Our "Tante Anne" was baptized Marianna Anna Kaminski in Fordon, Posen, Germany, which is now a part of the city of Bydgoszcz in Poland. She chose to call herself Anne Marie. She was the daughter of Johann/Jan Kaminski and Johanna/Joanna Bilska of Fordon and sister to Johann/Jan, Helene, Martha Eva, Marianna Louise (who died before Tante Anne's birth), Franz/Franciczek, and Bernhard/Bernard.
She worked nearly all of her adult life as nanny to the Bruno Wollert family, and remained with the family until her death, long after their son had died in a motorcycle accident and their daughter was grown and married. (The Wollert children called her "Mimi.") Initially they lived on the Baltic coast, but they fled west at the end of WWII in a motorboat over the Baltic, fearing the advancing Russian army. The Wollerts and Anne lived in various refugee camps and eventually were resettled in Hannover, where Tante Anne died in 1977.
Anne's father died in 1906 and her mother and brother Johann/Jan in 1915. Her sisters Martha and Helene left for the United States in 1912, and brother Franz/Franciszek died in either 1928 or 1931. Youngest sibling Bernard was the only known survivor in his family still in Poland after WWII. Anne's grave is no longer extant.
She worked nearly all of her adult life as nanny to the Bruno Wollert family, and remained with the family until her death, long after their son had died in a motorcycle accident and their daughter was grown and married. (The Wollert children called her "Mimi.") Initially they lived on the Baltic coast, but they fled west at the end of WWII in a motorboat over the Baltic, fearing the advancing Russian army. The Wollerts and Anne lived in various refugee camps and eventually were resettled in Hannover, where Tante Anne died in 1977.
Anne's father died in 1906 and her mother and brother Johann/Jan in 1915. Her sisters Martha and Helene left for the United States in 1912, and brother Franz/Franciszek died in either 1928 or 1931. Youngest sibling Bernard was the only known survivor in his family still in Poland after WWII. Anne's grave is no longer extant.
Our "Tante Anne" was baptized Marianna Anna Kaminski in Fordon, Posen, Germany, which is now a part of the city of Bydgoszcz in Poland. She chose to call herself Anne Marie. She was the daughter of Johann/Jan Kaminski and Johanna/Joanna Bilska of Fordon and sister to Johann/Jan, Helene, Martha Eva, Marianna Louise (who died before Tante Anne's birth), Franz/Franciczek, and Bernhard/Bernard.
She worked nearly all of her adult life as nanny to the Bruno Wollert family, and remained with the family until her death, long after their son had died in a motorcycle accident and their daughter was grown and married. (The Wollert children called her "Mimi.") Initially they lived on the Baltic coast, but they fled west at the end of WWII in a motorboat over the Baltic, fearing the advancing Russian army. The Wollerts and Anne lived in various refugee camps and eventually were resettled in Hannover, where Tante Anne died in 1977.
Anne's father died in 1906 and her mother and brother Johann/Jan in 1915. Her sisters Martha and Helene left for the United States in 1912, and brother Franz/Franciszek died in either 1928 or 1931. Youngest sibling Bernard was the only known survivor in his family still in Poland after WWII. Anne's grave is no longer extant.
She worked nearly all of her adult life as nanny to the Bruno Wollert family, and remained with the family until her death, long after their son had died in a motorcycle accident and their daughter was grown and married. (The Wollert children called her "Mimi.") Initially they lived on the Baltic coast, but they fled west at the end of WWII in a motorboat over the Baltic, fearing the advancing Russian army. The Wollerts and Anne lived in various refugee camps and eventually were resettled in Hannover, where Tante Anne died in 1977.
Anne's father died in 1906 and her mother and brother Johann/Jan in 1915. Her sisters Martha and Helene left for the United States in 1912, and brother Franz/Franciszek died in either 1928 or 1931. Youngest sibling Bernard was the only known survivor in his family still in Poland after WWII. Anne's grave is no longer extant.
