- Contributed by听
- colmalbar
- People in story:听
- Karl Rohrbach
- Location of story:听
- Koblenz, Germany
- Background to story:听
- Civilian
- Article ID:听
- A4161548
- Contributed on:听
- 07 June 2005
Karl Rohrbach (far right)serving German officers in the Koblenz wine bar where he worked in pre-war Germany
Further to my previous post, Coming Home? concerning my father-in-law Charles Rohrbach, here is a photograph of his father, Karl Rohrbach. The date of the photograph is uncertain but it is believed it was taken prior to the outbreak of hostilities in 1939. It shows Karl, on the right of the picture, serving German officers and their lady acquaintances in the wine bar where he worked in Koblenz.
The early and mid 20th century was a difficult time for mixed nationality marriages. This was particularly true for Karl and his English wife Ellen. During World War One they both lived in England and Karl found himself interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien, while Ellen and her 3 children where evicted from their home because of their German connections. In WW2 Karl and Ellen were living in Germany and the evidence from old family letters indicates that they were separated yet again although the reason for this separation is still unknown. From enquiries of German sources it sounds as though the Nazi regime treated mixed marriages such as Karl's and Ellen's on a case by case basis with no firm policy of internment except in the case of those suspected of spying, being prominent foreign nationals or Jews. It seems that it was Ellen who was displaced from home although where to and for what purpose is unknown. When the war was over Ellen, with the assistance of the Red Cross, and after a terrible journey was finally reunited with Karl. The two of them eventually settled in England with their children. Ellen died in 1951 while Karl lived for another 20 years before passing away in 1970.
Their son Charles often wept when he thought of his mother as she of all the family suffered the most difficult time. In WWI she witnessed her husband being interned for years while at the same time being made homeless. In WW2 she lived in a foreign land again separated from her husband and experiencing hardship of which very little is known.
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Story with photo