Facade portrait: Jutta Wrieden

Jutta Wrieden

née Brüssel

* 1940 in Günthersdorf/ Silesia

† 2015, Loxstedt

Immigration to Bremerhaven: 1945

Jutta Brüssel is born as the second child in the small Silesian town of Günthersdorf, now in Poland. The family owns a successful brewery in Günthersdorf, a grocery store, a gas station, a hall operation, a tavern, and engages in agriculture. With the onset of World War II, the lives of the Brüssel family change fundamentally. Parts of the family estate, such as the brewery, are shut down during this time. The operations are partially taken over by mother Martha starting in 1939, as father Erwin is conscripted into the war. In February 1945, Martha decides to flee to the west with her two children and the household help Frieda Winter. Martha is a very independent woman and makes medical trips in the family’s car, a DKW special class. This way, she learns that the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous and decides to leave her homeland under the pretext of a medical trip. At this time, Jutta is four years old.

There, the four are buried under the rubble during a severe bombing attack at their accommodation in the station hotel and are only rescued two days later. Jutta will have a lifelong fear of tight spaces due to this event. The escape takes them further through the Czech Republic to Bavaria. At night, Jutta’s brother Manfred organizes food and fuel for the car. When they reach Bavaria, their car is confiscated and they are instructed to go to the refugee camp Tietz in Bamberg – where they will stay for half a year.

Jutta Wrieden

Father Erwin finds himself in British captivity after the German capitulation and comes to Bremerhaven through a job offer. Through an acquaintance, the rest of the family in Brussels learns about the father’s survival. Erwin travels to Bamberg and is reunited with his family there in October 1945. Together, they set off in an open freight car to Bremerhaven, their new home.

Jutta and her family initially live as subletters on Leher Goethestraße. The family shares a room together. Father Erwin is employed as a master brewer at the Bremerhaven brewery Karlsburg. Mother Martha does tailoring work for customers. The beginning in their new home is difficult. Jutta is often referred to as a refugee child, and she is constantly advised to be quiet and inconspicuous. Nevertheless, Jutta will remember her childhood in Lehe as the “happiest time of her life.” Jutta is an inquisitive child who particularly loves geography and theater performances at school. She attends the Marktschule and later the Theodor-Storm-Schule in Lehe. Jutta was an “absolute outdoor kid”, and whenever brother Manfred, the leader of the children’s gang, shouted “ATTACK!”, it was always Jutta who ran off first.

An “absolute outdoor kid” grows up

Between 1955 and 1957, Jutta attends business school and learns the profession of accountant. After successfully completing her training, she is employed as a clerk at the wire rope factory in Bremerhaven. However, the cosmopolitan and curious Jutta is tempted to work abroad. She seizes her opportunity and works for a year in the Scottish Inverkeilor as a table maid in a castle. After her return to Bremerhaven, she is hired as an accountant at the company H. Baumgarten. When Jutta obtains her driver’s license in 1960, she takes a trip to nearby Loxstedt as one of her first journeys. Here, Jutta celebrates May Day at the restaurant ‘Meinecke’ and meets Klaus-Dieter Wrieden. Jutta approaches the reserved, intelligent young man, and the two feel ‘shock in love’. In 1963, Jutta unexpectedly becomes pregnant. Jutta and Klaus-Dieter receive a lot of support from their families. Klaus-Dieter is to continue studying mechanical engineering in Wolfenbüttel. Thus, the couple decides to live together with Jutta’s parents on Ringstraße in Bremerhaven-Wulsdorf. In June 1963, Jutta and Klaus-Dieter get married, and in November of the same year, their daughter Dagmar is born. In 1965, Jutta joins the family business ‘Haulage Company Fa. Erwin Brüssel’ (now ‘Spedition Brüssel & Maass Logistik GmbH’), which her father Erwin founded in 1948, and continues to work in her profession. In 1965, their daughter Maike is born.

As a family, the Wriedens always have a lot of fun together. They often go camping by the Weser and travel around the world together. Jutta always advocates for her daughters, allowing both to grow up very protected. Jutta enjoys working, is always independent, and after 20 years of working as an accountant at the Bremerhaven Cutter Fishermen’s Association, she finally retires. However, even in retirement, the lively Jutta stays very active. In 1994, she and her husband Klaus-Dieter buy a house in Mallorca and share a passion for art. Jutta especially loves sculpture. She designs many artworks and organizes art exhibitions together with her husband. In 1998, Jutta’s grandson Finn is born.

Jutta Wrieden passes away in 2015. She was “with heart and soul a Bremerhaven native, loved the sea and the wind on her face.”