Billmann-Berlin, Berlin-Zehlendorf, 1950s

 

• Wolfgang Billmann (1947-, voc, steeld, d, urban planning, ...)
• Ralph Billmann (1949-2019, p, org, comp, architecture, ...)
• Evi Billmann (1953-2022, voc, as, cong, landscape planning, ...)
  ...

 

Memories (maps, photos, videos ...) :

• Berlin-Zehlendorf, Teltower Damm, Heinrich-Laehr-Park ...
• Zehlendorf-Mitte. ... center
• Schweizerhof-Grundschule (1949-60) ... elementary school
• Waldmueller-, Hammerstr. ...
  • Waldmuellerstr.
  • Henry Tonke
• Heinrich-Laehr-Park ...
  • Heinrich-Laehr-Park, 'playground'
• Spot of a discarded damaged US parade snare drum in 1954 *
  • Platz des 4. Juli *
  • McNair Barracks * * * * * * * *
  • Stichkanal
  • Andrews Barracks
  • Grunewald, maneuver * * * * * *
  • Housing, school, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Volksfest
  • US sector, esp. Zehlendorf-Lichterfelde (1945-94) * *
• Rock & roll and a little bit jazz were the main influences
  • 1952 & earlier:
    Through the rolled down car windows of the sometimes casual US military convoys on the Beeskow- & Teltower Damm (from the McNair & Andrews Barracks to the maneuvers in the Grunewald), the playing Billmann children could hear the punching beat of the Swing-style bass drums that were dominant at that time:
    . Harry James & His Orchestra, "9:20 Special", 1945 (signature tune of 'Frolic At Five', the most important AFN radio show; first recorded in 1941 by Count Basie), cf. above, 'Rock & roll ...'
    . Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, Gene Krupa (d), "Sing Sing Sing", 1937
  • 1952-55:
    . Charlie Chaplin, "Limelight..."
    . George Shearing (p), "Lullaby Of Birdland"
    . Elvis Presley (voc), "Love Me Tender"
• 1956-57:
  . Chuck Berry (voc, g), "Roll Over Beethoven"
  . Fats Domino, (voc, p), "Blueberry Hill"
  . Sonny James (voc), "Young Love"
  . Elvis Presley (voc), "Hound Dog"
  . Louis Prima (voc), "Buona Sera"
  . Johnnie Ray (voc), "Just Walking In The Rain", "Yes Tonight Josephine"
  . Little Richard (voc), "Tutti Frutti"
• 1958:
  . Chuck Berry (voc, g), "Sweet Little Sixteen"
  . Eddie Cochran (voc, g), "Come On Everybody", "Summertime Blues"
  . Jerry Lee Lewis (voc, p), "High School Confidential"
  . Thelonious Monk (p): "Blue Monk"
  . The Coasters, "Yakety Yak"
  . Ritchie Valens (voc), "Donna", "La Bamba"
• 1959:
  . Paul Anka (voc), "I'm Just A Lonely Boy"
  . Dave Brubeck (p), "Take Five"
  . Freddy Cannon (voc), "Tallahassee Lassie"
  . Dave Baby Cortez (org), "The Happy Organ"
  . Don Gibson (voc), "Sea Of Heartbreak"
  . Frankie Ford (voc), "Sea Cruise"
  . Johnny & The Hurricanes, "Buckeye", "Red River Rock"
  . Papa Bue's Viking Jazzband, "Schlafe Mein Prinzchen" (not via AFN)
  . Phil Phillips (voc), "Sea Of Love"
  . The Coasters, "Charlie Brown"
  . Sarah Vaughan (voc), "Broken-Hearted Melody"
• Place of birth
  ...

 

Re: the post-war period.

' On April 22, 1945, the 1st Ukrainian Front under Marshal Konev prepared to overcome the Teltow Canal in a broad front. After the failure of a first attack in the area of Lichterfelde, the first bridgehead was won on April 24, 1945 at the Fritz-Schweitzer-Bridge, and the Soviet tanks reached Zehlendorf Sued at noon. ' ( https://www.berlin.de/ba-steglitz-zehlendorf/ueber-den-bezirk/historisches/artikel.14440.php, July 2026 ).
On the back side of the property at Ladiusstrasse 5, where the Billmanns lived around 1949-53, according to recollection, there was a fallow area with an abandoned trench system.
And during kindergarten walks, there were many pits in the Heinrich-Laehr-Park that meanwhile were covered with leaves.
All children were forbidden by parents and kindergarten teachers to play there.

In 1952 the external border (West Berlin - GDR) was closed.
Until then, people from Zehlendorf could buy something in Teltow, for example a wooden toy bus for the Billmann children, and only had border controls on the Knesebeck bridge.

One could still clearly see over the barbed wire fence shortly after August 13, 1961, a rainy Sunday. And 'it made one's heart bleed'.

 

Where did they come from?

• Parents, grandparents
• Paternal line
  • Berlin ≈ 1945-95
  • Pirmasens ≈ 1895-1950
  • Hellmitzheim ≈ 1870-90
  • Nuremberg-Fuerth region, Rhineland-Palatinate, 16th-19th century
    ...
• Maternal line
  • Berlin ≈ 1935-2015
  • Bad Polzin / Polczyn-Zdroj ≈ 1910-45
  • Osterode (Ostpreussen) / Ostroda ≈ 1880-1910
  • East & West Prussia, Posen, Poland, Schweden, Seven Years War (1756-63) / Prusy Wschodnie i Zachodnie, Poznan, Polska, Szwecja, Wojna Siedmioletnia (1756-63). 18th - 19th century / XVIII - XIX wiek   ?

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