I found this CDV at my local antiques fair in January and picked it for mainly two reasons. Obviously, it’s really cute and identified, including a birth date and a location. And secondly, I can never resist a photo of my namesake. As Grete I was often called Gretchen myself as a child, so I had to take this lost baby darling home with me.
Gretchen is usually the sweet nickname in German for Grete, Margarethe/Margaretha, or it can be a full first name on its own. The birth date scribbled on the back of the photo proved very valuable, too - little Margarethe “Gretchen” Auguste Elisabeth Emma Krause was indeed born on September 14, 1893, in Berlin.
She was the pride and joy of her parents Wilhelm Eduard Adolf Krause, a district court secretary, and Marie Auguste Anna Franziska née Nentwig, and the baby sister of Georg Wilhelm Krause. The photo was taken just days before Gretchen’s 1st birthday in September 1894.
I was not prepared for the next piece of Gretchen's story. Her mum, who I suppose was holding her in this photo, died less than 4 years after this photo was taken. Mum Marie was just 36 years old when she passed away on June 10, 1898. Heart-breaking! Gretchen wasn’t even 5, and her brother Wilhelm just 11. I don’t know what caused her early death. As far as I could find out, their father Wilhelm never re-married.
As WWI raged in Europe and her brother away on the frontlines, Gretchen said goodbye to her 63-year-old father on June 10, 1916. Curiously it was the same date that Gretchen's mother had died 18 years earlier. A coincidence, I wonder?
When Gretchen was in her late 20s, she fell in love with a fellow-teacher Erich Ludwig Herwart Grix, and the couple got married on July 10, 1922 in Berlin. I wish I knew if they had any children.
In the 1920s and 30s, Gretchen’s husband Erich Grix published several books, specialising in prose on war and history themes, including WWI. His books in German included: Unbekannte Helden des Weltkrieges (1924), Kameraden in Serbien. Eine Erzählung vom Vormarsch des deutschen Heeres von der Donau zur Adria (1937), Die Axt der Alkis. Eine Erzählung aus der Zeit des Markomannenkrieges (166 - 180 n.d. Ztw.) (1938), Die Stadt der Adler (1939). I haven’t read any of those books, so I cannot say what exactly they are about or what views they represent (some of his books are available for second-hand purchase online).
And then WWII happened... The horrible senseless war robbed Gretchen both of her husband and her brother. Erich was in active service in 1943, despite his age (he was in his late 40s). He died in August 1943 in the military hospital in Allenstein of tuberculosis.
Gretchen’s brother Wilhelm who before the war worked as a pharmacist, died in October 1942 in the Charité hospital in Berlin, also of tuberculosis and sepsis as a result of that.
I don’t know what became of Gretchen after WWII, who helped her through the grief. I hope she could find solace in her profession as a teacher. Maybe she and Erich had children? I hope she and her sister-in-law Hedwig got along well and could support each other through the hard times. I wish she was alive to tell her story as she lived it.
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