Submitted by Alexandria Fischer
My Grandma Neufeld’s German/Lutheran ancestors moved to Yugoslavia in the 1700s.
Here they farmed the lush farmland and were living a comfortable and meaningful life. Over 100 years later in 1929, my great-great grandparents: Andrew Wolf and Magdalena Schindler and their daughter & husband (my Great Grandparents): Margaret Wolf and Frank Lasi immigrated to Canada where they took up residence on Highway 18 toward Kingsville as a farming family. Times were good here in Canada, and the Lasi & Wolf families made a good living, and here my Grandma: Elizabeth Catherine Magdalena Lasi (now Neufeld) and her brother Frank Lasi Jr. were both born in Kingsville.
However, Grandma’s parents and grandparents who were 4th and 5th generation German/Yugoslavians, yearned to go back to the family and friends they had left behind, and so it was, that in 1938 they headed from the new world back to their homeland in Yugoslavia. They took up their former homes and farms and they re-acquainted with family and friends.
To their misfortune, a few years later, World War II broke out and life became difficult. “The Russians were coming!” a phrase which was in later years, made popular by Hollywood movie writers, was in essence, the downfall of European life for so many. People had to flee their homes and while travelling, they took up residence wherever they could — on people’s farmyard’s, sometimes in barns, in the straw with the cows, & sometimes even moving into peoples homes with them. In preparation to flee their homes and their country, they butchered pigs and chickens, and put them into crocks of lard to keep the meat from spoiling and they loaded everything onto horse and wagon to flee and get ahead of the invasion.
They travelled through many different countries like Hungary, Schlesian/Poland & Sudetengau/Czechoslavakia. If they had a couple days of stopover in one place, they instantly tried to adopt a normal lifestyle; for example, my grandma and her brother and all the other young children fleeing, would attend school with the young children in the area.
She remembers the sound of the sirens warning of impending bombs, and everyone would have to go to a bomb shelter, often spending days there in conditions that weren’t sanitary. Lice became an evident outcome for most.
Grandma shared that most of the people had hope. They felt that the Allied Forces were strong, and would win the war soon, and they would all be able to return to their original homelands. My grandma and her family were displaced people for almost 4 years while she was aged 13 to 17 – very formative years for any teenager. And yet she reflects of the good times she had riding her bicycle along side the caravan of wagons and horses. Her parents & grandparents provided protection and made her feel safe. They tried to make an unfortunate experience seem like an adventure.
She remembers staying on a large pasture land by the River Elba. Food was scarce, and for weeks on end they ate only boiled potatoes and jam. They would be on the move all day, and at night settle wherever they could find refuge.
I questioned: how could you be so content, then and now, as you talk about it? And her comment, with conviction:
“Oh, we met so many good people, as we were fleeing. We were dependant on people taking us in and giving us a roof, a bed, or some food. We were thankful to God for protection.”
What an incredible outlook!
But the Russian soldiers continued to make bold advancements and catch up to them, and they used intimidation tactics: taking their good work horses and in return leaving the people with their sickly, overworked lame horses. She remembers a time when they were travelling in cargo trains, near the end of the war, heading back toward their village of Jarek in Yugoslavia, and the Russian soldiers simply forced a whole group of displaced people to get off the train and walk aimlessly out into the country side. The irony of that situation, was that it actually saved their lives because they learned later that most all of the people who had returned to Yugoslavia were forced into Communist Camps where they were starved to death.
War is a terrible thing! The soldiers would break down people’s doors and take food from them, they’d steal their possessions, they raped and killed many — even in front of children.
And yet, the fleeing people, worked hard teaching their children good work ethics. The young girls were taught to do housework, the young boys were taught to farm. They also dug trenches for the German soldiers, helping them to hopefully keep the Russians at bay, but as the Russians kept advancing, they had to keep moving.
As the war progressed, Grandma’s father was called to serve in the German army. Again, the irony, because they had immigrated to Canada in earlier years, my great grandfather had learned how to drive a car. Since most European farming villagers only had horses, they couldn’t drive a motorized vehicle, therefore my great-grandpa’s driving experience landed him a job to chauffeur German dignitaries which possibly spared him his life rather then being on the Front.
Grandma shares that the German government was good to them providing them with food rations: sugar, salt and flour so that they could cook for their families.
Their journey took them to Vienna, Austria where my grandma knew her cousin Jakob Lasi was living. When the war was over, Grandma’s father had to travel around trying to find his family, hoping they were still alive. He finally reunited with them in Austria in 1946. Again, the irony of this story – because the Wolf and Lasi families held Canadian citizenship (having lived here) they were then placed in a good British refugee camp in Austria.
War had hurt them deeply, and the decision was, to again, immigrate to Canada. My Great-grandpa Lasi left for Canada in January 1948 to return to the Leamington-Kingsville area. He borrowed money from all of his Lutheran and former Canadian friends and sent it back to Austria to bring his family to Canada, to start over again.
This past Thanksgiving during the Sunday morning worship service, Pastor Bruce asked people to share what they were thankful for. This week, as we talked about this morning’s sharing time, Grandma mentioned that she is very thankful for health and family and four beautiful great granddaughters, but her memory also takes her back in time and she always needs & wants to say a prayer of thanks to God – for our country Canada!
