June 

Opa Fritz

Excerpts from Hart’s father's 1973 memoirs:

(translated form German)

During the summer months my sister and I stayed often with my uncle and aunt. They lived in a village and had no children. Aunt and uncle were very kind and spoiled us. My sisters was almost two years older and had already started school. I wanted to learn to write too. So my aunt bought me a slate and a slate pen. With aunty’s help I practices strokes up and down, but did not manage to write letters properly. Soon aunt and I gave up. 

                                                         my sister Frida, uncle Karl, me Fritz, aunt Marie

The law demanded that children after turning 6 had to go to school. The schoolmaster used the cane frequently when pupils made a mistake. Although my writing was always criticised and I never achieved the expected standard I learned soon to read and I loved reading. The daily news paper published novels in sequences and in a few years these became my favourite reading. Father demanded that I read more the scripture book. I did and found it interesting too. I also used the scripture book to hide the news paper novel segments. 

The last 4 years of Fritz’s 8 years of schooling happened to be during World War 1.