Family Language — Preserve It or Let It Go?

The Ertner family speaks two languages — German and Czech. This is a story of war, loss, identity, and the attempt to build bridges between the Czech Republic and Germany, between past and future.

When I think about our family language today, I think of more than just words. I think of destinies, of war, of loss — but also of survival. My family language on my father’s side is German; on my mother’s side, Czech. German — spoken in the Giant Mountains (Krkonoše), at the heart of the geographical Sudetenland. A language that was once completely natural — and then suddenly became a heavy burden.

Married as a minor, soon widowed

My great-great-grandparents, Wilhelm Ertner and Rosa Lerch, were ordinary people. He was a factory worker, she the daughter of a day laborer. In 1909, they wanted to marry. But Rosa was still underage — just 17 years old. I have the document signed by her father, Anton Lerch, granting his consent to the marriage. It’s moving to read: “my daughter Rosa Lerch, born March 30, 1892…” — engaged at seventeen, married at nineteen.