Chapter 1: Friedrich and Gertrude

Friedrich Harz and Gertrude Schrader met on a train heading to Berlin in 1924. Gertrude gazed out of the dining car window, smoking a cigarette with a black holder between her fingers. Her half-eaten apple strudel lay in front of her next to a glass of brandy. Friedrich spotted her from across the train car as he ate his beef and boiled potatoes. He asked his sister to draw a picture of her to start a conversation with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. He presented the drawing to her, and as she turned her head, he said:

“My sister Heidi thinks you are the most beautiful woman she has ever seen in this world. She wants you to have this.”

“Oh, SHE does? Then thank sister Heidi for me.” she replied. “She is welcome to sit at my table. I will pay for her dessert. Does she like chocolate cake?"

“Yes, she does. I will bring her over.” Friedrich replied.

He returned to their table and brought his sister Heidi over to her. Gertrude ordered chocolate cake, and the waiter brought her another drink. Friedrich ordered a Black Forest cake and a pint of lager. Friedrich introduced themselves and sat down. Then, Heidi began to speak.

“Pleased to meet you, Fräulein.”

Gertrude raised her eyebrows as she noticed Heidi’s slower speech and hearing aid: a box and headphones like a telephone operator.

“You are deaf, Fräulein?” she inquired.

“Yes, she caught mumps as a child and lost much of her hearing. We learned sign language from a book, and I taught her everything I learned at school since she could not attend. We could not afford to send her to a deaf school. She had a passion for art, and one of her paintings was hung in the train depot. An art dealer saw it as he passed through and bought several of her pictures to take to Berlin. We used the money to purchase the new hearing aid, and we are traveling to Berlin for her first art show at the Schumacher Art Gallery. Are you heading to Berlin, Fräulein?” he said.

“I am, Herr Harz. I am the headliner with an acting troupe performing at the Hotel Adlon. I will take some time off to view your art show.” Gertrude said.

“Thank you, Fräulein Scrader. We appreciate it. I think we can make time to come to your performance at the hotel. We do not see much entertainment at home.” he replied.

“Where are you from?” she asked.

“The Harz Mountains, a dairy farm near a small town called Drubeck. My father used his pay as a Great War soldier to buy land and build a dairy. Our Harzer cheese and butter are sold all the way in Berlin. Where are you from?” he replied.

“From Munich. I grew up on a farm outside of Munich until my parents died in a car accident. The car went into a ditch and flipped over. We lived with our grandparents on their farm until my grandmother died. My grandfather could not care for all four of us, so we were separated among our aunts and uncles. I went to live with my uncle in Munich. He is an attorney. He paid for piano and ballet lessons when I wanted to be an actress. I joined this acting troupe in Munich when I turned fifteen, and they travel all over Europe, even to England and France.” she explained.

“Impressive. This is our first journey outside the Harz Mountains. I work in the copper mines that pay much more than my father’s dairy workers, so I do not get outside much. A holiday for us is going to an Ilsenburg cabaret show or cinema.” he reacted.

“That is a shame. I will rent a car when we reach Berlin and show you the city. I will give you a great adventure, if you do not mind.” she offered.

“That will be wonderful, Fräulein Schrader.” he replied.

They talked while enjoying their dessert cake. Gertrude was nineteen. Friedrich was twenty-two while Heidi was twenty. Friedrich and Heidi were children during the Great War when their father left to fight the British and French, then the Americans. It was sad when the Americans came in because they had relatives in a place called Iowa. His grandfather’s brother Heinrich went to America as a young man in 1852. He arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana. He heard Germans were going up the Mississippi River into the Midwestern states. He took a steamship to Davenport, Iowa, to find work on farms. Then war broke out when the Southern states seceded, and he joined the Federal army. He was wounded in Little Rock, Arkansas, and returned to get married once he had enough money to buy land outside a town called Lacona, Iowa. His wife was from Hanover and arrived in America as a child. He wrote letters home until he died two years ago. He changed his last name to Hartz so it would be pronounced the same way by the English-speakers in America. Friedrich had an elder brother and sister. His mother took the family from their townhouse she could no longer afford to maintain, since her husband no longer worked in the copper mines. Her father farmed pine resin to make turpentine. His elder brother and sister caught the measles at school and died in the hospital. His sister caught the mumps and lost much of her hearing. Friedrich caught the mumps too, but did not grow deaf. Then his mother died of typhoid.

Once his father returned after the peace treaty was signed, only he and his sister Heidi were left living with his grandfather, who died last year. His father used his soldier's pension to buy land and cattle to start a dairy farm. His father remarried, and he gained a stepbrother and stepsister. His stepsister married a Great War veteran who was a pilot and moved to Frankfurt. His stepbrother helped run the dairy to deliver cheese, cream, and butter to neighboring towns. A fellow veteran of his father’s moved to Berlin to open a grocery store to sell his cheese and butter there too. They sent shipments on the trains in refrigerated train cars. Sadly, his stepmother died when a scratch from a nail got infected. The doctor called it tetanus. His stepbrother got married and built a new house by the barn for his family. Heidi cares for their father and maintains the house. Heidi had made him a new suit on her sewing machine for the art show. Gertrude asked Friedrich to walk her to the sleeping car to rest before they arrived in Berlin. He confessed they needed to rest also. They walked to the sleeping car and settled into their berths. As Friedrich and Gertrude stood in front of her sleeping berth, she asked:

“Would you like to rest in my berth with me?”

Friedrich’s eyes widened.

“I am sorry; I must return to my own berth. Good night, Fräulein Schrader.” to kiss her hand.

“You have been hurt,” Gertrude reacted.

“Yes, Fräulein. I enjoyed the affection of a young lady at a school dance, whom I later saw kissing another young man shortly after. My father said to avoid fast women, or I will regret it.” Friedrich explained.

“I am not accustomed to being around polite gentlemen in my line of work. I appreciate your honesty. Good night, Herr Harz.” finished Gertrude.

They rested in the berths for a few hours before the train reached Berlin around midnight. The art dealer picked up Herr and Fräulein Harz in his car, and Friedrich gave the name of the boarding house they were staying at to Gertrude. Gertrude promised to pick them up in a rental car after her rehearsals in the afternoon. Friedrich and Heidi enjoyed a good night’s sleep before adventuring to the art gallery to see her work displayed. The art dealer was asking for high prices and was pleased that she drew more pictures on the train. They returned to the boarding house, and Fräulein Schrader arrived in a 1921 AGA Phaeton around two o’clock. She drove them around the majestic buildings. They visited the Berlin Zoo and then the art gallery for the art show. Gertrude brought one of her stage gowns to wear and a few friends to the art showing. Heidi was praised for her portraits and mountain scenes by the guests. Gertrude stopped at a painting of a house on a mountainside with cows grazing in the background to ask if this was their home.

“It is. My father built that house with my grandfathers and uncles. It has four bedrooms upstairs. My stepbrother Johannes lives in a separate house by the barn. My bedroom is right at that window.” replied Friedrich, pointing to a section of the painting.

“It is lovely. Reminds me of my childhood home.” she replied.

The art show was a success, and they received their share of the earnings. Gertrude purchased the picture of their home for twenty dollars. She took them to the Hotel Aldon next to see her acting troupe’s performances. The cabaret show had her singing, dancing, and acting in skits. Friedrich and Heidi applauded graciously from a table next to the stage reserved for them. After the show, Gertrude guided them backstage into her dressing room. Friedrich was uncomfortable as Gertrude stepped behind a screen to change her clothes and remove her makeup with cold cream. They met her assistant named Adina, who was a Danish Jew. Her parents died when she was young, and her grandparents got her a job as a maid at a Copenhagen hotel. The troupe’s main headliner got a movie role and left the troupe. They asked the front desk if anyone could alter the costumes for the new headliner. Adina came to the backstage area of the café stage to meet the manager and newly promoted headliner. She pinned the alterations to the costumes and took them to the laundry room, where they had a sewing machine to repair sheets and towels. Returning the altered costumes, the manager was impressed with her work. The manager offered her a job as a seamstress to travel with them. Once while in London, Gertrude was offered an American Broadway part in New York City. She spent six months in New York City doing Broadway shows and silent films for Astoria Studios. Then she was offered a six-month-long contract at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. She even sang on the radio there. She brought Adina to work as her personal assistant. Then she returned to Munich when her grandfather became ill and died. Once her contract was fulfilled, she stayed with her uncle until she rejoined the acting troupe again. This time as the headliner. After Berlin, they were scheduled to go to London and Paris before taking a break for the manager to create new acts in Munich. She invited him to her hotel room for drinks, and Friedrich rejected the offer, explaining they must return to the boarding house since it was getting late.

“We could get together for a matinee at the theater tomorrow if you like,” Friedrich offered.

“I would like that,” Gertrude answered.

She returned her guests to their boarding house and spent the night alone in her hotel room. After morning rehearsals, she picked them up again to drive all over Berlin to take them to the Berlin Botanical Gardens and Museum to enjoy the autumn flowers, Charlottenburg Palace, and a cinema where they watched the new American film “Phantom of the Opera”. They stopped by the grocery store that sells Harz Dairy cheese and butter. The shopkeeper was delighted to meet his war buddy’s children. He asked if their father mentioned how he saved their father’s life in the trenches when the machine gun ran out of ammunition. He ran to the other machine gun to get more ammo and ran back while their father tossed grenades and fired his rifle until he returned. He returned to find their father was injured by a mortar shell. Another soldier reloaded the machine gun while he took their father to safety. Friedrich assured the war buddy that his father mentioned saving his life, but not how. Friedrich was enchanted by Gertrude and traveled around Berlin for a week before their train tickets demanded they return home. Gertrude was leaving for the coast to take a ship to London. She gave them a copy of their schedule and a list of hotels they held reservations at. She sent postcards of her journey to them over the winter in England. Friedrich called her hotel from the grocery store in Drubeck that had a telephone. In the spring of 1925, she arrived in Paris to finish the season with the acting troupe before their month-long break. She took a job as a cabaret singer at a hotel in Paris when the season ended. Friedrich called her hotel from the grocery store. She invited him to come visit her in Paris. He had told her that he played the violin and could be part of her act. He arrived on the morning train. She greeted him with a kiss and invited him to stay in her hotel room. He declined.

“I must stay in my own hotel room, dear Gertrude. Sleeping with you would be most improper.”

“I never met a man like you before. You are a true gentleman, and I respect you for it.” she replied.

Gertrude took Friedrich all over Paris and even on a day trip to the Palace of Versailles. He played the violin while she sang in front of audiences to receive modest applause. Adina was there as a personal assistant, and he welcomed her to dine with them. While standing on the Eiffel Tower, Friedrich proposed with a ring that belonged to his mother. He had been in Paris for a week, and he believed he had met the lady of his dreams. He refused to be awakened from this dream. Gertrude gladly accepted the proposal. She went wedding dress shopping with Adina in Paris to purchase a flapper-style white gown and veil with a floral headpiece. Friedrich wore his Sunday suit as a priest married them in a private ceremony. A photographer took their portrait. Gertrude bid farewell to Adina, who returned to Denmark. They took the train to Munich to introduce Friedrich to Gertrude’s uncle and aunt, who gave them a trunk of ceramic dishes. They next took a train to Ilsenburg, and his family picked them up in the new automobile Heidi paid for. She also purchased a new radio. They held a reception in a cabaret and ate the wedding cake Heidi baked. They stayed in his father’s house until he could obtain a house in Drubeck and prepared to become a father while working in the copper mines. Gertrude insisted they have a telephone, indoor plumbing, and electricity installed in the farmhouse. Nearly half of Germans and nearly everyone in the cities have these modern conveniences. So, the family got busy having the updates in the farmhouse, the stepbrother’s house, and the dairy manager’s house along the road at the bottom of the hill. Gertrude called her family from their new Siemens & Halske ZBSA 19 telephone.

Friedrich brought her to the town Lutheran church, and everyone was eager to meet “The Actress”. She offered piano lessons in their home to the local children and volunteered to teach Sunday School. In February 1926, she gave birth to their first son named Heinrich. He was baptized into the church, and Friedrich’s stepbrother and sister were named as sponsors. In the spring, the couple moved into a house in town with modern electric and plumbing conveniences. Gertrude was excited to turn on the kitchen sink and relax in the modern bathtub flushed against the wall. She loved her wood-burning kitchen stove with two ovens. Friedrich got busy purchasing furniture, a telephone, a piano, a sewing machine, a hand-cranked washing machine, and a radio. Gertrude got busy painting and wallpapering the rooms, sewing curtains, pillows, and linens, then stocking the pantry. Every morning the cellar furnace had to be filled with coal or wood to heat the house. The pipes also needed cleaning with a long pole to keep the fire from going out from coal clinker buildup. The church members gave them many useful wedding presents they appreciated as they set up their home. The Drubeck newspaper was printed once a week with local and national news. The cinema at the old opera house played newsreels to keep up with world events. Gertrude invited the family to Sunday dinner and used her uncle and aunt’s dishes they gave her as a wedding gift.

The newly elected president, Paul von Hindenburg, and newly appointed Chancellor Hans Luther gave hope for the future, as these current prosperous days would continue after the hyperinflation crisis of 1923 was resolved and the economy stabilized with a new currency backed by the country’s gold reserves. Repaying the Great War Reparations deeply hurt Germany’s economy. Jazz music from America was played at tea dances. The Charleston, waltzes, and Argentine tango were danced by couples. Every town had a cabaret offering political satire and dark humor. Some nightclubs' cabarets featured more burlesque dancing than musical skits that other cabarets performed. Cinemas showed movies from America and Berlin. German ladies were quick to absorb American flapper looks with shorter dresses, cosmetics, plucked eyebrows in an arch, cloche hats, driving automobiles, bobbed hair, and smoking like men. Women who did athletic pursuits like golf, tennis, skiing, bicycling, hunting, and basketball wore knickers like men. They bought a new Victrola phonograph to play jazz records of Bessie Smith and Louie Armstrong that were popular. The modern art scene favored the likes of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Edvard Munch. Heidi Harz's paintings were popular and brought income to the family. She did much of the bookkeeping for the dairy farm and spent many hours wandering the countryside or towns to capture the beautiful mountains and river valleys.

Gertrude made a happy home for her husband and baby boy in their small three-bedroom townhouse. She continued piano lessons, helped with the church Nativity plays, joined community plays, and made many friends who invited her to parties and dinners. She was quite a social butterfly, and everyone wanted to hear her stories about performing in Europe and America. Friedrich played the violin as she played the piano in the evenings until they bought a phonograph and Victrola records. They also enjoyed the radio programs of news, music, and radio shows being read in the evenings. The next large purchase was an automobile with a rumble seat. Friedrich’s father had a delivery truck, a German tractor with implements for the wheat and rye fields, and a small automobile with a rumble seat. He kept his horses, wagons, and carriage to save on gasoline. Friedrich’s stepbrother had bicycles for his children to ride to school in pleasant weather. A natural country girl, they got a riding horse for Gertrude to ride around town and out in the countryside hills and valleys. She made new knickers and a jacket to ride her horse in. They kept the horse at the farm stables. Friedrich would take Gertrude out in the horse-drawn carriage on Sundays. Gertrude used her piano lessons money to buy chickens for their backyard coop. Gertrude purchased cinema posters to hang in the living room. She had a fondness for Clara Bow, Greta Garbo, and Gloria Swanson. She had posters from her acting days displayed as well. Friedrich worked in the copper mines and played the violin with Gertrude singing at the cabaret for additional income, earning enough money to take a holiday to Munich and visit her uncle and aunt. Her uncle often took holidays to Lake Constance in Switzerland during the winter to stay in a ski resort. He invited the family to join them in Switzerland when they arrived before Christmas. Heinrich was learning to walk. Friedrich enjoyed skiing in the Swiss Alps, and Gertrude enjoyed ice skating to show her spinning skills to her husband.

They made it home to celebrate the New Year 1929 at the town’s cabaret. By the end of the year, the American stock market crashed, casting a ripple effect across the world that traded with them. American investors pulled their money out of German industry, and businesses closed. Loans defaulted. Soon after, banks closed, destroying their depositors’ life savings. Unemployment rose in the cities. A year later, mines across the country closed. Friedrich lost his job and lost their home in town to foreclosure. Forced to move to his father’s farm to help with the dairy, his father offered the small cottage with four bedrooms along the road the dairy manager used to live in before his stepbrother took over as manager, and Friedrich took over driving the delivery truck. The old manager found another job managing milk bottle deliveries in Ilsenburg. When they were low on funds for gas or to fix the delivery truck, they used horses and a delivery wagon like in the old days. Grandfather Harz was happy he kept them to save money on gasoline. The only petrol stations to get gas were in town, so they kept gas in cans set in the converted carriage house. Gertrude gave birth to a girl named Greta in 1930 and quickly made her new house into a comfortable home for her family. She sewed new curtains and flour sack towels with her sewing machine. They soon discovered that many miners had moved their families into the empty mines, sleeping in carts that once brought rocks to the surface, to search for food every day, even eating cats, dogs, rabbits, and rats to survive. They had no place or family to go to for shelter. Foreign trade collapsed with retaliatory tariffs. Gertrude planted her vegetable and herb gardens to feed them through the winter, then spent hours canning in the summer kitchen. She was a strong woman and shot rabbits in her gardens to feed her family. Friedrich would go out to fish in the river or hunt birds. Once, he shot a stag in the woods and was happy to have deer-skin boots. They asked Heidi to babysit the children so they could perform at cabarets around the mountain villages for additional income. Sometimes, Friedrich would play his violin at the train station or street corners near businesses to earn coins to feed his family. They prayed for a hero to save them.