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Tagged With ""Finding Reiner""

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Re: Finding Reiner #2: Chasing Ghosts

Sarah Towle ·
So compelling! Keep the posts coming. I'm hooked! Absolutely.
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Re: Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows

Bluragger ·
Reiner was such a dutiful letter writer that we have this info allowing us to retrace these steps. Amazing resources - Reiner's letters and Whit's dogged research. Loving this story more each day.
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Re: Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows

Mac ·
This makes a fascinating read, well done! My father-in-law Hans Esser was from Cologne (had sung as part of the choir in Cologne cathedral) and served on submarines (unwillingly) during the 2nd W.W. war. Their sub was attacked several times and finally they were forced to surrender. He was taken prisoner and interned in England. The prisoners then helped on the local farms which was where he met his future wife Vera. They married just after the end of the war and had the difficult privilege...
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Re: Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows

HistoryDigger ·
Mac-TG Guru--Fascinating story, yours. Your parents' romance reminds me of such fictional stories in the British series Foyle's War . Have you seen that? The show highlights romance between German POWs and English farm girls. I would love to know more of your father's history. I also wish I could interview your father or find other elderly residents who remember life here during the war. So much better when it comes from a resident than from a historian who was not here then. How long were...
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Re: Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows

Paul Heymont ·
Thank you for the continuing story, and especially to the link for the Stolpersteine. It is so important (I keep saying this!) for us to remember the people more than the "leaders," and not allow them to become mere numbers.
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Re: Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows

Travel Rob ·
Whitney your story about Reiner and retracing his steps gets people thinking about their own life and family too, so beyond being fascinating history, it's very relevant to us all.25 years ago this summer I went through an incredible ordeal in Europe. Your journey for Reiner has me thinking back to that time and has me thinking of retracing some steps too.Keep it up and thank you!
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Re: Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows

HistoryDigger ·
Travel Rob, I hope we will hear more about your ordeal. You've got me hooked with that teaser line.
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Re: Finding Reiner 4: Who Was He?

Travel Rob ·
Thanks for another moving piece. Those illustrations by Maria Lebedeva are museum quality!
Blog Post

TravelGumbo Blogger HistoryDigger Wins National Travel Journalism Award

Paul Heymont ·
We at TravelGumbo are incredibly proud and pleased to announce that Whitney Stewart, HistoryDigger on Gumbo, has won a Bronze Award from the North American Travel Journalists Association for the 8-part series Finding Reiner, which ran  in 2014....
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Finding Reiner #7: Shrapnel & Bones

HistoryDigger ·
    Paweł and I are back in his little red car on one-lane Polish roads behind tractors. Google Maps underestimates our driving time, and we’re going nowhere fast. Nothing fazes Paweł though, and he's ready with cameras for any kind of...
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Finding Reiner #8: Trail's End?

HistoryDigger ·
  I’m reluctant to say goodbye to Łukasz and his family because now I want to buy my own metal detector and continue digging in Poland. But, Paweł and I have a long drive ahead to Świeradów Zdrój , a Polish spa town in the...
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Finding Reiner: Disaster to Discovery

HistoryDigger ·
On Monday August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. My son, my elderly German mother-in-law, Lütte, and I were hunkered down in my husband’s office at Tulane Medical School. Our decision to stay seemed smart at the time. My...
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Finding Reiner 4: Who Was He?

HistoryDigger ·
After a brief holiday, I am back to Finding Reiner. I am writing this family mystery as a travelogue ( and as a graphic book illustrated by the fabulous Maria Lebedeva whose illustrations I include here ) for two reasons. First, war stories mean...
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Finding Reiner #6: Frozen Grave

HistoryDigger ·
" To be honest, I no longer try to calculate how things are going to turn out in this war. No one is going to escape unscathed. One must not be miserly with the little life that we have. Those who are anxious and fearful, they will be struck first....
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Finding Reiner #5: Behind the Veil of Time

HistoryDigger ·
Reiner’s grave in Poland used to be unmarked, but I’ve made three trips to this beautiful country to fix that one error of war. My upcoming posts will highlight the progression of my research here to learn Reiner’s fate.   In...
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Finding Reiner #3: Inside Old Shadows

HistoryDigger ·
My “Finding Reiner” blog continues to be a challenge in crossing historical time zones. Reiner’s old letters describe his school and neighborhood, and I search 1940s maps and the Internet to find my route to his past. If I had...
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Finding Reiner #2: Chasing Ghosts

HistoryDigger ·
I'm deep into last-minute research for my "Finding Reiner" adventure. My suitcase is  packed with device chargers, plug adaptors, Swiss Army knives, bandaids, spare batteries, and clip-on, flat water flasks for the trail. But, my desk is covered...
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'Finding Reiner' letters now available as book

Paul Heymont ·
The letters behind the prize-winning series Finding Reiner, published here, are now available in hardcover or Kindle.
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