A Family History

Part 1: The Heinrichs from Kazakhstan

In part 1 we tell the story of the Heinrichs clan who live near Detmold. Four generations of them, running a successful car dealership. Hardly anyone knows exactly where they’re from. Even the Heinrichs themselves hardly ever talk about it. As a child, senior partner Hans almost starved to death in Siberia. His wife Lina once became the world queuing champion in Taraz, a town in Kazakhstan.

The Heinrichs’ life after the Second World War was an odyssey, but they never gave up hope of one day being able to reach West Germany. By the time they got the permit to travel in 1978 they could hardly remember any German. So they battled on undaunted, learning the language again and building a business. Their diligence, humility and stamina eventually paid off.

Broadcasting Times:


DW

SUN 09.09.2012 – 22:15 UTC
MON 10.09.2012 – 06:15 UTC
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Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
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DW (Europe)

MON 10.09.2012 – 04:15 UTC
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DW (Arabia)

MON 10.09.2012 – 13:15 UTC
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DW (Asien)

SUN 09.09.2012 – 22:15 UTC

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DW (Amerika)

MON 10.09.2012 – 06:15 UTC

Vancouver UTC -7 | New York UTC -4 | Sao Paulo UTC -3



Part 2: The Franchys from Romania

In Part 2 we meet Kurt and Renate Franchy who now live in Drabenderhöhe in the hills of the Bergische Land east of Cologne. Until the late 1970s, as so-called Transylvanian Saxons, they were part of the German minority in Romania – a minority that had been firmly rooted for centuries in its German and Protestant culture, one which contributed to the flourishing of an entire region and one which enjoyed a wide range of privileges.

After the Second World War, the situation changed fundamentally. Germans were viewed with suspicion and subject to increasing harassment and their Protestant pastors placed under surveillance by the secret police. Franchy was the parish priest of Bistrița and experienced the deterioration of the situation of the German minority first-hand. As more and more ethnic Germans left the country and the parish shrunk until after much delay, the Franchys decided to move to Germany.

For this documentary Kurt, Renate, Ortrun and Agnes Franchy travelled back to their old home in Romania see their old rectory, church and garden again. They look back at their years in Bistrița, remembering the good and the bad times and how they rebuilt their lives in their new home in Germany.

Broadcasting Times:


DW

SUN 16.09.2012 – 22:15 UTC
MON 17.09.2012 – 06:15 UTC
MON 17.09.2012 – 13:15 UTC
MON 17.09.2012 – 17:15 UTC
TUE 18.09.2012 – 04:15 UTC
TUE 18.09.2012 – 10:15 UTC

Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
San Francisco UTC -7 | Edmonton UTC -6 | New York UTC -4

DW (Europe)

MON 17.09.2012 – 04:15 UTC
MON 17.09.2012 – 17:15 UTC
TUE 18.09.2012 – 06:15 UTC
TUE 18.09.2012 – 13:15 UTC

London UTC +1 | Berlin UTC +2 | Moscow UTC +4

DW (Arabia)

MON 17.09.2012 – 13:15 UTC
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Tunis UTC +1 | Cairo UTC + 2 | Dubai UTC +4

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SUN 16.09.2012 – 22:15 UTC

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MON 17.09.2012 – 06:15 UTC

Vancouver UTC -7 | New York UTC -4 | Sao Paulo UTC -3




Part 3: The Hutschaliks from Upper Silesia

When Hans-JürgenZöllig talks of himself as an Upper Silesian then that’s not exceptional in Essen. After the Second World War, many refugees and displaced people from Upper Silesia found a new home in the Ruhr Valley. But in actual fact Hans-Jürgen Zöllig was born in Essen! In 1961 he married Helga, née Hutschalik, from Hindenburg and with this union the story of her family became part of his own identity. Helga spent her early childhood in Silesia.

In 1945, Upper Silesia becomes Polish and Hindenburg became Zabrze. Helga had to attend a Polish school and to learn Polish. In fact, when she went to East Germany as a teenager in 1953, all of her classmates thought of her as Polish. At the end of the 1950s her family was allowed to move to West Germany. With great determination she rebuilds her life a second time around. The happy end of Helga’s odyssey is when she meets Hans-Jürgen and finally feels that she has arrived in a her new home country, And since the fall of the wall the couple are able to travel back to her old hometown in Poland whenever Helga feels homesick.

Broadcasting Times:


DW

SUN 23.09.2012 – 22:15 UTC
MON 24.09.2012 – 06:15 UTC
MON 24.09.2012 – 13:15 UTC
MON 24.09.2012 – 17:15 UTC
TUE 25.09.2012 – 04:15 UTC
TUE 25.09.2012 – 10:15 UTC

Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
San Francisco UTC -7 | Edmonton UTC -6 | New York UTC -4

DW (Europe)

MON 24.09.2012 – 04:15 UTC
MON 24.09.2012 – 17:15 UTC
TUE 25.09.2012 – 06:15 UTC
TUE 25.09.2012 – 13:15 UTC

London UTC +1 | Berlin UTC +2 | Moscow UTC +4

DW (Arabia)

MON 24.09.2012 – 13:15 UTC
TUE 25.09.2012 – 04:15 UTC
TUE 25.09.2012 – 11:15 UTC

Tunis UTC +1 | Cairo UTC + 2 | Dubai UTC +4

DW (Asien)

SUN 23.09.2012 – 22:15 UTC

Delhi UTC +5,5 | Bangkok UTC +7 | Hong Kong UTC +8

DW (Amerika)

MON 24.09.2012 – 06:15 UTC

Vancouver UTC -7 | New York UTC -4 | Sao Paulo UTC -3