Karl,Leni,Gisela,Karl,Klaus Stuhm

Stuhm Family Immigration History

My Father Karl and my Mother Leni, farmed in East Germany, in a small village called Prislich ( Landkreis Ludwigslust im Land Mecklenburg). Times were extremely harsh as the Russians ruling East Germany took very high quotas of grain and livestock from the farmers. My father was one of those farmers. My father resisted what seemed to him to be highly unfair and unjust practices. It was difficult to meet the quotas and still provide for his family. Soon he came into conflict with officials and told us, his children, years later that the next day he would have been taken away to jail. In the middle of the night, my father, mother, younger brother Karl and myself fled our village and took a night train to East Berlin and became refugees. Our stay in East Berlin lasted some months longer than my parents anticipated because I became seriously ill with scarlet fever and needed to be hospitalized for several months. During much of that time I was in isolation and remember my Mom and Dad visiting me. I could see them through a glass window but was not allowed contact. Years later my mother told me that she would bring milk to the hospital for me to drink. In East Germany my family and I were processed as refugees and stayed for some time in refugee camps. From there we flew to West Germany and again stayed for some time with relatives in the south of Germany in the Bodensee area. . .

My father being a journeyman mason as well as a farmer sought work and we moved to the small village of Neuenhaus near the city of Stuttgart. We lived there for approximately two years and my oldest sister and brother from Prislich rejoined our family. During those years in the early 1950's the economy in Germany was very slowly recovering from the war. My father didn't see much in the way of prospects for himself or his family and finally decided that he needed to immigrate to make a new start. His first choice was Australia but that didn't work out so he applied to immigrate to Canada. Canada accepted my father as an immigrant and in July of 1954 he took a train from Neuenhaus to Bremenhaven Germany and sailed for Halifax on the M.S. “Arosa Star”. My youngest brother Klaus was born in April of 1954 and so my mother, my brother Karl and I remained in Germany until the following year-1955.

In March of 1955 my Mother, two brothers and myself also sailed from Bremenhaven to Halifax on the “TSS,,Neptunia”. From Halifax we made the long trip across Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario to Mather, Manitoba where my father was working as a farm labourer for Mr. Bill Janzen. My Mother and brothers and I made the trip across the prairies in March and my Mother was horrified to see the huge drifts of snow that still lay on the land at that time of the year. We lived in Mather Manitoba only a short time while my Father learned the English language and saved some money. My Father then built a very small trailer and we continued our journey to Brandon Manitoba where my Father found work as a bricklayer. He also bought a small plot of land at 908 Fredrick Street. We lived in our small trailer through one winter while my Father gathered used building material with which to build a house. He poured his own blocks for a foundation and soon we had a fine home to live in. Initially we lived in the basement and then as the main floor was completed we occupied the entire house.

In Brandon my brother Karl and I started school. I started in grade one again as I was still learning English, however, I soon progressed through to Grade 2 and 3. In Brandon we settled into a normal family life after many years of upheaval. My two younger sisters, Doris and Karin were born in Brandon, the first Canadian citizens in our family. My brother Karl and I went to school, we made friends and became part of a community. Although our family flourished in Brandon my Father felt pulled to the land and in 1959 our family once again moved, this time to a quarter section of farm land near the village of Glenella, Manitoba. Gradually my Father bought more land and from 1959 to 1971 had a mixed farming operation with cows, pigs, turkeys and grain, and often worked out to supplement the farm income until his death in 1971.

At the present time my brother Karl still lives on the original homestead and now has a large cattle ranch and many more sections than my Father ever dreamed of when we first moved there. My sister Doris and her husband Barry and their family also run a large cattle farm in the Riding Mountain area. My brother Klaus is a heavy duty mechanic working at the mines near Lac Dubonnet. My younger sister Karin lives in McCreary Manitoba and I live in Regina Saskatchewan and work as a Behaviour Consultant. My Mother Leni lived in the village of McCreary from 1977 when my brother Karl married until her death in 2003. My Father’s grandchildren live in the McCreary area, and in Winnipeg, Brandon, Calgary and Red Deer Alberta. In April of 2005 the youngest member of our Canadian family, a great grandson, baby Michael was born. Canada is our home and we are proud Canadians.

Written by
Gisela Stuhm
On behalf of my brothers Karl and Klaus
And my sisters Doris and Karin
And my Mother and Father
Karl and Leni Stuhm
November 24, 2005
Regina, Saskatchewan