Fehnland with cruise ships, canals and Dutch flair
Papenburg – a town in the Emsland region
75th Family Day from 25 to 27 September 2019
Papenburg, famous for the Meyer shipyard, was the venue for the 75th Family Day on the last weekend of September 2019. The central canal, which dominates the townscape, and other canals give the town, with a population of around 35,000, a Dutch flair.
On Friday evening, 22 cousins gathered at the Hotel Engeln, where an extensive programme awaited them the following day.
The warm welcome at the town hall by Deputy Mayor Heiner Butke was followed by an extensive city tour, which culminated in a two-hour visit to the Meyer shipyard.
Through a variety of presentations and their own observations, visitors gained a vivid impression of the size of the cruise ships built here in Kiel, which are welded together from individually manufactured blocks and delivered to the client after 36 months, including planning.
Outside on the quay lay one such completed cruise liner with a colourfully decorated bow.
The highlight of the family day was the lecture by Henk Schrader (Netherlands) on “The history of the Schrader – Breischen (or Hopsten) clan in the Netherlands”.
Cousin Henk presented the generations of the widely ramified family from the early 18th century to the present day. His lecture was an extract from a detailed genealogical work that he published in 1996 under the title “Genealogie Van De Familie Schrader” (Genealogy of the Schrader Family), which is now also available in German in issue 65 of the “Mitteilungen des Familienverbandes Schrader e.V.” (Newsletter of the Schrader Family Association).
The first Schraders immigrated to the Netherlands as so-called “Tödden”. They traded in flax and linen fabrics, which were produced in the Münsterland region in winter and sold in the Netherlands in summer.
General meeting on Sunday
At the general meeting on Sunday morning, Bernd Schrader (Wolfratshausen) was elected archivist. Janka Schrader (Fürstenwalde) was appointed treasurer with effect from 1 January 2020.
Harald Schrader (Chairman)