My Family (Photos from the Fellendorf Collection)

Reinhold and Margarete Fellendorf. My parents’ wedding photo, June 16, 1928.

My mother, age 10.

My father, age 10.

Albert and Emilie Mattern. We called them the Ziegen Oma and Opa, or goat grandma and grandpa. Here they are with a few of their many goats on their farm. They were married forty-five years before my beloved Ziegen Oma passed away in 1943.

Ewald and Luise Fellendorf. My father’s parents were married in Gottesberg, Silesia on April 18, 1896. They were married forty-two years before my Opa passed away.

My father, far left, was a great athlete and member of a gymnastic club in Fellhammer.

Me (front) at age two on my grandparents’ farm in Fellhammer, Silesia with my cousins Heinz and his sister Marianne.

Nettle's Story

My very first dog, Nettle, with Uncle Walter in Fellhammer, ca. 1939.

Nettle was my first dog. She was a ten-pound reddish-brown Dachshund mix with an eighty-pound attitude. One of the most difficult things I had to do when my parents left Fellhammer for Berlin was give up Nettle. I’d had her since she was a puppy. We didn't know what conditions would be like where we’d be living, and my parents had no idea what their financial situation would be. Nettle was given to my father’s sister and her husband, Aunt Martha and Uncle Walter. She went on to have two litters of puppies and a good life under their care. Nettle had free roam of the town, so she was a popular and familiar sight to the people of Fellhammer. She would wander about, then return home by the afternoon – nothing would get between her and her afternoon meal.

Nettle’s life went on for years without me. Tucked away in Silesia, she survived the war. After the war, when the Poles were moved into Silesia and the Germans were being forced out, Nettle didn't return one day. Uncle Walter and his family spent days looking for her until a friend of his told him Nettle had been trapped by a Pole, killed, and eaten. Times were harsh, and food was still scarce. Still, it was a horrible ending for such a gentle soul.7

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My best friend Inge (right) and me (left) share a private joke on a hillside. We were both three years old in this photo.

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My parents' wedding certificate. They were married on June 16, 1928, in Fellhammer, Silesia. (Fellendorf Collection)

My parents' wedding newspaper. I've only included the first page of eight. Apparently wedding newspapers were the norm back then. The person that hand wrote the newspaper included funny stories about every person in attendance. (Fellendorf Collection)

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7 Ibid., 67.