Irmi's Uncle Ernst

Hamburg, Germany  (1939)

Ernst Walter Schulze  (1916-1990)

Growing up as the only son of a village butcher, Ernst had hoped to become a

"master meat cutter" like his father and someday assume the family business.

In the late 1930's, he moved to the large northern city of Hamburg and began

an apprenticeship program as a meat cutter; but World War II intervened, and

young Ernst found himself serving as an anti-aircraft gunner in North Africa.

In early 1942, while on furlough, he married the former Marie Götsch, a local

woman he had met in Hamburg.  Late that year, Marie gave birth to a daughter,

Bärbel.  Before Ernst had met his daughter for the first time, he was captured

at the battle of Tobruk in 1943 and sent to the United States as a prisoner of

war.  At Fort Knox, Kentucky, he became the personal driver for a U.S. Army

colonel, based largely on the fact that he spoke excellent English, which he had

learned as a youth in school.  Working as a driver allowed Ernst a relative large

range of freedom for a prisoner; and, as he moved among the American people,

he developed a strong affinity for their character and lifestyle.  In late 1946,

he was transferred to England and, one year after that, finally repatriated to

Germany where he saw his five-year-old daughter for the first time.  The family

settled in a small town near Hamburg where his wife had been raised, and Ernst

resumed his trade as a butcher.  A son, Rainer, was born in 1952; and, not long

afterward, Ernst finally became a "master meat cutter" like his father.  Since

the family butcher shop in Gera had been confiscated by communist authorities,

Ernst worked his entire career for a large meatpacking company in Hamburg.

When he learned that his niece, Irmhild, would marry an American, he became

quite excited.  Sadly, he died three months before the wedding.