Weekly Home News/Home News (Spring Green, Sauk County, Wisconsin), August 11, 1966, page 10, column 1-4:
Fr. Lins Discovers Many "Plain" Names in Visit to Germany
Many Plain and Spring Green area people will be interested in the letter Mr. and Mrs. John Lins received from their son, Fr. Donald Lins, who is in Germany. Fr. Lins recently visited the ancestral homeland of many families in this area. His letter to his parents follows:
Egloss bei Bodensee, Germany
April 1, 1966
Dear Folks--
I hope everyone is well and happy. No news is good news.
Well, I've criss-crossed West Germany from north to south and east to west. I've been in at least 30 homes, and living with German families as I am, I think I get a better picture of the real Germany than the average tourist.
It's almost incredible, but many Germans feel sorry for us living in America. They think that they are living better than we, and I think some of them are. They feel sorry for us because of Vietnam, the race riots, the national debt, etc.
The churches are one-third full on weekdays, many little shrines along the roads. The scenery is beautiful with many flowerboxes on the houses. There are very few billboards, very few bugs.
The things I don't like are the crooked roads and speed-demon drivers, the cool and rainy climate, the Beatle haircuts on most of the young fellows.
They eat very little meat, mostly bread, beer and potatoes. Girls run most of the gas stations, which are mostly Shell and Esso -- "Pack den Tiger in den Tank."
Thursday we went to Munich. There are 12 to 15 major brewerys [sic] in Munich alone. We had a beer in the Hofbrau, a tavern that seats 1200 and has a couple of bands playing "Blastmusik" all the time. Saw the very beautiful Cathedral there.
Dachau, the Jewish extermination camp, was nearby and I suggested going there, but only got a lecture for my trouble. The Germans reminded me that whole divisions disappeared in Russia--that there was no excuse for Dachau, but the Americans aren't saints either. When I'm outnumbered that badly, I shut up.
We crossed the Danube, which is brown, not blue. Stayed overnight at a beautiful little Gasthaus at Fuerstenstein for $1.50.
The next day we drove on north of Passau along the Iron Curtain. There was practically no military activity, but very beautiful scenery. We drove north of Waldmuenchen, the area where most of the Plain people originated from.
In Spielberg, I saw the Hetzl homestead and visited with Louie Hetzel's sister-in-law, Mrs. Alois Hetzl and her son Franz.
In Steinlohe near Treffelstein, we visited with Adam Rerigauer who is on the Lins homestead. He is the friendliest 80 year old man I have ever met. He sends his best to Sepp Lechner. He took us down the hill and showed us the Iron Curtain that cuts through a corner of his farm--high electric fences with watchtowers every half-mile. He pointed out a bunker hidden in the trees and we could see a soldier watching us with his spy glasses.
Rerigauer told me that Liegl is the most common name around there now, but there's a big crop of Ederers coming up. There are Laubmeiers, Hausladens, Bindls, Zangls, Hetzls, Lechners and Wutz. The Linses have all moved away.
He pointed out the church where they formerly went to church, but it is across the border. He said there maybe some Linses buried over there. He suggested I go to the Tiefenbach and Ast cemeteries.
In Tiefenbach Cemetery I found the following names: John and Margaret Wutz, Ludwig and Johanna Ederer, Gabriel and Anna Ringelstetter, Josef, Katherine and Karl Zangl, Karl and Heinrich Ruhland, Josef and Rosina Zangl, Josef and Michael Wittmann, Michael and John Liegl, John Kraemer. Also the names of Ring, Paulus, Laubmeier, Bauer, Gruber and Alt.
In the Ast Cemetery I found many many Liegls, several Meixenspergers, Ederer, Laubmeier, Hetzl, Haas. Also found one Bindl, Haller, Dietl, Kraemer, Wutz, Ringelstetter, Zangl.
In the Ast Church there was a sign begging prayers for the following men still missing in World War II: Alois Ederer, Franz Zangl, Joseph Laubmeier, Alois Bindl, George Hetzl, and Ludwig, Max, Alfons and Josef Liegl. There would probably be more Plain names in the cemeteries, but after 50 years, they tear up the grave and start over.
On Saturday, we drove down through Salzburg and Berchesgarten (Hitler's hang-out) and that has got to be the prettiest place in the world.
Some Air Force pilot did a real job in World War II. You can still see the bomb crater in Goering's private swimming pool. He hit at least 8 bunkers and Hitlers special guard's living quarters. He nailed them all with one string of bombs. They have it preserved.
We went on to Garmisch (the famous ski area) and to Oberammergau (famous for its Passion Play).
This afternoon we are starting for Landeck, Austria to see the motherhouse of our Sisters at the Seminary--and then on to Rome.
Love, Father Donald Lins