Ich Liebe Dich
Oral History
I chose to interview both my Oma and my mom. My Oma lived in Germany for her entire childhood, and my mom lived in Germany for a while when her dad was stationed there with the army. I interviewed both my mom and great grandmother over Easter weekend, April 20, 2019.
My Oma’s interview is pretty short; it was hard getting her to talk. I am not sure if she just wasn’t sure what to say or if she was hesitant about talking about her childhood in Nazi-era Germany. Though her interview is short, her perspective offers a new point of view from someone who lived during World War 2. Things that she has experienced are the kind of things we hear in history class, but all of that stuff seems so long ago and far from us; learning her story seemed to bring the history closer.
In the interviews, the things I said will be in bold, and the person I am interviewing will be normal.
“Okay, most of the questions are about your childhood in Germany.
Oma: Well, my childhood wasn’t that good. I was a young girl during the War, so we didn’t have much to eat, but we made it through it.
Where were you born?
Pirmasens! That’s close to the French border.
What was your childhood like before the War? And after?
Well, like I said, before the War, it wasn’t that great. You know, we didn’t have much to eat, and a lot of people got killed, but after the War, we were doing better because the Americans came over and helped us rebuild what had been bombed. We got a little bit more to eat. Needless to say, I married an American.”
When and how did you meet my mom’s opa?
In a restaurant. I was working in the restaurant, and he came in, and that’s how I met him.
How old were you?
Twenty. Almost twenty.
When did you leave Germany?
1956.
Were you worried at all about leaving Germany? Did you have any doubts?
No, not really.
Did you ever think about moving back?
Yes, many times.
Has growing up in Germany during World War 2 affected you at all?
No, not it didn’t.
What do you miss most about Germany?
The good food! And family.
What made you choose to live in Augusta? Or Georgia, in general?
Opa was stationed here in the military, and we decided that we were gonna make it our home once he retired.
Alright. Is there anything else you want to talk about? Any stories from your childhood?
Well, we had a big family, and we got along with each other. Once the war was over, it was nicer for us. I grew up like a normal child.
Okay, thank you. Those are all the questions I have.”
I also decided to interview my mom, Amanda Byrd, to see if she had anything else to add about living in Germany, and to hear some of her memories about Oma. Prior to this project, I had a small amount of knowledge about my family’s history, more specifically, my Oma’s life in Germany; however, I wrongly believed that I knew most of what there was to learn. In these interviews I heard stories and perspectives that I had no idea about. This further encouraged me to learn as much new information as I could.
“How are you?
Mom: I’m great, how are you?
Pretty good.
Okay, when and where did you live in Germany?
I lived in Germany from 1989 to 1992 in Aßlar (Asslar). It was the town we lived in, which was an hour from the military base, which I can’t remember the name of, but it started with an “h” and closed down. And, we had to live there because the military housing was full. So, we had to live in German housing. The only Americans were in the building we lived in, but the rest of the town was all German. We had to drive an hour to the military base for all the things we had to do and for school.
What was your childhood like? Not just in Germany, but in general?
It was like any other childhood. It wasn’t bad; i’m sure I thought it was bad then. It was fine.
Opa was in the army?
Yes
So, you guys traveled a lot?
Well, yes, we traveled to the army bases a lot, but we didn’t travel a lot. We moved a lot.
That’s what I meant.
Opa was born in Texas, but he lived in Germany through kindergarten, and he spoke German through kindergarten. Nana was born in Germany and lived there through graduation in high school and then moved to the United States.
I didn’t know that Nana lived there that long.
Yes, I think she might have moved to the United States for a very brief time in the middle, but she graduated in Germany.
Where did she meet Opa?
They met in Augusta at Burger King, where they both worked when they were teenagers.
Why did she move back to [the United States] after high school?
My grandfather was in the army, and he met my grandmother over there, and was stationed over there primarily, but was stationed in the United States for brief periods of time.
What are some memories you have with Oma?
I have a lot. I remember every time we’d go to her house we would get schnitzel, and potato dumplings, and potato pancakes. And every year she would go to Germany and bring us back lots of German chocolate and Kinder eggs, and she’d bring back German beer for all the guys. And lots of little German gifts and trinkets that we still have.
And we liked to harass her and ask her questions. Like, we were told that she shook Hitler’s hand, so we used to ask her about it, and she said that she did, but it wasn’t because she wanted to go up and shake Hitler’s hand. She didn’t have a choice back then; if you didn’t shake his hand you would die, so she shook his hand because that’s what you had to do.
I have heard that story, too. I put it in this project.
What are some stories has Oma told you about her childhood? Other than shaking Hitler’s hand.
She said that they didn’t have a lot of food. She said that she remembers when she was a little girl, her and her brothers and sisters were on their porch and their were bombs going off all around them and in the air and on all the other houses around them. I wonder, though, how their house stood and did not get bombed. I mean, obviously we are thankful.
Her brother was made to join the military, I think. She had a lot of brothers and sisters, but there are only two left.
Anything else?
Not that I can think of.
I know when we lived in Germany, we used to say German words to the bus driver. The only German words we knew. Schnell, to make him go faster on the Autobahn. And we would ask for ice cream, and he would stop and get us ice cream.
We would walk everywhere, which is different than here. And you would go to the store everyday to get fresh baked bread, and stuff like that.
Who was this? That you said the German words to?
Me and Melissa had to ride the bus, but it wasn’t a bus, it was a van, because we went to the military school. It was so small, there were like fifty students in there. But because we lived an hour away, they still had to provide transportation, so they would drive us in this van, home. The bus driver liked us, and we would say “schnell!” and he’d go faster, or we’d say “ice cream” and he would go buy us ice cream.
I remember going to visit Opa’s family, like Tanta Frita. We would stay at her house, that’s Oma’s sister. One of Opa’s cousins owned a restaurant; it was in Pirmasens, that’s the name of the town. It would be freezing in the house and we’d have to have hot water bottles under the blankets to keep us warm because they didn’t have heaters.
They ate, like, six times a day! You’d wake up and have a breakfast, you’d have a brunch in between, with bread and coffee. Everything was with coffee. My parents used to tell us that we weren’t allowed to say we wanted pizza because everybody got a large pizza, their own individual pizza. And, they got so mad if you didn’t finish your food. We would go to the restaurant that my dad’s cousin owned, and you’d get schnitzel with gravy, and it was massive amounts of food. You had to eat everything that was on your plate.
Some of our German cousins that spoke English used to come stay with us, and go to the pool. We called him Goofy; his name was Norman.
What did you call him?
Goofy; I don’t know why.
All the teenagers smoked there; it was legal for some reason. They had this basement room that they played games in and smoked.
Teenagers could drink beer at a certain age, but they also had this stuff called Kinder beer that Melissa used to drink. To me, it tasted awful, but I think she only drank it because of the idea of “I’m drinking beer,” even though it was non-alcoholic. It was disgusting, but she ordered it everywhere we went.
We went to a couple castles; we have pictures from visiting castles.
And it snowed there in Winter.
That’s all I remember.
How have German traditions and culture been incorporated in your life? As a kid and now?
Well, we grew up eating that a lot. Everything we ate was German. Back then, it was very bland; my mom did not use any seasoning.
Oma said the thing she missed most about Germany was the food.
Well, Oma is better at cooking it! Some people don’t cook as good as others.
Don’t ever put that in your report though because Mom would kill me.
Okay!
I just remember all the food. Like sauerkraut! I love sauerkraut, but that’s because we ate it all the time. You don’t like it because you didn’t eat it.
I like other German foods.
I made rouladen once. I love to try to make different German foods for different German holidays. Like, my mom’s birthday.
My mom used to always do St. Nikolaus Day, where you would put your shoes out and you’d get switches if you were bad and candy if you were good, so you would know what to expect for Christmas, I guess. We always got both. Switches and candy.
Anything else?
No, unless there is something you want to add.
I can’t think of anything.
Okay, thank you!”
I am glad I got to hear the perspectives of both my Oma and my mother; they definitely gave me insight into, not only my family’s history, but the history of World War 2, as well. If I were to pass this knowledge on, I would probably tell the same stories they told me because of how intense and impactful they are, such as the stories from my Oma’s childhood in Germany. Though I found it challenging to get answers from Oma, I believe the more I talk to her about this specific subject may lead me to learn more even after this project.
Deines Family Timeline
1934- Dec 17, Gerda Gampfer (Oma) born in Erlenbrunn, Pirmasens, West Germany
1939–1945- WW2
1955- Dec 31, Gerda married Marvin Dean Deines in Pirmasens, Germany
1956- Dec 29, Gerda arrives in New York from Germany (source: Petition for Naturalization- 13 Jan 1959)
1963- Apr 9, Son, Michael (Opa), born in El Paso, Texas
1981- Oct 31, Michael Deines marries Cindy Walker (Nana)
1983- June 2, Amanda (my mom) born
2000- Nov 25, I was born in Hinesville, Georgia
