It had indeed been a long time coming. A trip to some hidden roots, going back to the World War II area. My name is Mischa, Russian, somewhat popularized by a Russian children’s book about a little bear. I was bound to receive a Russian name as my mother, Sabine Wocke, had grown up and spent her childhood in Podberez’ye, Russia, as the daughter of one of the German engineers from Junkers in Dessau, Hans Wocke. Hans was instrumental in many ways, mostly known for his engineering prowess, but equally as the ‘cultural director’ of the Germans living in Russia.
Growing up I heard some stories of the 8 years the family spent in Russia, although I was always interested in more. My grandfather, an avid photographer and ‘movie shooter’ had some nice footage of the years, and some evenings were spent with us leafing through albums, splicing old Normal 8 (8 mm black and white movies) back together so we could wind them through the old Bakelite projector, all to quench my thirst for more knowledge of the times. This desire of knowing more about the details only grew with age, and now in my early forties, it seemed like it was about time to, well, see the place. And thus the plan was hatched, to visit Podberez’ye with my father.
Step 1, of course, was the challenge of finding Podberez’ye in first the place, on a map that is. I tried to find it, knowing it was within driving distance of Moscow, and on the Volga. As it turns out, there is no Podberez’ye to be found on modern maps, as it has been integrated into Dubna, the town known for having among the highest ratio of PhD’s per capita in the world and home to a University as well as a particle accelerator (think CERN but smaller). The old Podberez’ye is now known as Dubna III.
Once found, it was time to see if local contacts could be made prior to a trip. With only a few weeks of preparation until the planned departure (the trip was worked in as a side trip to a family vacation in Germany & France), the hunt was on. With only 3-4 weeks to departure time, the results were mixed. We had great luck connecting with one family that had been close to our family, and, low and behold, one member had visited in the past and was kind enough to share photos and a hand drawn map to help us get oriented. However, all formal pathways did not yield much information.
So the plan was forged to fly to Moscow from Frankfurt, stay in Moscow and take a day trip to Dubna via train. The process to obtain a visa raised the question if travel to Dubna would even be permitted. As a ‘last ditch’ effort prior to departure, we contacted the mayor of LaCross WI, USA, the sister city of Dubna, asking if by chance he knew of a local historian in Dubna, that may be knowledgeable of the Junkers history. Much to our surprise, he not only replied but established a connection to a local not for profit doing medical work in Dubna. We were able to connect with the president of the organization, and as it so happened, she was about to leave on a trip to Dubna and offered to establish some local connections for us. Fast forward to the day prior to my departure to Frankfurt to connect with my father, and I am on the phone with the Chief Physician of Dubna, offering to arrange for a pickup in Moscow and indicating that a day trip to Dubna was entirely insufficient for the agenda he had planned for us!
As planned, at the determined date and time we were picked up by Andre, our driver, in Moscow. A swift drive to Dubna found us on the damn creating the Moscow Sea and visting the largest Lenin statue in world, the very same I had seen in photographs taken by my grandfather over 50 years earlier.
Upon our arrival at the hotel, we were informed that the local TV station was on its way for an interview… and thus 3 action packed days in Dubna started.
Nicolai, the local history professor, his granddaughter as translator, and the friend of a previous visitor who assisted in the process of translating from Russian to German and vice versa rounded out our well informed ‘tour guides’ through the village. We made stops to talk to the plant manager of today’s aerospace operation and a visited the local one room museum. Along the way we looked at the former school my mother had attended, German children on the second floor, Russian children on the first floor, and never to mix during school breaks (more on this peculiarity in a later post).
Plant Entrance 2011
Next on the agenda was a discussion with the head of the technology development center, as well as a visit to the impressive satellite control facility. One significant memory was being asked the question of ‘Do you know about the red telephone that connects the Kremlin and the White House?’. We stood right in front of the dedicate gear supporting this important line of global communication! A second interview in the TV studio for our final impressions, a newspaper interview, sharing tea in the backyard of the newspaper photographer who invited us into his ‘Finnish Home’ and seeing several local sites rounded out our phantastic trip.
German Store / Deutscher Laden (still known by that name today!)
Today’s Bookstore, Yesterdays ‘Haushaltswaren Geschaeft’
School Building Main Entrance (To First Floor)
After 2 ½ days of non-stop visiting, talking and connecting, it was time to return to Moscow, but not without a de-tour through Sergei Passat, a key site for the Russian Orthodox Church and a beautiful site to see.
I would like to sincerely thank all individuals that not only made our trip possible, but so enjoyable. I have left out all names in order not to presume permission to use them, but encourage those involved to reveal their identify via this blog.
Junkers in Russland, 1946 - 1954 