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Haut vier 79 Joahrn sai se komme un huh Heasche un Raise deheem iwerfann, sai nean ean die Jirreschuul un huh Aangsd un Schregge verbraid. Un doas woar easchd de Ofangk. Zem Gedengge oo die Kresdallnoachd schbiele Yale Strom, Elizabeth Schwartz un Nikolai Muck ean dè resdaurierde Jirreschuul. Om Sabbad im oachd. Un dè Noachmeddoag schbiele un seangge die Veronika, dè Arnulf un drai annern. Zwä Konseadde oo emm Doag!

Heute vor 79 Jahren sind sie gekommen, haben Sondheims und Lamms überfallen, sind in die Syngoge eingedrungen und haben Angst und Schrecken verbreitet. Und das war erst der Anfang. Zum Gedenken an die „Kristallnacht“ spielen Yale Strom, Elizabeth Schwartz und Nikolai Muck in der restaurierten Synagoge. Am Samstag, 11. November, um 20 Uhr. Am Nachmittag spielen und singen Veronika Bloemers und andere. Zwei Konzerte an einem Tag! Today, it is 79 years, that they have broken into the houses of families Sondheim and Lamm, into the Synagogue, as well, and have terrorised the Jews. And that was only the beginning. For the memory all those who have suffered in the „Crystalnight“, Yale Strom, Elizabeth Schwartz and Nicolay Muck will give a concert on November 11, at eight p.m. In the afternoon, Veronika Bloemers and others will sing there. Two concerts in one day!

We will never forget those who would have needed help. Wir wollen niemals die Menschen vergessen, die Hilfe gebraucht hätten. Mir winn käis voo denne vergeasse, die Hilfe gebrouchd härre.

Pauls Monnigga

„Schbrech merr, wu die Plomme sai, wu sai se gebleawwe? Schbrech merr, wu die Plomme sai, woas eas bassiert? Schbrech merr, wu die Plomme sai. Märrerchen gingge dèbai. Wann weadd merr je verschdieh? Wann weadd merr je verschdieh?“ Merr huh oogefange med inser naue Offnohme om Kechedesch, zem Easchde Weltkrigg un zem Jirresche Läwe. Wer will, kann noch dèbai sai. „Sag mir, wo die Blumen sind….“ Wir haben angefangen mit unseren neuen Aufnahmen am Küchentisch, zum Ersten Weltkrieg und zum Jüdischen Leben. Wer will, kann noch dabei sein. „Where have all the flowers gone…“ We have started with our new Kitchen table productions, concerning WWI and Jewish Life. Who’d like to can still join in.

Alles Gurre, alles Gute, all the best, Pauls Monnigga

Wie’s dè Rudd unnemm Säm ean Doidschlaand gegangge hodd, kennder geann off Englisch oder off Huuchdoidsch geläse. Ihr weadd verschdieh, dess ech doas nit all iwwersedse kann. Awwer dann kann ech ouch zwie naue Schbrech verroare, die ech voo Oddsdinnesch Heide huh. Ihr Mudder hodd alsemo gesäd: „Heannerm Plugg eas geaggert.“ Unn: “Es eas selde enn Schoare, wu kenn Nodse eas!” Wann ech dech nit hädd, Heide! Dangge fier die Wäshääre! Pauls Monniga

P.S.: Der Beitrag „Unter Freunden“ über den Besuch von Ruth Stern Gasten und Sam Stone steht auf Englisch und auf Hochdeutsch in diesem Blog. Er ist zu lang, um ihn auch noch auf Platt zu bringen. Aber ich will bei der Gelegenheit noch zwei schlaue Sprüche weitergeben, die ich von Heide habe. Ihre Mutter hat manchmal gesagt: Hinterm Pflug ist geackert. Und: Es ist selten ein Schaden, wo kein Nutzen ist. Danke für die Weisheiten, Heide! Sehr hessisch.

P.S.: The article „Among Friends“ about the visit of Ruth Stern Gasten and Sam Stone exists in two versions in this blog, as an English and a German one. It is too long to translate it into dialect, as well. But let me tell you two wise sayings that I have from Heide. Her mother used to say: Behind the plough, it’s ploughed. And: There is rarely a harm where there is no use. Thanks for these wisdoms, Heide! Very Hessian.

Among friends

Ruth Stern Gasten and Sam Stone in Germany

“Welcome to Nieder-Ohmen!” In front of the parish hall, Pfarrer Nils Schellhaas has set up a little US-Flag. Everything is set for the visit of Ruth Stern Gasten, the stars and the stripes, the flowers, the video projector, the coffee and the Bruuddägsmaddekuche as the traditional salty cake is called in Mücke. „Hessian pizza!“, exclaimes Ruth when she tastes it. That’s what others call this hearty meal, too.

Ruth Stern Gasten is home again, far away from home. The woman from California has spent the first five years of her live in the Vogelsberg region (Bird’s mountain). Her parents have been orthodox Jews. And while her mother followed the religious rules quite strictly, her father allowed his daughter in Chicago to go to museums on Sabbath and liked to sing „Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht“, a German Christmas carol. Ruth Stern Gasten doesn’t have a kosher kitchen. „We eat anything“, she had let her hosts know. Anything, even the smoked bacon that belongs on the „Hessian pizza“ and that very unorthodox people even put into the Jewish potatoe dish called Schalet that has been well known in Hesse (see recipe in volume 1 of the Ober-Gleen books).

The daughter of cattle dealer Joseph Stern und his wife Hannah, nee Nussbaum, has entered the world on the 28th of August in 1933, in a catholic hospital in Fulda. „My mother has told me that the nuns had been very kind to her“, mentions Ruth Stern Gasten on our trip through the Vogelsberg. On the meadows cows, horses, deers and one of the rare black storchs. In the gardens dahlia. Half-timbered villages and woods with different kinds of trees take their turns, and Ruth realises that she lacks the words for the trees and the old houses. For decades she is speaking English now, but when she switches into her mother tongue, she also uses, without realising, Hessian dialect expressions, „mir hawwe“ (we have) instead of „wir haben“ and „Kwedschekùche“ (plum cake) instead of Pflaumenkuchen. Like at home then.

As the first of her family, the granddaughter of Fannie Nussbaum sets her foot on the soil of Ulmbach that is a part of Steinau an der Straße today. Her partner Sam Stone, Justus Randt und me who has translated Ruth Stern Gasten’s childhood memoire „An Accidental American“ into German, accompany her on that trip. Horst Kunz of the Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Ulmbach is awaiting us. A journalist of the Kinzigtal-Nachrichten is writing about the visit. Other regional papers as the Alsfelder Allgemeine, the Gießener Anzeiger, the Oberhessische Zeitung and the bigger Weser-Kurier (Bremen) will report encounters with the timewitness. Ruth Stern Gasten has already snatched her own note pad and holds on to it. Her searching look meets modern, several times remodelled and old houses, the Backhaus in which the housewifes used to bake their bread and Salzekuchen, the farmgardens and the highly frequented mainstreet. What is left? Where might be traces to be found? Her daughter and her grandchildren, the relatives in South Africa and Israel, they all are expecting an elaborated report.

Horst Kunz has no first hand informations to offer. When he was a child, his family had been thrown out of Sudetenland in 1945 and made Ulmbach its new home. He is a refugee child like Ruth Stern Gasten. All that he knows about the history of Ulmbach, and he knows a lot, is from timewitnesses or old documents.

A family has six sons, and each of the six brothers had a sister. How many children all in all? Mariechen Engel, the former postholder of Ober-Gleen, liked to challenge those who asked about her own ancestors. „That is like in the family of your mother“, Sam Stone says to his partner. Maier und Fannie Nussbaum, nee Adler, from Ulmbach also had six sons: Jacob, born in 1896, Salli, born in 1900, Siegfried, born in 1903, Benno, born in 1906, Hermann, born in 1910, and Leo, born in 1912. All of them had one and only one sister: Johanna, called Hannah, who had been born in 1898. When the 56 year old father of seven children died of Spanish influenca in 1918, only Jacob was adult. Fannie Nussbaum, eight years younger than her husband, took over the cattle and fur business and together with her daughter, she cared for the big household and the garden. Her sons Jacob and Siegfried were cattle dealers. That was one of the few professions that the catholic and protestant farmers left almost exclusively to Jews. Fannie’s second son had his shop in the left part of the long stretched studwork house. Salli sold fabrics. Like many others he went to the villages, too, and sold his goods from door to door.

To be alone on the road was not always safe for merchants. A Jacob Nussbaum from  Ulmbach, possibly Ruth’s uncle Jacob, had been attacked by robbers in spring 1931. There is a note in the „Jüdischen Wochenzeitung für Kassel, Hessen und Waldeck“ (24th of April 1931) to be found online on Alemannia Judaica, telling the readers that on the street from Steinau to Ulmbach where the postcar had been robbed recently, three young masked men had stopped the cattle dealer Jakob Nußbaum and demanded his money. As a motorbike was approaching, the robbers ran away, but shot several times at the cattle dealer. The bullets missed him. The police in Frankfurt tried to find the criminals. A few years later, German officials helped to plunder Jewish Germans.

During the „Aryanisation“ a lot of houses got new owners, also in Nieder-Ohmen and Ulmbach. The east Hessian village war strictly catholic and that showed also at the elections in 1933: About two third of the voters opted for the catholic Zentrum party, a quarter of the voters, much less than in many other villages of the region, for the NSDAP. Social Democrats and Communists were small minorities. When Jewish families from Ulmbach had to sell their homes to be able to leave the country, catholic neighbors are said to have had collected money to get the sum together. This is what Horst Kunz was told. Parents had made sure that their sons would not terrorise Jewish neighbors, but the Hitlerjugend from other villages came to Ulmbach to throw stones at Jewish houses. When an older Jew boarded his windows with wooden planks, the father of his wife did something about it. He visited the man one evening to chat with him and brought his shepherd dogs along. „When they came, he whistled, and the dogs were lose.“ He had to face the consequences: He was sent to the front, though he originally had not been obliged to go. He survived the war and came back.

Our little delegation stopps at every former Jewish home or business or ground, also in front of the former house of the other family Maier Nussbaum und in front of the old Synagogue, a timbered, shingled house that will soon be torn down. Some other houses aren’t there any more, like the Jewish warehouse. The Catholic church had bought the building in the Thirties. Nuns of one of the cloisters had lived and worked there for a while. Nowadays, children from the nearby refugee home play behind this garden fence, in the high gras, under gigantic sunflowers. Ruth Stern Gasten takes notes. She can’t wait to see the home of her grandparents or what is left of it after the last tenants had destroyed a lot of the interiors and vanished.

„The owner has allowed us to walk on his ground“, Horst Kunz says. To enter the house would be to dangerous, so Fannie’s granddaughter only looks through the half blind windows and poses in front of the entrance. The right part of the house had been owned by the village’s midwife. She had helped the wife of Horst Kunz into this world and decades later assisted at the birth of the first two children of the couple. After that she retired, Ms. Kunz remembers.

Out of the blue, a man comes closer who seems to have watched the scene for a short while. His age is hard to guess, his face weather-beaten. His family lives in Salli’s former little house, his eleven year old son has been born in Ulmbach. As the man realises whom he is talking to, he is smiling broadly. „So we have changed houses“, he says and reaches us his hand. There he is, a Palestinian, living in Ulmbach, with a son called Yussuf. „The midwife has asked me if we were Jews as this is a Jewish name. So what, I have answered. I don’t have anything against Jews.“

In rural Hessen, Antisemitism was common in the Kaiserreich and in the Weimar Republic already. Leo Nussbaum left Germany almost right after Hitler had come to power, in the year when his niece was born in Nieder-Ohmen. He emigrated to South Africa in 1933 and founded a hardware company. Soon after, his mother Fannie Nußbaum, his brother Jakob and his sister-in-law followed, and then his brothers Benno und Salli. „In Johannesburg, South Africa, Uncle Saly continued to be a wandering sales person taking his goods to people’s homes and to outlying villages”, Ruth Stern Gasten wrote to me in an email. „My Uncle Hermann had one arm that didn’t work properly. It was an injury that occurred at birth. Because of it, he was not allowed to immigrate to South Africa. He went to Rhodesia instead and had a branch office for my Uncle Leo’s hardware company. He was never a cattle dealer after he left Germany. My Uncle Siegfried immigrated to Palestine and became a dairy farmer, selling milk to city dwellers in Tel Aviv.”

Ruth’s cousine Edith Karon, Benno’s daughter, honors the memory of her grandmother. „Naturally I knew Oma Fanny well & I saw her nearly every day when I was growing up.  She lived with Uncle Saly, Uncle Jakob & is family & used to go to her after school every day with Carol“, she wrote soon after the translation of Ruth’s book had started. „My mother fetched me when she & Aunty Friedel came back from working in the butchery.  Oma Fanny died when I was 16.  She only spoke German & as a result my speech was good.  Unfortunately I still understand, but my speech has really deteriotated.“ She admired her Oma Fannie. „She was a highly intelligent, hard working woman with  lots of determination & energy.  I remember her getting up at 5 a.m.  She loved reading.  Her sons were very devoted to her. My father used to go & visit her every day after work on his way home.  On Shabbos mornings I remember visiting her with my father on the way to shul.“ On her 80th birthday, a photo was taken of Fannie and her six sons. The only one who was lacking was her daughter, Hannah. The family photo is in the book. Stan and Sonia, Edith’s children, have many happy memories of their uncles. „Stan regrets my parents not speaking German & teaching him the language“, Edith Karon wrote.

In English and a little German, with gestures and thoughtful articulation, Ruth Stern Gasten tells her story in Nieder-Ohmen to a quite big audience. Sara Mills, a long time friend of her, and me translate from English into German and viceversa (the audio file ot the 2d of September 2017 will be in the media library of this website in October). From Dortmund and Bremen they have come, from Frankfurt, Lauterbach, Alsfeld, Sellnrod, Butzbach, Ehringshausen, Ober-Gleen and other places, to hear the author speak. For some, as the former social worker Uwe Langohr or the president of the Protestant congregation, Regina Pfeiff, and Irmgard Gückel of the Catholic church, it is a reunion. The head of the primary school, Monika Baranowski-Garden, had met the two Californians the day before already at the station, with a present, and brought them to Ober-Gleen. „The children have made a book for me“, Ruth has said with a beaming smile and took care of this treasure. Gustl Theiss, the head of the highschool in Mücke, is in the hall, the Freundeskreis der Lagergemeinschaft Auschwitz is there, the Förderverein der Geschichte des Judentums im Vogelsbergkreis, the Alsfelder Geschichts- und Museumsverein und others. The youngest in the room is maybe ten, the oldest, Elfriede Roth from Lauterbach, over 90 (a portrait of the former Shabbesgirl is on my website).

Hannah had been the last of her immediate family who was able to rescue herself. Together with her husband Joseph and her five year old daughter Ruth, in January 1939, she went in Hamburg on board the „Deutschland“, with not much more than her luggage, clothes, 75 Marks and the life saving visas. Her widowed aunt Dinah, the sister of her father who lived in Chicago, had guaranteed for all three of them. When the postman had brought the papers, Joseph Stern was still in the concentration camp Buchenwald close to Weimar. After the „Kristallnacht“ thousands of Jewish men had been arrested. In Nieder-Ohmen, Ruth Stern Gasten talks about it. Pale and silent, her father had returned, after his wife had intervened in Stuttgart. He had never talked about what he had seen and suffered in the concentration camp. His brother Meier and his sister-in-law Hedwig had been murdered, also the handicaped sister Toni. Ruth’s cousins Hilda and Karola survived the camps. A young woman in the audience would like to know if Ruth Stern Gasten is afraid of the white front in the U.S. and what she thinks about the new President. Ruth Stern Gasten pretends to be surprised: „We have a new President?“ Laughter fills the room. Wouldn’t it be nice?

Since Donald Trump has been elected, Ruth Stern Gasten has done even more than before for human rights. In Livermore, she has helped to organise a rally for love in February 2017, for a peaceful live and tolerance. And since she, in reaction of the atmosphere in the U.S. after 9/11, had founded an interfaith group together with a young moslem, she is at least as often in Mosques and Churches as in Synagogues. In the Protestant church of Ober-Gleen, Veronika Bloemers has played organ for Ruth Stern Gasten and Sam Stone, one day after the bookshow. For two decades, she has lived in Israel, has studied music, has played organ in Tel Aviv und Haifa, conducted choirs. Her father Ernst A. Bloemers who had managed big hotels in Germany, the U.S., France and other countries, had lived in the Vogelsberg region after he had retired. He had seen to it that the memory of the Jewish families of Ober-Gleen doesn’t fade out. In the fieldstone wall of the cemetery, there are plates since 2010 with names on it. The Synagoge has been restorated now. „Eli Eli“ was heard at the Heritage day. For Ruth and Sam, Veronika Bloemers played „Hevenu Shalom Alechem“ on the barock organ, the famous Hebrew song, the longing for freedom. In Nieder-Ohmen, they sang „Happy birthday“ together as Ruth Stern Gasten just had had her birthday, „Hopp, hopp, hopp, Pferdchen lauf Galopp“, the song that her mother had sung to her sometimes, and the favoured song of her father Joseph Stern and of her uncle Meier Stern who had been perished in the Holocaust: „Die Gedanken sind frei.“

Everywhere and at all times, there are good people. Ruth Stern Gasten doesn’t get tired to repeat. Every single one makes a difference, especially in terrible times. People like Anna Reichel who went sliding with her in the moonlight, like Emil Ohnacker who had milked the cow of family stern, while Joseph was in the concentration camp. And people like the neighbors who secretely had left  cake and cookies on their doorstep, to show them: You are not alone.

„I have known Emil Ohnacker very well“, a man from the audience says, the son of a former reverend. He had been straight, this first mayor of Nieder-Ohmen after the war, did not get along well with a lot of people, but was a good, reliable friend. When he had met Meier Stern in the NS-time in Frankfurt and walked towards him, Ruth’s uncle had tried to avoid him: He would not have it that his friend took a risk because of him. Some of Emil Ohnacker’s memories are documented in one of the books of Heinrich Reichel, Anna’s nephew: „Ich habe viele von ihnen gekannt! Das Schicksal der Jüdischen Einwohner von Nieder-Ohmen. Bemerkenswerte Ereignisse in Nieder-Ohmen während der Kriegsjahre 1939-1945“. For ten euros, it is available at the Evangelischen Kirchengemeinde Nieder-Ohmen.

„Zufällig Amerikanerin“, the German edition of „An Accidental American“ with 60 photos of the family and friends, costs twelve euros and is available in bookshops in Germany, the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Australia. Volunteers from our historical society Lastoria, Bremen, have helped with the publication. The historian Christine Kausch who is in contact with us because of the Amsterdam project „Deutschland auf der Flucht“ (Germany on the run) has accompanied Ruth and Sam in Berlin. And by chance, the first readers in Germany have been the two granddaughtrs of the Nazi-mayor of Ober-Gleen, the daughter of a Gestapo-man, and also a woman from Peru and a woman from Nepal who are living in Bremen. In Nieder-Ohmen, Ober-Gleen und Bremen, Ruth has won more readers. And some intend to read the English original after they have met her.

Egon Brückner from the Egerland (now Tchech Republic) who lives in Ober-Gleen since the end of the war and has published his memories with the help of our historical society, has talked with Ruth about his experiences, about hard times and new beginnings. He made her cry and got her smiling again. „My friend Ruth“ he calls her and laughs heartily. „Take good care and stay healthy! Always lace up the backpack that contains your health, as we used to say! Don’t let the health get out!“

On the farm of our old neighbor Karl Gemmer (Koads Kall),  Ruth und Sam visit the former cow stable. The way Karl talks dialect and acts reminds Ruth a bit of her father. Both, Karl and Egon, are on cds of our series „So klingt Owenglie“.

Elayne und Isidor Dracocardos have taken care that it was cosy in the beautiful old house that is still called Braurods in the village. The Sunday after the bookshow was full of events: Ruth und Sam had been on the Ransberg, in the apple orchard, in the woods, at the 500 year old oak of the heaven’s fountain (Himmelbornseiche), in the museum in Kirtorf and at the presentation of the five new cds of Lastoria. Most of all, Veronika’s organ concert has made an impression and the visit to the cellar of Volker und Heidrun Schneider (Wähnesch), dating back as the church to the 18th century. At this place, the former reverend of Ober-Gleen, social revolutioneer Friedrich Ludwig Weidig, the editor of the illegal protest flyer „Der Hessische Landbote“, might have sat with other dissidents from Germany, Poland and France and secretely wrote a chapter of the history of democracy. The people of Ober-Gleen have tried to help him when he was arrested. The petition of 1835 for his release from jail has been sign by the overwhelming majority of the heads of the families of Ober-Gleen.

In Northern Germany, the two travelers also did not only what tourists do, but also made new contacts and friendships. Erika Thies, one of the correctors of the German version, was her host. Ruth and Sam met my mother again, saw Wolfgang Rulfs, Harry Barth, Annelie Stöppler and Willfried Meier. Christoph Bongert from the Deutsche  Auswandererhaus has given the two of them a guided tour in English, went together with them on board and to America. 20 pupils and her teacher from the Edith-Stein-Schule have been waiting for the author in Bremerhaven. Rolf Stindl from the Friedrich-Bödecker-Kreis had made it possible. The very next day it have been 120 pupils of the Wilhelm-Kaisen-Oberschule, a highschool in Bremen-Huckelriede, und the day after as many 16 up to 18 year old in the highschool in Rockwinkel in Bremen-Oberneuland. The teacher Petra Niehardt (Wilhelm Kaisen) and the teacher Joachim Becker-Bertau (Rockwinkel) had reacted spontanously to a mail of Amnesty International Bremen. To  Ruth Stern Gasten, discussions with young people are most important. „Democracy is no spectator sport“, she tells them, and this is what she also said in Nieder-Ohmen. Another US-citicen has heard something similar in her childhood: „Democracy is like brushing your teeth“, Gloria Steinem’s mother used to say. „You have to do it daily.“

In 2015, Ruth Stern Gasten has listened to a speech of the author, feminist and democrat who is her age. She has checked her notes right before her trip to Germany: „Benjamin Franklin invited three Iroquois elders to attend the conference for writing the constitution.They asked: ,Where are the women?’” And: „If you’re ever in a place where you’re forbidden to laugh, you’re in the wrong place.” And: „People ask me when I am passing my torch on to the next generation of women leaders. I’m keeping my torch and using it to light other torches.“

Though she has become an American by accident, Ruth Stern Gasten holds up the torch. Maybe also because of the very first impression that the then five year old had of the United States of America. It is one of her most precious memories: On board of the „Deutschland“, after the stormy passage, the passengers were lying in each others arms and were laughing, crying or just happy and touched. The statue of liberty welcomed them. But the feeling to be among friends did not last long. In the daycare, other kids  called Ruthie „Nazi“ because she came from Germany. It’s a deja vu for her when young people from Syria or Afghanistan are called „terrorists“ though they had fled because of the terror. The story of the boy who had helped her, then, is told in schools in the U.S. today. Not as a modern fairy tale, but as a life experience: Something better than maliciousness  you’ll find anywhere.

Monika Felsing, September 2017

Es woar sou schie med Rudd un Säm ean Ulmbach, es woar noch schinner in Nearre-Uhme, un die meest Zäd woarsch aach schie ean Owenglie, ean Braurods Haus bai dè Iläin unnemm Isidor, eam Waald, ean dé Keach un om Raansberch. Eam Keaddoafer Museum sai merr aach geweese, un omm Baamschdegg. Doas Wochenenn werrn merr nit vergeasse, souviel schdidd fesd. Merr huh ins gefroid ewwer all, die dou worrn. Un è pooar voo denne, die merr nit gedroffe huh, un è pooar voo denne, voo denne merr nit wisse, wie’sen gidd, huh ins gefehlt. Dess die Dechnik schu werre mo naut gedauchd hodd, woar beinoh es klennere Iwwel. Nochemo risgiern mir doas nit. Es war so schön in Ulmbach mit Ruth Stern Gasten und Sam Stone, es war noch schöner in Nieder-Ohmen, Ruths Heimatdorf. Danke an Regina Pfeiff, Pastor Schellhaas und die anderen aus der Kirchengemeinde! Und die meiste Zeit war es auch schön in Ober-Gleen, in Braurods Haus bei Elayne und Isidor, im Wald, in der Kirche und auf dem Ransberg. Im Kirtorfer Museum sind wir auch gewesen, und in der Apfelplantage. Das Wochenende werden wir nicht vergessen. Ein paar von denen, die wir nicht getroffen haben, und ein paar von denen, von denen wir nicht wissen, wie es ihnen geht, haben uns gefehlt. Dass die Technik schon wieder mal versagt hat, war fast das kleinere Übel. Noch einmal riskieren wir das nicht. It had been so nice in Ulmbach with Ruth and Sam, und even nicer in Nieder-Ohmen, Ruth’s homevillage. Thanks to Regina Pfeiff, Reverend Schellhaas and the others of the congregation! Most of the time in Ober-Gleen was nice, as well, in the house of Elayne and Isidor, in the woods, in the church and on Ran’s Mountain. We have also been to the Museum in Kirtorf and to the apple orchard. This weekend we won’t forget. And some of those whom we have not met, and some of those whom we don’t know how they are, have been missed by us. That the technical equippment wasn’t working again, had almost been the minor evil. We won’t risk that again. Doas woarsch. Das war’s. That was that. Alles Gurre, alles Gute, all the best, Pauls Monnigga

Woas eas off dè naue Schaiwe, die merr om Sonndoag, dreadde September, im finnef Auer ean Owenglie vierschdenn? Un off dè easchde drai?? Doas schdidd oom Enn vo demm Eandroag. Was ist auf den neuen CDs, die wir am Sonntag, 3. September, um 17 Uhr im Mehrgenerationenhaus in Ober-Gleen vorstellen? Und auf den ersten drei? Das steht am Ende dieses Eintrags. What is on the new cds? And on the first three that we will present on the third of September in Ober-Gleen? This is to be read at the end of this entree. All the best! Alles Gute! Alles Gurre! Pauls Monnigga

„So klingt Owenglie“
Die O-Ton-CDs zu den vier Bänden über Ober-Gleen

Die eascht Scheib (CD1)
Zu „Gliesbeurel inner sich“ (Band 1)
1. Friehschobbe uhne Schonnschdäi von Christel Kirchner, 2. Disgo ean dè Scheuer von Armin Becker, 3. Dè Ruudlaafsfängger von Mariechen Korell, 4. D’Uhr von Egon Brückner, 5. Bilsebäm von Bernd Schneider, 6. Es Bonngasselied von Karl Gemmer, 7. Hämwieh noch memm Owenglie von Karl Gemmer, Und zu Band 2: Naut wie Ärwed
8. Suse Oddo von Bernd Schneider, 9. Feierowend von Lina Kirchner, 10. Enn aale Schbrùch von Reinhard Wörner, 11. Schullliehrer ean Owenglie Heinrich Dittmar, 12. Olga Rehn von Gerda Dluzenski, 13. Schuuldeader bei Wirts Kall von Bernd Schneider, 14. De Konroad von Lina Ruppenthal, 15. Jochschaugel von Norbert Werner, 16. Bobbedeader bei Pochdesch enner dè Kasdanje von Birgit König, 17. Draihelzer von Jörg Hahn, 18. Keannerärwed offem Laand von Gerda Dluzenski, 19. Aggern von Ernst Reckert, 20. Mälge off dè Wäd von Sabine Kirchner, 21. Deggwoazz von Heike Schindler, 22. Schbadse fangge von Gerhard Engel, 23. Feuer omache von Toni Dick, 24. Rahns Muddi von Christel Kirchner, 25. Endesche Miele von Rosemarie Streibelt, 26. Gringels Anna von Horst Dluzenski, 27. Mellesch Kall eas 80 von Karl Korell, 28. Kaddoffeldämpmaschie von Johannes Dächer, 29. Suse Peder on die Dreschmaschie Elli und Johannes Dächer,
30. Dè Hähwaa breannt von Christel Kirchner.

Die zwuut Scheib (CD2) zu Band 2: „Naut wie Ärwed“
1. Gäul on Kieh ogeschbannt von Karl Korell, 2. Dè Nelson von Karl und Mariechen Korell, 3. Dè Schmied von Gabi Rieß, 4. Die Kechin von Gabi Rieß, 5. Laandmaschieneschlosserin von Gabi Rieß, 6. Die Mälgmaschie von Otto Christ,
7. Wann è Kälbche kimmt von Mechthild Boß, 8. Memm Ruutvieh noch Frankfodd von Armin Becker, 9. Woas eas è Seddhaus? von Heike Jacobi, 10. Doas woarsch Seddhaus von Christel Kirchner, 11. Gänserchen on Endchen von Mariechen und Karl Korell, 12. Gänsemudder von Mariechen Korell, 13. Schlochde von Christel Kirchner, 14. Hochzedd on die Geboad voom Looda von Hedwig Schneider (Schelde), 15. Braurods Gode von Helga Cloos, 16. Braurods Gode von Hedwig und Rudolf Schneider, 17. Notfall von Hedwich Schneider (Wähnesch), 18. Lina Seim von Roswitha Hipp, 19. Knoche gebroche (Schofsbogg) von Mariechen Korell, 20. Die Firma Felsing von Helga Felsing, 21. Dem Kall sai Schbedsialideede von Helga Felsing, 22. Ogeleannde Teedichkäde von Helga Felsing, 23. Dabbeziern von Helga Felsing, 24. Rechningge schreiwe von Helga Felsing,
25. Koabmache von Bernd Schneider, 26. Schwälmer Wäisschdeggerai von Helma Engel,
27. Ernst A. Bloemers on die Konsd eam Kiehschdall von Armin Becker, 28. Die Wäschmaschie von Otto Christ, 29. Giggenn von Roswitha Hipp, 30. Ean dè Schnairerschdobb von Elli Dächer.

Die dredd Scheib (CD3)  zu Band 2: „Naut wie Ärwed“

1. Dè Feaschder Karl-Heinz Zulauf, 2. Ean die Heirelbiern von Lina Kirchner, 3. Holz mache von Bernd Schneider, 4. Vichel voo Owenglie eam Sommer moijens ean aller Frieh
5. Feldscheds von Gerhard Engel, 6. Oddsvierschdieer von Armin Becker, 7. Inser eascht Tellefoon von Elli Schlosser und Hedwig Schneider, 8. Dè Ernst Peder von Ernst Reckert,
9. Dès Häns-che von Elli Dächer, 10. Kisder von Rudolf und Hedwig Schneider, 11. Die Glogge voo Owenglie sonnoweds eam sechs owends, 12. Mein Vater Otto Christ von Ruth Neeb, 13. Schboar von Gerlinde Christ, 14. Wirts Kall sai Wegg von Rosemarie Streibelt,
15. Wirts Kall sai Weadschaft von Rosemarie Streibelt, 16. Mell von Dieter Ruppert und Helga Felsing, 17. Gewirrer von Birgit König, 18. Die Freiwellich Feuerwiehr von Dieter Ruppert, 19. Juuchendfeuerwiehr von Sabine Kirchner, 20. Maifeuer von Jan Schneider,
21. Es breannt von Dieter Ruppert und Toni Dick, 22. Dè Obst- on Goaddebauveräi von Lothar Schneider, 23. Die Juuchendgrupp von Lukas Becker, 24. Der Landfrauenverein von Marga Dittmar, 25. Laandfraue bagge Salzekùche von Anita Schneider, 26. SVO von Horst Dluzenski, 27. Enn schdolze Fussballschbieler von Karl Gemmer, 28. Es gedd käi Sangeslust mie von Hedwig Schneider, Toni Heinicke, Petra Schneider, 29. Singge von Edith Hering, 30. Es Lache voo Owenglie Elli Schlosser, Helga Felsing, Toni Heinicke, Hedwig Schneider.

Die veadd Schaib (CD 4)
Originaltöne zu „Himmel un Höll“ (Band 4)
1. Karl Gemmer, Ledige Mutter, 2. Erika und Karl Wald, 3 Generationen, 3. Toni Dick, Schwiegerkinder, 4. Koads Kall und Pauls Helga, Mir zwie Domme, 5. Pauls Helga und Monika, Mir zwu Domme, 6. Walter Ruppenthal, Jungenstreiche, 7. Ruth Neeb, Kindheitserinnerungen, 8. Sigrun Schindler, Kuh memm foiriche Schwaans, 9. Dagmar Hipp, Kindergarten, 10. Ernst Reckert, Fernsehen, 11. Birgit König, Bambelkutsch,
12. Ruth Neeb, Schlittenfahrt mit Auto, 13. Roswitha Hipp, Laura Lett, 14. Heide Habermann, Sketch, 15. Sigrun Schindler, Voom Hoiburre gefann, 16. Mariechen Korell, Freude schöner Götterfunken, 17. Karl und Erika Wald, Meddes Sanne, 18. Elisabeth Gonder und Toni Dick, Rahns Marie un Rahns Maddin, 19. Bonngässer Vichel, 20. Matthias Eislöffel, Meine Wurzeln, 21. Sabine Kirchner, Schbrich off Platt, 22. Trio, Idiotenclub, 23. Sabine Kirchner, Noch mie Schbrich voo friejer, 24. Singkreis, Heimatland, 25. Hedwig Schneider, Ober-Gleen, 26. Volker Schneider, Wie sich der Ort entwickelt hat, 27. Erika und Karl Wald, Zusammenleben in Ober-Gleen, 28. Ernst A. Bloemers, Das Brot des Bäckers, 29. Veronika Bloemers an der Barockorgel, 30. Helmut Knöchel, Dichels, 31. Suse Lina, Emigrierte Großonkel, 32. Carolyn Schott, A Child of Ober-Gleen, 33. Justus Randt moderiert, 34. Helmut Meß, Museum in Kirtorf, 35. Ober-Gleener Petition von 1835, gelesen von Monika Felsing, 36. Gabriele Gonder Carey, Panis Angelicus, 37. Helmut Knöchel, Weidigs Haustür, 38. Rudolf und Hedwig Schneider. Das Weidighaus, 39. Volker Schneider, Die Küsterfamilie, 40. Dagmar Hipp, Lina Seim,
41. Siggi Schindler, Obba Hannes, 42. Siggi Schindler und Roswitha Hipp, Obbas Lieblingslied.

Die finnefd Schaib (CD 5) zu „Himmel un Höll“ (Band 4):

1. Andrea, Kathrin und Mareike Hahn, Ober-Gleen, geschrieben von Fritz Großpitsch auf die Melodie eines schlesischen Heimatliedes; 2. Karl Gemmer, Mein Vater und der Erste Weltkrieg, 3. Emma Schulz, Die vier Brüder Schneider; 4. Rudolf Schneider, Die vier Brüder Schneider und ihre Schwester; 5. Rudolf Schneider, Aufarbeitung des Ersten Weltkriegs; 6. Rudolf und Hedwig Schneider, NS-Erziehung; 7. Karl und Mariechen Korell, Lehrer Bonischot; 8. Ruth Neeb, Familie von Pfarrer Otto Christ nach 1935; 9. Karl und Mariechen Korell, Schule im Krieg; 10. Ruth Neeb, Mein Vater und der Krieg; 11. Duo EigenArt (Nidderau) und Ober-Gleener Gemeinde, Die Gedanken sind frei; 12. Karl Gemmer, Mein Vater und der Zweite Weltkrieg; 13. Karl und Mariechen Korell, Französische Kriegsgefangene; 14. Meline Krätschmer, Außenlager von Rodgau-Rollwald; 15. Karl und Erika Wald, Kriegsgefangene; 16. Karl Korell, Flüchtiger Häftling; 17. Greifvögel, Wind und Singvögel im Ober-Gleener Wald; 18. Rudolf Schneider, Russische Gefangene; 19. Helmut Knöchel, Fliegerangriff auf Kassel; 20. Ruth Neeb, Angriff auf Groß-Gerau; 21. Meline Krätschmer, Fliegerangriff auf Alsfeld; 22. Emma Schulz, Ludwig Becker; 23. Helmut Knöchel, Jabbos; 24. Karl Wald, Letzte Kriegstage; 25. Karl Gemmer, Mein Vater kehrt zurück; 26. Emma Schulz, Mäuresch Ernst un die Kädd; 27. Meline Krätschmer, Ernst Peter; 28. Inge Dreyer, Mein Vater Ludwig Scheld; 29. Rudolf Schneider, Rückkehr; 30. Karl Gemmer, Von daheim in die Gefangenschaft; 31. Karl Gemmer, Ewa Wolewec bleibt; 32. Ruth Neeb, Nach dem Krieg; 33. Veronika Bloemers an der Orgel.

Die seggsd Schaib (CD 6) zu allen vier Bänden über Ober-Gleen kommt voraussichtlich Anfang 2018 als Doppel-CD (Zeitzeugenaufnahmen und gelesene Dokumente. Erzählt wird die Geschichte der jüdischen Familien von Ober-Gleen und anderer jüdischen Familien aus Hessen, mit denen wir in unserem Projekt in Kontakt gekommen sind.

Die sebbd Schaib (CD 7)
Zu „Himmel un Höll“ (Band 3) und „Schbille gieh un feiern“ (Band 4)
1. Pauls Monika, Saalzekuche un dè Omma ihr Riwwn, a cappella (eigener Text, frei nach Shoo flie pie and apple pan dowdy von Dina Shore); 2. Roswitha Hipp und Siggi Schindler, Äbbelklau; 3. Karl Wald, Die ersten Amis; 4. Helmut Knöchel, Die Amis wollten eggs; 5. Roswitha Hipp, Besatzung; 6. Marlies Rahe, Chewing gum and chocolate; 7. Karl Wald, Falsche Amis; 8. Roswitha Hipp und Sigrun Schindler, Nachkriegszeit; 9. Karl Wald, Schwarzhandel; 10. Roswitha Hipp und Sigrun Schindler, Lois un Nerve; 11. Karl Wald, Die Schwarze Hand; 12. Roswitha Hipp und Sigrun Schindler, Schnibbelbobbe; 13. Gabi Rieß, Vertreibung, Ankunft; 14. Karl Gemmer, Lied über den Schmied: Lesche Gerhard; 15. Bernd Schneider, Richters; 16. Werner Haberzeth, Enn gude Oadd; 17. Egon Brückner über sich selbst; 18. Egon Brückner, Neuanfang und Gedicht; 19. Heide Habermann, Muttermilch; 20. Meline Krätschmer, Kennenlernen; 21. Roswitha Hipp, Dè alde Hahn; 22. Suse Lina, Lisbeth, Sintezza und Kurzwarenhändlerin; 23. Christl Brückner-Aubry, Schisselwerfe; 24. Heinrich Sommer, Georg Seim (Seim-Schusder); 25. Heinrich Sommer, Georg Seim und Adenauer; 26. Singkreis, Danke; 27. Willi Löb, Adenauer kommt; 28. Helga Felsing und Karl Gemmer, Wann werden wir uns wiedersehn?; 29. Egon Brückner, Leichenhalle; 30. Egon Brückner, Gemeinderat; 31. Inge Dreyer, Von Sachsen nach Köln; 32. Egon Brückner, Dè Fanny ihr Gliess (Gedicht); 33. Veronika Bloemers an der Barockorgel.

Die oachd Schaib (CD 8)
Zu „Schbille gieh un feiern“ (Band 4)
1. Suse Lina, Schbeannschdobb in den 40ern; 2. Laura Schneider und ihr Opa Erich Rohde, Akkordeon; 3. Suse Lina, Suse Oddo; 4. Inge Dreyer, Meine Wurzeln, 5. Pauls Monika, Wann ich è Schwälbche wier; 6.Toni Dick, Jugend in den 50ern; 7. Schulze Gisela, Nichts los in der Jugend; 8. Willi Löb, Jugend in den 60ern; 9. Helga Felsing und Gerlinde Christ, Wie Krölls Helga Pauls Kall kennengelernt hat; 10. Helga Felsing und Karl Gemmer, Leise rauscht es; 11. Gerlinde Christ und Helga Felsing, Kuhstall; 12. Karl Wald, Kall häsese all; 13. Volker Schneider, Das Dorf verändert sich; 14. Helmut Peter, Ober-Gleen und SVO; 15. Hans Krätschmer, Fußball; 16. Siggi Schindler, SVO-Lied (von Karl Gemmer); 17. Volker Schneider, Landwirtschaft und Politik; 18. Vichel aus dè Bonngass; 19. Gabi Rieß, geborene Lesch, Jugendtreff; 20. Gabi Rieß, Schbass mit Schwein; 21. Willi Löb, Geselligkeit früher; 22. Heide Habermann, Gründung der Jugendgruppe; 23. Ewald Lesch, Jugendgruppe; 24. Laura Schneider und ihr Opa, Sin Sin Sin; 25. Willi Löb, Einwohnerzahl; 26. Helmut Meß, Heimatverein; 27. Volker und Heidrun Schneider, Zurück nach Ober-Gleen; 28. Willi Löb, Bleiben und feiern; 29. Pauls Monika, Laandschdroos, breng mich heem (frei nach Country Roads); 30. Karl Korell, Gliesbeurel-Skulptur; 31. Volker Schneider, Dorferneuerung; 32. Toni Dick, Ober-Gleen; 33. Willi Löb, Dorfentwicklung, 34. Helma Engel, Strickkreis; 35. Laura Schneider und ihr Opa, Malinawi; 36. Koads Kall, Herzebobbelche; 37. Helga lacht; 38. Marlies Löb, Helga, Feiern und Backen; 39. Gemeinde, O du Fröhliche; 40. Veronika Bloemers an der Barockorgel.

Die noind Schaib (CD9)
Zu „Himmel un Höll“ (Band 3) und „Schbille gieh un feiern“ (Band 4)
1. Siggi Schindler, Hochzeitslied; 2. Emma Schulz, Tanzschulbild aus den frühen 30ern; 3. Roswitha Hipp, Knudschbridsch; 4. Renate Knöchel, Dorfabend; 5. Karl Wald, Erwesbär; 6. Karl Korell, Zündapp und Entchen; 7. Toni Dick, Unser alter Käfer; 8. Egon Brückner, Der Lloyd; 9. Helga Felsing, Autofahren; 10. Dieter Ruppert und Toni Dick, Em Dieder sein Golf und Kaisers Geburtstag; 11. Mariechen Korell, 50. Geburtstag; 12. Lina Ruppenthal, 80. Geburtstag, 13. Suse Lina, 90. Geburtstag; 14. Veronika Bloemers, Orgel; 15. Toni Dick, Beerdigung; 16. Volker Schneider, Küster kontra Pfarrer; 17. Veronika Bloemers, Orgel; 18. Hedwig und Rudolf Schneider, Dass mehr Loid in die Keach ginge!; 19. Sabine Kirchner, Christenlehre; 20. Gemeinde, Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier; 21. Sabine Kirchner, Owengliejer 11 Gebode; 22. Siggi Schindler, Ehestandslied; 23. Ingrid Becker, Antrittsbesuch; 24. Schelde Hedwig, Hochzeit; 25. Wähnesch Hedwig und Rudolf, Hochzeit; 26. Erika Wald, Hochzeit; 27. Karl Gemmer, Schnapsbrennen; 28. Trio, Trinklied von Karl Gemmer; 29. Christl Brückner-Aubry, Maschinekuche; 30. Pauls Monika und Eva Huck, Saalzekuche; 31. Helmut Knöchel, Vogelsberger Gestein; 32. Pauls Monika und alle, Ogdower (Summertime); 33. Karl Wald, Kirmesmusikanten und Kirmesseduch; 33. Alle, Ogdower; 34. Karl Gemmer, Kirmesseduch; 35 Alle bei Eggschdäis, Ogdwower; 36. Schelde Toni und Elisabeth Gonder, Kirmessekläd; 37. Veronika Bloemers, Jesu meine Freude.

Zem Geboaddsdoag viel Gligg, zem Geboaddsdoag, liewe Ruth, zem Geboaddsdoag, viel Gligg!! Zum Geburtstag viel Glück, zum Geburtstag, liebe Ruth, zum Geburtstag, viel Glück! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Ruth, happy birthday to you!
Pauls Monnigga