Translated by Cristina Mohr, June 1988
Fourth Newsletter June 1952
More than a decade has passed since our last news letter was published in April 1941. In 1942, we once more tried to gather and puhlish Information about change within the family but "technical reasons` of the time forced us to give up our plans.
Since then [1941/1942 (CM) the world has changed fundamentally and there is hardly one among our families whose existence or economic situation has been spared from the consequences of war. Just a plain list of our victims of war speaks for itself. The list would surely be much longer if we were able to enumerate all losses. Unfortunately, it was not possible to obtain information about victims of war and changes within the family from all our seven family lines. For example, the largest one of all, the Willsbach line, did not respond to our repeated and urgent plea for information. And in other instances where we tried to start old traditions again we could not help feeling that the interest in our Family has decreased a lot. It seems as if some people considered the activities of the clan members as vain idleness and [the (CFH)] hobby horse of a few.
This point of view might originate from the fact that for a long time the clan kept silent so that one might have thought it had slowly but surely disappeared. Also, this indifference towards sense of family and solidarity to relatives might be considered as a contemporary attitude in our society. When our family clan was founded and the family get togethers in Weinsberg and Stuttgart were so popular that family members attended in large numbers life and the general feeling about life was more carefree and balanced than today. For many people, life today means wearing struggle for pure existence and nerve wrecking stress so that the fostering of idealistic values has to be neglected. Therefore, it is understandable that there are people who say "I am busy enough with myself and my family and I am not able to care about other relatives from whom I do not profit anyway."
But quite a number of other Swabian Family Clans, whose members also have to face the daily struggle (literal: whose members' lives are not a bed of roses for them, either (CM)] again stage their regular get togethers and conferences and proudly report to the press how many family members of different ranks of society and with many different professions attend. They prove that the negative attitude tawards a sense of family is not inevitable and that even
- 2 -
in our days there are people who do not share this lethargy and "without me" attitude but instead have maintained a sense of family, solidarity to the family and respect for the ancestors.
We hope that this attitude [as described for some of the other Swabian families) is still alive in some of our tribesmen. We rely on them when--after fifteen years--we again want to invite you to a family get together in Stuttgart on July 6, 1952. The welcome reason for this get together is the soon coming visit of one of our cousins from America who showed his devotion and sacrifice by sending a lot of alms [I realize that this is a dated expression in English, but so is it in German (CM)] to many relatives during the years of need. His name is Gottlob Haeberlen+ from Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (p 107 X 75). We believe that the dear cousin will be very happy to see that the Haeberlen Family in his old home country sticks together and thanks him for his help by attending the get together in large numbers. It would be especially nice [the German words possess a much higher imperative connotation (CM)]++ if many of our younger Family members would participate. And generally, one of our aims now must be to recruit the youth. Ten of our originally forty members have died. The organization therefore desperately needs younger members.
One means of advertising for this recruitment was unfortunately destroyed during the war--the Family Book. All unsold books [I believe that also includes the unbound books (CM)] were destroyed by an air raid on the defenseless Stuttgart. For the time being, we can not make up for this loss which also means a substantial reduction of our incomes. A new edition, which would need a lot of editing and up dating, should be kept in mind even if we will not be able to work on it in the near future.
Weinsberg, the home town of our Family has had to suffer a lot from the fights [battles (CFH)) in the spring of 1945.
+ I met Gottlob Haeberlen in the summer of 1954. He was a retired janitor of a Ann Arbor high school. He had been a baker but problems with his lungs from flour dust had forced him to quit that profession. He did, on occasion, teach pastries and bread baking in the Home Economics classes. He produced his own wine for home consumption and apparently was well liked by the high school students as they had run an article in the paper. about this trip back to Germany. I saw other articles about him and this trip from, I believe, an Ann Arbor paper,
++ I believe what Cristina Mohr is trying to say politely is "you owe the man-be there" (CFH),
- 3 -
The old files, a valuable source of genealogical research, as well as a very special symbol have been destroyed by the fire in the town hall. In the 18th century, a number of stone pillars had been erected around the venerable linden tree under whose branches at Eastor 1525 captured knights were hun te d th rough the spe ars of angry f arme rs [ th is sentence refers to a kind of "running the gauntlet" (CM)] on the pillars the name and coat of arms of a councilman could be seen. Since the pillars had been strongly weather beaten and the names had become unreadable the town had asked a sculptor to renovate these witnesses of proud public spiritedness. One of these pillars showed the name and coat of arms of our ancestor, the "Beckenzunftmeister` and "Gerichtsverwandter" (explanation for these words see: Third News Letter, page 2, top of page. (CM)] Jacob Friedrich Haeberlin, April 24, 1709 - April 15, 1785 (p 46 V 3). if the pillars had survived the war they would have been reerected at their former position so that at this place the name of our Family would have been "immortalized". But this reminder of Weinsberg`s history also became a victim of the war.
Genealogical Table
During the last decade, genealogical research was obstructed by the war and its consequences. Our last supplement was published in the Third Newsletter from April 1941, pages 7-13 [original page numbers from the German letter (CFH)] Unfortunately, we committed a mistake on page 11 [original letter (CFH)]
which we not want to correct. Because of wrong information from the church registers we have stated that Anna Barbara Stoecklin, who married the aforementioned "Beckenzunftmeister" and "Gerichtsverwandter" Jacob Friedrich Haeberlin on August 12, 1732 was a descendant of Anna Maria Schmidlin who was the daughter of the clerk Johann Christian Schmidlin. [The following sentences have been translated a little more freely; it is rather confusing German, "Amtsdeutsch"+ (CM)]. We did not take into consideration that Anna Barbara Stoecklin's father, Hans Sebastian Stoecklin, mayor in Leonberg (born October 4, 1633), had three wives. His second wife was Anna Maria Schmidlin whom we wrongly took for Anna Barbara Stoecklin's mother. His third wife was Katharina Elisabetha Wogau,the wedding took place November 20, 1688. Katharina Elisabetha Wogau was baptized in Biberach on July 7, 1657. She was the daughter of Johann David Wogau, patrician and cavalry captain the Biberach, who was born September 9, 1614, in Halle upon Saale and died in 1682 (1684?). His parents were Johann David Wogau (May 5, 1582 - October 10, 1636), by profession "Achtermann" [meaningunknown (CM)] in Halle upon
+ "Amtsdeutsch" translates to "official German"
- 4 -
Saale who married Katharina von der Strassen in Frankfurt upon Oder on October 13, 1606, died in Halle. Other ancestors can be traced back to the 15th century. They were councilmen in Halle (see Gotha, non-hereditary nobility). Remarkably enough, one god father of Katharina Elieabetha Wogau was the colonel Conrad Widerhold, the heroic defender of Hohentwiel.
Johann David Wogau's wife was Helena Lay, daughter of the mayor of Biberach who was called Johannes Lay (October 11, 1585 - November 12, 1659) and hie wife Elisabetha Fuenklin (Funk). During the 30 year lasting war, Lay rendered outstanding services to hie home town. Because of hie Protestant religious beliefs he was twice taken hostage. Hie steel engraved portrait is exhibited amongst the "Wuerttembergishe Bildnisse" [a collection of drawinges, paintings, etc of famous people from Baden-Wuerttemberg (CM)] at the University of Tuebingen. On this engraving the gekroente++ poet Ludwig Faber used the following lines to characterize this man:
+ "So one could see the old honorable man who had risked hie possessions and blood for the alter [church (CM)] and home who loved hie God who never let him down the saying say one recognizes the lion by its claws" ("der Leu"is the poetic German word for "der Loewe" or lion in English (CM)]
The Lay family forms part of the Protestant patricians of Biberach. Around 1685 Johannes`s sons called themselves "von Lay or von Loew"
+ A number of well known people descended from one of Johannes Lay`s other marriage. They have qualified themselves in poetry, science and politics. They are Catholics and some of them are important and powerful members of the "Zentrum [translates "Central" (CFH) - a very conservative party in mainly Weimar Republic Germany and before (CM)], for instance, the Minister of Justice and President of the Reich Freiherr [translates "free man" (CFH)[von Buhl and Graf [translates "Count" (CFH)] Hertling (Chancellor in 1918) ["Freiherr" and "Graf" are both lower nobility titles (CM)] One family member, Sophie Gutermann, Wielan's sweetheart
++ The use of the word "gekroente" makes no sense here. "Gekroente" in english is similar to the phrase prince regent or one who has been designated successor to a crown. (CM)
+ It appears the Lay family "assumed" the title "von" rather than inherited it. Perhaps as a result of the heroics of their ancestor. (CFH)
- 5 -
of his youth, married the Catholic Frank von Lichtenfels, called La Roche , and that changed the religious beliefs. Sophie`s daughter Maximiliane, her married name was Brentano, became the mother of Clemens and Bettina Brentano and the progenitess (this is supposed to be the female version of "progenitor" (CM)] of many outstanding men and women in the Fine Arts.
| Treasurer: | Chairman: | |
| AugustHäberlen | Eugen Kreeb | |
| Tübingen | Stuttgart |
Our Victims of War
The ill fated war that has deadly injured the German Nation and the country has also painfully wounded the Haeberlen family. The long list of our victims of war is terrifying and puts us into a very mournful Mood. The whole Family feels with the closer relatives of these victims of War. Their names are:
[The letter goes on to list eleven members killed as a result of the war. The majority were either killed in Poland or Russia with one lost in the North Sea and another in Rumania. Seven members were listed as unaccounted for-either lost in battle or the results of air raids. (CFH)]
Miscellaneous
Our cousin Karl Haeberlen from Gaildorf has been honored in a special way. His brewery, which could celebrate its 75th anniversary in 1951, won a diploma and a golden emblem for its "Gaildorfer Spezialbier" [special beer brewed in Gaildorf (CM)] at a contest for breweries of -the southern part of Germany which took place in Luxembourg in January 1952.- We congratulate the prize winner-who succeeded in obtaining this honoring from a neutral international institution by competing with strong opponents.
We also send warm regards to our cousin Karl Haeberlen and his wife Luise, nee Braun, who celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in Weinsberg on March 20, 1952
Financial Report from April 1, 1941 - April 1, 1952
Small Expenses| I. Income: | ||
| Sum carried over | RM 149.09 | |
| Membership contribution (April 1 - December 31, 1941) | RM 89.30 | |
| Selling of two Family Books | RM 30.00 | |
| Membership contributions, 1942 | RM 131.20 | |
| Total of incomes: | ||
| Selling of one Family Book RM 15.00 Membership contributions, 1943 | RM 143.40 | |
| Membership contributions, 1944/45 | RM 151.00 | |
| Membership contributions, 1946 | RM 12.00 | |
| Membership contributions, 1947 |
RM 25.00 | |
| Membership contributions, 1948 | RM 40.00 | |
| ------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | |
|
|
||
| Sum of incomes: | RM 785.99 | |
| II. Expenses: | ||
| Copy costs April 19, 1941 | RM 28.20 | |
| Smaller expenses | RM 8.00 | |
| Copy costs September 23, 1952 | RM 2.40 | |
| Genealogical research Schmidlin | RM 12.30 | |
| "Verein fuer Wuerttemb. Familienkunde", membership contributions 1942, 1943 | RM 20.00 | |
| Small expenses | RM 4.95 | |
| "Verein fuer Wuerttemb. Familienkunde" 1944 | RM 10.00 | |
| Small expenses | RM 3.62 | |
| "Verein fuer Wuerttemb. Familienkunde" 1945 | RM 10.00 | |
| 1946 | RM 10.00 | |
| ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------ | |
| RM 785.99 | ||
| II. Expenses | ||
| Sum carried over (Incomes (CFH)) | 109.47 | |
| "Verein fuer Wuerttemb. Familienkunde" 1947 | RM 10.00 | |
| Small expenses | RM 3.00 | |
| "Verein fuer Wuerttemb. Familienkunde"1948 | RM 10.00 | |
| Small expenses | RM 3.60 | |
| ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | |
| Sum of expenses | RM 136.07 | |
| RM 649.92 | ||
| Credit | DM 38.04 | |
| Sum carried over | DM 38.04 | |
| I. Incomes: | ||
| membership contributions 1949 | DM ----- | |
| 1950 | DM 93.00 | |
| 1951 | DM 49.00 | |
| January 1March 31, 1952 | DM 59.00 | |
| ------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------- | -------------- |
| Sum of Incomes: | DM 239.04 | |
| Il. Expenses: | ||
| Contributions to "Verein fuer Familienkunde 1948 | DM 3.00 | |
| Contributions 1949 DM 10.00 Wreath for Jakob Haeberlen | DM 10.00 | |
| Small expenses | DM 4.10 | |
| Copy costs March 1950 | DM 12.79 | |
| "Verein fuer Familien und Wappenk. 1950 | DM 10.00 | |
| "Wappenkunde" translates to "information about coats of arms" (CFH) small expenses (family wreath, etc) | DM 5.77 | |
| "Verein fuer Familien -und Wappenk." 1951 | DM 10.00 | |
| small expenses | DM 3.26 | |
| 1952 | DM 10.00 | |
| ------------------------------------------------------- | --------------- | |
| Sum carried over: | DM 78 .92 | |
| + DM is Deutsch Marks and in 1961 dollars this DM 38.04 is less than $10.00 | ||
| Credit on April 1, 1952 | DM 145.48 | |
- 8 -
This financial report easily makes clear to everybody that there will be hardly any money left after we will have copied and sent out these newsletters. One major reason for this shortage of money is that a number of our members still have to pay their membership contributions. Perhaps they have failed to pay their contributions because due to the bad state of affairs after the war it seems as if the work of the Family Clan had stopped.
But when we asked in March 1950 in inform us about changes within the family we also included a plea to again start paying the membership contributions on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the majority of our members did not pay attention to either wish. Instead of recruiting new members they apparently thought that they could simply lay back and do nothing. However, this is not. possible in any kind of club--and in our organization, neither.
Our statutes that were published in August 1938 read in section 2: "The membership ends after death, withdrawal, or exclusion. One may only withdraw after having handed in a written withdrawal form which must be sent to the chairman (Professor August Haeberlen, Neckarhalde 55, Tuebingen). The membership contributions for the current year still have to be paid."
In section 7 we read: "The membership contributions amount to DM 3.00 per year. Under certain circumstances the chairman can lower or waive the fee." An application form has to be filled out for this procedure.
But at this point we also want to thank those of you who often and some even regularly have paid higher membership contributions and who accepted changes willingly and sometimes even without being asked to do so. There are only a few of them and therefore we have to thank them even more .
We also want to briefly comment on a somewhat strange attitude. Those daughters of the Family who have married and therefore now carry different surnames often think they do not belong to the Haeberlen Family any more. Sometimes, this attitude can also be found in the sons' minds. Why? What does the name have to do with it? Do they feel closer to the fathers and grandfathers than to the mothers and grandmothers? (if there should be a difference at all--does one not usually feel closer to the mother's side of the family?) We should at least be able to expect that the grandsons and granddaughters of the Haeberlen daughters feel close to the Family, even if they carry different surnames.
- 9 -
Before we s ign of : hopefully, we will be able to expect that the missing membership contributions from 1950 to 1952 will be paid as soon as possible. at the latest during the course of this year; "Familienverband" , Staedtische Girokasse Suttgart, account # 34337.3
Treasurer: Johanna Haeberlen