Freiburger historische Bestände - digital

60

RolfLevy und Christina Ceballos-Levy

Rolf, Helmuth, and Manfred Levy
in front of grandfather's fence in
Schmieheim

to reunite with his friends and celebrate his sixty-sixth birthday. Our first
stop on that trip was Frankfurt, where my father attended a reunion with
some German friends. From there, we traveled to Schmieheim. This was a
trip that proved to be very emotional for my parents, particularly my father.
Although my father must have been flooded with the memories of the life
we left behind in Schmieheim, he kept most of these to himself. As a re-
sult, I could not teil my own children much about that trip, other than the
fact that my father had been reunited with some old friends, and the inhabi-
tants of my family's former home had taken us for a tour of our old house
in Schmieheim. Unfortunately, this trip may have proven to be too much
for my father, for he died upon twenty days of our return to Colombia. The
doctors said that he died of complications from a heart condition and dia-
betes, but we all suspected that he may have been overcome with emotion.
Thirty years later, I found myself in the same place my father had been in
the Summer of 1973. I was returning to Schmieheim with my sons and
their wives to show them a part of their history.

On the day we arrived at Schmieheim, we were all füll of anticipation
and questions. Did the town still exist? Would I remember how to find my
old house? Would anyone in the town remember my parents or me? Would
this trip help me teil satisfy my sons' curiosity?