Objekt des Monats
Jedes Objekt in der Sammlung des Deutschen Auswandererhauses erzählt eine ganz persönliche Auswanderungs- oder Einwanderungsgeschichte. In dieser Rubrik stellen wir Ihnen jeden Monat ein anderes Objekt vor – eine Fotografie, ein Dokument oder ein persönliches Erinnerungsstück.
May 2023
Certificate of discharge, 1946
Historical Context
On the late evening of May 8, 1945, a delegation of the Wehrmacht signs the instrument of capitulation in Berlin-Karlshorst. This officially ends World War II in Europe. During the war, up to 80 million people died due to direct combat effects and crimes committed during the war.
Short Biography
Johann Sebastian ‘Hans’ Dirnhofer is born in 1923 in Amberg. In the 1930s, he completes an apprenticeship as a machinist. In his free time, he takes a glider pilot’s exam. This skill leads to his conscription into the Wehrmacht as an air force pilot in May 1941 at the age of 18. On May 10, 1945 – at which point his unit stationed in Prague has not yet learned of Germany’s capitulation – Hans is taken prisoner of war and transported to Siberia.
Significance of the Object
In 1946, he is released relatively soon after arriving in Munich, also due to a leg injury. This certificate serves as proof. In Dachau, Hans undergoes the denazification process and meets an American officer who turns out to be a former schoolmate. The Jewish family of this schoolmate had fled to the USA in 1938. Hans’ father, a high customs officer, had helped the family export significantly more goods than allowed under the exploitative laws of the Nazis. The officer has not forgotten this and provides Hans with initial accommodation.
After his return home, Hans marries his childhood love, Irmgard. His father secures him a position as a customs officer. But despite the job security, the land of the perpetrators is repugnant to the couple. In 1953, Hans and Irmgard Dirnhofer board a ship to Canada.
Both find part-time jobs in a restaurant in Toronto. After some time in different restaurants, a wealthy Canadian recruits her for household tasks and chauffeur services. After six years in Canada, Irmi and Hans decide to start anew once again – this time in the USA.
The trained machine mechanic Hans rises in the construction industry in the USA. He becomes part of the management level at the construction company Webcor. His wife Irmi is also employed at this company as an office manager in the personnel sector. A few years later, both retire.
Although the couple came from Germany and Hans had been a soldier in the Wehrmacht, both Canada and the USA accepted them only a few years after the end of the war and offered them the opportunity to take on citizenship there. Hans and Irmi stayed in the USA until the end of their lives – they both passed away there in 2013.
Do You Also Have …
… a story of emigration or immigration in your family that you would like to share with the German Emigration Center together with the related objects and documents for its collection? Then please contact Dr. Tanja Fittkau by phone at +49 471 / 90 22 0 – 0
or by e-mail at: t.fittkau@dah-bremerhaven.de