Silent witness

A Baby's Cardigan and Two Certificates

20.09.2021

DOI:

Die gestrickte Babyjacke hat sich im Ostpreußischen Landesmuseum erhalten

Photo credit:

The knitted baby jacket has been preserved in the East Prussian Museum. Ostpreußisches Landesmuseum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Nothing is more closely connected with the circumstances of flight and expulsion than the experience of loss. Three touching objects from the years 1944/1945, which are now in the East Prussian state museum within the German-Baltic department in Lüneburg, bear witness to this.

A white, knitted baby's jacket made of wool is one of the many objects in the permanent exhibition of the East Prussian State Museum that tell of the events around the escape from

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Ostpreußen

deu. Ostpreußen, eng. East Prussia, pol. Prusy Wschodnie, lit. Rytų Prūsija, rus. Восто́чная Пру́ссия, rus. Vostóchnaia Prússiia

Ostpreußen ist der Name der ehemaligen, bis 1945 bestehenden östlichsten preußischen Provinz, deren Ausdehnung (ungeachtet historisch leicht wechselnder Grenzverläufe) ungefähr der historischen Landschaft Preußen entspricht. Die Bezeichnung kam erst in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts in Gebrauch, als neben dem 1701 zum Königreich erhobenen Herzogtum Preußen mit seiner Hauptstadt Königsberg weitere, zuvor polnische Gebiete im Westen (beispielsweise das sog. Preußen Königlichen Anteils mit dem Ermland und Pommerellen) zu Brandenburg-Preußen kamen und die neue Provinz Westpreußen bildeten.
Heutzutage gehört das Gebiet der ehemaligen preußischen Provinz überwiegend zu Russland (Oblast Kaliningrad) und Polen (Woiwodschaft Ermland-Masuren). Das ehemalige sog. Memelland (auch Memelgebiet, lit. Klaipėdos kraštas) kam erstmals 1920 und erneut ab 1945 zu Litauen.

Ostpreußen in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Ostpreußen at Google Maps

in the winter of 1945. Two official documents describe the short life of the infant who wore this jacket. The first is a birth certificate from the registry office in Friedland (East Prussia), now "

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Pravdinsk

deu. Friedland in Ostpreußen, rus. Правдинск, deu. Prawdinsk

Pravdinsk (Russian Правдинск, German Friedland in East Prussia) is a town in the south of Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, about 50 km south of Kaliningrad (German Königsberg). About 4300 inhabitants live in Pravdinsk.

Pravdinsk at Google Maps

" in the Russian

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

rus. Kaliningradskaja Oblast, deu. Kaliningrader Gebiet, deu. Oblast Kaliningrad, rus. Калининградская область, eng. Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast (rus. Калининградская область) is located between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea. The oblast is an exclave of Russia and at the same time its westernmost part. It is inhabited by around 1 million people. The capital of the oblast is Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg).

Kaliningrad Oblast in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)

Kaliningrad Oblast at Google Maps

, which states:

Christina Annamarie Güttler was born on December 22, 1944 in Friedland (Ostpr) Gartenvorstadt 50. Father: assistant machine fitter Wilhelm Erich Güttler, living in Friedland (Ostpr) Mother: Klara Anna Marie Güttler née Döhring, living in Friedland (Ostpr) ... December 28, 1944.

The second document is a death certificate from the "Berlin I" Registry Office, dated 19 September 1946. On it is written:

Christine Annemarie Güttler, resident of Friedland/East Prussia, Gartenvorstadt No. 50 died on January 28, 1945 at 9am on the
OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)
Kaliningrad
rus. Калинингра́д, deu. Königsberg
Kaliningrad (Bevölkerungszahl 2024: 488.690) ist die einzige Großstadt in der russischen Exklave Oblast Kaliningrad, die ungefähr dem nördlichen Teil der preußischen Provinz Ostpreußen vor 1945 entspricht. Königsberg war nicht nur die Hauptstadt der Provinz und die nordöstlichste Großstadt Preußens, sondern ab 1724 auch Königliche Haupt- und Residenzstadt in Preußen. Heute ist Kaliningrad ein wichtiger Hafen- und Industriestandort sowie ein bedeutender Ort für Kultur und Wissenschaft.
Kaliningrad in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Kaliningrad at Google Maps
-Pillau railroad line. The deceased was born on December 22, 1944 in Friedland/East Prussia.

In an account of her work at the Provinzial-Erziehungsheim

OpenStreetMap / Open Database License (ODbL)

Węgorzewo

deu. Angerburg

Węgorzewo is a city in northeastern Poland in Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship. It is inhabit by about 11,000 people and is located not far from the border of Poland with Russia.

Węgorzewo at Google Maps

written about 50 years later, the baby's mother, Klara Güttler, recalled those harrowing and eventful days:

I had married a soldier who served in the 601 Intelligence Regiment from Mauerwald. In October 1944 I had to give up my job because I was expecting a child. ... Then everything happened very quickly. My husband wanted to get me and our child out. The OKH [Army High Command] was stationed in Bad Reichenhall by then. We could no longer get through by train. After that he went missing, my child – only a month old – died when we were on the road, my only brother (18 years old) died in the military hospital – from a bullet to the brain – and my home was also gone, and all that within a single week. Thank God I found my parents again and a second home in Hamburg-Bergedorf.

Klara Güttler held onto the baby's jacket and the certificates – the former in a beautiful, decorated jewelry box. Long after her death in 2001, these things finally found their way to the East Prussian state museum with Baltic German department.

The jewelry box where the baby's cardigan was kept. Ostpreußisches Landesmuseum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Wedding photo of Klara and Wilhelm Güttler. Ostpreußisches Landesmuseum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

English translation: William Connor

Citation

Citation recommendation

Jörn Barfod (2021-09-20): Silent witness. A Baby's Cardigan and Two Certificates. In: Copernico. History and Cultural Heritage in Eastern Europe. URL: https://www.copernico.eu/en/link/6001cc4264f943.41361720 (2026-07-14)

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