This photo blew me away the moment I saw it. The eyes of the little girl are piercing clear in the photo, I was mesmerised by her immediately! And then I discovered that the photo was identified!
Please meet Inga Bürkner! And this is her story:
Inga was born on May 30, 1905, in Berlin. As this photo was taken in September 1914, she was 9 years old at the time.
Her father was major general (Oberstleutnant) Robert Alexander Bürkner. He was a much-decorated general of the German army who began his military career in his early 20s, he was in active military service during WWI and was promoted to major general in 1925. I’ve found some articles dedicated to his military career on the internet as well as this photo on Wikipedia.
Source: Wikipedia
Inga’s parents married in 1904. Because of Inga’s father’s position, the family moved a lot, they lived in Frankfurt, Greifswald, Offenburg, Straßburg, Saarburg, Königsberg (today’s Kaliningrad).
Inga's sister Hilde was born in October 1909 in Greifswald, and her twin sisters Sigrid and Alrun were born in August 1916 in Frankfurt.
When the WWI broke out, Major Bürkner reported to duty. He was seriously wounded in September 1914 and had to take a 3-month-long convalescent leave to recover. He returned to service in December.
Because this photo was signed in September 1914, I’m thinking that little Inga wanted her father to have a photo of her to help him get better. The timing couldn’t have been a coincidence. I’m sure the war made Inga grow up very fast.
Major Bürkner continued his military career after the war. He was promoted to the rank of major general in March 1925, but soon after that he tragically died in a military training accident.
Inga was attending Queen Luise Schule in Königsberg at the time. After gradutation, she enrolled at the Albertus University in Königsberg to study philology, but changed her major to medicine the following semester. She spent study semesters at the universities of Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. She passed her state exam in June 1930 and her approbation at the Königsberg University Hospital a year later with the qualification of a medical doctor for gyneacology and obstetrics.
She then moved to Berlin where she worked many years, in hospitals as well as in her own private practice. I was fortunate to find a summary about her career on the internet.
Inga’s sisters all lived in Berlin too. Alrun was a soprano singer and her soft compassionate voice was praised by many. Sigrid might have worked for Siemens in the 1950s, but I’m not sure. Hilde married Friedrich Litta, a teacher, in Berlin in 1936. Inga, a young doctor at the time, and her mother were witnesses to their matrimony. Hilde died at just 39 years of age, leaving behind her husband and two children, Asko and Thore.
Inga married Helmuth Rogge (1891-1976) sometime after WWII. Helmuth was a German historian and archivist, a published author, a member of a government council and at one point the head of the German Reichsarchiv.
Inga continued to practice medicine, lastly in Bad Godesberg. She passed away in 1982.
Perhaps this is how little Inga would have told you her life story herself:
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