With 30 members and guests, the Schrader Family Association celebrated its 100th anniversary in the “Storchenscheune” (Stork Barn) of the Jerichow Monastery Foundation. Founded in Berlin in 1920, the association currently has around 100 members in Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

A prominent guest was Professor Jürgen Udolph, a name researcher from Lower Saxony, who gave an entertaining and informative lecture explaining the origins and meanings of a wide variety of family names.
The name Schrader is “a dialectal variation” of the name Schröder, which in turn refers to the activity of cutting, “Schröden” or “Schraden”, and thus the profession of tailor. Another explanation: the name Schrader contains the Old High German word “scrotan”, from which the verbs “schroten” and “schraden” are derived, meaning “to cut up, to chop up”, a reference to the activity of woodworking.

In his contribution, former museum director Rolf Naumann drew a connection between Ludwig Schrader, a tenant farmer who lived in Jerichow for two decades in the early 19th century, and his descendants, who are now members of the family association whose archive has been housed in Jerichow Abbey since 2009.

For Roland Maiwald, the (non-public) Schrader Archive is already an integral part of the foundation’s portfolio because it establishes a historical link between the past and the present.
The chairman of the foundation gave a brief overview of the monastery’s history.

The musical accompaniment for the ceremony was provided by Berlin harpist Simonetta Ginelli, who played classical pieces by Franz Schubert and Edvard Grieg as well as John Barry’s James Bond theme.

According to chairman Harald Schrader, the next family day will take place from 30 September to 2 October 2022 in Warendorf/Münsterland.

Yours sincerely,
Harald Schrader