Double page in notebook, 1926/27
Alfred Ernst Pönisch was born on March 7, 1907, as the seventh child in Hainichen/Saxony and graduated from the local secondary school in 1924. He then studied chemistry at the Technical School of Chemnitz until 1926. Later that same year, he followed his older brother Martin to Chicago, USA – unlike in Germany, he hoped to find a good job as a chemical engineer there. Indeed, he quickly got a job at a soap factory and earned good money. He not only experienced the ‘American Way of Life’ in his apartment, which he shared with two other immigrants from Ireland and Italy – he remained a lover of Italian lifestyle for the rest of his life. During his first ‘home leave’ in 1930, he sought out his former ‘dance partner’ Gertrud, whom he married that same year. Their plans to go to the USA together were thwarted by the effects of the Great Depression: One day before their booked departure from Bremerhaven on October 10, 1930, the USA imposed a strict entry ban on everyone who did not possess or had not applied for American citizenship. This affected Gertrud. Consequently, Alfred returned to Chicago without his bride first – and then left the USA for good in 1931. He found employment in Waldheim/Saxony at the soap company A.H.A. Bergmann. After the war and captivity, he was able to resume work there, now under the name ‘VEB Rosodontwerke Waldheim.’ Due to political pressure, he left the now renamed ‘Florena-Werke’ in 1957/58. He passed away on November 30, 1981, in Waldheim/Saxony.
