Eduard Wegat, 1904 – 2001
My father, Eduard Wegat,was born on 17th February 1904 in Eszerischken, East Prussia. His parents names are Eduard Wegat and Auguste Wegat nee Peuk. Eduard, (my father) was the eldest of 4 children,the other’s names are: Lina, Karl and Gustaf. His mother also had children from an earlier marriage.The only one of those children living in Hamburg, and whom I knew well, was uncle Fritz and auntie Dolly Kutkowski.
Eduard’s father, (my grandfather) died in 1910 from alcoholism. Eduard was only 6 years old. His mother, being widowed with four small children married again. Her new husband was a widower, Gottlieb Blasko, who had grown children.
At the age of 14 my father started an apprenticeship with an engineering company in Darkehmen which built pumps and sank and drilled wells. He completed his apprenticeship on 2nd October 1922 and became a qualified Copper-and Blacksmith. Eduard worked for two other employers in or near Darkehmen until the 1st March 1925, when he made his way to Hamburg.
Hamburg was the gateway for most of northern- and eastern europeans immigrating to America,and this was Eduards intention – see the world!
While waiting for his immigration application to come through, he lived with his half-brother Fritz in Harburg and worked as a coppersmith. Also in Harburg he got injured in an traffic accident and ended up in Harburg Hospital. Here he met a nurse and his plans of going to America were put on the backburner.
Eduard also quit coppersmithing and began training as a nurse. He became a qualified nurse and masseur in the late 20’s and worked full-time in Harburg Hospital. Meanwhile his relationship with nurse Gertrud Hennig had blossomed and they became secretly engaged, as fraternisation between staff members was “Streng Verboten”. Nurse Eduard Wegat married Nurse Gertrud Hennig on 3-12-1932!
Gertrud Wegat, 1905 – 2002
My mother, Margarethe Gertrud Wegat nee Hennig, was born in Ransbach, Vogtland on 20th December 1905.
Her parents names are Alvin Hennig and Eva Margarethe Hennig nee Daemmerich. Gertrud had two siblings, Gerhard, born in 1904 and Hertha, born in 1908.
My mother’s Father Alvin was a schoolteacher by profession initially, but later became a Seventhday Adventist Pastor after changing his faith. After some years he became disenchanted and started his own church, the Seventhday Baptists.
My grandfather also became disenchanted with his wife Eva Margarethe, and after years of womanising, my grandparents were divorced in January 1934. He remarried, had another daughter and died in Hamburg in 1955, aged 75 years.
My grandmother remained single and lived with my parents for most of her remaining life. She died in Hamburg on 4-7-1966, aged 89 years. Gertrud became a qualified nurse in Berlin before settling in Hamburg.