Connecting to my Roots: Trip to Germany

In April 2026 I went on a visit to Germany to stay with my Aunt Franziska. I only met Franziska and her sister Gerlinde, (who are both in their 70’s) for the very first time in 2019. They are my mothers two half-sisters.

There's a complicated family history that had kept my German mother Edith, and her two half-sisters, apart. After Edith’s mother Violet died in 1944 during the war in Germany (when Edith was only 14) - her father Franz Lange remarried and had two new daughters (Franziska and Gerlinde). Franz’s new wife Brunhilde and Edith (who were close in age) didn’t see eye to eye and so Edith left Bremen and came to live in the UK, where she settled. Franz died in 1962 at 58 years old, leaving his two young children and wife, and there was no reason then for Edith to keep in contact with her stepmother.

Images: Left - Franziska with my sketch of her father (my grandfather) Franz | Middle - my sketch of Franz | Right - Image of Franz

My mother died in 2015 and my sister Ann decided she wanted to look for our aunts (We had no address or contact details of any kind). Miraculously, after searching for months, in 2019 the German red Cross put us in touch with Franziska and Gerlinde. Our Aunts had both married and changed their names, so it was incredible to find them.

Image: Myself and Franziska at the airport in Germany

My mother was born in 1930 and, of course, was very much affected by living through Nazi Germany. Her experiences as a child and beyond were documented in a short memoire she wrote, and which my sister is currently working on turning into a book.

There are also many photographs of that time taken by my grandfather Franz, as he was a keen photographer, and as a tailor too, he seemed really creative. My mother was also a very creative person, she drew and painted all her life, and she strongly encouraged me to do the same. She was also a big opera fan, and very cultured.

On my recent trip in Germany I was keeping this all very much in mind, and took the opportunity to sketch, and grow more familiar with the landscape and people of Germany. Franziska took us out and about in the area around Stuttgart, famous for its wine growing and historical villages and monasteries. I’ve always loved German art and artist, especially German expressionism and Der Blaue Reiter movement, with Kandinsky and Franz Marc, Otto Dix - which was labelled as ‘degenerate’ by the Nazi party. The expressionists portrayed emotion in a non naturalistic style which really appeals to me, and I love the boldness and creativity of this art.

Images: My sketches from our sight-seeing around Germany

Franziska moved to southern Germany many years ago, living with her husband Uli, who died in 2019. Franziska is an amazing and strong woman, who looked after Uli for many years when he had dementia, and she is also a cancer survivor. There is strong genetic line down from Franz, and it was uncanny just how much like my mother she is in some ways, but also similar in looks to myself and my siblings. She is very creative and inquisitive.

We got more insight into the family history from Franziska, we talked about her father Franz, as he died when she was 8. Edith often told me stories of him, what a kind and gentle man he was, a tailor, whose life was upended like millions of others, losing his first wife and witnessing the devastation of war. I drew a sketch of Franziska and her father Franz, to leave with her as a memento.

Images: Myself with Franziska and me sketching

The German news have been very interested in this reunion story, between my sister and I and our Aunts. Articles have appeared in magazines and a film has also been made by the German Red Cross. It has been cathartic after my mother died, to find more family to connect with, especially on the German side, which was always a mysterious element in our family.

Image: Article from a German magazine about our family story!