she was still waiting there for her daughter's family to pick her up. I promptly introduced her to my girlfriend (and future wife) and my father who came to pick me up. My father was courteous but spoke no German and had never heard of von Richthofen. My girfriend said she was proud to meet her in her limited German then promptly told Anna what her birthday was. Anna smiled and winked and that was the last I saw of her--off to Evergreen Park, IL to see her daughter and meet her grandchildren, presumably for the very first time.
What are the odds?
I have always been grateful for that 30 minutes stuck at the end of the customs line at O'Hare with Anna.
ROX
