Category: Documentary

Here, Renate talks about tante Fanny’s home and factory. Fanny operated the cardboard box factory after her husband’s death in 1928, however, Renate doesn’t state when she retired. On my 2017 visit, I found that the house and factory no longer exist. When the war began, my interest was increasingly focused on the cardboard factory.…

Here, Renate describes the family’s connect with Berchtesgaden. The citizens of Sonneberg have always been enterprising and above all fond of hiking. At some point, the gentle slopes of the Thuringian Forest were no longer enough for them, and so towards the end of the 19th century, a few wealthy merchants, chaired by Adolf Fleischmann,…

Here, Renate is talking about her cousin Werner Nennstiel, son of her [great] aunt Fanny. I don’t remember much about Aunt Fanny’s son. He was drafted into the Wehrmacht at the beginning of the war and was later stationed in France the whole time. The few days he had during a leave from the front…

Here, Renate talks about her favourite aunt, Fanny. Fanny was the sister of her grandmother, Berta Schellhorn. During every holiday in Sonneberg, I couldn’t wait to finally escape to Aunt Fanny’s. She lived just a stone’s throw from Grandma. A few more meters up Bahnhofstrasse, and you turn left into Kirchstrasse and you’re standing in…

Here, Renate provides a brief background on the Schellhorn’s involvement in the toy industry and manufacturing. In 1900, when my father, the eldest of four siblings, was just one year old, Sonneberg was already known far beyond the borders as the Christ Child’s workshop for all kinds of toys. In grandfather’s old account books you…