Oma Hildegard Pictures through the years and her Story

 In memory of Oma Hildegard Malkusch (Schmidt)

The Story of Hildegard Malkusch

 

Summary

When Hildegard Schmidt was born on February 9, 1927, in Heilbronn, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, her father Willi, was 20 years old, and her mother, Karoline, was 30. She has two daughters with Rolf W. Schramke named Dagmar Riley and Elke Johnson. She had one half-brother (Gustav Merkle 1934-1960) and possible half-sister (Kummerer 1940-?).

 

1927 Birth

Hildegard Schmidt was born on February 9, 1927, in Heilbronn, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, to Karoline Pauline Schmidt, age 30, and Willi Rolf Kummerer, age 20.

 

Community History

At the confluence of the Rhine, Saar, and Mosel rivers, southwest Germany boasted vineyards and orchards that served far-away markets. As a borderland between Germany and France, southwest Germany was also the site of many wars, heavy taxation, and intense suffering. As a result of population growth, climatic disaster, and war in the 19th century, many of its inhabitants sought out cheap land, jobs, and new opportunities in Pennsylvania and the American Midwest.

 

Medical

Haplogroup T2F1

 

Residence

Kempner, TX 2016

 

 

Origin

 

1700–1725

War & Hardship

The first two decades of the 18th century brought war and famine to the regions of Hesse, Baden, and Württemberg. In 1707, French troops under Louis XIV marched through southwest Germany, claiming territory, burning fields, demanding provisions from peasants, and spreading disease. Nearby, peasants and townsfolk were forced to pay higher taxes to support the war and quarter troops. Subsequently, a bitter winter killed livestock and ruined the crops for that year. The Rhineland’s wine was destroyed and the highest wheat and rye prices in a generation led to widespread hardship.

           

 

1725–1750

A Land of Orchards and Vineyards

Along the Rhine and Saar rivers, vineyards and orchards dotted the hillsides. Farmers could focus on products like wine and tobacco because they were easy to ship to distant markets. Most, a kind of fermented apple cider, was the drink of choice for peasants. In Alsace and Hessen, people raised sheep, wove linen, and practiced handicrafts like clay pottery. But the dense population and frequent wars led many to seek land elsewhere. With the Austrian defeat of the Ottoman Turks, many Germans, mostly from Baden and Württemberg, settled in Hungary with the offer of paid passage and no taxation for 15 years.

 

 

1750–1775

An Age of Reform

In the middle of the 18th century, a new interest in improving the lives of everyday citizens took hold across Europe. The state of Baden was a leader in social reforms such as improving education. Previously, formal education was sporadic and secondary to work on the farm or in a trade. Most children attended only during winter, when there was little farm work, and they stopped attending at age 14. In Baden, new schools were built, teachers were recruited, and attendance enforced, so literacy increased. In the 1760s, Russia’s Catherine the Great offered Germans free land, religious freedom, and exemption from military service to settle in the Volga and eastern Ukrainian regions.

 

People in Your Tree

People from your tree with birth or death dates in this time period are plotted on the map.

Bartholomaeus Adamus Schmid

2nd Great-Grandfather

Jakob Friedrich Schmid

1st Great-Grandfather

 

1775–1800

Urban Life on the Eve of Revolution

Compared to the rest of central Europe, southwest Germany was far more urban, with large numbers of towns and cities. Towns were home to merchants, landowners, teachers, butchers, and craftsmen. The most important economic unit in towns—professional guilds—regulated who could produce crafts and train apprentices. Apprentices lived in or near the workshops, often with their masters. The most important guild in southwest Germany was that of the woolen and linen weavers. By the end of the 18th century, imports from abroad, competition from newly mechanized factories, and liberal economic reforms all led to a weakening of linen and wool weaving guilds.

 

People in Your Tree

People from your tree with birth or death dates in this time period are plotted on the map.

Maria Catharina Neuman

2nd Great-Grandmother

 

1800–1825

The Year Without a Summer

Following nearly two decades of constant war between France and the rest of Europe, flooding and famine engulfed southwest Germany. The coldest and wettest summer in centuries in 1816 caused rivers to overflow and flood fields and orchards, ruining the grape, apple, and grain crops. Grain prices increased 500%, sparking riots, arson, and looting. In addition, thousands of peasants and craftsmen were thrown into poverty as industrialization made many jobs obsolete. Linen weavers lost out to cheap English and Dutch imports. Forced to sell their possessions and rely on poor relief to survive, many looked for a better livelihood elsewhere. Some followed the footsteps of earlier Germans and emigrated to Russia where there was plentiful land.

People in Your Tree

People from your tree with birth or death dates in this time period are plotted on the map.

Maria Catharina Neuman

2nd Great-Grandmother

 

1825–1850

Crisis and Emigration

Many farmers owned small parcels of land but were heavily indebted, and each harvest brought much needed cash. So when famine struck in 1846, disastrous crop failures forced large numbers to sell their land and move to America to start over. Many paid for their passage by working as indentured servants. Sometimes authorities in Baden and Württemberg forced poor people to emigrate, paying their transit costs and offering four dollars to help them get established. Many emigrants from Germany came from the southwest and found their way to the region stretching from western Pennsylvania, to Ohio, Illinois and Missouri because earlier German settlers had written glowing reports of these areas.

 

1850–1875

A Diverse Ethnic Community

Immigrants from Württemberg and western Bavaria settled across Pennsylvania and New York, concentrating in cities like Pittsburgh, New York City, and Buffalo. In Pittsburgh, they found work in the booming iron industry, and in New York they worked as craftsmen and in construction. In contrast to the Irish, Germans split into starkly different religious and cultural communities, reflecting Germany’s own diversity. Nearly a third of all German immigrants were Catholic, with many coming from Saarland and the region near Ingolstadt in Bavaria. They established their own churches and drinking or leisure clubs. Those settling further west also sought out those from their same region, often living in larger German neighborhoods in Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri.

People in Your Tree

People from your tree with birth or death dates in this time period are plotted on the map.

Friedrich Ludwig Schmid

Grandfather

 

1875–1900

German Women and Work in America

Women from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg came to America in large numbers. In 1880, 50% of employed German American women worked as domestic servants, doing household tasks like cooking, cleaning, and watching children. Domestic servants in New York City earned $1 to $1.25 per week, working up to 16 hours per day, with one afternoon off. The second most common occupation was in textile manufacturing, where women worked as seamstresses, often laboring in crowded sweatshops for low pay. Such work was most often done before they married and had a family, but even women with children sought out ways to produce sewn items or crafts to bring in extra income.

People in Your Tree

People from your tree with birth or death dates in this time period are plotted on the map.

Karoline Pauline Schmidt

Mother

1900–1925

Integration and Anti-German Sentiment in World War I

For German Americans in the New York area, the century began with disaster as over 1,000 German women and children died when their ferry burst into flames on the East River on the way to picnic on Long Island. This disaster coincided with the disappearance of all-German urban enclaves as Germans began moving out of Manhattan to neighborhoods such as the Bronx. As waves of migrants from southern and eastern Europe arrived in New York, German Americans left many low-paying jobs to the newcomers as they became more established in American society. During World War I, many Germans faced increased discrimination, so many Americanized their names and gave their children more American-sounding names.

 

 

1925–1950

A Steep Decline of German Identity

German American communities by the middle of the 20th century were experiencing sharp declines in many aspects of their culture such as German fluency and participation in ethnic clubs, long held as a barometer for ethnic identity. In part this was due to measures from Anglo Americans that discouraged the use of German during the war and limited new immigration in the 1920s. And with the worldwide economic depression beginning in the 1930s, even fewer new migrants arrived in America from Germany. Still, first-generation German parents found ways to teach their children German through Saturday German-language schools and Lutheran catechism instruction.

People in Your Tree

Friedrich Ludwig Schmid

Grandfather

Willi Rolf Kummerer

Father

 

 

 

Notes from talking with Oma Hildegard:

Oma talked very fondly of her foster family last name “Waltz” near Neckargardach. The children’s home she lived at before and after was called Lichtenstein – Loewenstein. Oma Hilde stated that after her foster mother died, she lived with her biological mother and stepfather for two years until the state removed her due to being abused. Her stepfather (Herman Merkle) was a trashman for the city of Winsberg. Oma stated that she forgave him later in life.

 

Hildegard Malkusch had two daughters with her first husband Rolf Schramke. (Dagmar Margarete and Elke Elvira). Her second husband was Franz Malkusch (He was born Dec. 10^th, 1919 Bogschuetz, Kreis Oels – Niederschlesien – married Nov. 20^th, 1965. He adopted both Dagmar and Elke on February 20^th, 1967.

 

Oma Hildegard stated that her grandfather (Friedrich Wilhelm Schmid) on her mothers’ side had two sisters that had married and moved to New York, Giddings. Friedrich died in the Killianskirche in Heilbronn (He was a Steinmetz / architect) while doing restorations. Oma remembers him being a very kind man.

 

Gustav Merkle was Oma Hilde’s half-brother, he died at age 59. He died from breathing substances from doing ceiling work. Gustav had three sons.

 

Oma Hilde’s mom name was Karoline Pauline Schmid, she had a sister named Luise Schmid. Luise Schmid married Merkt and had kids. One of her daughter’s names was Annaliese Markt (Born May 10^th). Anneliese never had any children. The sons name was Albert Markt (He was a flieger im Krieg) Helene Merkt was his wife. Her grandsons name is Albrecht Merkt. Karoline died in 1978, she was the youngest of 6 surviving children.

 

Oma Hildegard’s grandmother (Pauline Schmid) on her mothers side was a very stern woman, who was also a head nurse who would assist with operations. Pauline had three sets of twins. Only 6 out of 16 Pauline’s children lived. She died at age 79.

 

Oma Hilde’s uncles were Ernst, Fritz (Friedrich was the oldest of the siblings he was a soldier) and Karl Schmid. Uncle Karl once told her she would make it far in life. Uncle Karl’s wifes name was Mary. Karl was a “See fahrer” who also traveled to China. Her aunts name was Luise.

 

Heilbronn, Baden-Wurttemberg WWII – lost a lot of family with the last name Schmid / Schmidt & Kummerer. 4/12/1944 was a day Oma Hilde would never forget. She said the only thing that saved her was that she was on a train out of town that day, when she returned home she saw bodies crumbling to dust in front of her eyes.

 

Oma stated that her biological father died 1936 in a house with the lung sick. He had remarried and had a set of twin daughters sometime before that.