Love in Lineage
Being German and in love, before, during and after WWII
By Hannah Blank
During the 1930s, my great-grandmother Hedwig Haeberle immigrated to the United States from Germany, following my great-grandfather Heinrich Blank who had made the move in 1928. As one can imagine, being German in America during World War II was difficult. Hedwig and Heinrich were required to register as enemy aliens, and all communication with their families was cut off.
This is their story.
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It was 1924 when Hedy Haeberle met Heinrich Blank while out dancing. He was a 20-year-old accounting apprentice from Emmendingen, Germany, and Hedy had recently completed a three-year seamstress program.
It was quickly apparent to everyone that Hedy and Heinrich were a good match, everyone except their parents.
Heinrich and his family were staunch Catholics while Hedy’s parents were self-proclaimed good Lutherans. Her parents referred to her and Heinrich as a mixed relationship that would never work. Similarly, Heinrich’s parents made their position clear: If he didn’t obey them, they would kick him out of the house.
Regardless, they continued to see each other for the next four years.
It’s unclear why Heinrich didn’t tell Hedy about his plan to move to America but it wasn’t long before she discovered his intentions from a friend. When he came by her house, she demanded to know if it was true. Was he really trying to leave Germany for the United States?
He had a friend in America who he wanted to join to escape the devastated economy that had infected all of Europe back in the early ’20s. Not to mention a chance to get away from his overbearing parents.
She couldn’t believe it.
As it does today, obtaining a passport and a visa takes time. While they waited to hear back from the American Consulate, Hedy and Heinrich continued to see each other. Heinrich’s parents were delighted at the prospect of their son venturing to the United States because he would be away from Hedy and hopefully make a better living.
Heinrich finally received word from the American Consulate. He had been granted passage.
He found Hedy and asked for her hand in marriage before he left, but she refused. Hedy said she would not promise him anything. If he found someone else, she told him to go ahead with it because he was no longer bound to her.
He was a free man in America. It was 1928.
True to their word, they didn’t wait for each other. Hedy went on dates and Heinrich began the long process of acclimating to the new culture of America.
Then the letters started to come. Heinrich sent them once a week, sometimes twice. He hardly ever wrote to his parents but Hedy was special. Hedy recalled the letters always sounding hopeful, Heinrich didn’t elaborate on his struggles in Chicago.
In the thralls of America’s Great Depression, Heinrich went from working in a bank in Germany to a dishwasher in a small restaurant in Chicago. After learning some English, he got a job at the Bismarck Hotel as a busboy. He started sending $2 — $3 in each letter to Hedy, keeping only a little for himself. He told her to do with it as she wished, but she didn’t touch it — and she wouldn’t until 1930.
Hedy didn’t want to go to America. Frankly, she had no desire to leave her homeland where her family and friends were. Hedy would be giving up her inheritance to pursue a relationship that was heavily criticized. Then she went to a dance — one held in the same venue where she had met Heinrich — and began to consider leaving her homeland for a life with Heinrich.
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It was 1930 when she arrived in New York from Hamburg on the ocean liner SS Columbus. Heinrich’s cousin Max, who lived in New York at the time, helped her get a train to Chicago. On November 17, the train pulled into the station and when Heinrich saw her, he came running.
The next day they were married at the courthouse.
In 1934, Heinrich and Hedy welcomed their first child, Rudolph, into the world. Two years later, Hedy and Rudy traveled to Germany for a wedding and gave their families an opportunity to meet Rudy. While visiting Heinrich’s family, his brother Fritz told Hedy he was glad they moved to America.
Fritz was a “Hauptmann” or captain in the German army. For historical context, by 1936 during this visit, Hitler had been Führer for two years. Hedy knew that Fritz was busy training soldiers but didn’t understand the significance at the time. All he told her was that it looked like war.
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Hedy and Heinrich welcomed their second son, Henry Fred Blank, in June 1939.
Three months later Hitler invaded Poland, inciting WWII.
Although the U.S. wasn’t involved right away, Hedy and Heinrich knew they could no longer contact their families or friends in Germany for fear of association with the aggressor. Their situation was further complicated because while Heinrich had already become a citizen and their sons were born in the States, Hedy was not an American citizen.
After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt put Presidential Proclamation 2526 into action which allowed non-American citizens from Axis countries such as Germany to potentially “be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed as alien enemies.”
The government fingerprinted and photographed Hedy. People asked Hedy and Heinrich where they were from because of their accents. They stopped talking to their kids in German. Some of their neighbors stopped talking to them. There were shopkeepers who refused service to Germans. Rudy’s classmates called him a Nazi.
Heinrich’s hometown was bombed out. They learned that Fritz had died in Russia but weren’t able to get the status on the rest of their families until much later. During and after the war, the German people were faced with dire food shortages. As soon as they were able, Hedy and Heinrich sent care packages with food to the Blanks and the Haeberles.
In 1948, Hedy became a citizen of the United States.
In the following years, the family became further integrated. Hedy was a secretary at Trinity Lutheran Church and Heinrich continued to work in the restaurant industry. Both boys were able to attend college. Afterward, Rudy pursued his doctorate and seminary to become a missionary in Venezuela, while Henry, my grandfather, was drafted in 1962 and worked in a medical laboratory in Fort Baker, California for the U.S. Army.
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In 1959, at 55 years old, Heinrich had his first heart attack. Although he recovered well, he had another heart attack in 1968. The doctors weren’t as sure about his recovery this time. They told Hedy he would survive it if nothing else happened.
But he had a stroke a few days later and died. He was 64 years old.
Hedy went on to survive breast cancer, throat cancer and a stroke which left her in a wheelchair in 2000. Their marriage was not perfect by any means, but Hedy and Heinrich remained committed to each other until the end.
Her sacrifices laid the foundation for a strong family: two sons, six grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. I have benefited immensely from growing up in the States and it wouldn’t have been possible if my great-grandmother hadn’t been so stubborn and courageous.
She was reunited with Heinrich in 2006 at 100 years old.