GERMANY 1924

GERMANY 1924 - 1925

I cannot say enough for my parents' resourcefulness and boldness in making this trip possible. It involved borrowing money on their house among other things. Finally, the day of departure arrived and we headed for New York via the New York Central train system. I took advantage of being in New York City for several days to get acquainted with the elevated transportation system. In 1924 it was operating full blast. I preferred it to the subway because you could see the outside world and where you were going. In due time we boarded the S.S. Pittsburgh of the White Star Line of British Registry. We soon got acquainted with other passengers, one of whom, a student bound for France, was instrumental in recommending a place for me to live in Paris two years later. After a voyage fortunately calm, the picturesque shore of France loomed up, looking like a patchwork quilt of assorted colors. Cherbourg was the first port of departure for many of the passengers after which our ocean liner continued on to Southampton, England. Entering the harbor, I was impressed by the orderly beauty of the Isle of Wight on the port side. We still had a number of days to travel on the North Sea to reach our destination, Hamburg, Germany. The trip on the Elbe River was most interesting with the beer gardens and the coffee houses on the hills lining the bank. After a day in Hamburg we boarded a Schnelzug (fast train) for Berlin and had tickets in 2nd class. Dad and mother both spoke German, but were not aware that there were first and second class compartments in the car in which we were riding. Unwittingly, we were in a first class compartment and the conductor let us know this in no uncertain terms. He failed to tell us which were first and second class compartments so we moved to another place which proved to be also first class, the only difference being that first class compartments had only four seats, while second class had six. However, we hadn't noticed this difference and when the conductor checked again, he blurted out unfeelingly, "Donner Wetter, Sie sind wieder im Erste Klasse." Finally all was settled amicably and we were introduced to another concept of travel. Arriving in Berlin, we stayed at a hotel for a few days until a more permanent place could be found. The hotel was only a block away from the Tiergarten (Berlin's "Central Park") and I soon took some exploratory walks on its well laid out paths, One afternoon, walking leisurely I noticed a young girl approaching who, when we passed, stopped and said, "Ich bitte verzeihung aber wissen Sie wie spat es ist?" Stupidly I panicked since my German was very elementary and, looking straight ahead walked on, mumbling, "Nein, Nein." She must have been very puzzled and is probably trying to figure it out to this day. All she wanted was the time of day. Eventually we found several rooms with cooking privileges in an apartment on Mommsenstrasse 48 in Charlottenburg. In inquiring around, we discovered I was too late to apply for admission in the Hochschule, but arranged to study privately with Willy Hess who had me play in the Hochschule orchestra and also "sit in" his violin class. The private lessons were given at Prof. Hess' home nearby. Attendance in his violin class was most stimulating and helpful and got me well aquatinted with the European method of advanced study. A pupil of the renowned Joachim, Hess championed a right hand which dwelt on wrist motion per se with hardly any finger motion. I can still remember him yelling to his students, "Hand gelenk, Hand helenk." Amazingly he would sit in a chair and play the accompaniments to all the well known concertos by improvising them on the violin and from memory which is still a mind boggling stunt in my book.

My maternal grandfather emigrated to the U.S. from East Germany. A sister remained in the old country, married and raised a family which included two boys, one of whom, Heinrich Pirch, lived with his family in Berlin. One of my mother's sisters has been in correspondence with this family and had given us the address. Consequently, after we had settled in Berlin, my parents made the effort to contact which resulted in joyous meeting of Heinrich Pirch, mother's cousin, his wife Elsa and their six children, three boys and three girls, ranging in age from 18 down to 10. I soon found myself surrounded by this youthful melange of eager kids. I has hard pressed to communicate in German and I believe that association with them had a lot to do with my picking up German at a rather rapid rate, especially since we made frequent visits there. I soon became quite fond of my newly found second cousins. My experiences in the Hochschule orchestra were also good for my linguistic development. My stand partner, a girl from Cologne, told me she played in a movie theater orchestra to earn money to stay in school. The Hochschule orchestra gave one concert that year with the Beethoven Eroica Symphony being the principal offering. The Hochschule building had a center section devoted to the classrooms and a concert hall as situated at either end, one for regular concerts and the other for opera performances. The opera that year was Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel."

In the Spring of 1925, my father decided to do some exploring regarding his birthplace, a small village in the province or dutchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the northern part of Germany near Denmark. He went alone in this quest to discover his roots in the village of Gohren. Dad was very good at this type of detective work and soon discovered a whole nest of relatives from an aunt, left behind when my paternal grandfather immigrated to the U.S., to her progeny, numerous cousins with their families. They received him with open arms and made him promise a return visit with his family. This came about in the next month and mother and I had the exciting pleasure of meeting the Mecklenburg branch of our family, most of whom were farmers and remained within the small confines of the small villages where they were born. One family I particularly enjoyed meeting was the Knaacks, a widowed cousin of Dad's and her two children, Erna and Friedrich, of about my age. Erna particularly became a loyal pen pal. Vivid memories of the countryside remain. The storks nesting on the roofs of houses, the beautiful extensive pine forests with the indescribable floor of pine needles and the farmers living in small villages instead of being spread out on their land as in the U>S>, were a few of the impressions. When the rural train lines were built, service to two neighboring villages was achieved by running the tracks half way between them, certainly a practical solution.

I celebrated my twenty-first birthday in March of 1925. The celebration party was held at the Pirch's apartment at number 7 Maxstrasse in Berlin-Schoneberg. My mother, as usual, carried out the details of the celebration beautifully, making this date a fond memory to be tucked away in the barrel of many others of the Berlin experience. Another item plucked from the barrel of Berlin memories concerns the German national election in which Von Hindenburg was elected President. The pre-election campaign was intense and furious. The old flag of the monarchy, with it's red-white-and-black colors, became the insignia of the Von Hindenburgites and the red-black-and-gold colors of the socialist republic flag was the opposition identification. We witnessed the Hindenburg victory parade with thousands of people lining the streets. When the newly elected President passed by, as if by magic, the excited thousands burst into their national anthem "Deutschland uber Alles," in such a manner as to leave an indelible impression on me. A mass outburst of such magnitude one has the rare opportunity to experience.

We became acquainted with a young fellow living in the same apartment building by the name of Alex Kitzerow. He was an eager beaver type and insisted on trying out his not too bad English on me. We became well acquainted, so much so, that he soon revealed his burning ambition to try his luck in the United States. This required a sponsor in the U.S. and we decided we would make it possible for him to realize his dream. Consequently Alex arrived in Toledo the Fall of 1925 and stayed with us until he could find a position and be on his own. Through some contacts I had, He obtained a position in one of the department stores and indeed he was on his own. The following year he became more and more independent and finally took off for the West Coast and disappeared. We never heard from him again, except for a post card announcing his arrival. Alex, I hope you have done well these past sixty years. At least we made it possible for you to try your wings.

The Berlin school year of 1924-25 ended all too soon and we found ourselves sailing from the port of Bremen on the S.S. "Stuttart" in early June. The Voyage treated us to some very high seas, testing my ability to keep from getting seasick. Needless to say, I didn't pass the test. I warmly welcomed the return of calmer seas near the end of the voyage.

During this year, I had been keeping in touch with Grant Conell, director of the Lakeside, Ohio Summer orchestra who offered me a contract to return. Hence, my Summer activity was all set and I settled down to familiar sights and contacts. Correspondence with Maxine in Cincinnati had developed during my Berlin year and continued during the following Summer and in to the Fall. This developed into a desire to see her again, the girl with the fascinating accent. This idea grew and resulted in plans to drive down to Cincinnati. As usual I could stay at the Haackes and all was arranged. It was good seeing Maxine again. We had long talks sandwiched in with the meetings, ending with declaration of romantic intent. The long talks centered around the fact that she wasn't too happy about her pianistic progress with her teacher at the Conservatory, Jean Verd. Somehow the thought entered by mind that she should come to Toledo and study with a man I considered to be tops in the pedagogical field, Max Ecker. The idea grew and grew in the next months along with another taking shape for the Fall of 1926. For the year 1925-26 I had opened up a studio and also served as concertmaster of the waning Toledo Symphony Orchestra.