Elfriede Marianne Plostins

A reception will be held at the Plostins home in both Maryland and New York. RSVP is requested by October 26, 2014 for those who will be attending. Please contact the funeral home for more information.

In Loving Memory
ELFRIEDE MARIANNE PLOSTINS

October 27th 1914
October 1st 2014

Elfriede Marianne Plostins née Baedeker born in Ellwuerden bei Nordenham in Germany on October 27th 1914 passed quietly in her sleep on October 1st 2014 just before her 100th birthday. She is survived by her son and daughter Peter Plostins and Anke Vensler, her son in law Axel Vensler and her two nieces Mareike and Maren Vensler. Mutti or Frieda to us and her friends, she was a beloved mother and grandmother to us all!

Mutti grew up very poor in Germany after the First World War and survived the Second World War in Oldenburg Germany. She was born to Marie Badaeker, née Lohse and Johann Hinrich Baedeker after her father left for the war to fight on the Western Front in mid-1914. He was an engineer who had a home building company in Oldenburg and as such served in that capacity in the German Army during the war. He was to come home on leave in 1916 after being wounded but never made it home because he was sent to the Russian Front right from the hospital. He was killed by a Russian sniper while building a bridge across a river. Mutti hardly even knew her father, she was just two at the time. Her mother had to sell the business but it was mortgaged significantly so her mother, sister, Gertrud Osterloh née Baedeker were left destitute.

Marie Baedeker was a nurse but there was no work in post-war Germany so she got the family through by sewing clothes for others. My mother always talked about how they only had very simple and little food and how she and her sister would walk an hour to school in their bare feet in the summer and in wooden clogs in the winter. As she grew up she learned to sew, cook and was a gymnast in Vocational High School in Oldenburg. Her mother saved up and bought her a beautiful old violin so she could learn music in school. She always regretted not having mastered the instrument and music because she loved music deeply. We still have the violin. It is completely restored and our dear friends Peter and Sidra Silton's daughter Mariam played it for her and it made her so happy to hear the truly beautiful sound that came out of the violin.

Germany of the 20's and 30's was in a great depression and after school Mutti had to work to help support the family and went to work for the Gauleitung, a bureaucracy for the government in Oldenburg. As required, she was pressed to join the Nazi party and told her supervisor that she was really poor and could not afford the yearly dues and thus never became a member of the party. I do not think Mutti was particularly political ever until years later when she and my father Harijs Plostins started to watch television news and she became a staunch believer in the American Constitution, freedom and was a conservative to the end.

In 1939 she married Walter Figge, her first husband, who was a radioman with the rank of Sargent in the Luftwaffe. He was killed on the Russian Front in 1944 after being shot down the 5th time. So Mutti lost both her first husband and her father to the ravages of the great conflicts of the 20th century. A tragedy that we believe never quite resolved during her lifetime. She spoke of the bombings, air battles, parachutes and wounded soldiers that she saw in Oldenburg. She survived a 500 Lb. white phosphorus bomb that landed next to her as she was running out of her home. Thank God it was a dud otherwise we would have only truly been a glimmer in Mutti's eye.

After the war she met our father, Harijs Plostins, when he served in the British Army on the Rhine and was billeted in her home. He was a displaced person from Latvia and in order to come to the United States had to serve in one of the allied armies. They married in 1951 in Germany and came to the United States on November 14th 1951 on the Liberty Ship the USS General Ballou and arrived at pier 47 in New York.

Seven months later to the day on May 14th 1952 she had a son, Peter Plostins, in Greenpoint Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Evil little tike who couldn't do anything right, according to father anyway. Shortly after that they moved to 507 West 171st Street in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. One and a half years later my sister Anke was born in the Bronx on February 20th 1954. My parents lived in Washington Heights till 1981.

Mutti and Pappi became the superintendents of the 30 family brownstone. It was one of their first jobs. We grew up there, they lived and worked three jobs there, provided for us and our education. They had come as immigrants to escape oppression with 50 cents in their pocket. As with many European immigrants of the time they were deeply steeped in the concept of a classical education for their children. They made my sister and I do gymnastics, have piano lessons, go to the German school in Yorkville and even take ballroom dancing lessons. Along with the then New York City Public School system, one of the finest education systems of that time, both my sister and I received a truly classical education in our heritage and as Americans. We are still blessed today with the fruits of that education. We grew up with the chance to mingle with the diverse emigrant treasure of Washington Heights. It was a German, Irish, Polish, Italian, Greek and Jewish neighborhood. It was truly the American melting pot of the greatest generation. If it had not been for Mutti's and Pappi's efforts and sacrifice on our behalf, we would not be who we are today. It is a loving treasure we will take to our graves.

Mutti and Pappi struggled with three jobs for all the years we grew up in Washington Heights. Mutti was a medical transcriptionist at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and retired from that position at the age of 65. She went back to Oldenburg in Germany many times over the years so she could see her mother who still lived in Oldenburg in the Von Kobbe Strasse. She took Anke and me with her on most of these trips. We have warm memories of staying with Omi in Oldenburg and going to the beach on the North Sea island of Wangerooge. Anke married Axel Vensler and moved back to Oldenburg in Germany. I stayed with Mutti and Pappi and lived with them since I did not have enough money to go away to college. So my college days consisted of working two to three jobs, sleeping at home and taking the A Train to school. Finally in 1981 I was finished with school. I married Anna Kostro however to my great regret the marriage did not work out and after nine years we were divorced. The neighborhood had gotten so bad in 1981 that we moved out to a new house in Bellerose, Queens, New York. Mutti spent the best years of her life there. She had wonderful neighbors, Mary and John, Carmella and John, Marianne, Timmy and their children, Vinnie, Margie and their children Lauren and Matthew and most of all, Rudy, her next store neighbor. She had her garden, flowers and could grow her tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers every year. We had many visitors from all over the old country and all over the US. She and my father always invited everyone to come to New York and stay. She almost ran a German bed and breakfast. Mostly it was my sister, Anke, her daughters Mareike and Maren, their father Axel and their friends from Germany. She always insisted that the guests got the best rooms in the house, which always resulted in my love affair with sleeping in the basement. She was a good cook but preferred simple food, however, always laid out a great table for all who came to visit. We enjoyed many years of parties and barbeques in the back yard garden as well as block parties every two years with all our great neighbors.

From 1981 to 2009 this was our home and even though I was working for the Army in Maryland, I would come home most weekends and spend time with them. Pappi had also retired and slowly his health failed him. He passed in 2009 and Mutti was already 93 so she moved to Belcamp, Maryland with me but early in these last few years we would always go back to Bellerose to see all Mutti's neighbors and friends. My sister and her family, especially her daughters, loved the glamor of New York City and took every opportunity to visit so we were in Bellerose a lot.

But Mutti also became a celebrity with all of my dear friends in Maryland. She would bake her German Apple Cake for all the folks that worked with and for me. We would have parties in Belcamp with all my friends, family and many of my co-workers from the US NATO alliances, the Army Research Laboratory and the US Defense Industry. They came to visit and met Mutti at the parties. They always came back to see Mutti and have Apple Cake. Many became family friends and come to visit to this day. They would listen to Mutti tell them about the old days in Germany and her experiences spanning the two great World Wars of the 20th century. She loved it when Charlie Nietubicz and I would play music for St. Patrick's Day at St Agnes Church in Rising Sun Maryland in the Irish Polka Band. She loved old-time American, German and Irish music. She made beautiful flower arrangements for spring, summer, fall and most of all Christmas. She gave these freely to all who asked and many people now have one of Mutti's flower arrangements and her German Apple Cake Recipe. She loved watching Lawrence Welk every weekend on public television and her favorite movie every Christmas; White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. Oddly enough, when Mutti worked at the hospital, she actually worked with Rosemary Clooney's aunt. So watching White Christmas became a family tradition but she adored the music and I believe deeply felt for the soldiers that had served in World War II and what the movie represented. She could identify with what they had experienced.

Mutti taught us dignity, honesty, perseverance, tradition, German language and history. She taught us to set a fine table, cook, sew, love music, value our heritage and care about our friends and loved ones. She rose from poverty and truly lived and earned the American Dream through hard work and perseverance. One of my best friends, Giff, always said what he loved about my mother was that she "never saw herself as an old lady." She was a great mother, a gift of life, a class lady and a simple girl from Friesland and Oldenburg in Germany. This is reflected in her two favorite songs sung by Lale Andersen, das Friesenlied, a song about her homeland and Lili Marlene, the most famous love song of World War II.

She will be dearly missed, deeply loved in the soul of our existence and remembered till the day we pass. May she take a closer walk with God home in Friesland and Heaven!

In Loving Memory!
Peter, Anke, Axel, Mareike and Maren

Blessing
Rest in Peace
An Unsere Deutschen Vervandten, Familie und Freunde

Liebe
Auf dem Weg durch die Trauer
Tröstet uns die Liebe.
Sie umfasst und umschliesst alles:
Leid und Trauer, Glauben und Hoffnung,
Leben und Sterben, Zeit und Ewigkeit
Menschen, die wir lieben,
ruhen nicht in der Erde,
sondern in unserem Herzen.
Hab keine Angst,
etwas von dem zu verlieren,
was die gemeinsame Zeit reich gemacht hat.
Denn all das, was in deinem Innersten
Spuren hinterlassen hat, bleibt
In deinen Erinnerungen lebendig.
Sie sind das Tagebuch deines Herzens,
in dem du blättern darfst, wenn du dich
nach jenen Bildern sehnst, in denen du
Vergangenes wiederfinden kannst.
In schönen Erinnerungen
Lächelt die Vergangenheit zurück.


German Apple Cake Recipe
by
Elfriede Marianne Plostins

Enough for One 10" Cake Pan
Ingredients:
1/4 lb of butter (1 stick)
¼ lb of Sugar (1/2 Cup)
½ lb of Flour (2 Cups)
1 Large Egg
Teaspoon Cinnamon/ Two Heaping Table Spoons of Sugar
Lemon Juice from one Lemon
Shot of Rum
½ box of Golden Raisins
Rubbed Rind of one Lemon
5-7 Apples (Macintosh are the best)
2 ½ Teaspoons Baking Powder
Essence of vanilla
Preparing the Apples
Peel the apples, cut in slices, mix with ½ of the lemon juice, table spoon of sugar, raisins and par boil with a little water until soft but firm. Mix in rum and drain excess moisture. Let it cool.
Dough
Mix ¼ lb butter and sugar first and then whip in egg until light yellow. Then slowly mix in flour, 2-3 table spoons of milk, lemon juice from the other ½ of the lemon, lemon rind, two drops of vanilla essence, a little rum and finally putting in baking powder with the last of the flour. The mixture must be soft to the touch but must still be able to be rolled out with a roller.
Preparing the cake
Rub 10" cake pan with butter, throw in a table spoon of flour and swirl around to coat pan with flour. Line pan with dough a good ½ inch to ¾ inch thick. Drain any collected excess moisture in the apple mixture and slowly spoon over the dough. Spread filling evenly then take any remaining dough make strips of dough and make a cross shape pattern over the dough. Mix the teaspoon of cinnamon and the two table spoons of sugar and spread evenly over the top of the cake. Cut some of the other ¼ lb of butter into flakes and spread evenly over the cake.

Mutti's Favorite Music

Friesenlied- Lale Andersen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp3e_fZ8OQ8
Lili Marlene – Lale Andersen
Singer Lale Andersen was born in Bremerhaffen a short distance from Mutti;s birthplace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh4qe0Hp6RU
Rolling Home – Freddy Quinn
The Fresiens were historically seafarers Mutti loved sea chanties. One of her favorites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXUW47_nIw
The Battle Hymn of the Republic – Mormon Tabernacle Choir
As Immigrants Mutti and Pappi were staunch American patriots. One of their favorite American Songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSiVjlknuSw
Das Volgalied – Andre Rieu
One of Mutti's favorites from the Operetta Der Zarevitsch "Es steht ein Soldat am Volgastrand. A soldier in a foreign land sings of his loneliness and love left behind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXOSnsMgyo8
A Closer Walk with Thee – Patsy Cline
I as an American Dixieland Jazz musician I give my family's final tribute to Mutti

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6fgI50v1Kk&list=RDI6fgI50v1Kk#t=39
Gute Abend Gute Nacht
For our German Family and Friends the most famous Lullaby in the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLmrr5jkYlw