Rudolf Laemmlen’s Home Place in Grossgartach

The home in the middle in the photo above is where my grandpa Rudolf grew up.  Their lot was long and narrow, with an animal stall behind the house, then the red barn behind.  Behind the barn was a small garden.  These photos were taken from the church tower when I visited in 2009.

Here is an aerial photo taken by a helicopter.  Bernd Laemmlen has this photo hanging in his home now.

A few years ago Martin Laemmlen wrote to tell us the old farm house was being torn down.  Below is the new apartment building that was built in its place.  The barn in the back is still standing.

This one is the neighbor’s barn to the left behind the new building:

Grandpa’s barn:

This photo was taken of the home in 1913.  My Grandpa Rudolf was 14 years old.  Wilhelm, Rudolf and Marie, siblings are in the windows.  Friends, Peter Zimmerman and Karl Pfeil are also pictured.

Here are pictures and videos Martin Laemmlen sent in June 2020 when the old house was torn down:

The photos below were taken in June 2009 when Helmut and Martin took us to see the old farm house, at that time, owned by Hilde Laemmlen (Bernd’s mother).  Dad’s cousin, Rudolf (son of Grandpa Rudolf’s brother, Hermann) lived in the house and Hilde cared for him there.  Rudolf had learning disabilities.  He passed in 2015 at age 87.  Hilde’s husband, Kurt died in 1972 after a farming accident.  Hilde took good care of Rudolf.  She died in 2019 at age 88.  She was still living the last time I visited.

Here is the “stall” behind the house where the animals were kept.

Martin, his father, Helmut, and Helmut’s cousin, Rudolf:

We went into the old barn.  Cousin Rudolf LOVED to cut wood.  He would cut and stack the wood in perfect stacks in the barn.

I brought home one of these wagon wheels, a piece and memory of Grandpa’s place.  I wish I could have captured and brought home the smell of this old barn and all of the old equipment in it.  It reminded me a lot of my own Dad’s shop and junk shed, where he kept his treasures.

The things in these photos are Laemmlen things.  They belonged to my people.  I LOVED being here.

These are the bins that were strapped onto their backs when they picked the wine grapes during harvest:

Here are a few photos from inside the house.  The rooms were pretty empty by this time.  Rudolf used a room or two and the kitchen.

Behind the barn was a small garden area that sloped down to the next property.

There’s something so sweet about being “in the place where it happened.”