Richard Senger- The Long Road

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Richard Senger- The Long Road

By Mark Rabideau on September 8th, 2009 | 85 reads | Print This Post

In late winter of 1944/45, the Senger’s farm was taken by advancing Russian troops, their furniture and possessions were stolen, their lives unalterably change. The rest of the village of Zeyervorderkampen was destroyed during the invasion and immediate time thereafter. Ultimately, the Senger farm was left as the sole ‘undamaged’ farm in Zeyervorderkampen; it was given to a Polish family. It was no longer the Senger family farm and lands. Retribution was never offered by the invading countries and it was not accepted by Richard when it was offered by the German government. There was simply no compensation adequate to cover the loss of the Senger family lands. Ultimately, the German government did provide Richard a pension for both his WW1 and WW2 service.

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Having lost ownership of his farm in 1945, Richard was forced, at gun point and threat of death, to work as a ‘slave’ on his family farm by the Russians. His wife Frieda was abducted (taken and forced) by the Russians to work in Chelyabinsk ITL (Work Improvement Camp) in the Urals (She was captured and taken prisoner by the Soviet Army on March 17, 1945). These these hardships and travails were to continue for more than two years. At the same time, his son (Erich) was interred in an English prisoner of war camp and his daughter (Luise) was in the American Zone of Germany, in Bavaria.

Finally one day at the age of 68 (early 1947), Richard could tolerate the situation and his servitude no longer. He packed all his papers and possessions into a coffee can and set off on foot to reach the West German border. As he began his walk Russian soldiers pulled their rifles, took aim at his back, and threatened to kill him; but he walked on into his uncertain, unknown future nonetheless.

He walked alone through ‘the new’ communist Poland, and the ‘new’ communist East Germany. In Poland, his official identification papers and bank books were confiscated by ‘officials’ at various checkpoints. Finally after an almost 600 mile ordeal, Richard arrived at Murnau in Bavaria. Shortly thereafter, Erich, having returned from his incarceration as a British (Prisoner of War) PoW, was located by Richard through an open letter published in a newspaper. Richard had only searched for his son Erich because as far as he knew Frieda (Richard’s wife) and Luise (Richard’s daughter) were ‘lost’.

In late 1947, his wife, Frieda, finally returned from her ordeal in the Russian gulags. At about the same time, Luise found her family through the offices of her employer- the American Army.

Along with their son Erich, the Sengers built a new life for themselves in Bavaria. While in 1950, Luise went on to live with her American husband (Fred Rabideau) and their soon-to-be new family in the United States.

a composite of verbal stories related by Luise Senger Rabideau to her children Linda & Mark, as well as Russian, German and American Documentation