Tuesday 16 April 2013

Guest Post By My Mum: My Onkel Otto

The first quarter of the year will soon be over - isn't that unbelievable? Also unbelievable is the fact that my Mum has not yet posted on here in 2013. Let me make up for that today by publishing another guest post by my Mum (her previous one is here, in case you missed it or wish to re-read).

My Onkel Otto

The other night, I had a dream about my Onkel (uncle) Otto, though I hadn't thought of him in a long time. That made up my mind to write this hommage to him:

When I was a little girl, my family lived all together in a small town house. Today, you would call it a "multi-generation-house": Grandfather, grandmother, uncle (my father's brother), my parents, my brother (5 years older than I) and myself. I enjoyed this very much as a child, because there was always an adult who had time for me and my "problems".

My Uncle Otto was very special: He was crippled, but only physically. As a baby, born in 1915 during World War I, he had caught a bone-disease which was incurable in those days.
His mind was extraordinary, his intelligence great. He spoke several languages and worked at an office as an accountant. Then along came Hitler and the Nazis, and it was like a miracle that he was not deported, even though his father (my grandfather, the painter) lost his job because he was against Hitler, not a member of the party, and didn't make a secret of his opinion. Another uncle on my mother's side (who was quite involved with the regime) apparently managed to protect Onkel Otto, so that he survived those horrible years.

Mum's first school day, Easter 1950
My Mum as a toddler, ca. 1946-47
I was born in 1944, so I cannot remember anything of this, only through my parents telling me.
I adored Onkel Otto: When I was ill, he always had something for me to make it better; when I was hurt, he had the necessary dressing materials, and always good advice for me. He taught me chess and playing cards, helped with my maths and any other school task I needed help with. He knew everything about animals and botanics. He introduced me to literature; he was member of a book club and lent me always the best novels of world literature. He listened to the shortwave radio amateurs, sent and received post cards from all over the world, and I followed and found it very interesting. He had a big fat old smelly tomcat with only one ear, named Peter, and they loved each other very much. When I married and left home, I think it was a bit sad for him.

A proud teenager in the late 1950s with her first pair of jeans - usually, girls wore skirts; jeans were considered rebellious!
When we came visiting my parents (my grandparents had passed away in the mean time), I always went upstairs to Onkel Otto first thing. My daughters loved him as well. I don't know if they remember much of him; he died in 1971 and they were very little then.

You have always been there for me, and I thank you forever, my dear Onkel Otto!

- - - End of guest post - - -

When my Mum sent me her draft for this guest post, I had tears in my eyes after reading. 

Yes, I do remember Onkel Otto. I was only three years old when he died, but I have a vague memory of a very kind and quiet presence; I connect it with the scent of (pipe?) tobacco and old books, and the taste of rock sugar, which he probably used in his tea and gave us, his great-nieces, a piece to suck on when we came visiting. There was an ancient typewriter in his room, which he - if I remember correctly - showed my sister (who was four when he died) how to "use" (it probably was more playing than really using it, since she had not yet mastered the art of reading).
Onkel Otto.
 
Otto as a student. The cap was the typical mark of a university student back then.
Otto and Peter, his beloved tomcat.




I was too little to get to know him well, but I wonder how different his life would have been nowadays. As a bachelor, he most likely would not have lived with his ageing parents, his brother and his brother's family. Maybe there would have been a cure for his crippling disease, which left him with a hunchback and - as far as I know - unable to cope with much strenuous physical activity. 

He could have been a blogger! It seems like something he would have done. "Onkel Otto's Blog" has a nice ring to it, I think.

31 comments:

  1. What a wonderful post, Meike's Mum!
    Otto will be well known now from Meike's blog and that is how it should be, how I believe that Otto would have liked it. What a wonderful blogger he would have been! I just know it.
    So great to see the photos of him, thank you for sharing these memories.
    (And I love the photos of you as a child and the rebel in you wearing those jeans! So pretty, you look the same, I can see that it is you!) xx

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    1. Tnak you, Kay! Yes I was very proud of my first blue jeans. We girls sat into the bathtub with the pants on, that they shrink in the hot water and will fit very slim....;-)

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    2. Lovely pictures, aren't they, Kay! And to think that my Mum was at first unsure about showing them on here...

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  2. The impression older people can make on children, if they make the time for the children! Thank you for your wonderful remembrances, both of you.

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    1. Thank you, messymimi, I know I was very privileged and I enjoyed it really.

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    2. Glad you enjoyed reading it!

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  3. I really loved reading this guest post from your Mum. This kind of multi-generation house was a real blessing for your mother, but really, for everyone who lived there. Onkel Otto had so much to give and remembering him is still making her happy after all this time. (And what a blogger he would have been!)

    I love the photos of your mother! She is so beautiful. Especially I love the expression on her face on the first day of school! I was surprised that she began at Easter. Our school calendar is set up so school always begins in September

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    1. Hello Kristi,
      since the early 1950ies school in Germany begins also in September. Before it was in spring, after Easter. So my generation lost one semester, when it changed! For some children it was a bit hard to learn all stuff from 1 year in only a half.

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    2. Thank you, Kristi! You really understand what this way of life meant for those involved.
      Reading my Mum's memories of Onkel Otto made me remember quite a few bits about my own childhood as well.

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  4. How I enjoyed reading this, and this sort of situation, growing up with your kind and interesting uncle, grandparents too, all sounds ideal. I saw the paintings for the first time too, such skill!
    Thank you for a wonderful post
    xx
    julie

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    1. Glad you saw the paintings now, Julie; I am sure you as an artist can see even "more" in them than someone like me, who has never been good with a paint brush (I am more of a pencil person).

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    2. Hello Julie,
      I am also glad you like the post, I really was unsure, if it is interesting someone. I love the paintings of my grandfather, I have got some of them hanging in my home.
      When he had no job, he painted for people, who needed a gift for very little payment. But it helped to survive!

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  5. What a lovely post from both of you. I know GB had great affection for our Uncle Eric. Regrettably I didn't really have much to do with him when I was a child (he married and we virtually lost touch when I was six) and I only really got to know him when I was older.
    I'm sure Onkel Otto did miss your Mum when she married.
    (And I love the rebellious jeans photo!)

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    1. Great picture, isn't it! Yes, it must have been quite a change in their daily life for the people who stayed at the house when first my Mum's brother and then, some years later, my Mum left home.

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    2. Thank you, I know, I owe him a lot of my education.

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  6. Wonderful post by both of you, and great that you have photos as well to trigger and illustrate the memories. I've been doing quite a lot of that over the past year in my "Greetings from the Past" blog (there's a link to it from my main blog in the sidebar) and feel like I'm getting to know even some relatives I never actually met.

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    1. My Mum was unsure at first about showing any pictures with this post, but I am glad I talked her into it - they make the words come alive, don't they!
      You have been posting about your family's past on your main blog, too, and I always enjoy those posts a lot, Monica.

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    2. As Meike says, I was really unsure at first writing this post and showing the pictures. Thanks for your kind comment!

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  7. Oh what wonderful memories. It is so good for children when they can be influenced by so much love when they live within a multigenerational dwelling like your Mum's family. Those photos were wondeful! Your uncle was quite a dapper gentleman. Your Mum was gorgeous in those photos but that was no surprise because she still is. Thank you for sharing that lovely story. :)

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    1. Thank you, Janice! Yes, I quite like my uncle's outfits, too; smart pin-stripe suit and tie.

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  8. Hello, yes, you are quite right, children can never get too much love from their parents or relations. Thanks for the compliments, I feel flattered....

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  9. This is a beautiful and moving post which says so much more than just the words used to write it: it conveys much feeling and emotion.

    I didn't buy my first pair of jeans until about 2007 or 2008 after I came to live in New Zealand. It will come as no surprise that I did not sit in a bath with them on!

    I am very glad that you posted the photos. They make everything more 'real'. You that you have a most beautiful smile.

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    1. To my sister and me, jeans were part of everyday clothes from an early age (I was born in 1968 and she in 1967). What I did not "get" until I was about 10 years old were brand names, and to this day I don't care much about the label on a certain piece of clothing. I must admit, though, that there are some clothing labels I simply find more and (for my figure) better fitting clothes than with others - and not necessarily the more expensive ones, thankfully!

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  10. Thank you GB for your kind comment and your compliment, which flatters me. ;-)
    Wearing tight-fitting jeans was a great revolution in the fifties here in Germany. Before ladies and girls only had to wear dresses and skirts.

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  11. As always I so love your posts. And how beautiful you look in those jeans. I am four years younger than you, and when I went to high school we had to wear skirts or dresses to school. And we had to kneel on the floor to see if the skirt touched. If it didn't, it was too short. Amazing.
    Your Onkel sounds like a wonderful man. It was very touching to read that there were two opposing political views within your own family. Thank you.

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  12. Oh, and I have a question for you and Meike about the photos, which I so loved seeing - how did you get them to appear with the white background? Almost like matting? Did you put them on a piece of paper and then take a picture or are they scanned? And I do so like the way they aren't straight. Very artistic, I think.

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    1. Yes, my Mum scanned the pictures, and there were three of them to a page so that I cut them out - since they weren't straight, they came out like this after cropping (done with irfanview, which does not allow for tilting at an angle below 90). I quite liked them "non-straight", too, but it wasn't actually done like that on purpose :-)

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  13. Hello Nan,
    thank you for your kind comments and your compliment! Yes, I remember, that once I had my jeans on in school, and I had to come to the principal and I was warned and asked to wear skirts! How strange and funny, unbelievable for teenagers today!

    My photos are from a very old album, I scanned them and sent them by email to Meike.
    Have a nice weekend!

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  14. what a sweet and warm memory, Meike's Mum! you were so adorable as a child, and a beautiful young lady. I remember that jeans were not allowed even in college! however, girls were allowed to wear slacks. and by the time I began teaching, dresses or skirts were the dress code! winter was grueling on playground and parking lots in those days! it was near the 1970s before Catholic teachers were allowed to wear slacks.

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    1. Hello Norma,
      thank you for your kind comment and compliments! Yes, dress codes and times are changing!

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    2. Much as I love to wear dresses and skirts, I don't think I would like being told what to wear. And especially in winter, that dress code was quite unreasonable! Good job we all have the choice now :-)

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