Translation from German to English
Mejor Respuesta
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Hello Kirk,
here comes my translation:
Hello dear Kirk!
Thank you for your letter, which we received some time ago. You ask in the letter about me. Now I want to write about myself, also about us. I and my wife, who is your relative, both come from Klein Lomnitz. Klein Lomnitz was a farming village and in 1944 had almost 900 inhabitants who were Germans. Only a few day laborers and cattle herders were Slovaks. They stayed behind. Klein Lomnitz is located in the Zips (Spiš) language island about 100 km south of Krakow on the Polish border, High Tatras ski jump area Schmeko (Smokovec), on the Polish side Zakopane. Zips had almost 40000 Germans at the time of expulsion in 1944. Until 1918 Zips belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. From 1918 it was Czechoslovakia until March 1939. By Hitler's grace Slovakia became an independent state in 1939 until 1945. Then Czechoslovakia again. Now Slovakia is independent again (to its own detriment). Klein Lomnitz was situated in a narrow valley. The farmers had mostly 2 horses. The soil was partly heavy clay to barren stony field. We had the so-called 3-field farming, i.e. the same crop is grown every 3 years, with the exception of red clover as cattle feed every 6 years. Crops grown were: Potatoes, barley, oats, rye. After 1940 also wheat. The Kl. L. were 95% Protestant.
Dear Kirk, you may be wondering about my last name. Faix is French. My ancestors are Huguenots expelled from France because of their Protestant faith. They used to live in the neighborhood and were expelled to Kl. L. during the Counter-Reformation. We, too, landed here in Giengen only in a roundabout way. I myself was arrested from the street at the end of July 1944 and taken to Vienna by force. Then I was put into Adolf Hitler's war uniform in Dachau in the beginning of Nov. 1944, until was taken prisoner near Berlin by the Soviets end of April 1945. Released end of August 45 and then in an internment camp until 1946 (August). Then resettled in Mecklenburg in the then Soviet occupation zone.
My wife was evacuated by the German Wehrmacht to Sudentenland in October 1944, together with her child and 85-year-old grandmother. On quiet days you could hear the cannon thunder in the distance for a long time. Then all women came and in January 1945 all Germans had to leave their homes. My father-in-law left Kl. L. also on a farm carriage pulled by 2 horses. [We were] expelled by the Czechs from Sudetenland in July 1946 and remained in the Soviet zone until March 1953. In March 1953 we dared to escape to West Germany via Berlin. Here we were not very kindly received and only after 1 3/4 years in the camps we got an apartment. Since 1968 we are here in our own house.
Why the 4 brothers emigrated to the USA at that time? Simply there was no place, because of the overpopulation. Only one son (one child) could have an existence. There was no other possibility to earn money. They (the 4 brothers) changed their name because allegedly the name Mager sounds bad, is bad to pronounce (in English). The fifth brother Georg kept his name. We have no official documents from home. Also the oral tradition is often forgotten. Even our own papers like birth certificates and others remained somewhere. As I wrote overleaf, we were expelled the first time from Kl. L., the second time from Sudentenland. Then in 1953 we fled to the West by night and fog, as they say here, with only a handbag and a small suitcase. Everything that had been reacquired during this time remained behind.
One sister of the 6 brothers was married to a Tomaschko. We do not know the first name of her husband. Sorry for waiting so long with our letter. Also my bad handwriting. My hand is already shaking a little. In Kl. L. there was often already a lot of snow in December. Here in Giengen we have still no snow and mild weather.
Thanks for the photo with the two pretty blondes. I almost forgot. If something is still not clear to you, you can write us again. We are pleased about each message, because we live now in a time of the disaster news.
With kind regards to you we remain your Anna and Jakob Faix from Old Germany.
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Respuestas
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@MagerMullerRobinsonTimm We are so glad you have joined our German community - It is a great place to get help and to help others! We have a lot of talented, experienced participants here.
Most of the time, it is best to use "ask a question" - do this by selecting the arrow to the right of "new discussion". Asking a question allows you to accept the answer or let us know you would like more help. (I was able to change this post to a question for you.)
Be sure to review the links at the top of our community page for some great resources. We look forward to hearing from you. We are so glad you are part of this great community!
Thanks for being patient as we sometimes must wait for a response to come from a volunteer with the needed skill set. It is always good if you include the identification number of the person in question in Family Search Family Tree so we can see the bigger picture.
We look forward to your comments and questions.
Enjoy today! Cindy Jarvis
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