Mr. Edward Henseler, former agronomist from Cologne, Germany and his son, Ulric, 5 years old, St-Thomas de Caxton, Québec, 1962. (Library and Archives Canada, PA-186362. Click here for more info)
We are delighted to announce that the Father-and-Son project received a three-year grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the nation’s preeminent federal funding agency for research in history. Over the coming three years, the so-called Insight Grant will fund about half a dozen undergraduate and graduate research assistants. The researchers will dig into a trove of memoirs, autobiographies, biographies, life writings, and oral histories to find out how German immigrant fathers and their Canadian-born sons experienced family, work, and leisure during the 20th and early 21st centuries.
SSHRC’s Insight Grant program is highly competitive. Its goal “is to build knowledge and understanding about people, societies and the world by supporting research excellence.” The SSHRC assessors described the Father-and-Son project as “innovative,” “exemplary,” and “very much a model for 21st century academic scholarship that will take it out of the hallowed halls and into the public realm, to inform theory, therapeutics, state and institutional policy, and very real families and individuals.” They commended the application for “stand[ing] out due to its originality, scope, cutting-edge conceptualization and its extensive involvement of young scholars.”
“Father and Son” documents the life experiences of German immigrant fathers and their sons in 20th and 21st century English and French Canada. It asks: how did immigrant men experience fatherhood under the pressure of changing economic, social, cultural, and political forces, and how did their Canadian sons experience their relationships with their fathers? The project uses a broad range of oral histories and life writings, and combines auto/biographical research and intersectionality to illuminate Canadian father-son relations in their many forms, from 1900 to the present day.
The project seeks to inform a broader public debate about fatherhood and sonhood, especially in times of crisis. It provides historical orientation and perhaps even reassurance to families in trying times. The researchers invite the public to participate in the creation of knowledge about father-son relations through oral history, making the research material publicly accessible, and by communicating their findings through blog posts and podcasts.
Greetings! Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Eleonore Hein, and I am the newly appointed Project Assistant in the German-Canadian Studies at the University of Winnipeg.
I recently finished my bachelor’s degree at the University of Manitoba, specializing in Research in German Literature with a minor in Biology. Excited about applying my theoretical knowledge in this role, my aim is to dive deeper in the vast field of research.
Throughout my educational journey, I have taken numerous steps to broaden my horizon in order to increase my interpersonal communication skills and to relate to individuals with different backgrounds. By taking a great number of courses in different academic areas including Mathematics, Physics, English, Psychology and Sociology, I was able to look at the world through a new perspective.
In addition, engaging in volunteering, particularly with chronically ill infants and their guardians, reinforced my desire for understanding individuals and their diverse narratives.
As a German immigrant this research area holds personal significance, fueling my enthusiasm to be part of the team that contributes to preserving the oral history and making it available for further education and research.
The Father and Son project at German-Canadian Studies is excited to welcome three new research assistants: Michayla, Jeanette, and Brendan. Over the coming three months, they will analyze and document primary and secondary sources that speak directly to the experience of immigrant fathers and their Canadian-born sons. We asked them to introduce themselves:
Michayla: “I am excited to assist with research, and look forward to working with GCS. I am a fourth year Honours Political Science student, with a strong interest in history and research. I am most excited to develop a better understanding of how German immigration has shaped Canada and continues to have a cultural impact in our country.”
Jeanette: “My name is Jeanette and I am in my third year of the Integrated Education Program majoring in Geography and with a minor in German. I have a particular interest in travelling, experiencing new cultures and languages, and exploring the outdoors, which all contributed to my choice of degree. I am looking forward to joining the German Canadian Studies research team, because as a German-speaking Mennonite, it is important for me to better understand the German culture in Canada, its origins, and its effect on Canadian history. As a research assistant I look forward to reading and learning about the history my family is a part of.”
Brendan: “I enrolled in the 4-year History Hons. program in 2022. I have enjoyed my courses in United States and European History and have learned many skills from my professors in the areas that I am passionate about, such as learning about 20th century America. What I most enjoy about my job at GCS is applying research techniques and gathering information about the project, feeling involved in a greater purpose, and I hope to apply the skills I am learning into a future job where research is a priority.”
The Father and Son project explores the relationships between fathers and sons throughout the 20th and 21st century, in English and French-speaking Canada. Focusing on German immigrant fathers and their Canadian-born sons, it asks how their relationships evolved during periods of dramatic change, such as the Great Depression, the Second World War, and the Cold War. How did the newcomers to Canada, in particular in their roles as fathers and sons, navigate changing social and cultural landscapes? The project is funded in part by a three-year Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) as well as the Chair in German-Canadian Studies and the University of Winnipeg.
In the current first phase of the project, researchers search for, analyze, and summarize primary sources, including autobiographies, memoirs, correspondence, and oral histories as well as what other scholars have written about the history of fathers and sons in Canada and elsewhere. They contribute to a database that will be made public and accessible to other researchers at the end of the project.
The University of Winnipeg’s Work-Study program provides undergraduate students with opportunities for professional growth alongside their studies. The program allows them to dive into a new research subject area and learn about conducting paid research.
We are looking forward to working with our new research assistants during the winter term, to build the project’s knowledge base, to expand their individual research skills, and to give them the opportunity to branch out into new topics of study. After all, research is not just about the work – it can also foster personal growth and build a deeper understanding of how to access research effectively.
Interested in joining our research team? Keep an eye out for future opportunities on the UWinnipeg career portal!
Imagine an interviewer approached you today and asked you to tell your life story: what would you say?
As GCS’ former project assistant, a key part of what I did was process Oral History interviews, particularly life story interviews, which emphasize the whole of one’s life rather than centering on a specific period or theme. Many of the interviewees were German migrants who discussed their experiences during the Second World War and the postwar period, and their arrival and early life in Canada.
I find life story interviews fascinating, because they reveal much about lived experiences and the way we form narratives about the past as we become further removed from the events themselves.
But consider the enormity of attempting to sum up a lifetime of moments— and what if you have never told all or parts of your story before? It’s understandable, then, that these interviews can range from just a few hours to many hours over multiple sessions; it all depends on the individual and what they decide to share.
Not long ago, I finished processing a particularly interesting interview with “Wilhelm Fahrer” (a pseudonym due to copyright,) conducted by Alexander Freund in Edmonton, Alberta in 1996. What struck me first was the sheer multitude and variety of experiences Fahrer chose to share during his interview—conducted over two sessions and about six hours—and his excellent storytelling ability. He spoke at length about his training and duties as an officer and lieutenant in the German armed forces between 1943 and 1945; his close combat with Red Army soldiers and resulting injury in 1944; and experiences which shaped his youth and years abroad in the United States and Canada.
Fahrer was interned at an American prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in 1945, and it was there that he learned more about ‘America’; he was taken in by the idea of the freedom and independence, both personal and financial, he thought he might find there.
When the American occupation ended, Fahrer was transferred to a British POW camp. Upon his release and completion of his Oberschule education, he enrolled in the Pädagogische Hochschule in Kiel. Through the university’s partnership with Bethel College, a Mennonite post-secondary institution in the United States, Fahrer studied abroad for two years and gained new perspectives on faith, freedom, and identity. Being German in the United States so soon after the end of the Second World War was at times a difficult experience. Through personal research, including a visit to the Hoover Library in California, Fahrer was able to learn about the war from different perspectives and gain a broader understanding of its consequences.
Fahrer returned home to Germany and completed his Jugendarbeit (volunteer work experience) with Mennonite organizations in Berlin and Hamburg. But he felt the pull to move to North America, where he saw a better, more stable future and more opportunities for adventure and growth which were not present in Germany during that period. The United States was not the destination this time, however; the family had settled on Canada, which was calling for foreign labour, particularly in the farming and lumber industries.
In 1952, Fahrer, along with his parents and older sister, immigrated to Leamington, Ontario sponsored by the Canadian Christian Council for the Resettlement of Refugees (CCCRR) and the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC.) They worked on a Mennonite family’s farm, where Fahrer had a contract, but were unable to adapt to their employer’s much stricter observance of Mennonite values and the contract ended early. Fahrer, being the sole provider, took on odd jobs as a labourer and salesman to support his family. He later returned to university, received his teaching doctorate, and worked as a professor until his retirement.
This brief glimpse into a lifetime full of memories emphasizes just how detailed life story interviews can get. These interviews offer so much insight into the perspectives of each interviewee—how they view the world, how they render the past, and what they deem worth telling—and hold so much value in shaping the stories of the future. Fahrer’s story resonated with me because of his ability to convey truly difficult experiences in a matter-of-fact, sometimes even lighthearted way, and his conversational manner makes this interview a fascinating one to listen to and read.
Stay tuned for Wilhelm Fahrer’s interview, which will be available at the University of Winnipeg’s Oral History Centre in the near future. Want to learn more about Oral History in the meantime? Visit the Oral History Centre’s website here and check out www.whattheycanteachus.ca to read and listen to the stories of four German immigrant women who came to Canada in the 1950s.
While working on the final review of the Identity in Immigration collection, a series of Oral History interviews conducted by Dr. Alexander Freund, the Chair in German-Canadian Studies, I noticed two big milestones worth sharing.
On this day—September 28th—in 1993, Dr. Freund conducted an Oral History interview with Elisabeth “Lisa” Schwabe in Vancouver, B.C.
Elisabeth “Lisa” Schwabe at Lenkurt Electric (later Microtel, subsidiary of GTE), 1983
A little bit about Lisa: she was born in Kassel (West Germany) in 1923. She attended high school, one year of business school, one year at a women’s college and then contributed to the work service during the Third Reich. She trained as a technologist at Siemens in Berlin from 1941-1943 and worked in that field before immigrating to Vancouver in November 1951. She wasn’t able to work as a technologist there because it was seen as an ‘unfit position’ for a woman, so she had to go into domestic service in West Vancouver for five months. She then worked in low-paid factory jobs before getting married in September 1953. She stayed home for three years to attend to her sick child, born in 1954. Her husband died in 1957, just three years after their marriage, and by that time she had returned to the paid workforce and worked on the assembly line of an electronics factory. After her husband’s death, she was promoted to the role of technician.
Today is the 30th anniversary of Lisa’s interview, and despite the distance from the original context, many of the topics discussed within are still relevant today. She shares many details about her lived experiences, including state violence in the wake of the Second World War; gender-based discrimination in Canada which prevented her from working in her field of expertise; and what it meant to be German in the context of Canadian society.
Another milestone we’re commemorating happened earlier this year. On April 28th, Lisa Schwabe celebrated her 100th birthday. When her family reached out to us to mark this special day with her, we were so glad to be able to contribute to it with a bound copy of her interview transcript and a card signed by all GCS staff.
Elisabeth “Lisa” Schwabe with only great-grandson, Leo. “The Past and the Future look deep into each other’s eyes.” 2023. Photo provided by Monica Schwabe
Thank you, Lisa, for letting us celebrate you and tell your story!
Lisa’s interview, even 30 years on, is still a valuable resource for research on many different topics. That’s why we’ve featured her interview on What they Can Teach Us, our trilingual educative website. Listen to and read excerpts of Lisa’s interview here.
At GCS, we’ve been working to create our very own archive of German-Canadian personal documents that will be part of the larger University of Winnipeg Archives. It is a slow-moving, time-consuming process: once a collection is received, much of the work involves analyzing, describing, cataloguing, and safely storing each record. But thanks to the diligent efforts of former GCS staff Karen Brglez and Claudia Dueck, and a few finishing touches by me, our first collection is now available for in-person access!
The Günther Sickert Collection is a compilation of curated records showcasing Sickert’s and other community advocate’s activities within and contributions to the German-Canadian community between 1890 and 2012. They were donated in 2015 to the Chair in German-Canadian Studies at the University of Winnipeg by Sickert’s wife, Gerda. These records provide invaluable insights into the points of connection that helped German migrants navigate Canadian society while maintaining and celebrating their cultural heritage.
So, who was Günther Sickert?
Photo of Günther Sickert, German Society of Winnipeg, n.d.
Born Karl August Günther Sickert on May 16th, 1928 in Ober-Mittelebersbach, Saxony, Günther Sickert was the oldest of five children. Parents Dr. Rudolf and Elfriede Sickert (née Nicke) moved the family to Neschwitz, in the eastern part of Saxony, in 1932. Twenty years later, Sickert immigrated to Winnipeg, Canada, following the loosening of restrictions for German migrants declared in 1950. He sought ways to connect with German culture and language in his new home, joining the German-speaking congregation at St. Peter’s Evangelical Church and becoming a member of the German Society of Winnipeg in 1954.
(English): “The board of the German Society of Winnipeg 1957 From left to right seated: G. Sickert, M. Kuss, Frau H. Schattner, K. Schmidt, Frau G. Oelkers Jr., G. Windisch, G. Retzlaff; Standing: W. Hohenberg, H. Jaekl, H. Müller, H. Hikade; H. Pacher, M. Spenner, G. Vetter, A. Beckmann.”
Four years later, Sickert married Gerda (née Worgull), who had emigrated from Germany to share a life with him; they were together for 57 years. Sickert had a successful career as a personal and small-business accountant, beginning in 1962 and spanning over 50 years. He and Gerda ran this small business from their home, and through their success, were able to provide a good life for their family.
Over the years, Günther Sickert made meaningful contributions to the German community in Canada, particularly in Manitoba, serving in various positions at the German Society of Winnipeg, including two terms as president. He is known for helping to establish the Camp Neustadt campground at Lake Winnipeg and facilitating the work of core club groups: The German Society Choir, the Mardi Gras Group (Der Treue Huzar), the FC Germania soccer team, the German Society Brass Band, the German Society Theatre Group, and the St. Hubertus Jagd and Angel Verein (Game and Fish Association). He also co-founded Villa Heidelberg, an independent living facility for seniors, and lent key support to the Kildonan Park Witch’s Hut. For his efforts in promoting, funding, and advocating for the German community, he received the Citizenship Award from the City of Winnipeg, as well as the Bundesverdienstkreuz from the Federal Republic of Germany.
Handout describing Kildonan Park Witch’s Hut, n.d.
Sickert’s personal interests included stamp collecting and reading – favourite topics included history, geography, and other non-fiction, but also mystery novels. He liked hearing people’s stories and learning more about their background. In 2015, at the age of 87, Günther Sickert passed away at the Victoria General Hospital.
Hand-drawn map titled “Canadians of German Origin. Concentr. areas in the Prairie Provinces 1961, in proport. to the total population.” n.d.
Though Sickert is no longer alive, he leaves behind a legacy of culturally rich, carefully maintained records. His collection is spread across 18 boxes, many of these containing scrapbook pages of mainly original newspaper clippings detailing important events and news updates from both Canadian and German sources, such as the one below.
“Der Kanadische Pass” (translation: The Canadian Passport); scrapbooked newspaper clippings, 1958
The order of the collection remains largely unchanged from how it was received in 2015, save for some photographs and maps, which were moved to larger boxes to be stored flat for conservation purposes. By maintaining the original order, we hope to preserve the essence and intention behind the collection of these records. The full description of the Günther Sickert Collection along with a detailed finding aid can be found here.
We are excited for this collection to go live and encourage anyone interested in learning more about the history of German immigration in Canada and about Günther Sickert’s work with the German community in Manitoba to email archives@uwinnipeg.ca and set up an appointment to view the collection.
Do you have personal documents, such as diaries, letters, or photographs, that you would like to donate to the archive? If you would like to learn more about what kinds of documents you can donate, and how you can protect your personal data and rights, please contact Angela Carlson, Project Assistant in German-Canadian Studies, at 204.988.7683 or an.carlson@uwinnipeg.ca.
Sources
Günther Sickert Collection, University of Winnipeg Archives
Sofia Bach, the program assistant at GCS and Claudia Dueck, the project assistant at GCS until November 2022, have spent the last year carefully curating a digital collection of four oral history interviews with four German women who migrated to Canada in the early 1950s sourced from Dr. Freund’s Master’s research. With funds from the Inclusion and Diversity Grant from the Waterloo Centre of German Studies and German-Canadian Studies, they were able to cover the costs of the website, of two translators and one illustrator (who created beautiful GIFs of the four women as the one included here).
Alma beating a carpet, GIF by Alexe Normandin for What They Can Teach Us
This new resource is available in English, French and German and includes edited interview transcripts, full unedited audio recordings (in their original language) and short biographies of the four women. The aim of this digital collection is to encourage the use of Oral History accounts (both the recorded audio files and transcriptions) within multiple educational fields, including History, Translation Studies, and other areas of the Humanities. The website includes three lesson plans using passages from the interviews to teach about broader historical themes through the Historical Thinking methodology. Women’s roles and perspectives in history have traditionally been underrepresented. By creating this web-collection, GCS provides a resource for high school and university students, educators, and the interested general public, in Canada and abroad, to bridge the space between history as taught in the traditional course books and a history inclusive of migrant and working-class women’s experiences as reflected through the oral histories of German women in Canada.
A screenshot of the English language Homepage
We would like to thank the amazing team who has helped us bring this project to fruition: Dr. Alexander Freund for letting us use his archived interviews, allowing us to use our work-time for this project, and providing counsel throughout the process; Dr. James Skidmore and the members of the Waterloo Centre for German Studies for trusting us and offering us the Inclusion and Diversity Grant; The University of Winnipeg for granting us the Knowledge Mobilization Grant to share this project with the community; Amine Gundogdu for her great work translating the materials into German; Caroline Best for her assiduous and detail-oriented work as the English to French translator; Alexe Normandin for her beautiful GIF illustrations; Angela Carlson for her help with the administrative tasks and for her talent in dealing with communications; Dr. Kristin Lovrien-Meuwese for helping us come up with the title and her support throughout the process; and last but not least, the Oral History Centre for guiding us in the correct ways to use and share these interviews.
GCS launched the website on May 1st, 2023 and you can now explore this new resource on German-Canadians at this URL: www.whattheycanteachus.ca
Hello there! I’m Angela, the new project assistant in German-Canadian Studies at the University of Winnipeg. I joined GCS in February 2023 to put to use what I have learned in my studies while also helping other academics succeed in their learning.
I’m passionate about bridging the gaps between speakers of different languages, and broadening worldviews through a deeper understanding of cultural nuance. I put that passion into action, earning a BA in German Studies and Linguistics (2019) from the University of Winnipeg and then an MA with Distinction in Translation Studies (2022) from the University of Birmingham, UK.
During my studies, I started building experience in the language services industry and have worked: in a rural German school as an English language assistant; with the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a transcriber-proofreader and assistant editor; in Berlin as a language services intern with a small translation firm; and as a freelance language service provider. These experiences have not only furthered my knowledge of languages and cultures worldwide, but the time spent in Germany fueled my curiosity about ties to German culture within Canada, my home country.
As Project Assistant, I am excited to work in collaboration with the Oral History Centre to transcribe, catalogue and archive German-Canadian oral history interviews and documents, with the intent to make this research more accessible to students and the public.
“I was basically an anti-fascist and socialist minded. […] In a socialist state everybody would have some sort of social justice to be entitled to work and to make a living, no matter what. To get out of the debasing condition that we had in Canada [during the Great Depression]. […] That was the main theme, to look forward to something more humanitarian.”
Hans Ibing, interview with Art Grenke, 1980
Hans Ibing was a German-born political leftist who worked as a newspaper printer in Toronto from the 1940s to 1970s. A man with strong political convictions, Ibing spent much of his life fighting for his beliefs, particularly anti-fascism. This outlook led him to become an active participant in various German-Canadian community groups, join the Canadian Communist Party, and even volunteer to fight in the Spanish Civil War. Although Ibing has been largely forgotten in German-Canadian history and memory, his story is quite well documented—especially for someone who thought of himself as “just an average person.”
Over his lifetime, Ibing participated in three oral history interviews, two of which are available through Library and Archives Canada. In 2018, labour historian David Goutor (who is married to Ibing’s granddaughter) used these interviews in conjunction with stories he had been told around the dinner table, Ibing’s personal papers, and archived material to write a biography of Ibing.
Born in Mainz in 1908, Ibing was exposed early on to politics through his father, who held various elected offices as a member of the Social Democratic Party. Although Ibing was generally apolitical during his youth, he speculated that his father’s views on social issues likely influenced his own involvement in social movements later in life. It was also during his early years that Ibing developed a fundamental dislike for fascists and members of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, whom he described as bullies.s.
“I was anti-Hitler right from the start. I was anti-Hitler while I was still in Germany. As a young fellow I hated their arrogance, I hated their bullying, and I hated the fact that the worst elements were members of the [Nazi movement].”
Hans Ibing, interview with Art Grenke, 1980
In an attempt to distance himself from the emerging Nazi movement and to find better employment opportunities, Ibing immigrated to Canada in 1930. It was here that Ibing came into his own politically. Motivated by the inequalities and injustices that he observed during the Great Depression, Ibing joined a variety of workers’ organizations and ultimately the Communist Party of Canada in 1935. The next year, he volunteered to fight in the Spanish Civil War as a member of the International Brigades. In his interviews, Ibing acknowledged that his decision to go to Spain had been made partly through youthful optimism and naïvité, but this in no way detracted from his steadfast anti-fascist beliefs.
“The situation in Canada was so hopeless, and here there was something to do. At least you had the chance to fight for social justice or to establish something in Spain. The war was the Republic against fascism, and fascism was the great enemy.”
Hans Ibing, interview with Art Grenke, 1980
Although Ibing never regretted volunteering to fight in Spain, he returned to Canada disheartened after Franco’s victory over the Republic. He was particularly disappointed in the Western powers’ official policy of non-intervention, believing that the policy had doomed any chance of Republican success. He also never forgot the widespread misery and tragic loss of life that he had witnessed in Spain. Despite this, Ibing was fully prepared to enlist in the Canadian army when Canada declared war on Germany in 1939. When he approached the Air Force he was, however, turned away; Germans were not trusted to join the Allied war effort. Even labelled as an enemy alien, Ibing was still a strong advocate for anti-fascism. He was an active member of the German Canadian League, a group of Germans who spoke out against the Nazi movement and tried to drum up support for the Allied forces among German Canadians. After he married Sarah Kasow, a Jewish woman, in 1942, the pair also worked with advocacy groups to combat anti-semitism.
From the onset of World War II, Ibing increasingly took issue with the official Communist party line. Working at Canada’s main Communist print shop, Ibing was well integrated in Communist circles but found the Soviet Union’s reaction to European fascist aggression to be hypocritical and self-serving. Once the war ended, Ibing maintained his Communist Party membership but became increasingly non-doctrinaire. It wasn’t until 1953, after a trip to East Germany, that Ibing fully lost faith in the Communist cause and became politically inactive.
By the 1950s, Ibing had moved to the suburbs of Toronto with his wife and daughter. He stopped working for the Communist paper and instead found a job with the Globe and Mail and later, the Toronto Star. He retired at the age of 66 and went on to enjoy a long retirement where he kept in close contact with his daughter and grandchildren. Ibing died in 2009, shortly before his 101st birthday. Until his death, Ibing maintained his firm belief in socialist ideals.
Ibing’s memories were remarkably stable across the interviews he did despite taking place decades apart. He described his general life story consistently and seemed to relish the opportunity to tell anecdotes that were particularly amusing or exciting. For example, the humorous account of how Ibing was able to secure a stable job as a delivery driver, despite not knowing how to drive, shows up in at least two of his interviews and the biography by Goutor.
The one topic Ibing was more reluctant to look back on, since it always brought to mind memories of great suffering, was the Spanish Civil War. Ironically, this seemed to be the topic that interviewers were most interested in hearing him speak on. All three interviews he participated in spent a significant amount of time delving into his experiences in Spain. Through these accounts, it is clear that Ibing had very little interest in reminiscing on the history of military battles. Instead, he described the Civil War as a single point in the larger fight against fascism, focusing on the injustices that took place.
Ibing’s commitment to his principles and his willingness to fight for what he believed in were extraordinary. Whenever possible, Ibing’s decisions were shaped by his desire to help make the world a better place and extend the fight for social justice. In his old age, Ibing still stood by the principles that had made him volunteer for the International Brigades in 1936. He didn’t have any regrets.
“I’m not sorry for anything I did or belonged to. I think I always did it in good faith. I always thought I was doing the right thing and never did anything that I didn’t think was the right thing to do.”
Hans Ibing, interview with Art Grenke, 1980
Pictured: Hans Ibing, picture provided to GCS by his daughter, Irma Orchard.
Interviews and Books:
Goutor, David. A Chance to Fight Hitler: A Canadian Volunteer in the Spanish Civil War.” Toronto: Between the Lines, 2018.
When I was hired to process oral history interviews last fall, I had no idea I would have to become a detective doing online sleuthing in Vancouver, Los Angeles, and Hamburg.
On Monday, January 24th, 2022, I set out to track down Marianne Berg. Earlier, in the fall, I had been hired by Alexander Freund to process all of the oral history interviews he had conducted with German Canadians over the past three decades. This process begun in the hopes to donate the interviews to the University of Winnipeg Oral History Centre archive so that other researchers could also use them. Back then, Dr. Freund had used pseudonyms for the narrators, but donating them to the university archives required getting their permission to use their real names. And that is why I tried to find Ms. Berg, who was the first person Dr. Freund had interviewed, back in March of 1993.
The field notes that were in her file were scarce — typically the files of other interviewees included a lengthy questionnaire including important dates, names, and places such as the ship they took from Hamburg to Halifax or from Bremerhaven to Montreal in the 1950s. In Marianne Berg’s case I had no such form, only a few handwritten notes outlining what was covered in the interview, prefaced by her birthday, where she was born and an overview of her family including occupations, but no names.
The information in the files, however, is thirty years old. The first group of interviewees I was tracking down were fourteen women who had immigrated to Vancouver in the 1950s. Dr. Freund had interviewed them in 1993 for his Master’s thesis at Simon Fraser University. There is, however, no current information, no addresses or telephone numbers. In 1993, of course, there were no social media. Few people even had an email address or any other kind of online presence. Most of the participants, as I would find out, never made one later on in life.
My first strategy during this process, though it may feel morbid, is to look for an obituary. From the field notes I knew Marianne Berg must be 86 years old and it was important to rule out death. So far, for eight of the fourteen participants that has sadly been the case. I searched “Marianne Berg BC Obituary” yielding no results.
“Great!”, I thought, “she might be alive.”
Next, I consulted the BC White Pages. Most everyone who was interviewed, whether deceased or not, is listed here. I typed in her name, “Marianne Berg” — and again there were no results. So, this was a tricky one.
I looked in the field notes and found no names of her children and no name of her husband. I knew from her interview, which I had listened to several times and transcribed, that she had worked in a photo lab called Modifee Mantra, but there was no information about it online.
In the interview, Marianne Berg spoke about working for her brother on Vancouver Island for nine months before moving to Vancouver and striking out on her own. So, I looked for a piano tuner with the last name Berg. Nothing came up. I found the BC Piano Technicians Guild and found no mention of a “Berg”. I emailed a Piano Tuner, Jim Anderson, in Victoria and asked if he had ever come across a piano tuner with the name “Berg”.
In the meantime, I knew she was married to a famous German artist back in Hamburg before she came to Canada, named Horst Janssen, so I looked him up—he has a lengthy Wikipedia page. It says, “In 1955, he married Marie Knauer and in 1956, had a second child, a daughter, Katrin (nicknamed Lamme).”
“Huh,” I thought, “that’s not Marianne Berg.” I wondered, “was her name Marie for short? Maybe they weren’t truly married—but the timing would be right.”
Then I recalled: while I was transcribing her interview, I could not make out the name of her daughter. It did not sound like any name I had ever heard. So, I pulled up the audio, found the transcript and listened for the unusual name again: “Lamme”—it was clear as day. Marianne Berg was Marie Knauer!
I felt a little silly. Berg was not her maiden name but her last name after she married her second husband. I didn’t have a maiden name on file, but here, thanks to Wikipedia, I had it. So, of course, the piano tuner would have been a Knauer.
I emailed the Piano technician Jim Anderson in Victoria again and he responded with no knowledge of Knauer or Berg piano tuners—small wonder since Berg was never actually a contender.
I did my own search for a piano tuner named Knauer and was directed to Knauer Pianos in Los Angeles, California. The owner, Ben Knauer, a second-generation piano technician with ties to Hamburg, Germany (booyah!), was likely her nephew. I wrote him an email.
With no immediate response, I stumbled back to the White Pages, realizing I hadn’t checked the new name. “Marie Berg” yielded one result. A number and an address in North Vancouver. I called.
Now, I didn’t let my hopes get up too high. I’ve called many of these numbers throughout my journey trying to track down fourteen interviewees between the ages of 80 and 95 over the past three months. Eight participants are deceased, of the others only one has been confirmed to still be living though she is in a care home, suffering from dementia and unable to speak with me. Most often there is no answer. Many numbers of those deceased are still listed. Often, they are another person with the same name.
It was January 24th, at around 3:30 in the afternoon, 3 months and 3 days after I had begun my search for “Marianne Berg” aka Marie Berg. The phone rang…
“Hello?”
“Hi there, is this Marie Berg?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Claudia Dueck, I’m a research assistant at the University of Winnipeg in German-Canadian Studies and I am calling to ask whether you participated in a research study with Alexander Freund in 1993.”
“No, no, you have the wrong person.”
My heart sank, but I heard her voice and wondered aloud, “Hmm, but did you come to Canada from Germany in the 1950s or 60s?”
“Yeah, that’s when I came.”
Forgetting that not all the participants worked in domestic service I asked, “Did you work as a domestic servant?”
“No, I worked with my brother who had a piano tuning business on Vancouver Island and then I worked in a Photo Lab in Vancouver.”
So, it was her!
I shuddered at the realization that I had almost hung up. I was very excited and told her somewhat eerily, “I’ve been thinking about you and your life story and looking for you for three months, and here you are, alive and well. I am so happy.”
She had no recollection of the interview, but launched right into parts of her story. We talked for a half hour and she spoke with the same phrasing and intonation that I recognized from the interview. I couldn’t believe I had just called her up and she was living her life in “North Van” all this time.
I asked for the copyright permission and she said, “Why would you want my story? Everything is so different now.” I explained to her that that is precisely why we want to keep and publish her story. She may feel that her life was insignificant, but I have found it to be very valuable as I have studied immigrant experiences. It is precisely the seemingly insignificant lives that give us a glimpse into what regular life was like, and how much things have changed.
Tracking down research participants leads you down windy, twisted paths speaking to piano technicians and looking up German artists. It takes time and persistence, and you need to learn where to look, but it is ever so exhilarating when that voice comes on the line and simply says, “Hello.”
German-Canadian Studies 