SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2000

 Today, we woke up to a very dreary, cold day.  John said, “It’s a good day for genealogy research, but not for sightseeing.”  We have an appointment with Frau Gerda Plath.  Klaus Osterkamp came at 9:45 am, to take us to his Great-Aunt’s house.  She spoke no English, but Klaus translated for us.  She had handwritten family charts for the Osterkamp family, with information that John wanted for his database.  Klaus took these records back to his office and made several copies for us to keep.  We have been so grateful for all this help.  Yesterday, we were complete strangers, but by now, because of his hospitality, we felt like old friends.

   
Klaus & Gerda

 Klaus had to leave for an appointment, but told us he had arraigned for us to speak to a reporter from the local Fehmarn newspaper about our trip to the island and the work John does with his Fehmarn Genealogy Website.  So, at 8 pm, he would pick us up, again and take us to his office.

 We showed Frau Plath, the Website, on John’s computer, so she could see what John does with his research and she seemed to enjoy this.  John showed her more of her family lines, farther back than she had in her papers.  John promised to send her information on her family lines that he will print out when he gets home in America. 

   
Harbour with Lotsenhof restaurant in background

 Frau Plath invited us to have lunch with her at a local fish restaurant, Lotsenhof, at the harbor.   We told her we would love to have lunch with her and were off to the restaurant.   We had a pleasant time with good food and good company.  Even though, Frau Plath could speak no English, we understood enough of the conversation to get by and to understand most of what she said to us.  What a wonderful and gracious lady she was.   After lunch, we walked around the harbor, looking at the sailboats, and watched the people playing in the water, off in the distance.  We drove Frau Plath back to her home, and said our good-byes like old friends.

  On the way back to our rooms, we made one stop at the Stolz department store on the main road, looking for a few, last minute items.  We needed tissues, antihistamines and throat lozenges.  The blooming flowers were affecting the noses of John and Tressie. (Just a quick note to fellow travelers….. bring these with you, as they were hard for us to find.  Even if you find them, you may not know it because the boxes are written in German.  Can you read the words ‘antihistamine or lozenges’ in German?)

 We stopped at a Michael Mackaprang’s house to say hello and thank him for all the help he and his Mother, Ruth, had given John with his genealogy research from last year, but we had no luck.  He was not at home, so John left a note for him. 

 We went back to our room, and dropped John off, as he was tired.  Alan, Tressie and I were going to the Aldi Grocery Market, but soon found out that all the markets close early on Sunday.  Only the restaurants stay open at night, as most of the shops are closed by 6 pm, and earlier on the weekends.  After dinner is a good time for driving around the island to see the scenery.  There is daylight till about 10 pm, and most nights were clearer and sunnier than the mornings.  The weather is cool and crisp. (from 50 F to low 70 F at the warmest.)  Being from hot and sunny Florida, we noticed the cold air more so than our Washington State traveling companions.

 With no where to go, we returned to our rooms at Annie's house. Being hungry, John Tressie and I walked down the street to Samos Restaurant for a Greek dinner!  After eating, we went back to the room, and waited for Klaus to pick us up for our meeting with the reporter from the local Fehmarn newspaper. 

 Promptly at 7:45, we were on our way to the Burgermeister’s office for our interview.  We met with a young lady named Hilke Wolff and John showed her, the website for Fehmarn-Genealogy.com on his computer.  He showed her some of the different sections of the site and explained how people can contact him and get help with finding information on their Fehmarn Ancestors.  John also explained about how his database now has 48,000 names of Fehmarn ancestors.  They were amazed John wants no payment for his services of helping others with their own family research.   He only wants others to share their genealogical information about their Fehmarn families, for the benefit of all who use the website.

 After the interview, Hilke took some photos of us.  We were pleased with the interview, and Claus assured us that he would mail us a copy of the article when it comes out in the newspaper.  He also gave us some printed information about Fehmarn and a new video on the island.   We cannot thank the Burgermeister enough for his hospitality and all the time he spent helping us with our research, by introducing us to the Wohler family and his great-aunt, Frau Plath.  

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