Women's Portraits

Marianne Herrmann

Pseudonym: Marianne Herrmann

Interviewed by Barbara Heinze on May 27, 2011 in her apartment in Neunkirchen (Saar)

Family Life and Childhood

Marianne was born on April 20, 1927 in Saarland. She is the eldest of five daughters. Her father was a worker at the Neunkircher Iron Works run by the company Stumm. During the Second World War, the family did not have to go hungry; behind their house they had a large garden, like most of the miners in Saarland. When she finished school at the age of 14, Marianne, who always had showed interest in sewing, began an apprenticeship as a seamstress. An aunt once asked the curious child, “Do you know what you could do?” (Audio 1) “Then”, she said, “I was allowed to thread a needle and later stitch rows”. She finished her three year apprenticeship in 1945, but was called into the compulsory labor service in the last few months of the war. Her father could just barely prevent her from being assigned to duty at the iron works. She would have had to work the company railroad track switches and then catch up and jump on the passing trains. To this day, she is haunted by the memory of her narrow escape to safety during a heavy bombing raid at the train station, having to make her way through wreckage strewn with the bodies of the injured and dead to finally reach the safety of her home.

After the war, relatives gave the young woman sewing work – which was paid in kind - to help feed her family. For example, she received “a half centner of potatoes for 14 days work.” For this she was quite willing to walk for hours to work (Audio 2). Sometimes, if more elaborate sewing was needed, she would be away for two weeks. One such excursion that took her to the Pfalz remains an unpleasant memory; a wine-grower’s wife wanted to pair her son off with the young and hardworking girl. The farmer’s wife said she would give her “a centner of potatoes for a wedding gown.” At that moment Marianne realized that they wanted to hook her up with the boy (Audio 3). To avoid this, she simply stole off back to Saarland to escape an embarrassing predicament.

Family

In 1947 Marianne, at age 20, met her future husband Wilhelm at a village dance. Marianne did not realize at first that the tall young man was only 17 years old. Willi had been working in the coal mine in Neunkirchen since he was 14 years of age. Five years later, in 1952, they got married. Until she wed, Marianne continued to help support her father and sisters with sewing; in the meantime, her mother had passed away at age 50.

After two years of marriage, a son was born to the couple, followed by a daughter three years later. To earn more money for a larger apartment, Willi decided to only work the night shift at the mine. The family moved twice, and her sisters and brothers-in-law were always willing to lend a helping hand. Finally, in 1964 they were able to afford a larger apartment. But before they moved, they had to completely renovate the apartment which had formerly been a doctor’s office. Marianne began to work as a cleaning woman to help pay the rent. After only three and a half years, they decided to pack up and leave. The reason was the doctor and his wife, who still lived in the house. The doctor was quiet enough, but his wife made the young couple’s life unbearable. There even was a scuffle after which Marianne’s rather shy husband told her that he “grabbed the woman by the collar and threw her out the door!” (Audio 4) He did this because the doctor’s wife had falsely accused the family of stealing. Help finally arrived in the form of Willi’s employer. Willi’s working class family could move into a company apartment usually reserved for clerks. Word had gotten around, namely, that the doctor’s wife, being an alcoholic, had driven previous tenants out of her house in less than a year. Once again, it took a lot of work to renovate and furnish their next apartment, the last apartment they would share together. They had only lived in their new, beautiful, and sunny apartment for half a year when Willi died at the age of 38. Marianne and her children had to then move out of the company apartment and into an attic apartment which belonged to relatives. She had not only lost her husband, but also suffered a decrease in her standard of living. The children’s bedroom could, for example, not be heated, and she had to share a bathroom and shower with her landlady, who had a room just behind it. Furthermore, Marianne’s apartment did not have a separate entrance that could be locked, and one had to use a steep flight of stairs to get up to the attic. But, even though it had to renovated, she had a place to stay. Today she still lives in the very same apartment, in spite of the fact that she now has trouble climbing the steep and narrow stairs. During the first years after Willi’s death, Marianne remained in mourning, despite the fact that her relatives took great pains to take care of her needs. Nevertheless, she kept to herself and made regular visits to the cemetery. Gradually, though, she regained her sense of purpose by attending mass, being active in a women’s support group, and by singing in the local church choir.

A New Chapter in Life

A new world opened up for her when the priest, following the advice of female members of his parish, began to plan trips that even Marianne, who lived on a tight budget, could afford. Marianne commented that, “We always went for walks and never stopped to have a meal in a restaurant. Why should we have bothered?” (Audio 5) She also put every five DM coin she could spare in a piggy bank she set aside for such trips. Now, at the age of 50 and nine years after having lost her husband, Marianne had, for the first time in her life, the chance to see a little bit of Germany. She participated in such trips for 29 years, only once did she miss a trip. At first they took tips to the mountains; later, after “die Wende” (The Turning Point), they travelled to East Germany and Poland. As a result of these trips, she took up a more active role in life, had more self-esteem, and opened her eyes and mind to a world she never knew existed. She opened up to her friends and family and began to talk about her experiences. Once, while mountain climbing with her church group, she was the only one who climbed with the priest all the way to the summit. While climbing, he said to her, “You are going to make it.” and shared his bread with her. Later she told her friends, “I didn’t have any provisions with me, we shared everything.” (Audio 6) They were quite surprised and asked, “Did you reach the summit?”

Due to her newfound self-esteem, she felt ready to take on more responsibility in her church community, which they gladly offered to her on account of her dependability and readiness to help others. Marianne has been active in the church since 1969. She became gradually grew in to the duties of a sexton: opening the church door, ringing the church bells, preparing the church services, and taking care of the church flowers. She did needlework and backed cakes for diverse church flea markets and city festivals, which she also helped organize, as well as during the advent season.

Sunset Years

Today Marianne is not able to travel anymore or work as a sexton, although she still is in relatively good health for her age. Despite having intestinal and circulatory problems as well as bad eyesight, she is still able to do her own shopping and take care of her own household. She is saddened that many family members and friends are no longer alive, and three of her sisters are seriously ill. But Marianne still enjoys strong family ties. She takes particular delight in her children, who live in the vicinity and take affectionate care of her. Both son and daughter are happily married and love their jobs as a physiotherapist and a nurse, respectively. Three of her grandchildren are in college; one wants to be a high school teacher and has just finished a half-year internship in Hong Kong.

Marianne draws on her memories of past travels and her commitment to the church (Audio 7). She still remains in contact with friends from that time. When asked about the most wonderful moment in her life, she answered, “When my children were born.” Marianne always had limited financial means, but that never prevented her from being big-hearted and generous. She was always willing to learn and view the world beyond her immediate experiences with an open mind.

At the beginning of the interview, she said, “What is there to talk so much about?”, and even during the interview she complained, “Now that’s enough.” However, for two hours we had a delightful conversation.

Fotos

1 portrait

2 Vue of lake lemon

Barbara Heinze