Moving memories by Ulf Grieger
where (Moz) a historical meeting has taken place in which: on the initiative of Herbert and Marlis students, the American family of Ginger Lane met the grandson of Arthur Schmidt, who had hidden and thus saved seven Jewish siblings from 1943 to 1945. As Bela Weber, Ginger Lane was one of those children.
Today's view of the hideout: the outbuildings of the former guest house "Green Forest" served the Weaver siblings from 1934 to 1945 as a hiding place.
© Moz/Ulf Grieger
What remains in the memory of what you experienced as a four-year-old? What does it mean to return to the place where thousands of fears have been overcome for a long time? For Bela Weber, who has been named 1946 Ginger Lane since her adoption in the USA, the return to what is a very emotional experience. What she remembers? The question comes from her tears. "Because we have harvested potatoes. And especially because we were so lonely and always scared, "she says.
A lot of it was later experienced by her older siblings. By the eldest, Alfons Weber, who died in October and by Gudrun, who had already as-replaced the children the mother abducted by the Nazis. She was so glad to finally have the contact with the family of Arthur and Paula Schmidt, who, together with the mayor Rudi Fehrmann, had hidden the children of a Jewish family from Berlin in the Remote Inn area.
"We have now also visited Berlin. But there it is very impersonal. Only here in what, with friends like Marlis and Herbert Disciples, has overwhelmed me with this overwhelming feeling of gratitude. " Here you can feel welcome in a place where simple people have saved their lives.
The Holocaust memorial "Yad Vashem" will honor Paula and Arthur Schmidt as "Righteous Among the Nations". There is no appointment yet for the solemn act in which the first--great-grandson of Arthur Schmidt, who is said to be his ancestor Arthur, will take part.
At the meeting, the great-grandson of the Savior could not take part because he was in the camp. "But we told him about it. He's very interested, "his father says. Alfons Weber was still able to find him in Hamburg before he died. "It was all new to me. Neither my grandfather nor my father had told me about it, even though we were in it. My Jewish friends in Cologne surprised me with their respect and great gratitude to my grandfather. But I'm just the descendant. I didn't save anyone. But I am very glad that there have been people like my grandpa here. " Arthur Schmidt, who had moved to Berlin after 1958, had been very cheerful. The meeting in the student garden would have been very much to his liking.
The Lane family had brought a lot of material for Arthur Schmidt and his son, who collected Alfons Weber and documented the history of the families of the brothers and sisters living in Chicago and Texas. A meeting of this kind in a school garden, however, will no longer exist. Because the couple moves to the children in another state. However, the contacts with the Weber siblings will remain. Meetings: Frederic S. Lane, Marlis and Herbert pupil and Arthur Schmidt (H. v. L.) as well as Jennifer Lane Landolt, Ginger Lane (formerly Bela Weber) and Beth Lane (v. left) have gathered to commemorate the salvation of Jewish siblings. © Moz/Ulf Grieger
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