The John Bartram Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution will meet at a different time this month as members welcome a special guest who grew up behind the Iron Curtain.
The group will meet Friday, Jan. 15 at the Eisenhower Recreation Center. Check-in will begin at 9 a.m. and the meeting will begin 30 minutes later. Masks are required. Reservations also are required for members only and can be made by calling Brenda Thomason at (734) 788-7097 or emailing bjthomason@comcast.net.
The guest speaker will be Gisela Gildemeister, who grew up in East Germany behind the Iron Curtain under extremely difficult circumstances. She will recount her difficult decision at age 17 to leave her family and escape to freedom in the West.
Gildemeister will talk about how life for the post-war East Germans was very difficult under the Soviet regime. Many families would relocate to the West and freedom but in 1961-62, the East German government began designing ways to prevent the exodus, starting with guards and barbed-wire barriers. That eventually included the Berlin Wall being built in 1961, a second parallel wall with a mined area between them and an area known as the “death strip” that was patrolled by thousands of ferocious dogs.
The East Germans lived with this tyranny until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. The reunification of East and West Germany was then made official on Oct. 3, 1990.
“As Americans with almost unlimited freedoms, it is difficult to imagine a life like this,” said Pat Ronci, who serves as media chair of the DAR chapter. “It is why we honor our patriot ancestors, as well as thank each soldier, sailor, airman or Marine – past and present – for those freedoms we enjoy.”
