Fear-of-Heights Reunion

Germany, about 1947. Dad also saved this postcard issued by the Bavarian Railway.

Traveler's Memento

Frankfurt, Germany, about 1948. Dad saved a stack of postcards from his travels in Germany.

Postcard: Stalin Avenue

Stalino Prospektas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1956. It's now "Gediminas Avenue."

Soviet Square

Lukiškės Square, Vilnius, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1975. See Photo 17 here.

Winter Station

Germany, about 1947. Here's another postcard from the Bavarian Railway.

Clinical Education

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. Mom remembers many medical-school clinics in the center of the college town.

Kremlin Christmas

Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, December 1972. My Mom's maternal Aunt Dora sends a Christmas New Year's postcard. We're watching you!

Castle Park

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. Here's another postcard Mom saved from her medical-school days. This is not the same park Mom frequented.

A University Street

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. This postcard features a scene from the medical-school campus.

Campus Memento

Erlangen, Germany, about 1946 or 1947. This postcard features an image of the building in which Mom attended anatomy class.

Bavarian Railway Postcard

*     *     *     *     *

Germany, about 1947. My Dad saved a packet of postcards issued by the U.S. Army in the postwar, American-occupied zone. I don't know whether Dad visited the places photographed for the cards, bit it's likely he did.

Cruise Memento

I wrote earlier how my Best Friend's Parents sailed across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Andrea Doria. Earlier, I had thought they made the trip during their honeymoon. I was wrong; they sailed aboard the liner in 1955, one year before the Andrea Doria sank.

Their voyage aboard the Andrea Doria stuck with me because the historical figure, Andrea Doria, was someone I later studied when I did research about Mediterranean piracy. Although my work focused on Venice, I also learned about how other maritime cities—namely Genoa and Pisa—took measures to protect their interests from naval pillage.

 
Atlantic Ocean, Summer 1955. Here's a postcard my Best Friend's Mom, Louise, saved from the trip.

Thanks to my Best Friend for making this photo available to us.

The Second Update

Recently I posted a postcard my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, had sent to her daughter, Jonė. Here is s second postcard Tatjana wrote before she, Jonė, and my Dad reunited in Schweinfurt.

The card is addressed to Jonė at the "Litauischer Lager"—that is, the "Lithuanian [DP] camp."

Tatjana wrote:

My most treasured Jonė, Yesterday I mailed a letter to you. I want you always to know where I am, and how I am doing. I'm already writing for the fourth time fromm Oberstdorf. I am living and eating at the home of a local cobbler, whose wife looks after me as though I were her relative. I've given her everything she'll need for meal preparations through August 16. In the mornings (and in the evenings) she makes a delicious "malzkafé" with very good, real milk. But by now, I have absolutely no bread. It turns out the bread that Casey's mother gave me was from one of the local [DP] camps, and it came from a "swindler." When we sliced the bread, its inside was filled with a stringy dough. I think it's a particular type of bread made with a large quantity of potatoes. So we dried that bread thoroughly in the sun, and we made crackers. Your aunt left today. Although I truly love her a great deal, I am happy she is gone because she was starting to get on my nerves. She worries way too much about food. Now I won't have to think about food. I am sitting outside, the sun is setting but still high at the top of the mountains. The light continues to sparkle on the peaks, and the blue fades to gray as the light meets the snowcaps. (I'll finish this in the next postcard.)

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us. 

Side-Street Reunion

Hořice, Czechoslovakia, October 1, 1946. Toronto Al's Mom briefly lived in this town during her time as a Displaced Person.

Thanks to Toronto Al for making this postcard available to us.

Tatjana describes the situation.

My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, arrived at the Schweinfurt DP camp in about 1946 and became active in the camp's administration. Before Tatjana settled in Schweinfurt—where her twins, my Dad and Jonė, also lived after the war—Tatjana briefly traveled in other parts of Bavaria while she was a Displaced Person.
 
Here is a postcard Tatjana sent to Jonė during this interval (probably in 1945): 
 

 
Tatjana wrote:

My most treasured Jonė, your aunt [Victoria] and I live in this hamlet, not far from the church, on the other side of the mountain. Yesterday we already rode 2000 meters to the top of the mountain by means of a particular funicular that takes wagons up a rail line to the very top, in the air. There, we drank coffee while sitting on the veranda and sunning ourselves. Although it was a hot day, it was rather chilly up there. We stood in line for three hours to get a ticket for the funicular. Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, we're going to go to the mountain lake that isn't very far at all from the town—it's only about a one-hour walk. Today it rained a bit so we strolled around the shops. Beyond that, we're looking for a room because we've got to move out by Monday or Tuesday. We've also been looking for UNRRA because it's getting very difficult for us to find bread. Without a ration card we can't get a stamp—one must have a card in the first place to fashion a potato stamp. [DPs sometimes used halved potatoes to craft official-looking stamps that would pass at shops as legitimate documents.] There's no real UNRRA organization here; only a Ukrainian DP camp. [Here, there's a line I cannot read.] I'm quite worried about the bread situation, and it might be necessary for me to come back.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this postcard available to us.

Reading Spots

Tambov, Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1958. Here is another Soviet-era postcard from the city of Tambov, where my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, lived.

It's Sunday; take a walk in the park.

Tambov, Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1958. Here is another Soviet-era postcard from the city of Tambov, where my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, lived.

The traffic is still light.

Tambov, Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1958. Here is another Soviet-era postcard from the city of Tambov, where my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, lived.

Traffic is light.

Tambov, Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1958. Here is another Soviet-era postcard from Tambov, where my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, lived. 

Repurposed

Tambov, Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1958. Here is another Soviet-era postcard from Tambov, where my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, lived. It looks like a former church has been repurposed; the postcard identifies this building as a "music school."