For the year 2026 I am participating in Amy Johnson Johnson’s Crow 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks.
I didn’t have to look far for the ancestor I admire, it’s my paternal Grandmother, Maria Becker Krings nee Becker. Maria was born in Hamminkeln just about 5km outside of the city of Wesel. Her parents were the policeman Johann Heinrich Becker and his wife Gertruda Johanna Görtzen. Somehow, I always thought my Grandmother came from a big family, because she had eight children herself. So far I have only been a able to find a brother and a sister. More possible birth and baptisms records are not in the public domain yet.
My Grandmother was always calm, she always smiled and she participated in whatever her large family was up to. I never heard any unkind words from here. She attended church every Sunday.
Grandma lived through WW1 and WW2. She married my Grandfather, Wilhelm Krings in 1907 in Wesel in the Catholic Sankt Martini Church.
And the inside of the church
My Grandmother was also baptized in the church and her parents got married there. Unfortunately the church was destroyed during WW2 during British Air Raids.
My Grandparents raised their family in Düsseldorf were my Grandfather grew up. The first four children, Wilhelm, Trude, Johann and Josef were born from 1907-1914.
Wilhelm Krings & Maria Becker With Their First Born Son Wilhelm
My Grandfather apparently served in WW1 in France and Russia according to a document I found online. It didn’t say where exactly. Unfortunately most military records were destroyed in WW2. My Grandfather came back from WW1 but many men did not. Four more children, Mathilde, Karl (my Dad), Richard and Ursula were born between 1919 and 1929.
My Grandmother with two of her youngest children, Ursula walking and Richard in the pram circa 1929 in Düsseldorf.
Life was good in 1929, their family was complete. My Grandfather had his own upholstery and decoration shop and the family had a nice apartment.
Fast forward to Christmas 1938. A picture of my Grandmother with most of her children and the first grandchild sitting on her lap.
Life was still good in this picture before WW2 broke out in the spring of 1939. My Grandmother in the middle, her oldest daughter, Trude and her husband Heinz on the right side. The two youngest, Ursula, smiling and Richard being held by the oldest. My Grandfather on the left side was cut off. My father, Karl, directly behind my Grandmother and behind him his older sister, Mathilde. I don’t know who the young man is behind her. One of my uncles who died after the war is on the right smoking a cigarette and holding a guitar. Two sons are missing, one was Wilhelm who had to move to the mountains because of his asthma and the other one was Josef who had moved to Berlin and later was killed in Russia.
My Dad and his younger siblings wanted to join the Hitler Youth Groups. Children and teenagers did not have to go to Saturday school if they joined. Thankfully my Grandmother didn’t allow it, otherwise her own children would have spied on her and my Grandfather. It was a very dangerous time in 1938. Freedom of speech didn’t exist.
In 1943 my Grandmother’s Father, Heinrich Becker, was killed in an air raid in Wesel. His body probably was never recovered. His death certificate was not issued until 10 years later. The same year, one of my Grandmother’s son, Josef was killed during a battle in July in Korowina, Russia.
Josef with his son circa 1942, location unknown
Also in 1943 her son Karl, my Dad, was drafted into military service. He had no choice in the matter, all the young men had to serve. My Dad was sent to Russia twice, however he kept getting sick and he had an injury on his leg, they released him from military service. He was one of the lucky ones.
During the war in Düsseldorf my Grandmother and her family were bombed out three times. I don’t know how they managed to find shelter or food, after all they lived in the city and not in the country. There were 243 air raids on Düsseldorf. I can’t even imaging what that was like. My Grandmother lived through it with her family. Even after the war was over, the city was pretty much destroyed. Food was scarce, disease was rampant.
In 1948 she lost another son, Johann. He died in Düsseldorf. In 1952 she came home to find my Grandfather deceased at the kitchen table.
My Grandmother had her faith, I think this is what got her through the terrible times and she had her large family which kept growing after the war. She had 17 grandchildren. She attended all their baptisms, first communions and weddings. Her family had a big celebration for her 80th and 85th birthday.
Grandma with her oldest son Willi and my Dad on his 50th birthday in 1974.
Grandma and me circa 1973 at home in Düsseldorf
When I grew up, none of the adults would talk about the war. I never even heard my Grandma talk about her parents or siblings, at least not that I can remember.
Grandma died in 1975. All the surviving children and all her grandchildren attended her funeral. Her grave was a simple one, just like she would have liked it.
Despite all the hardship she had to endure, she kept going and she stayed positive. I still miss her and I wished I could talk to her about her family and the war.
Do you have an ancestor you admire? Please leave a comment below!
Genealogy Is An Adventure 