Karl Schneider Tells the Story of his Life

Karl Schneider Tells the Story of his Life

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

Karl Schneider was born in Germany in 1930. He grew up in the town of St. Augustine in North Rhine-Westphalia with his parents and two sisters. “I most surely had good parents. I remember having a good life and being free until Hitler took over,” Karl said.

Karl said he grew up during the Second World War and he admitted this wasn’t fun. Financially they were an average family because everyone was poor during the war. Karl remembered the rations they had when they were only able to have a loaf of bread a week but this didn’t bother him as they made do with what they had and found creative ways to obtain more foods which included having a garden.

“War is horrible, the things you see. During the last two years of when this war was happening, my family and I slept in cellars because of air raids. They wanted me to go to war but I took the most sensible route because I didn’t report and I went out into the cellar when they came looking for me. A lot of my classmates served in the war and they never came back. We helped dig ditches for the soldiers to find shelter in or sleep in and we tried to help them anyway we could. I was 15 when the war ended. But even after the war, the economy wasn’t that good.”

Karl Schneider lived through the Second World War and he likes his life now as he resides at Heritage Heights where he said the staff must like their job as he has not seen a grumpy face yet.

(Rosanne Fortier/photo)

Karl said he was an average student at school and he went on to community college to pursue commerce. But he never finished college because he had to leave as his father died and they couldn’t afford to pay for the tuition anymore. So, he went into an apprenticeship in a wholesale for a while and then he found out he wasn’t cut out for office work and he started a photography business where he mainly took pictures of people’s weddings. After this, he started working for the post office and did other types of work.

Karl’s wife to be, Christine, lived in a neighboring town and he used to see her around at functions but at one dance he asked her to dance because he thought she was nice. “I thought she was pretty too, she still is,” Karl admitted. Karl then asked his wife what her first impression of him was the first time she noticed him, she replied she felt he was tall and handsome.

Karl married Christine in 1951. At first, they couldn’t get an apartment or anyplace to stay so they subdivided Christine’s mother’s bedroom to fit their family of three. “By 1953 we decided there was still no outlook for years to get an apartment so we applied to immigrate to Canada. We came to Canada with nothing. My wife and children came to Canada after I did in 1956. I worked at various places. I finally found steady work. “

Karl and his wife were blessed with four children. Today, they have six grandchildren which they are proud of.

Karl said Canada is different from Germany in the way food is much more expensive in Germany. They spend at least 50% of what they earn on food. In Canada, people complain about spending around 20% of their income on food.

Karl and his wife eventually settled on a farm near Mannville where they lived for 50 years. This year, they celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary. “We got married with the idea that we were going to stay together. We had a good marriage and got along well but like every marriage, we had our ups and our downs.”

Karl likes living at Heritage Heights now. He said the staff must like working there as they are always friendly and cheerful and they try to help the residents anyway they can.

Karl’s advice to people is to try to save money because you never know when you might need it.