Kleiboeker Family Tree - Person Sheet
Kleiboeker Family Tree - Person Sheet
NameHedwig Rusch 
Death5 Mar 1945, , , Posen, 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.
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.