Finding Family Heritage By: Arthur Weissbach
It was 1990 when we had an amazing day. Eloise and I were touring Switzerland. We had visited Germany, and this year we chose Switzerland. Every year we would select a country that one of our grandparents came from and experience living there. This was our last day before going home. I knew my paternal grandmother came from a small town just outside the capital city of Bern, called Pieterlen.
We had bought the Swiss Rail-pass which allowed us to travel anywhere in the country. On that last day we took the train to Pieterlen just to see what we could see from the train station. Looking at a map in the station a man sitting there asked if he could be of any help. His name was Werner Schwab. Explaining my grandmother had come from this town and we were looking around. He was at the station to pick up two friends of his and said if we waited for them he would take us in his car and see the town. I had brought a picture of my grandmother's house which was on a postcard from the 30's. I showed Werner the picture and he said that maybe we can find it.
His friends came on the next train and we all got into his car heading for town. As we passed a gas station he stopped and asked if this picture looked familiar. It was happenstance and luck, when the attendant immediately recognized it and he said that it was just down the road. Finding the house that my grandmother was born in, Werner, Eloise and I went up and knocked on the door. An elderly lady answered. Not speaking German, Werner translated, and asked if she was any relation to Mina Ertel, my grandmother's maiden name. She said her husband was. He was not at home but would be back in a little while.
At that time Werner, his two friends, Eloise and I went to Werner's house and had lunch at his request. After lunch we went back to the house with his two friends, who translated for us, and met the husband, Gerhardt Scholl, who was my grandmother's nephew. We sat around and talked, via the translators, realizing that we were related through names that we both knew. We said our goodbyes to my relatives, Werner and his friends and boarded the train back to Bern. That night all we could do was shake our heads and ask what had just happened. It was an amazing day.
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