Irmi's paternal grandparents

Gera, Germany  (June 10, 1949)

Left:  Lina (Krafzig) Scharna  (1891-1977)

Right:  Ulrich Otto Oscar Scharna  (1895-1980)

Ulrich served as schoolmaster of a two-room country school house in the town of

Forsthausen, located in the former German state of East Prussia.  As schoolmaster,

Ulrich supervised one other teacher; classes one through four were grouped under

one instructor, and five through eight were taught by the other.  As added prestige,

and to supplement his low salary, the state granted Ulrich eight acres of land upon

which he and his wife could toil after normal work hours.  In addition to the usual

food crops, their farm also included cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals.  Ulrich

had been married twice.  His first wife, the former Clara Balnat, died in childbirth.

Their daughter, Elisabeth, died at the age of eight from meningitis.  Ulrich and his

second wife, Lina, gave birth to three sons: Hans (1922-1951); Herbert (1924-1973);

and Lothar (1925).  In October, 1944, amid heavy fighting in World War II, Russian

troops entered East Prussia, and the Scharna family fled to the city of Gera, in the

German state of Thüringen, where a sister of Lina's lived.  After hostilities ended,

the major world powers re-drew the border between Germany and Poland; and all

of East Prussia was transferred to Poland.  As a result, Ulrich and his family could

not return to their native Forsthausen . . . so they remained in Gera.