Hans and Helga's Corner

About Helga’s career, hobbies, and interests written posthumous from her notes.

• Included herein
  • Teaching Career and Material for German 182pgs 250315
  • Rudolf Poertner (father) 1937-1948 and De-Nazification 98pgs 250315
  • Fuerstenaustrasse 10 Herford 1920-2012 115pgs 250315
  • Helga’s Jewelry 28pgs 240620
  • Helga’s Friendship Award 7May2009 and other GTHS Awards
  • Helga Koblenz Sister City 25Sept1990

Teaching Career and Material for German

This compendium is a collection of material and photos that Helga accumulated for the classes she taught.  In 1972 Helga received a Bachelors’ in Art from South Carolina University in Foreign Language Teaching in German and French.  From then on, wherever Hans was stationed in the US Air Force, Helga would become a Certified Foreign Language Teacher.  She taught in schools in South Carolina, Alabama, and Austin Texas.  Material included how to read a German Menu (Speisekarten), how to cut Paper figures and patterns (Scherenschnitte), and read Old German Script.

Rudolf Poertner 1937-1948 and de-Nazification

Rudolf held a Civil Servant position in the City of Herford, Stadtinspektor.  To keep his job, he had to become a member of the Nazi Party and take the Loyalty Oath.  After the end of the war [8 May 1945 in Europe] Rudolf was investigated by the “Germany De-Nazification Chamber/Committee” by the Military Government in the British Occupied Zone.  During this investigation Rudolf lost his rights to hold a job for over 2 years [5 September 1945 to 1 November 1947] because he held the position of Block Leader within the Nazi Party.  Rudolf and his family also had their bank accounts and assets blocked for 2 years and 3 months [8 November 1945 to 28 January 1948].

FuerstenauStrasse 10 Herford 1920-2012

This is a compendium about the house that Helga lived in as a child, Fürstenaustraβe 10 (or Fuerstenaustrasse 10) in Herford Germany.  Contains some maps. A description of the house and its history in Helga’s own words.  Documents concerning the issues when the house was considered ‘property of the enemy’ because it was owned by Gustav who lived in America and was a US citizen during WWII.  And also a collection of photos of Fürstenaustraβe 10 as it changed from 2012 back to 1938 (the year after Helga was born, March 1937).

Helga’s Jewelry

On 8 June 2019, Helga (neé Pörtner) von Schweinitz died.  In her collection of personal items was her jewelry.  Back in 1998 she wrote to her daughter a letter that included photos and descriptions of her more personal jewelry. 

Helga’s Friendship Award 7May2009 and other GTHS Awards

This compendium first starts with the numerous other awards that Helga received while a member of GTHS and then covers the Friendship Award.

Helga Koblenz Sister City 25Sept1990

This compendium starts with Helga von Schweinitz trip to Germany in 1990.  One of the main purposes of the trip was to establish a “Sister City” relationship between Koblenz Germany and Austin Texas.  This relationship was the accumulation of years of work between delegations from Austin and Koblenz.