Kolmanskuppe Tree and Church!

Leon Sumter · January 15, 2012, 03:35:21 PM

You can actually see Marianne's mother's potplants on the shelf in the left section of the stoep. That small girl standing next to the car may even be Marianne.

Leon Sumter · January 15, 2012, 03:43:26 PM

it seems that there was small garden either side of the enclosed stoep. The original pillars are still on the right side. The remains of one of the pillars on the left side can still be seen.

Alfred Boehme · January 15, 2012, 08:13:52 PM

Guys thanks for this great info next time I get out there going to study that house more thourghly and get photo's of all angles

Alfred

Malcolm Bertoni · January 16, 2012, 11:24:54 AM

Hey guys
Would be good if Alf and I got back up there again. Would be a good excuse to come back again . . .

To think we were there a few months back and at the very same house with the same tree. What are the chances of that?

Malcolm

henniek · January 16, 2012, 02:19:11 PM

It was ddifficult to keep a pet , but we had an ostrich which pulled a little slaigh over the sand . An ostrich is not a docile beast and I rember the terror and loating looks from housewifes as we careerd along . The ostrich stopping every now and again to pinch and eat anything that it could find . Nevertheless , the ostrich and sleigh was used at christmass time to bring father christmass and some presents. The manager told us that reindeer were unable to cross the desert - so He had to resort first to mountain goats as replacements for his reindeer , and when they encounter the sandy stretches , the goats were replced with our ostrich .
When we moved to Kolmanskop , we took the ostrich with

Leon Sumter · January 16, 2012, 03:34:04 PM

Yes Alf and Malcom please get up there again and take some good closeups of what appears to be Marianne's old house.
Well we now know that the house was accessable by car (seems to be a circa 1915 Chev).
Hennie does Marianne give any dates when the family moved from Pomona to Kolmans? Must have been around 1915/1916 surely (when mining stopped at Pomona). I like this story about the ostrich....cute.

henniek · January 16, 2012, 04:33:58 PM

I like the power of this site. I nearly threw my 30 + years old notes away , thinking ... who on earth will be interested in the memories of a person born appoximately a 100 years ago , and who grew up in a desolate desert !
When I read her cute stories , I find it facinating , it enablles one to make pictures of the scenes discribed by her , in one's mind . And just see the very interesting bits and pieces added . Great stuff

Leon Sumter · January 16, 2012, 08:08:18 PM

Glad you did not throw these notes away Hennie. Some of us find this fascinating. Here we have the true life experiences of a person and we are able to relive her experiences and not only that we are still able to see the old ghost towns where she spent her youth. Fascinating stuff this. Hennie keep it coming. I am pasting it into the Kolmanskop file as I receive it from you. 15 or 16 pages thus far with lots of photos. I am thinking of giving a copy to Gunther Machts and maybe he might be prepared to share his memories of Kolmans with us too.

henniek · January 17, 2012, 10:12:08 AM

Wonderful , get Gunther to tell us something . Tis pic. a certificate stating the number of Diamonds and the weight in grams from work area Stauchlager , sections Hexenkessel and Idastahl 1920

Michael Alexander · January 17, 2012, 11:03:55 AM

Hennie, keep 'em coming..... fascinating stuff....

henniek · January 17, 2012, 11:08:12 AM

When Pomona was closed , it became a halfway station for transport an passenger bus between Oranjemund an Luderitz . Everybody had to be X rayed to make shure that they do not smuggle diamonds out . That meant that everybody had to strip totally naked ,then cover themselves with a sheet , then you were left alone until it was your turn to walk over and lie down on the cold marble slab to be X - rayed. Still it was fun to us , and when the wind played havoc with the sheets , all looked politely the other way , and no one complained . We moved to Kolmans during 1923 . The whole company was run by Germans with only two English speaking persons working at Kolmans.
... Leon here you have a date - possibly indicating closure of Pomona workings , and Michael about the solid houses that Dianna mentioned - I think it might just be possible that one of those Englishmen was a WEE Scottsman who advised the Germans on how to build a house !!! Now put that in your pipe and smoke it !

Leon Sumter · January 17, 2012, 03:22:57 PM

Yes need to get to Gunther after we have all Marianne's memoirs.
Fantastic we now have a date.

georgswa (Georg Ruf) (RIP) · January 17, 2012, 04:42:43 PM

Quote from: Leon Sumter on January 17, 2012, 03:22:57 PM
Yes need to get to Gunther after we have all Marianne's memoirs.
Fantastic we now have a date.

To get Günther now will be difficult
I had sugested that some few years back that someone should visit him and record all he could say.
He lives now in Bloemfontain near his son Ingo whou has internet.
I wrote to Ingo on Xmas, never had a reply

Maybe you guys have more luck

Georg

henniek · January 17, 2012, 06:02:10 PM

Thanks George for the info . I often wonder , Is Gunthers wife still alive ?
Then a Apollogy : Diana , I misspelled your name .
and last : Clint , wont you please be so kind as to .. the next time you visit Kolmanskop - take a good look around in the museum . In the back of my head - the little part that still remembers - I think there was a sleigh or a little wagon - the one that was pulled by the ostrich of the Coleman family . and please take a photo of it and post it for us please ? Or it may even be in the Luderitz museum where I saw it .

Leon Sumter · January 17, 2012, 07:48:22 PM

George thanks for the update. George when you are able to make contact with Ingo please ask him very nicely to try and get a tape recording of his dad's memories of Kolmans if Gunther is agreeable. We must make an effort to get this valuable information.