Born after her father died. The Kreft family, 1897
In May 1897 the laborer Józef Kreft dies in Kosowo, Kashubia. His wife Zuzanna is pregnant. Their daughter Helena is born in November and will never know her father.
The historical background
How did a laborer's widow live in 1897?
Kashubia was part of Prussia then. From 1889 Germany had a state insurance for old age and disability. It paid nothing to widows or orphans. A widow's pension came only in 1912. Until 1927 it went only to a widow who could no longer work herself.
In May 1897 Zuzanna was left alone, pregnant, with no pension at all. In 1919, when Helena married, she was still living in Kosowo.
Józef's mother, Franziska, later married a man named Bach. Józef kept her maiden name until he died.
Zuzanna signed her husband's death record herself. In a village that was not a given. In 1895 Franz Rompa from Pomieczyno registered the birth of his son August. The clerk wrote that Franz could not write. Three crosses stand under the record.
That boy, August, married Helena in 1919. Both of them signed the marriage record with their own names.
Next to the name of Helena's father, her marriage record has one word: late.
Documents shown in the film
These are the real archive scans you see in the film. Each one has its archive reference, so anyone can check the source.
Narration
This girl never saw her father.
Not once.
Kashubia, the village of Kosowo, 1897.
Józef Kreft is a laborer.
He is 33.
He has been married to Zuzanna for five years.
On the 30th of May, at eight in the evening, Józef dies.
The next day Zuzanna goes to the registry office herself.
She reports her husband's death and signs the record with her own hand.
She is pregnant.
On the 2nd of November she gives birth to a daughter.
She names her Helena.
Helena grows up without a father.
Just like he did.
When Józef was baptized in 1863, the priest wrote one word in the father's column:
unehelich. Illegitimate.
Józef took his mother's surname.
Zuzanna had also lost her father before her wedding.
The clerk wrote: daughter of the late laborer.
In 1919 Helena marries.
The same words again:
daughter of the late laborer Józef Kreft.
She signs her own name, just like her mother.
Three generations. Three records.
In each one, the father is missing.
Do you know the name of your great-grandmother's father?
Tell us in the comments.
Ex Archivis. We find out where your family comes from.
Sources
- Civil death record, Seefeld (Przodkowo) registry office, 1897, no. 39 (State Archives in Gdańsk)
- Przodkowo parish baptisms, 1863, entry 41 (State Archives in Gdańsk)
- Civil marriage record, Seefeld (Przodkowo) registry office, 1891, no. 36 (State Archives in Gdańsk)
- Civil marriage record, Seefeld (Przodkowo) registry office, 1919, no. 55 (State Archives in Gdańsk)
Scenes marked “Staged scene” are reconstructions. The documents are real.
This film on social media
Want us to look into your family?
Tell us where your ancestors came from. We will reply with how far back the records of that area go.