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Klein Family in America After WWI

1922 Trip to Burgschwalbach, Germany

In 1922, after the end of World War I, Katherine "Bina" Philippina Klein Bremser planned a trip to Germany to place a headstone on her mother Katharine Wilhelmine Seel Klein's grave. Of their three daughters, Lizzie and Lena already had children to care for. Her youngest daughter Minnie, yet unmarried, went with her to Burgschwalbach.

Sadly, the trip to place the grave marker proved fruitless. As was the custom in Germany, her mother's grave had already been used for another individual and could not be found. However, Bina and Minnie were able to visit with many family members still living in Burgschwalbach.

Minnie Klein also met her first cousin Kurt, at 22 a veteran of the first World War. In late April, 1923, he obtained a Reise-Pass or passport and followed Minnie to the United States. Because they were first cousins, many states' laws made marriage difficult, but they were finally married in about 1926 in New York, and they honeymooned at Niagara Falls. Pictures from the 1922 trip are shown below.

The Evangelisch (Lutheran) Church in Burgschwalbach during a visit home by Wilhelmina "Minnie" Klein and her mother, Katherine Philippina"Bina" Klein, in 1922. The church still stands today.
The Wilhelm Klein family home in Burgschwalbach in 1922. The house is also visible in the photo at top left. This is the home Curt Klein grew up in. The house was torn down in the 1960s.
(L-R) Mr. and Mrs. Behrens, Bina Klein Bremser, Minnie Klein, Henry Klein, and Anna Yeager.
Wilhelm Klein and his sister Katherine Philippina "Bina" Klein in front of his home in Burgschwalbach in 1922. Their brother, Johann Jacob Klein, is the author's direct ancestor.
The former family home of Johann Jacob Klein and his daughter, Bina Klein, as seen in Burgschwalbach in 1922.

The family passed through Ellis Island on their return to the United States. Their Ellis Island records reveal that that traveled on the Reliance, which carried  1,010 passengers (290 first class, 320 second class, 400 third class).

Kurt Klein visited Germany again in the 1930s, as shown by a postcard he mailed home to his wife Minnie and his first cousin Jane Beasley. The entire family returned to Germany again in 1954 for a Bremser family reunion.

The Lutheran Church in Burgschwalbach during 2002.