Life Story of Ernst Kalkkuhl, my Grandfather

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Ernst Kalkkuhl was born in 1873 and died in 1957. He was a religious person. At one time he belonged to the Salvation Army, but for most of his life he belonged to the Baptist Church and was a minister of that faith for many years. He served as such in Westerstede and Herne, Oldenburg, Germany.

His wife came from a family of well-to-do farmers but Ernst had little knowledge of or interest in farming.

My mother vividly remembers his large library of books and that, even then, they were insured for $3,000. Most were religious books. His children were instructed to wash their hands before handling these. He was a well educated man who studied a great deal.

My mother felt that her father believed that children should be seen and not heard and they were not allowed to laugh at the table. He taught the children never to gamble, telling them “those who gamble would also cheat”.

He lost his wife in 1913 and only a few months later he had to go to WW One. He was very anti- war. Records state that he was wounded in the war at the eastern front on 4 Sept 1917.

When he returned, he did not return to the ministry but went into politics and became mayor of Apen, Oldenburg as well as a member of the parliament (Bundestag). My mother recalls that he made many speeches.

A violent inflation hit Germany after World War One largely because of the huge war reparations imposed upon them by the Allies. It caused a lot of resentment and political activity of all kinds.

When my mother was 17 years of age (about 1924) she was at a home where she was learning homemaking skills (cooking, sewing, etc). She told us how she and the lady of the house were alone when ten armed men (renegades) came across a field to the house and stated “We have the power”. My mother described them as leftists. They asked for guns. The lady gave them one gun. They went from house to house. Although the lady of the house was fearful and asked my mother to stay, my mother insisted that she must go home because her father was the mayor.

When she arrived home there was a truckload of armed government soldiers outside and her father was in the “green room” with officers.

Her sister Anna (my aunt Anna) described to her what happened before the government soldiers came, as follows: “Three men with guns came to the door of our home. My father went to the door and asked, “What can I do for you?.” They replied “, Come with us. We have the power”. My father refused. (It was their plan to kill local politicians who were not on their side). My father had a large gun collection from different countries and they seized them. They did not harm him and they left.

My father immediately phoned the minister ( a government official) and they responded almost immediately with a truckload of soldiers. When these lawless renegades marched on the town of Apen in the afternoon, the ringleaders were arrested. They had planned to hang our father who was the Mayor as well as the aldermen of the town. “These occurrences were happening all over Germany.

Ernst remarried in 1927. He married his housekeeper, Emma Wirth. They had one child, a daughter, Ursula, who was born in 1929, two months before I was born, also in Apen, Oldenburg.

In 1933, while he was still actively serving as Mayor of the town he was told if he did not vote for Hitler, the police would come and get him. He refused to resign and so they removed him from his office.

Unemployment was very high in Germany by then. He never worked again, although my mother remembers that he was always busy. He became very involved with the Church again. My mother said they were very poor thereafter and that he wrote to them very often after they emigrated from Germany to Canada. He died in 1957.

Written by Leslie Gisela Goldak Clapson as told to me by my mother, Helene Hulda Erna Kalkkuhl Goldak, a daughter.