Heinz Niederste-Hollenberg - The Great Hollenberg Saga

1000 years of Life,

1000 years of Struggle,

and moments of Happiness.

“The most comprehensive genealogical

data gathering of the 1000 year old

Hollenberg-Family-Tree on both sides of the Atlantic”,

and an amazing discovery: how this ancestral-trunk has given us over

centuries a multitude of branches and buds, of leaves and blossoms

– strong and beautiful – all way to the survival of our times.

Picture on front cover shows:

The backside of both estates,

Niederste-Hollenberg and

Oberste-Hollenberg,

(fall of 2010)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Dedication ........................................................................................................................................10 Dedication • To all families carrying the Hollenberg name, their relatives and friends. • To all who left or had to leave the home-base • To get to know each other. • To better understand their history and our own past. • To learn about the achievements of our ancestors, as well as their grievances and struggles. • To prepare us and our children for the challenges of the future. • To improve the relationships of our people across the Atlantic. • To the place of “Origin” of the Hollenberg Saga. • To the beginning of an old and long story, yet unfinished.

Introduction and Acknowledgement ................................................................................................11 Introduction and Acknowledgement Having reached retirement in 1996, I channelled my ardent interest in history and politics into the investigation of the past of our family and historical events in the area in order to better understand the correlations of the land and the people, their lifestyle and tradition. The fact, however, that I did spent considerable periods of my life on both sides of the Atlantic proved to be most helpful in the pursuit of this project. In writing this story, I dug through old papers, faded pictures, historical data that were available in miscellane-ous archives, and beyond all of it, the many memories of my childhood at the parental home, the old Hollenberg estate. To my surprise, I found old documents, which gave me the opportunity to take a glance at the lives of our ancestors, of many generations which carried our name through at least eleven centuries in time of despair as well as in moments of glory. However, this book should beyond the very personal and private element also help to give an insight to details and developments of our common past on both sides of the Atlantic. Let’s confront us with our history and determine whence we came from. The prime emphasis in this edition is the migration of people across the Atlantic, their reasons and their get-ting along. I have taken some effort throughout this book to explain certain historical facts about their “Why”, the“Why”of those who decided to take their life into their own hands. Instead of starting with the macro picture, I used the micro approach: The basis were many data of several dozen of families gathered and analyzed over years from their familiar historical background in order to find a very per-sonal answer to their “why” --- whatever the circunstances might have been. This question”why”, however, has many answers necessitating some specific explanations of a few historical developments in the early centuries of the Middle-Ages, like: --- The “tithe” and the consequences thereof, first issued by Charlemagne around 782 A.D. at the Imperial Diet near Lippspringe, Saxony, in his attempt to Christianize the territory under his control, after he had subdued the Saxons in a 30 year long struggle.In one of the 14 laws of the “Capitulatio departibus Saxonae”, he declares that every parish is to receive 2 “Hufe” (approx. 50 acres) of land, plus the services of farm hands and maids and the tenth (tithe) of any income.

This Is The Place ..............................................................................................................................16 This Is The Place

The People .......................................................................................................................................17 The People

The Location ....................................................................................................................................18 The Location

This Caused it All ............................................................................................................................20 This Caused it All The documentation of old Church archives from the Bishopric of Osnabrück covering the period of 772 A.D. to 1200 A.D. including the area of Tecklenburg:

Our place, Our Land, Home for Generations of Hollenbergs working the Soil. ............................21 Our place, Our Land, Home for Generations of Hollenbergs working the Soil. Where many others were stampeding the ground for 1000 years and more, like: • misc. Germanic tribes • the Romans • the Saxons • the Franks (Franconians) • other European strangers. Our place: That is the parental home of two boys --- Erich and Heinz ---. Erich, the younger and now the owner, while Heinz, the older moved on becoming a world-citizen with emotional ties to the territory and its people and across the Atlantic. Our place: That is a location along the hills of the “Teutoburger Wald” (a forest) separating the heartland of the current province of Westphalia in the south (“Münsterland”) from the low plains in North-Germany. A region still very peaceful and rural with fine, old farmhouses a largely unspoiled landscape of forests and fertile farm land as well as marsh and heath. And last, but not least, plenty of footprints of history, from prehistoric graves and early settlements and many signs of civilization throughout time. Around 800 B.C. iron began to replace copper; and later great tribal move-ments took place from north to south, with the Goth, the Cimbri, the Teutons, and the Vandals, while the Romans were pushing north.

Where It All Began ..........................................................................................................................22 Where It All Began The only reliable written testimonies from this period were made available by Roman writers like Tacitus. In his book “Germania”, he covers land and people of our area, specifically the Varus battle at 9 AD, which happened to occur only a few miles away. Our part of our history began with a little note in an old history book, a document written in Latin and found in the State Record Office of Lower-Saxony. The particular details were issued by Bishop Philipp of Osnabrück on 14th, April, 1146 A.D. as shown below: (fig.: #1)

Time before A.D. and Early Settlements and Dwellings in the Region ..........................................26 Noteworthy is also: The Episcopate of Osnabrück was founded by Charlemagne in 785 AD as the first bishopric in the land of the Saxons. He appointed Bishop Wiho, a disciple of the Apostel Bonifacius, to serve as the first bishop in Osnabrück in the year 804 AD. All this supports the assumption that these same farms still known today existed indeed, and their families used to live and work there. It is very unusual, that the same family line stayed on, struggled and survived until modern days and show early in the 21st century what happened to the Hollenbergs. However, before going into particulars, I like to look back into the preceding centuries with additional details about the rich culture and historical events of that region. Time before A.D. and Early Settlements and Dwellings in the Region What happened in those earlier times in the country of the Cherusker and the Saxons? The change from a hunter or fisherman to a resident husband-man or stock-farmer took place quite likely around 2000 BC. The findings by Dr. Günther and others during the 1950’s and 60’s have shed additional light onto the history of settlements in this region during ancient times. They uncovered traces, vestiges of oval huts with corresponding pits of settlements and workplaces dating back to the hunter and fisherman period. The sketch (fig.:#3), shows a likely reconstruction of these huts, reflecting details of dwellings from the Feather-Knife (Pen-Knife) period near Westerkappeln. (About 9000 B.C. – 8000 B.C.) This is based on excavation findings similar of Spanish shepherd huts, as shown in a reconstructed ancient fishing hut from the Mediterranean coast of Northern Spain and Southern France.