Kleiboeker Family Tree - Person Sheet
Kleiboeker Family Tree - Person Sheet
NameHedwig Rusch 
Death5 Mar 1945, Pommern, Germany
FatherAugust Eduard Rusch (1866-1945)
MotherBertha Karolina Drews (1870-1945)
Notes for Hedwig Rusch
Hedwig was killed in 1945 in the streets of Wirsitz by Russian aircraft strafing guns.
Here is the way Glenn Kruse tells the story, that he heard from Hedwig’s son Hans:
Hedwig was fleeing Wirtsitz in March of 1945 with her son, Hans and her parents August and Bertha Rusch. The Russians were closing in and Russian aircraft with machine guns were shooting (strafing) people in the streets as they were running to escape. Helga who was unmarried at the time had a son, Hans, too young to have been drafted. As they were fleeing, all 4 of them were shot at, but only Hedwig was killed. The other three watched in horror. The three of them continued to migrate west away from the Russian troops to Stettin. August and Bertha were 79 and 75 years of age, repsectively, at that time. They eventually made it to a refugee camp on the island of Rueggen. August died there on September 7 of 1945 and his wife Bertha died on October 12, 1945.
In looking at this story in 2019, I don’t believe that Glenn had gotten the story right. Wirtsitz was in West Prussia, East of Pommern. It is definitely the area where all the Rusch’s originated and from where David, Louise, Auguste, Frederich, Emil, Otillie, Hulda, all left to immigrate to America during the period 1892 to 1903.
But the border line which was part of the Versailles Treaty in 1919 to end WW1, defined new German / Polish Borders. As a result of this, Wirtsitz was in Poland from 1919 on. The Germans living in West Prussia and Posen (where Wirtsitz was located) had to move to other areas.
One alternative is that she was in Gross Spiegel with her parents at the time of her death. From other records we know that Hedwig’s parents, August and Bertha lived in Gross Spiegel, Kreis Dramburg, Pommern, which is now Pozrzadlo, Poland at the end of WW2. For the period between WW1 and through the end of WW2, Gross Spiegel was in Pommern and still a part of Germany. This town was just 129 km (80 miles) from Wirtsitz. Most likely the Rusch’s, that did not immigrate to America had to move in 1919 over to Pommern as the new border was only a few km to the West.
The other alternative is Neustrelitz. We have a birth record that Hedwig’s son Hans was born there in 1929, so she could have still been living there up to 1945.
Here is the way Glenn Kruse tells the story, that he heard from Hedwig’s son Hans:
Hedwig was fleeing Wirtsitz in March of 1945 with her son, Hans and her parents August and Bertha Rusch. The Russians were closing in and Russian aircraft with machine guns were shooting (strafing) people in the streets as they were running to escape. Helga who was unmarried at the time had a son, Hans, too young to have been drafted. As they were fleeing, all 4 of them were shot at, but only Hedwig was killed. The other three watched in horror. The three of them continued to migrate west away from the Russian troops to Stettin. August and Bertha were 79 and 75 years of age, repsectively, at that time. They eventually made it to a refugee camp on the island of Rueggen. August died there on September 7 of 1945 and his wife Bertha died on October 12, 1945.
In looking at this story in 2019, I don’t believe that Glenn had gotten the story right. Wirtsitz was in West Prussia, East of Pommern. It is definitely the area where all the Rusch’s originated and from where David, Louise, Auguste, Frederich, Emil, Otillie, Hulda, all left to immigrate to America during the period 1892 to 1903.
But the border line which was part of the Versailles Treaty in 1919 to end WW1, defined new German / Polish Borders. As a result of this, Wirtsitz was in Poland from 1919 on. The Germans living in West Prussia and Posen (where Wirtsitz was located) had to move to other areas.
One alternative is that she was in Gross Spiegel with her parents at the time of her death. From other records we know that Hedwig’s parents, August and Bertha lived in Gross Spiegel, Kreis Dramburg, Pommern, which is now Pozrzadlo, Poland at the end of WW2. For the period between WW1 and through the end of WW2, Gross Spiegel was in Pommern and still a part of Germany. This town was just 129 km (80 miles) from Wirtsitz. Most likely the Rusch’s, that did not immigrate to America had to move in 1919 over to Pommern as the new border was only a few km to the West.
The other alternative is Neustrelitz. We have a birth record that Hedwig’s son Hans was born there in 1929, so she could have still been living there up to 1945.