DIANNE HOWIE

Mark Van Nattan

All-States Cremation - Wheat Ridge

Mirdza Vollbracht

All Veterans Funeral & Cremation - Wheat Ridge

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Mirdza Emilia (Fridermanis) Vollbracht went home to be with the LORD early Tuesday, June 11, 2019. She was a homemaker and seamstress. Born in Valgunde, Latvia on March 3, 1928, she immigrated to the US with her foster parents Janis & Olga Strauss in 1948. Mirdza was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Delmar in 2009. They were married on March 3, 1950 in Colorado Springs.

She is also survived by 5 children; Vivian (Duane) Sawyer of Newton, KS; Linda (Dale) McLane of Pittsburgh, PA; Sandra Vollbracht of Colorado Springs, Fred (Sarah) Vollbracht of Colorado Springs; and Carol Lee (Ken) Collins of Tucson, AZ; 10 Grandchildren, and 23 Great-Grandchildren.

A Celebration of Mirdza’s Life will be held on Saturday, June 15, at 2:00 pm in Seaman’s Hall at the former Grace Presbyterian Church, 2511 N. Logan Ave., Colorado Springs. Private internment will be at Ft. Logan National Cemetery in Denver, CO.

Mirza Fridermanis Vollbracht Tribute June 13, 2019

Today we are here to celebrate the life of Mirdza Fridermanis Vollbracht who died on June 11th 2019 at the age of 91. We all have our own memories of, we’ll call her, mom, and for me it has been 46 years of them.

In 2010 she came to stay with us for a couple of months. I had time to spend with her, engaging her in conversation about her past and how she came to America, a subject that she rarely talked about.

We are all shaped by our upbringing and the events of our lives. I had the privilege of exploring Mirdza’s past and have gained a great appreciation of what she went through early in life.

Here is a brief history based on her memory as told to me along with some research. She was born in Valgunde, Latvia on March 3, 1928. She did not remember her parents but her last name was Fridermanis. Her mother died before she was four and apparently she and a younger brother were placed in an orphanage. She was told that she was 9th of ten children. She knew nothing about her parents or siblings.

At the age of 6, she was placed in the care of the Latvian Children’s Relief Society from May 14, 1934 until September 29, of that year. At that time she was “given to Janis and Olga Strauss’ family for upbringing without rewards”. Janis and Olga Straus of
Riga, Latvia became her foster parents.

Her father worked for the Interior Ministry as an architect in Riga and her mother was a grade school history teacher. They lived in an apartment in Riga, the capitol, during the school year and summers at their home in Kemeri, a small artsy town known for
their medicinal mud baths.

Those early school days were fairly normal. During the time of Latvian independence she learned a little English in school but that was changed to German when they occupied the country and Russian during the Russian occupation.

As a foster child, she was sometimes treated differently than her foster parents’ biological son. The maid even had a bedroom while Mirdza slept in the dining room on a couch.

Riga was a modern city with electric street cars. Life in Riga meant plenty of stores for shopping and even an open air market. They would walk or take a trolley or train to go places such as work and school.

Her foster mother wanted to have a girl that she could teach how to cook, sew and keep a house. She was also determined to teach Mirdza how to swim in the Bay of Riga while at the summer house. Mirdza said it didn’t work and she never did learn how to swim.

Mirdza had 4 or 5 friends that she enjoyed hanging around with. From their viewpoint life was fairly normal, but things were not good in the world around them.

World War II had started September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Germany had occupied Latvia during WWI and it was after that war that Latvia gained its independence. It was during this time of German advances in World War II that Russia
had offered protection to Latvia from Germany. This “protection” quickly led to their occupation of Latvia in 1940-1941. This time was referred to, as the Year of Terror. During this time the Soviets begin to impose their style of government. Hundreds of men were arrested, including many leaders of Latvia. They were punished as “traitors to the people.” The existing government was liquidated. Immediate confiscation of property and execution within 24 hours was decreed for diplomats who refused to recognize the new regime. They attacked the ‘intelegencia’ people like her father– those who had any influence over people, store owners, teachers, political officials, farmers, engineers, etc. Their land was being taken by the government.

This was happening when she was in the third grade. On June 14, 1941, one of her friends and her family were put into train cattle cars and shipped to Siberia. Another one of her girlfriends was visiting her grandparents when her parents and sister were taken. The battle for Riga continued to be a back and forth between Russia and Germany. The Germans pushed out the Russians then the Russians pushed the Germans back to the western part of Latvia.

It was during this period of forced conscription that her father learned upon returning to his apartment in Riga that officers had been looking for him. He went immediately to the summer house then on to his wife’s sisters’ farm near Ventspils, where the rest of the family had been staying.

In September of that year her father decided that they should go to Bremerhaven, Germany. The German government provided ships for the evacuation. All they took was what could be carried in a suitcase – they intended on returning to their home within a few months. It took them a day or two to travel from Ventspils around Denmark and on to Bremerhaven.

After staying there for one or two days they traveled by train to Halle, Germany. They rented an attic apartment from an old couple that lived just outside of the city. Halle was a safe city because it was headquarters for the Nazi government. She recalled going into town on a trolley to see a movie. On one occasion, sirens sounded and all lights were turned off. After sitting there in the dark for about 20 minutes, the all clear was given, lights turned back on and everybody proceeded as normal. Though the city was virtually untouched by the bombing, it was common for the air raids to happen often.

Her father seemed to stay a step ahead of trouble. Apparently he was warned of an impending attack and decided to move the family south. Sometime after her birthday on March 3, 1944 when she was 16, they left Halle by train. She recalled that bombs were falling on Halle. The trains were full and she got separated from her parents and ended up standing up all the way to Füssen in southern Germany – today that trip takes 6 1⁄2 hours.

Füssen, Germany was a small town along the northern edge of the Bavarian Alps. They stayed there from about April to August of 1944. She stayed with a widow and her son (who had been a soldier) along with another girl. Her parents lived with someone else several miles away. They worked for these people for room and board. Her job was to, milk and feed fourteen cows.

The house she lived in was one with the barn attached to it. The hay loft was above the cows. One day, the owner of this farm discovered a dead German soldier in the hayloft. He was apparently a local man who was fearful that he was going to be killed and committed suicide.

Shortly after that the family moved to the Displaced Persons camp in Augsburg, Germany. The camp was in the American zone, and probably was administered by the International Refugee Organization. Her mother, being a school teacher, helped to establish a Latvian grade school in the camp. Because they had been forced to leave Latvia, Mirdza had to finish her final two years of high school at the camp.

A two bedroom apartment was provided. Two families lived in this apartment which required bunk beds in the kitchen. They apparently had to use a community bathroom.

After completing high school, she got a job working for the International Relief Organization (IRO). She traveled with a chauffeur to visit people in other camps collecting old ID’s and issuing new ones to people needing them She helped to process some of the first Jews who were going to the newly formed, or about to be formed, nation of Israel.

Immigrating to America required a sponsor and theirs was Mr. Whitlock who was the owner of the Whitlock Construction Company in Colorado Springs. It is possible that an organization called the Church World Service may have assisted the family to get to America.

In June they traveled from Augsburg to Bremerhaven for the trip to America. Once they got to Bremerhaven, somehow Mirdza was chosen to work on the ship that was taking them to the US. Six guys and six girls were selected for the job to check people’s ID’s
and paperwork before boarding the ship and to show them where they would be staying on the ship. Typically, families were divided, men staying with men and women with women. Sleeping arrangements were multi level hammock like bunk beds and meals were given in common mess halls and were often eaten standing. Mirdza and the others selected with her got to sleep in separate quarters and eat in the captain’s dining room.

The ship they traveled on was the United States Army transport USAT General R. L. Howze (AP-134). The trip took 12 days to cross the Atlantic. They arrived at a pier (not Ellis Island) in NYC on July 3, 1949 and were met by a Baptist Pastor, who took the family to lunch and gave them a tour all around New York with his car. The next two nights they stayed in an empty parsonage in Yonkers. The next day, being the 4th of July, the pastor took them to see a fireworks display somewhere in the city. While they were in NYC, they met Ray Whitlock, son of their sponsor, who was attending seminary in NYC, and Lois, his bride to be.

They left NYC on July 5, 1949, traveling by bus to Colorado Springs, arriving on July 7. Mr. Whitlock, their sponsor, provided the family with a house he owned near his church, Emanuel Bible Church; now known as Mesa Hills Bible Church.

Delmar Vollbracht, who worked for Mr. Whitlock was assigned the task of showing Mirdza and family the sights around town. Delmar and Mirdza were married on March 3, 1950 in Colorado Springs. They had five children–Vivian, Linda, Sandra, Fred in and Carol.

Mom had high standards in her work, enjoyed the finer things of life, but held onto things lightly. I believe we can understand her better and love her for who she was when we understand what she had been through. Her faith in God has been her enduring strength. In her final days she talked about heaven a lot and wondered what it would be like. She recently said that she had a good life and could not complain, although she said that she complained maybe too much while it was happening.

We can rejoice with her because she can now see, hear and walk.

We will miss that great smile and her sense of humor…and her cookies.

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