Jaroslav Böhm
Böhm is his surname, and he comes from Bohemia. That much is certain. However, his first name is where things start to get tricky. “Jaroslav,” as his granddaughter Brigitte Böhm says and writes. In the city’s address directory of Bremerhaven, where he immigrated as a young man in his twenties, he is listed as “Jareslaw.” Details about his birthday vary by a day: he was born on either May 30 or May 31, 1881, and according to documents, he was indeed born in Zvoleněves. The Bohemian village belonged to Austria-Hungary at the time of his birth, and it still was when Jaroslav Böhm left it for good in the winter of 1906/07. He was first registered in Lehe in February 1907. What brought him to Bremerhaven is uncertain. Brigitte Böhm, who never got to know her grandfather personally, knows from her father’s stories that he went to the German Empire to find work. It is likely that the trained saddler hoped to find a position in the booming shipbuilding industry of Bremerhaven. A family story provides insight into his pragmatic character: at the border to the German Empire, he was stopped because of his violin – which he was informed needed to be taxed if he wanted to take it with him. “Well, then not,” he reportedly said and promptly broke the violin over his knee. Instead of an instrument, he brought kindling wood over the German border … What is known is that Jaroslav Böhm found work as a car painter in Bremerhaven. The saddler knew how to take care of himself. The occupational title “Painter” also appears, about 40 years later, in his entry in the death register. One thing is certain: the Böhm never left Bremerhaven-Lehe again! From Zvoleněves, his parents initially followed him; and then he brought his fiancée Barbara over. She also came from Bohemia. The two married in Lehe on March 1, 1908. Of the total of six children recorded, only two reached adulthood: Cäcilie and Helmut. In addition to the early death of four children, Jaroslav Böhm had to cope with the death of his wife in 1928. Even though Jaroslav Böhm only left Bremerhaven (or Wesermünde) for short trips, his nationality changed several times, completely without his involvement – the entry under his name in the city’s register mirrors the history of his time. When he immigrated in 1907 as an “Austrian,” he received “Czechoslovak” citizenship after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918; after the Nazi annexation of the Czech part of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, he became a “Reich German.” Although he lived to see the end of World War II, he never officially became a “Czechoslovak” again. Jaroslav Böhm died on the morning of January 5, 1946, in the hallway of an apartment building in Lehe at the age of 64.
A portrait of Jaroslav Böhm is one of the faces that has been displayed on the facade of the new German Emigration Center since June 2021. Before the inauguration of the extension with the artistically designed facade, the Nordsee-Zeitung introduced the individuals behind the faces. You can watch the corresponding film portrait of Jaroslav Böhm here.