Pioneers’ Haven resident shares his story
By Joan Janzen
Anyone who has lived for nearly nine decades has some interesting stories to share, and Helmut Schmidt, a resident at Pioneer’s Haven, is no exception. He was born in Kornthal, Poland, on December 4, 1933, the middle child among five children. His German parents lived and worked on their farm.
He remembers a large room in their house that was used for family church services. His Oma (grandmother) also lived with them. In 1939 the Polish evacuated his family and torched most of the buildings and all the animals on their farm. Later his family returned to rebuild their home and farm, but the German government gave the orders as to how it would be rebuilt.
Photos by Joan Janzen, click for larger images
Helmut Schmidt, a resident at Pioneer’s Haven in Kerrobert, shared his story with Joan Janzen last week. His life, which began in Poland and Germany, eventually brought him to the Luseland area.
His dad had been drafted into the Polish army in the 1920s during the Polish-Russian war. Once again, in 1943, his dad was drafted into the German army and posted in France, right at the time the Allies landed at Normandy on June 6, 1944. Helmut’s dad got hit with shrapnel in his leg after only six days of duty and ended up in a German army hospital at Cherbourg, that was taken over by the American army. At that time, the American army made his dad a prisoner of war (POW) and shipped him to a camp in Texas.
“In 1945, we got kicked off our farm with only two hours’ notice,” Helmut said. “The Russian army had moved in and moved all the German people back to Germany. We spent six weeks on the road travelling to West Germany.” Later the family moved to southern Germany, where Helmut’s mom had relatives.
Helmut did well at school in Germany and, after four years, was pushed into a higher education class, where he stayed in a dorm for boys. He also had to go into the Hitler Jugend, which boys joined at the age of 10. “It was the first training for the army,” Helmut explained.
After the war ended, Helmut’s dad was shipped back to Germany. He worked on a Bavarian farm till after harvest and then went looking for his family. He met another POW who told him where he could find his family. Helmut said his dad always thought the man had been an angel.
In 1948, Helmut’s uncle in Canada helped the family move to the great white north. “We were on a ship for ten days and landed in Quebec City. Then we spent four days on a train and landed at Luseland, which has been home ever since,” Helmut explained.
Helmut’s dad began farming, and later Helmut followed in his footsteps. In Luseland, he attended Thorndale School, got his Grade 9 and then went to work to help his family.
“I was involved with the Bible Memory Association, where you get rewards for memorizing verses,” Helmut said. “I thought if ever I have a family, I would like to have a lady who knows much of the Bible by memory for my wife.”
So when Ruby came to visit a couple of Helmut’s friends in Luseland, she and Helmut soon became acquainted. “We were engaged on my birthday and married on July 4, 1969, which was her birthday,” he said.
Ruby suffered from arthritis and had numerous operations throughout her entire life. The couple had two sons and, after four long years, were able to adopt a baby girl.
Throughout his life, Helmut loved to learn, read, and try all kinds of new things. “Once, I took a hairdressing class to help Ruby because she couldn’t do her hair with her arthritis,” he said. “I was the only man in the class.” He took community classes, a welding course and computer classes.
“We bought the first IBM computer for $8,000.00. It was a great help with my job as church treasurer and for bookwork with the school board,” he said. “I went to Saskatoon to learn to fly and got my solo licence in 1967.”
After 20 years of marriage, Ruby passed away, leaving Helmut with a daughter and son still remaining at home. “I had said when I lost Ruby when the kids are gone, I’ll pull the pin on farming,” he said. So he rented the land to friends and remained living on the farm.
After seven years, Helmut met a German lady named Annie, and they were married for 14 years before she passed away. “After Annie died, I went travelling,” Helmut said.
In 2013 his son took him on a trip to Germany and Poland. He also enjoyed several bus tours to Alaska, the Maritimes, Newfoundland and Labrador and went on two cruises.
After suffering from a stroke, Helmut spent two months in rehabilitation to help with his speech and then decided to move to Pioneer’s Haven. In his room there, he showed me the numerous models he is building and showed me a tiny piece of a model that had been lost and then surprisingly found a day later.
Whether surviving WWII and a communist regime or finding a missing piece to a model, Helmut assured me his Saviour has cared for him every minute of every day.