Gottscheer Public Blog

Following inquiry comes from Jane Bauer; please help if you can with the Pavlics name.

We are searching for information about our grandfather, Charles Pavlics, from Windishdorf, Austria. He would never tell anyone anything about his homeland, except he had a sister, Mary, who was a nun. Could the name Pavlics be from the area of your site? Jane

Email Jane at tback22@msn.com

I received the following email; if anyone can help Erika, please contact her at ErikaRider1@aol.com.

“Hi! I was born 6/16/41 in Gottschee. Does anyone know of problems that could arise with me transporting my parent’s ashes to Gottschee? My parent’s were Alma Jakomini and Erich Verderber.
Also, I plan to relocated to Santa Fe, NM from Texas. Are there any Gottscheer living in Santa Fe? It would be nice to know. Thank you, Erika Rider”

Hi everyone, the Gottscheer Blog software was upgraded to address some security issues.  Please let me know if you experience any problems using the blog.

Thanks to Ridy Hoegler Skyrme for this information.

PERZ, Stephanie (nee Lukan) – Passed away peacefully after a long and inspiring life on Friday, July 31, 2009 at 100 years of age. She was born in Gottschee, Austria, where she was predeceased by her first husband, Englebert and an infant son, Antony. She came to Canada in 1949 where she met and married Joseph Perz who predeceased her in 1984. She was the last surviving member of her family. She is survived by one nephew in Germany, as well as one niece and six nephews in the United States. Stephanie was the eldest member of the Senior’s group at St. Mary’s Church as well as a member of the Ladies group Edelweiss of the Alpine Club. She was a longtime parishioner of St. Joseph’s Church as well as a member of the Ladies Auxilliary. Her working life included being a member of the 25-year club of Forsyth Shirts. Stephanie will be sadly missed by her adopted grandchildren, Wanda Goodwin, John Fracz, Christine Karwowski, her husband Stan and Oma’s special girls, Karlee and Kaycee Karwowski. Relatives and friends will be received at Schreiter-Sandrock Funeral Home and Chapel (51 Benton St., at Church, Kitchener) today (Tuesday) from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Prayers will be recited at 8:30 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph’s RC Church. Father Brian Quigley officiating. Interment Woodland Cemetery. As expressions of sympathy donations may be made to St. Joseph’s Church or the Canadian Cancer Society by calling the funeral home at 519-742-4481. You are invited to share your memories of Stephanie by visiting www.MeM.com

Received the following request via email, if anyone can help Eva out, please respond to her at eh@wilfingerbau.at.
HI, my name is eva högler. my father was an original gottscheen man . he was
a medical named prof.dr franz högler. he was the son of franz högler and
maria (osterman),who leads the primary school in stalzern.He had 11
children. The oldest one was my father franz, the youngest one, i think her
name was maria, died on tbc. i am looking
for relatives an d more information about them.
my email eh@wilfingerbau.at i`m living in vienna

Congratulations to Ridy Hoegler and Arnold Rom for their online publication of “Memories of Childhood”, a wonderful memoir of life in Gottschee.

Follow this link to read their book online.

Following comes to us from Sophia Staltzer-Wyant (wyants@frontiernet.net):

It is my great pleasure to send you some details on the latest publication by the Altsiedler Gottscheer Verein in Krapflern (Obcice), under the leadership of August Gril, Prof. Doris Debenjak and others. It is beautifully done, has many lovely photos and a very attractive format. It contains 605 pages.

Unfortunately for me, it is in the Slovenian language. But, if sufficient funds can be raised there is a good possibility it will be translated into either German or English. What would your preference be?

The book contains 38 life stories by members of the Gottscheer Altsiedler Verein, Slovenians in the Gottschee and two individuals from the United States who have connections to the former Gottschee.  They are Fred Muschler of Walden NY (born in New York but spent 16 years of his early life in the home village of his parents – Schalkendorf by Gottschee and Sophia Stalzer Wyant, born in Gottschee, resettled with my family to Untersteiermark (Lower Styria) in 1941; survived the Flucht to nearby Austria in 1945 and eventually immigrated to Minnesota in 1952.
During my first visit to my former homeland in 1984, accompanied by my husband Clint and daughter Maria, I was overwhelmed by the deep connection and bond that I felt to my homeland. This connection opened the door for my active participation in the preservation of the history, culture and family records of Gottschee and the Gottscheers. I deeply honored to have been invited as one of the contributors to this publication.

The members of the Altsiedler Gottscheer Verein can be very, very proud of their continued efforts and contributions to the *preservation of the history and culture of Gottschee and the Gottscheers*, who lived, worked and loved their homeland from 1330 to 1941.

The books sell for 30 EURO plus postage. I do not know as yet how to order copies, should you be interested, but I am gathering information on the same.

Title of the book:

Resnice Posameznikov
or
Wahrheiten von Einzelnen
or
Individual Truths.

(click on thumbnail for larger image)

The words in smaller print:

Life stories of the Gottscheer Altsiedlers (originalsettlers) and from Slovenes from the Gottscheer land)

The photo above is of the village of Moos.
Sophia Stalzer – Wyant
born near Tschermoschnitz in 1936
Immigrated to Minnesota in April of 1952

We appreciate these contributions from Felix Kofler.  He describes life in Katzendorf, Gottschee during the 1930’s and ’40’s.  He also provides a family tree.  Thank you, Mr. Kofler for your contribution.

From Sophia Staltzer-Wyant (wyants@frontiernet.net)

Good Morning from a very chilly Waukenabo in Minnesota. We have 7° Fahrenheit but a nice log in the wood stove makes life great.

I have received numerous inquiries as to where a person could write to obtain information on the famous concentration camp Sterntal. I am interest in the list of its prisinors, particularly Gottscheers who were housed there during WWII. Would one have to look at both Slovenia and or Grmany?

Your help will be greatly appreciated. Please write to me at: wyants@frontiernet.net

Thank you all.

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a healthy and peaceful 2009. Remember the 500 year celebration scheduled for Tschermoschnitz in September 2009. Details coming soon.

Lori and Bill (wahooka@comcast.net) write: “Looking for information on Anton Poje or Rose Knauss, my grandparents from Podpreska”.

Contact them directly if you can help!

From Frank Schmuck, we note the passing of John Lackner of Richmond, BC.  Click on the images below for the obituary and a nice letter from Arvena Tokarek.

Al Schmuck of Whistler, BC has passed away.  Al was the younger brother of Frank Schmuck who contributes regularly on this site.

Sincere condolences to everyone in the family.  Here is a link to the Whistler Q magazine with Al Schmuck’s obituary.

http://www.whistlerquestion.com/article/20080730/WHISTLER01/859806752

Sorry for the diversion…for those interested, this photo (taken with my cell phone) shows the site for the new Pittsburgh multi-purpose arena.

 

You may have noticed the VerveEarth logo on the sidebar of this blog.  VerveEarth is a community that adds blogs to a map, so that you can “see” blogs and authors geographically.

I have this blog situated in Kocevje, for instance.  It’s a neat site and a great idea, I think.  Enjoy browsing.

We are fortunate that Mr. Meditz continues to provide excellent videos. This installment, originally from Austrian Radio and Television (ORF), is thirty minutes long and again tells the story of Gottschee. Professionally done and excellent quality.

How about a big hand for Ted Meditz…thanks again for all you do to share the story of Gottschee.

http://hwk.best.vwh.net/binaries/schicksalswege_der_gottschee.mpg

This video is about 300 mb and about thirty minutes.