My mother, Angela Kiefel, was born in 1922 in
Gross-Mangeapunar, Romania. She had many very fond memories of life as it was on
the Black Sea just outside their home. The members of the German families all spoke
German at home, but in school were taught to use the Romanian language. When the War
broke out, her half-brother, Alexander and her brother, Jacob, were drafted into the
German Army...and both died while fighting. In 1933 her father also died.
In the early-1940's, as the Russian army was advancing
towards Romania, the German Army came into their village and began moving the German
residents out. They were first loaded onto a train which traveled to a shipping
port, and then onto a ship which took them to Austria. From there they traveled on
foot from town to town...sometimes staying for quite some time, and sometimes only for a
few days. In each town in which they would be staying for any length of time, the
Germans would force the villagers out of their homes and these were given to the German
families to use. Many times, the evicted villagers would return and work as servants
for the German families. Slowly, most of the German families made it into Germany by
1944, where my mother later met my father while she was living in a Red Cross camp. |
My Aunt Elizabeth with her family to the left of her: George,
John, Ed and Renate. My parents are standing on the right with two of my brothers. 
Anna Pechel
Kiefel, and their children, Agata, Bernard and Annaressa.
