This babe came to me with a name, but had the photo not been labelled with her birth date as well, I probably would have had a very hard time finding the pumpkin in the records. As you can imagine, there have lived tens, if not hundreds of Frieda Kleins in Berlin in the past! But because we know little Frieda Ella Klein was born on August 9, 1896, probably in Berlin, I had no difficulty finding her.
Frieda’s father Joseph Klein was a saddler from Marienwerder, Prussia, who had married Frieda’s mother Bertha Josepha née Böhm in May 1896 in Berlin. I couldn’t find any siblings for little Frieda.
Frieda married Georg Wilhelm Alois Kriesten on June 7, 1927 in Berlin. They were both relatively “old” for their first marriage – Frieda was 30 and Georg 39. Back in the day, a woman of 30 was pretty much a "spinster" and was considered way beyond her child-bearing days. We can see in their marriage record that Frieda was working at the time, her profession reads “Abnehmerin” which translates to someone who receives something, goods for example. Perhaps this might explain why for Frieda a marriage was not a priority in her younger years? Maybe she really loved her job and was really good at it and didn’t want to give it up too soon? Georg’s work title was a commercial clerk. Perhaps the couple met in the same company? This is of course all speculation, I love to imagine the reality behind their stories.
Sadly, their marital bliss didn’t last long. Frieda was widowed in 1936, just days before the couple’s 9th wedding anniversary. Frieda herself lived a very long life and passed away in January 1992, just a few years shy of her 100th birthday.
I don’t know if the couple had any children and if there might be descendants out there who might love this photo. I also don’t know how Frieda spent her remaining 56 years after she was widowed, if she ever re-married, what she worked as. I wish we knew more about the life of this little babe Frieda Klein Kriesten.
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