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https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...9850652015.png
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...32a1ef671.jpeg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f86f38b5f.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...e89b801c9.jpeg My mother loved gooseberries We ate fresh farm yogurt, followed by cheese and wurst. This is the exact same hard sausage I grew up. We call it Krainerwurst here. Also know as Carnolian sausage. We found the same in Slovenia, as well as the cooked, soft version. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2c53e1237.jpeg The farmers and butchers have their information displayed. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c0df53188.jpeg Cheese with what else? Pumpkin seeds, of course. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...02a4088c6.jpeg Wurst and Speck (bacon) |
Love your photos of Graz! The architecture is beautiful. The only time we visited Austria was in the mid 90's when we did a day trip to Salzburg from Munich. Would love to return and spend more time in Austria. I used to eat gooseberries growing up, too. They grew wild near where I lived in western MA. The ones at the market look huge!
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Just started reading this, and got caught up. Thanks for all the photos. Your family story is so interesting, but so sad.
I liked Graz so much the first time I went back, and both times I stayed at the Steirerstub'n! (But I hate duvets - they are always too hot and I have to take the cover off and just sleep under that.) I also really liked northern Greece - I visited Thessaloniki, Kastoria and Ioannina but I traveled by KTEL bus, not car. |
thursdaysd, you are off the beaten path too. I don't think most people go to northern Greece or Graz.
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Right. My landlord in Kastoria (https://venetula.gr/en_US/ ) said that that 98% of his guests were Greeks: "the foreigners all go to the islands".
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thursdaysd, where are you from?
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The plan for today,(sat) was to go to Eggenberg Palace and gardens. while it was still open, then to the streets that my uncle told me the displaced persons camps were. There is also a Gottschee memorial in the neighborhood of Mariatrost, away from the center of the city. As it turned, the palace closed down to visitors early today and they were setting up for a concert, and the memorial and museum down below were not open. Apparently, in order to go inside, you have to call one of the names listed on the door at least a day ahead of your visit and someone will open up for you. Oh well.
The plan for today,(sat) was to go to Eggenberg Palace and gardens. while it was still open, then to the streets that my uncle told me the displaced persons camps were. There is also a Gottschee memorial in the neighborhood of Mariatrost, away from the center of the city. As it turned, the palace closed down to visitors early today and they were setting up for a concert, and the memorial and museum downstairs were not open. Apparently, in order to go inside, you have to call one of the names listed on the door at least a day ahead of your visit and someone will open up for you. Oh well. Poor planning on my part. |
This is a little tidbit from my uncle’s writings. I have blotted out the names for privacy.
Luckily, the T. family was held at three DP camps within the British zone. Their first refuge was at Grossvassach #28, Landskron, Villach, Austria, on July 2, 1945. They remained at this DP camp for four months and, with the aid of the Red Cross, would locate E. ( my father) in Tirol, Austria. His training in the German army (Hitler Youth) was almost completed about the time the war ended, and he was captured by the British and released. As sick as she was, P. ( my GM) traveled to Tirol and brought him back to Villach. In September 1945, H. ( my GF) found his way to Austria and rejoined the rest of the family. The family would remain in Villach until November 1945 before being relocated to DP camps in Graz, Austria. Another tidbit: After the 3 MONTHS of trying to escape from the Russians and the Yugoslav partisans in Yugoslavia/Slovenia, Oma ( my GM) was almost dead. Your aunt E. and Aunt S. carried Oma and me. ( meaning himself, my uncle)to safety into Austria. With the help of the British 8th Army, we did escape across the frontier into Austria. Millions of people were homeless and were looking to find a place to live and find the rest of their families. Opa ( my GF) had just escaped/was released from the infamous Sterntal concentration camp in Yugoslavia/Slovenia. Thousands died in Sterntal, but your Opa survived. A note from my brother to my uncle: also wanted to mention that dad had said many times that he lived and worked on a farm for a bit in return for room and board. He also mentioned he burned his uniform so the Russians would not capture him. I was wondering if he ever mentioned that to you? And my uncles answer: Thanks for the information. No, I was never aware of these two facts. I assumed that was most likely the case with his uniform, as most German military folks were doing the same thing. Uncle John also hid his uniform and Hitler youth items in 1945. It was very smart considering what happened to soldiers and some citizens that were captured by the Russians. I met a man in 1976 who was a neighbor boy of your Opa's from Hohenegg, who was taken by the Russians in 1945. He and his family ended up in the slave labor camps in Siberia. He was finally released in 1956 as the only survivor of his family. His father, mother, and siblings all perished in Siberia. When the war ended, everyone knew they needed to go West to be captured by the US, British, or French and not the Russians. Our family (Oma, E. S. , and me ( uncle) were lucky and were able to transit the Russian-controlled area with the help of the British 8th Army hidden in cattle cars. |
Originally Posted by Debbielynn
(Post 17382808)
thursdaysd, where are you from?
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From my uncles notes:From Villach, the family arrived at a school building converted into a DP camp at Studentenlager Hochsteingasse #37, Graz, Austria, on November 12, 1945. They remained at this primarily Slovenian refugee camp for two months before further movement.
The last displaced person camp the family lived at was Rosenhain Barracken, Humboldtstrasse, Graz III, Austria, beginning on January 21, 1946. They would remain in this one-room barracks until December 27, 1949. This room was also the home of two other families who shared a communal “kitchen” area where they prepared meals. The conditions at Rosenhain were primitive, and it was a task to survive without the necessities of life. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...34083d0af.jpeg This is the street of the first DP camp https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5d10ba4e3.jpeg X https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...01f517fda.jpeg This is a house that would have been right next to #37 if it was there in the 1940s https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a13f27fbc.jpeg This apartment building is prob where #37 was. I stopped an older lady walking and she said everything in the area is recently built and she had no idea about the camp. I don’t know if anything here would have looked familiar to my family. But at least I know they walked here. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...d75dab339.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7a713c51d.jpeg This is the street that the other camp would have been located https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3179419c6.jpeg Looking down the street https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...1a6f981d8.jpeg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...99094c320.jpeg The Gottschee memorial and museum https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...7b03cf4b4.jpeg Some information about the people https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...1a73be8ff.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2ea6f2ee5.jpeg sorry but it’s all written in German https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...ce1348842.jpeg Dinner tonight at Der Steiner. I had the goulash and George had a pork cordon blue. Another typical Austrian restaurant but we both thought last night’s dinner was better. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...20976e505.jpeg My father drank Jägermeister long before anyone here ever heard of it. This was at the reception desk at our hotel so I know my father is around!! Tomorrow we will go up the hill to see the castle and the clock tower. Then onward to Slovenia. |
Thursday’s, hope it’s only a temporary grounding. Between 3 joint replacement and the lockdown. I haven’t been to Europe since 2017. But I’m back full speed now! Already thinking about where I want to go next!
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Debbielynn, thanks for sharing your family’s stories, they’re extremely interesting but sad too. They underwent great adversity, but came out together after the war and successfully re-established themselves in the US, which is to be applauded. It must have been an very moving experience for you, but you will treasure these me. Did your parents ever go back, does any of the family still live there? In Austria, I mean.
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Debbielynn, glad the joint replacements are working! I developed a variant of rheumatoid arthritis in 2017, which really slowed me down, and thanks to the medication I take for it I'm immunocompromised, so no travel while Covid is still so prevalent. Good thing I took early retirement!
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Interesting info about avoiding the Russians. I recently read a book about life in Berlin at the end of WWII and that painted a bleak picture of the behavior of the Russian soldiers. At that point there might be some excuse after the horrors of the war, but none today in Ukraine.
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Steirerstub'n
My son and I will be staying there while in Graz at the end of September, too! I'm happy to hear their restaurant is good.
Your relative's stories sound similar in some parts to my parent's and other relatives time during the war and post war times. |
For eating in Graz (although it's been a while) I loved the open-faced sandwiches here: https://www.frankowitsch.at/ I also ate well with a good view at a restaurant perched on the edge of the hill by the Schlossberg - I don't have the name so can't check whether it still exists.
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Such an interesting family history, Debbielynn.
Recently watching a great Aussie tv show called Back Roads, where the interviewer speaks with locals in smaller regional towns. Leeton in the food bowl of eastern states had incoming post war Italian migrants, whose wives and children stayed behind for years until the men settled in, and had the funds to bring family over. Then other Europeans and Vietnamese, now Afghans, Zimbabweans, Philippinos, as the fruit picking doesn’t require English skills. A Nigerian couple now very central to the migrant resource centre in town and the incredible diversity of cultures coupled with good services and goodwill have led to a inspirational regional centre. Of course, housing is now a real issue. Not easy to settle anywhere these days. But as an aside, the Nigerian couple found a local farmer growing mung beans purely for crop rotation, not for food, and organised a gathering to expose locals to a spicy mung bean stew…one old codger who said he “doesn’t eat vegetables” turned up and joined in. It was just so heartwarming and a reminder that amongst all the war and troubles, there can come good. I bought some Styrian pumpkin seed oil as a souvenir when last in Austria. Lovely flavour. Graz looks beautiful, I had noted it for a future trip and you have cemented that idea. |
Thursdaysd, the mother of my aunt, who was married to my mother’s brother, was raped by the Russian soldiers during that time. I read about a restaurant up on the hill. I think it might still be there.
adelaidean, interesting story about the immigrants. Elberko, we didn’t eat at the hotel restaurant. But the menu looked nice and it is very large inside. Breakfast was good. Der Steiner is another restaurant in the area. |
Geetika, we went back to Slovenia and Graz with my father in 1970. I was 12. I also went to Slovenia, then Yugoslavia, on my honeymoon in 1978. The family had no home to go back to after the war and my grandparents family members sponsored and lent them money to come to the US. I don’t think my grandparents ever went back but I know my aunts and uncle were there numerous times. My uncle, the youngest sibling, traced the family tree on both sides and was able to go back to the 1700s on one side. The churches kept very good records. One of my brothers has been to the ancestral home. (Really just ruins of a well my GGF built ) once and I know some of my cousins have gone.
My father eventually opened his own auto body repair shop here in NY with the training he received in Graz. He learned locksmithing, which I believed required welding , which he needed to repair cars. He was simple, not educated but hardworking. He died at age 91 in early 2020 and one of the reasons I wanted to go back to Slovenia was to take some of his ashes back to his roots. |
Elberko, correction on that other restaurant . Called Der Steier.
https://www.der-steirer.at/?utm_sour...m_campaign=gmb |
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