Abstract

Brigitte Kiemschies was born in 1948 in Roth, Germany, and recalls a relatively idyllic childhood. She tells of her journey from an interesting perspective, describing her life living between the two divided societies of East and West Germany. Her travels at the age of 26 took her to the U.S., where she married, raised a family, and continues to reside in Cleveland, Ohio.

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Interviewee

Kiemschies, Brigitte (interviewee)

Interviewer

Franklin, Bill (interviewer)

Project

Cleveland German-American Oral History Project

Date

6-1-2021

Document Type

Oral History

Duration

59 minutes

Transcript

Bill Franklin [00:00:02] So my name is William Franklin. Today is June 1st, 2021, and we're interviewing Brigitte. And you spell that B

Brigitte Keimschies [00:00:18] B R I T I T T E, Kiemschies, K I E M S C H I E S

Bill Franklin [00:00:31] Yes, very good. Alrighty, so the first thing I'd like to ask is where you're from?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:00:41] I'm from Germany, I'm from Roth It's a little town, like a suburb from Marburg.

Bill Franklin [00:00:52] And how do you spell that town?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:00:53] R O T H, Roth, Roth

Bill Franklin [00:00:55] Roth

Brigitte Keimschies [00:00:56] Roth, Yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:01:00] And Marburg? Is that?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:01:02] M A R B U R G

Bill Franklin [00:01:07] Very good. And you were how old when the war broke out? You were.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:01:14] I'm not that old.

Bill Franklin [00:01:16] No?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:01:17] No. I was born in 48.

Bill Franklin [00:01:21] Oh you were born in 48, OK.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:01:21] After the circus.

Bill Franklin [00:01:24] OK, good. So your parents were living in Roth Germany during the war were they?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:01:32] No, no. My my my father. Yes my father did. And my mother, she was she was born in Czechoslovakia. In Sudetenland, what they called it the region. And, you know, Hitler always said, you know, I want these people back into Deutsche Reich Right. Right. And then after that, you know, they all went where they all came from, Yugoslavia or Poland or they came from Czechoslovakia, you know, Sudetenland, and they got transported. They didn't know where they went to. And they landed in that town where my father grew up. And then they fell in love, I guess. And then I came along.

Bill Franklin [00:02:17] That's how it works.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:02:19] Yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:02:20] Was your father in the service?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:02:21] Yes, yes. Yes.

Bill Franklin [00:02:23] The German army.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:02:23] Yes. He was not in the SS, but he was, uh. Yeah, he had to.

Bill Franklin [00:02:30] Mm hmm.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:02:31] They you know, they there was no choice. They had to be if you're not sick, you had to be and you had to be a soldier.

Bill Franklin [00:02:37] Yeah, yeah. So he served as a as a soldier. Active.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:02:42] Yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:02:42] Active soldier in the war. Uh huh. And did your mom have contact with him during the war?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:02:48] No, no, no. That was all after they got married. Yeah. They got married in 48 and I was born in forty eight.

Bill Franklin [00:02:55] Oh I see, so.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:02:55] But they came to date in 46 they came to that town. Yeah. That's where they you know and uh that's how they met.

Bill Franklin [00:03:10] Uh huh. Very good. So you lived in Roth Germany until you were how old?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:03:17] Till I, well I was married before too and uh so I lived in the small town it all suburbs from Marburg and it's just like, like and so then I was like 26 when I came here to America.

Bill Franklin [00:03:38] So that was in?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:03:40] 75.

Bill Franklin [00:03:42] 75

Brigitte Keimschies [00:03:43] 26, yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:03:44] Uh huh. How did you find moving to America, was there?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:03:48] Love.

Bill Franklin [00:03:49] Is that, is that the reason?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:03:52] Yeah I was. Yeah. Yeah that's it. Oh those are long stories. Those are long stories. But uh yeah I came to Cleveland, I was invited by some friends. And that's where I met my husband and I never went back. Not even after my visa was out, you know, like well I stayed, I got we got married then, you know?

Bill Franklin [00:04:13] Was he American or?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:04:15] No, he was German too. And my parents knew his parents in Germany. So that's why he came to visit when I was here visiting, you know, he came to visit, uh, those people and that's how we met.

Bill Franklin [00:04:29] So you went through your whole childhood education. Everything.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:04:33] Everything, yes.

Bill Franklin [00:04:35] While in Germany?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:04:35] Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:04:36] And how was that after the war? So you were like 1952, 53., you started kindergarten.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:04:45] Yeah. I mean I really, I, I really didn't feel, you know, like when you were that little. You don't know. Do you think that's normal. Everything is like a normal thing you know. But uh but I remember when I got a little bit older and we had like birthday parties, you know, for the grown ups. Right. And then the smoke was here. We had everybody was smoking, you know, like that. And then they were sitting in the living room and and, uh, I was hiding, you know, like not hiding. But I love the stories. When they were talking about the war, none of them really told how they felt, you know, how they really felt in that in that situation. But they were talking where they were or what happened over there, men that who died or whatever. So that's that's, you know, interested me always like. But so, I had like some uncles who didn't come back home from the war.

Bill Franklin [00:05:41] Is that right?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:05:41] So. Yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:05:41] That was on your mother's side or?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:05:45] My mother's side. Yeah, yeah. My father, my my father, he had like three sisters and they they were actually not in the war. Right. But one sisters like. Oh yeah. One uncle from my father's side of mine. He came didn't come home either. He fell in Moscow. So.

Mark Cole [00:06:09] So what was life like as a child?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:06:12] My childhood was good. Yeah. I had a good childhood. I had, uh, mom and Dad and grandmas, two grandmas, and they lived with my parents in the house. So I was the queen of the road and

Bill Franklin [00:06:32] Were things in short supply. Did you ever notice that?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:06:36] Yeah, but they would talk about that, you know, like what they didn't have or what they couldn't buy or, you know, like and then when people got food, you know, I mean there was always still food there, but it was like when they start baking and making and couldn't get the stuff anymore, it felt like, you know, like everybody was over doing it, you know, with that stuff because they didn't have it for so long. And but I personally. No, I never I didn't feel.

Bill Franklin [00:07:06] Like you were missing out on anything.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:07:07] That was, that no. That was. Yeah, no. And no, I didn't. I never did. And because I said I didn't live in a, you know, like my mom, my dad, of course, you know, they went through different periods of times, you know, but I never did so. And I was the only one. Twelve years later, my brother came. So, you know, for 12 years I was like, you know, so no, I didn't.

Bill Franklin [00:07:38] Was, a, Roth Germany. Was that near-.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:07:40] Marburg.

Bill Franklin [00:07:41] Berlin or?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:07:42] No, no. It's right smack middle in Hessen that's in Hessen. And, uh, yeah, like forty, forty miles up north from Frankfurt.

Bill Franklin [00:07:51] OK, yeah. So that wasn't really cornered off from like American sections?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:07:58] No, no, no, no. We were in East West Germany and I had we had a lot of relatives in East Germany.

Bill Franklin [00:08:06] Did you?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:08:06] So when I was a child, because it was Kramer, I mean, now not my my great grandma already, right from my my grandfather's parents. My father was still alive in East Germany and his brothers and sisters. So, uh, when it's when you could go over there. Right. We we would go. But that was always like such a such a drama, you know, to go there. And when we went, we had to go on a train and we drove to to, uh, Bebra, Bebra is a town right on the border. And when they stopped the East Germans, they came in, you know, and then they the they would like, you know, the parents had to go outside. And I remember one, I don't know how old I was. My my grandmother and my mom my dad didn't go. My grandmother and my mom. And they had to leave with the suitcases. And there was like a barn. And the barn opens up and they went inside. They got they looked through the suitcases. And we kids, we had to stay all back. And, you know, whenever we were kids crying. And I mean, that was that was the worst. I felt like I was in the war.

Bill Franklin [00:09:15] Traumatic.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:09:15] Traumatic, you know, very. And then we went there. We did go out over there to East Germany. And then we had to spend money every day. There was like a certain amount of money. But you had to live there. You had to-

Mark Cole [00:09:30] Quota

Brigitte Keimschies [00:09:30] Buy stuff.

Mark Cole [00:09:31] Yeah.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:09:31] You know. Yeah. And.

Bill Franklin [00:09:32] Was there a different currency? Do you remember if that was.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:09:38] No, that was marks, they marks too. It was just yeah, they they yeah. No, that was the same, but just like worth nothing over there. You know. So they didn't get anything my aunt she had like five boys and when she could get a banana. Right. And she would come back and then she would like cut it in pieces now that over there. I, I, I noticed I mean nothing to eat. They had to eat potatoes and they, that's what they had. They had meat, sausage and stuff and potatoes, you know, so they didn't starve, starve. But they, you know, fruit and stuff like that. They didn't have soda and she would cut, like, the little pieces. And my mom would say, you're not getting a piece, you not eating it. I'm like, I want a piece. No, you're not getting the piece at my dad. No. So when we would drive, when we drive, when we went on the train home and the first time when we stopped in Bebra and out of sight, you know, like from that town, from that city.

Bill Franklin [00:10:40] How do you spell that town?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:10:41] Bebra? B, E, B.

Mark Cole [00:10:41] B.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:10:45] R.

Mark Cole [00:10:45] Yeah.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:10:45] A.

Bill Franklin [00:10:45] Bebra OK, good.

Mark Cole [00:10:45] B, E, A, B, R, A?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:10:46] Yeah, B. B, E, Beb- B, E, B. Bebra. B, E, B, R, A.

Mark Cole [00:10:50] B, E, B, R, A.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:10:50] Yeah. Bebra my goodness. And so he and he disappeared and I remember that too. I mean you know there is things what you really have in your mind like that doesn't go away. And I said to my mom was something like where's dad going? And all of a sudden he came back and he had like a whole thing of bananas. And he goes, OK, now you have your banana, you eat them all. I didn't want them anymore. Yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:11:26] They're very perishable. They don't last long.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:11:28] Yeah. Well yeah well because I wanted that what the kids had, I wanted that to you know. So there was a lot of. Yeah. Over there. I felt it. Yeah. That people didn't get uh what they

Bill Franklin [00:11:42] Not like the West side.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:11:43] No it was totally different then over there. Yeah. And then my brother is an architect and he when the border opened he was the first one, and went over there and built a shopping center. It's not a big one. A small one. And

Bill Franklin [00:11:59] So this is your younger brother.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:12:01] My brother was twelve years younger than me. So he he, you know, he got the sand and he got the they wanted to they just opened up. I mean there was no place to he slept in a school, you know, in a sleeping bag because he had to be there. He didn't want to leave but he ordered all the sand and the stones and all that. You know, it wasn't that far. The border was there, you know, from the other side. And the people they would get up to, they would get together and go, like, what happened, you know, because over there when they built something and they didn't have stones anymore. They would go. They wouldn't have sand anymore. They would go up and maybe three or four weeks or three days or whatever. They would get something, you know, they could keep on doing it. And so that was interesting. So, you know, my husband, I we went over there, too, and we went right way over because now we could just go and see everybody yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:12:54] Is your brother still in Germany?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:12:56] Yeah, he lives in Germany. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:12:59] So do you go over frequently to visit?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:13:01] Yeah. I have a house over there.

Bill Franklin [00:13:02] Oh do you?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:13:02] So I, he takes care of it but you know have to have two and now two. I just. Yeah. I would like to go but I'm not going.

Mark Cole [00:13:16] Also in Hessen or?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:13:17] Yeah. Yeah. Right there in my town.

Mark Cole [00:13:20] Same. Ok.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:13:20] Yeah. So yeah no I would like to but made a little bit because Germany was a little bit behind with everything you know, with the, with the

Bill Franklin [00:13:33] With the vaccinations and,

Brigitte Keimschies [00:13:35] Yeah.

Mark Cole [00:13:37] So when you went to high school did you, when did you become politically aware the Cold War and that sort of stuff?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:13:44] I always like that stuff.

Mark Cole [00:13:45] Yeah.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:13:45] Yeah I always like that. Yeah. Because we always talked a lot and I think because we had that relatives over there and it was. Yeah. You got, you were interested in it, you know, and you hear it constantly, you know what went on, you know, and my dad, he was like big politics or whatever,

Mark Cole [00:14:08] Politically active or just political?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:14:09] No, not, no. He he loved this stuff. And, you know, Leonhard now, you know Leonhard, right? He loved my dad. He would go to Germany just to talk to my dad to see him, you know. So anyway. But just a little bit and uh. Yeah, so but I was never involved, involved in anything, you know, just what you heard. And I like the stories. I like to sit and listen to the stories.

Mark Cole [00:14:33] So no political activism?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:14:35] No, no. Nothing no. Nope.

Bill Franklin [00:14:40] Very good. So you your brother's still in architecture is he still?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:14:46] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:14:48] Buildings there. So when you came to America, did you have a connection in Cleveland? Were there any any direction that you went?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:14:58] I know nobody. Nobody I yeah, the people who invited me, you know, they were in Germany, my my my hu-, who became my husband, he, his parents and my parents, they were friends because they OK. My, my husband was born in Lithuania and they came the same route, you know, through East Germany, down to Germany, you know, and he had like two more brothers and they lend ended ahhhh sorry. In Germany, in Roth too. They were neighbors of my parents. So they became friends and then, uh, my husband when he was 18. But, no, they moved on from Roth to Frankfurt. Yes. And when I was two years old, they moved to Frankfurt. So there was the connection wasn't there anymore, that, you know, but a Christmas card and stuff like that, you know, that was it. And then my husband's name was Horst. And he, uh, he, uh, with eighteen, he came to the States. You know, he was

Bill Franklin [00:16:09] Did he have a sponsor or anybody?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:16:10] His brother was here already.

Bill Franklin [00:16:11] Oh he had a brother.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:16:12] Yeah. But that time I don't think they would spon- sponsors, you know. Was already, not that. It was.

Bill Franklin [00:16:20] of the time.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:16:20] Yeah. And, uh, yeah. But his brother was here and his godfather was here. I mean, they came and then he had a lot of relatives here from, you know, like before they came in the 20s already, you know.

Bill Franklin [00:16:31] Where they here in Cleveland, or?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:16:32] Cleveland area. Yeah. Mm hmm. And so, yeah, that's how he came. And, uh, so then he was married here for a few years and then they divorced and, uh so.

Mark Cole [00:16:48] Was Horst's last name Keimschies?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:16:50] Yes, yes, yeah, yeah.

Mark Cole [00:16:52] So what is your maiden name then?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:16:56] Schnabel

Mark Cole [00:16:59] Shnabel.

Bill Franklin [00:16:59] That's a famous name.

Mark Cole [00:17:01] S C, H, N, E, B.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:17:01] E, L.

Mark Cole [00:17:01] Or A, B, E, L.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:17:04] Yeah.

Mark Cole [00:17:04] Yeah.

[00:17:09] Yeah.

Mark Cole [00:17:14] As in my German [00:17:15]beak, [0.0s] right?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:17:16] Yeah, well, you know you speak German, right? Yeah. Well, you wrote something. Yeah. OK, good. Yeah. So yeah my when I left, when I was here, when I came here I had there was no that I was mad at anybody over there or my parents or whatever, but I had my daughter from my first marriage. And um. So my ex-husband over there he could care less. He didn't, didn't care, he didn't. Whatever, where. So when I came here and we were here for over a month and I felt good. She felt good. You know, she was little. I mean, and then as a I came June 14th and I got married in August. So, you know how fast fast movers. Yeah. And I would do it all over again.

Mark Cole [00:18:07] So what year was your first marriage and when did you have your daughter?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:18:11] My first marriage was and in, in,

Mark Cole [00:18:14] Roughly.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:18:17] 60, 60, 66.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:18:21] And Iris born in 67 an, and seven.

Mark Cole [00:18:25] Iris?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:18:26] Yeah. My name, her name is Iris. Yeah. And and I got divorced like a year and a half later.

Mark Cole [00:18:34] Ok.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:18:35] Yeah. I that was not, I should have not been bad that. So, yeah. And so when we came here and so we, I got married in August so for my green card, you know to, to that time you know, to and to go back and come back with of course a lot of money and all that to you know, and I stayed here and like I said, married in August, my in-laws came for the wedding. My parents didn't come. But the year after the next year, they were here and came every year after that.

Bill Franklin [00:19:13] Oh really, that's good. What did your dad do for a living?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:19:14] My dad, he worked for the railroad. He was an executive for the railroad. Yeah, and he had a good job, you know, he provided for us and was. Yeah, he was. Yeah. And.

Bill Franklin [00:19:28] So they had no interest of moving to the States?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:19:30] No, no, no, no, no, no no no no. Oh no. And my, my in-laws, they wanted all of us to come here, but, uh, my husband had a younger brother and he, they went swimming one day in the Main River in Frankfort and he went swimming and jumped into it and there were like those cement blocks that they had around the river for the boats, you know, where they would anchor their boats and he got killed.

Bill Franklin [00:20:00] Oh my god.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:20:00] So and that's after that. They didn't want to come anymore. The parents. You know, at that time, their thinking was like not right, you know, because that son who is dead he doesn't help them anymore, you know? But they became closer with my parents. And my brother would do a lot for them, too, you know. So that was just like. Family, so that was good. My mother was a saint. She took them all in.

Bill Franklin [00:20:30] So what was your religious life like back in Germany, were?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:20:36] I, my mom was Catholic and my mother, my father was Lutheran and my moth-.

Bill Franklin [00:20:41] How did that work out, exactly?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:20:41] Good, good. My grandmother was one case. They lived in the same house, one Catholic and one Lutheran. Sunday morning, my dad would pack them in the car, would drive one to Catholic Church and the other one to Lutheran Church. And then they complain you should go to church too to my dad. And my dad goes, I don't have time I'm driving you all over. Yeah, they got along too. I don't know. But I always said it was my mother was my mom who kept them all like like, uh, because it's hard to have like not because of the religion, but that it's your mother, my mother. And that didn't happen, you know. So that was, she, those two they got along those old ladies. So and. Yeah. But then when I got had confirmation because I grew up Lutheran, because there was no Catholic Church in that town, there was but not close by. So I grew up Lutheran and then when I got my confirmation, my mom changed into Lutheran.

Bill Franklin [00:21:45] Did you go to a Lutheran school or?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:21:47] No, no, no. I went to a regular school and then. Yeah, because you have in Bavaria, we had relatives in Bavaria now my grandmother's mother lived in, uh, my mother, my grandmother's mother lived in Bavaria in Ingolstadt, so I would go down to summer vacation. Now, you asked about religions, right? And I would say my cousins had to go to Mass every Sunday morning. And I would say, I'm not going I'm not Catholic. And she would say, you're live, you're now here, you're Catholic. We had to go, oh, my gosh, yeah. We had to go. And then we would like there was an old lady. She would go to church at five o'clock in the morning for mass, six o'clock, seven o'clock. And she got a piece of paper that she like for beichen, beichen like, Like, uh. Gosh I'm so sorry I forgot the name for it.

Mark Cole [00:22:49] That's okay, I don't know the word, so.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:22:49] When you go for, for and say what you did wrong to the preist.

Mark Cole [00:22:53] Oh yeah, for your sins.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:22:54] Yeah, that's she-.

Mark Cole [00:22:55] Penance.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:22:56] Yeah, she would get like that and then she would go outside and she would sell it for five dollars. And Grandma wanted to see every Sunday, not every Sunday. We didn't do it. But,

Mark Cole [00:23:09] Yeah

Brigitte Keimschies [00:23:10] We we gave her five bucks and then we had one and then we showed her, we went to church and I got bad anyway. But that's what it was, you know. Yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:23:18] Interesting. So your parents political beliefs, you probably never talked about anything,

Brigitte Keimschies [00:23:29] I don't want to talk about that. No, no. We talked my dad was, uh, active. Not no, not active, you know, but he was, uh. He was SPD, man, you know? So that all I know.

[00:23:47] *Buzzing sound*.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:23:47] That's my refrigerator.

Bill Franklin [00:23:49] Oh.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:23:51] So, yeah, they would you know, he would vote and would do his duties or whatever it is, you know, and that was it talk of liked or didn't like. You know? So.

Bill Franklin [00:24:06] And then when you came to Cleveland, were you active right away in Donauschwaben or the German circle or?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:24:13] Yeah. Well you know what really. OK, when I, when I was in Germany in school. Right. And, uh, I didn't want to go to college, my brother that was out of hand, you know, they told him, you know, that was it. But I didn't it didn't push me. And I was, too. And then I got married. I did get married, right. So I really didn't. When you're young, you're stupid sometimes you know? You're going like, you know. I mean, I had the opportunity, right. And my parents, you know, it wasn't that, you know, my dad did, you know. So, uh, and I got married and, now where did I want to go with that? My mind. And when I came here, you asked me,

Bill Franklin [00:24:59] Yeah we were talking about affiliation with uh the German clubs or?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:25:02] No with the German club. Yes, I did. I did, uh, when I came here, because now my husband's relatives, they were involved in the in that town out, in Lenau park. We never been to, here to German Cental because there was a lot of older people in there and they didn't want to change and there was nothing done, you know, and all that. So yes. And then I took my daughter to German school they have a school out there and she had to go to school there.

Bill Franklin [00:25:34] So you brought her up to speak German and English and?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:25:37] Yeah, I speak to, all my grandkids speak German when hey come here there's no no English. You know, they they they answer me in English a lot of times. And when I don't I don't want to ask. I don't. When you know I don't understand. The little one she always goes like you speak to other people's English. I know you speak English. I say but I don't understand you honey. Yeah they I mean that's the easiest way I mean they have to go to school later on, right.

Mark Cole [00:26:04] Yeah, it's very hard. Yeah. I'm an example of that, yes.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:26:06] So and when the older ones, you know, the older ones they, they now they come and say I can be so quiet, you know. I mean, I mean not that they're perfect, you know, that they can but they can go there when you go to Germany and they can talk and they when they want something or whatever can be done. And yeah. So yeah. So now I have a new one, the new great grandparent baby.

Bill Franklin [00:26:32] That's great.

Mark Cole [00:26:33] Do the grandkids go to school, in at Lenau Park now or? No.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:26:38] No. I mean now here my daughter who lives here. She has one daughter and she is now in high school. She's going to be a senior next year and she's in all kinds of things in school, you know, like marching band and clubs or whatever. In school. There was no time, you know, I would have drove her out there, you know, but, uh. But she speaks German because I had her here. My daughter went to work I had her here every day. So, you know, she speaks and then in high school. Middle school already. She took German in school and but she got in trouble all the time because she was like, I don't think that's how that's spelled. You know, the teacher. Poor thing. She grew up here and, you know. Yeah. And learn we would go a lot to Germany. We would take, go a lot in the summertime. And then she would say, oh, they like that and that music. And she would go like, no, that's not true. You know, stuff like that. So.

Bill Franklin [00:27:37] You just had the one brother? just had one sibling?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:27:41] I only have one brother in Germany. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He has triplets.

Bill Franklin [00:27:46] Really.

Brigitte Keimschies [00:27:47] Yeah. So yeah, their my all younger than me so. But anyway yeah.

Bill Franklin [00:27:54] Gee, and when you were going to school living with your parents, did you have to work or anything to help supplement income or?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:28:03] No, no. I didn't no, I didn't. But I was volunteering a lot. I went from church. There was Hefatra that was like a town for a crippled children, you know for, for. Yeah

Bill Franklin [00:28:20] Disabled

Brigitte Keimschies [00:28:23] Yeah, there was like a town, disabled. See disabled, and I would go there, you know, and we would stay there and we would stay even over the weekends, you know. So during the week we had school

Bill Franklin [00:28:36] And how do you know that?

Brigitte Keimschies [00:28:37] Hefatra

Bill Franklin [00:28:38] Hefatra.

Bri

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