Part II. Family Days 1948–1969
1. Preliminary remark.
The 1920s were undoubtedly golden years for our association (Family Days 1 to 11).
After a five-year hiatus from 1930 onwards due to the difficult economic situation,
a brief heyday followed from 1936 onwards with four Family Days (12 to 15).
Part II deals with the history of the 12 Family Days in the 21 years from 1948 to 1969,
which – with two exceptions in 1950 and 1954 – took place in the spring, namely in May or June. The Family Days in 1971 and 1973 also took place in the spring. During the 31-year tenure of Chairman Paul E. Schrader (-Küblingen) between 1936 and 1967, only 13 family days took place due to the circumstances of the time and internal association problems.
2. A difficult new beginning after the war
It was not until three years after the end of the war – in 1948, nine years after the last family reunion in Hanover in 1939 – that the 16th Family Day was held in Düsseldorf on 23 May under extremely difficult conditions.
The 16th family reunion planned for 1940 in Bad Pyrmont could no longer take place due to the war. This was preceded by the death of the long-time archivist and first honorary member Richard Schrader (-Homburg) on 17 April 1947. The archive was well packed and sent from Homburg to Düsseldorf.
There, it was taken into the care of the chairman, Paul Schrader (-Küblingen).
At the Family Day, the treasurer, Rudolf Schrader (-Königslutter), the father of our cousin Lieselotte, was appointed provisional archivist. The minutes note that cousin Rudolf was assisted by student Carl Hermann Schrader (-Scharbow) as a “collaborator”. Cousin Carl Hermann (-Scharbow) was
also the author of the report on the 16th family day, which appeared in No. 30, Part 1 of our newsletter.
Among the 24 participants from eight different clans was Anneliese Schrader, née Schrader from Hagen in Westphalia, the mother of our advisory board member Klaus and later chairwoman. She represented the Eilenstedt and Groß-Gleidingen clans.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Malte Schrader Sr. and his wife from Soest were present from the Königslutter clan. Cousin Malte was, incidentally, the only member who had attended every family reunion since 1921. The hosts were the parents of cousin Lieselotte, Rudolf Schrader and his wife from Düsseldorf-Gerresheim.
The gathering commemorated the 29 members who had fallen or died since the last family reunion in 1939.
The topics discussed were membership recruitment and reduced membership fees for members in difficult financial circumstances. In 1948, the monthly membership fee was 83 pfennigs, or around 10 marks per year.
Lawyer Dr. jur. Kurt Schrader (-Badeleben), son of the first family association chairman, Privy Councillor Dr. jur. Emil Schrader (-Badeleben), who died in 1935, was appointed to the advisory board (or was it in Bad Pyrmont in 1957?).
The family day ended with a cheerful get-together at the home of the chairman
Paul Schrader (-Küblingen).
Cousin Carl Hermann writes: “For certain reasons, it was not possible to grant the younger cousins’ wish for a lively dance. However, the custom that had been practised in the past will be sufficiently honoured next year in that the participants, after the accommodation situation will have improved considerably by 1949, will gather on the eve of the main conference, thus freeing up two full evenings for merrymaking.”
The 17th Family Day took place on 12 June 1949, once again in Düsseldorf. It was to be the same the following year. The reason for this was the presence of the chairman, cousin Paul E. Schrader, and the treasurer, cousin Rudolf Schrader, who made it possible to accommodate and feed the arriving members in difficult times.
A central theme of this Family Day was the discussion about the content and scope of issue 30, part 2
of the Mitteilungen.
3. The 1950s
The 18th Family Day was held on 7–8 October 1950, once again in Düsseldorf, for the third time at the Hotel Damm am Ring in the Oberkassel district of Düsseldorf.
A special guest was Elisabeth Schrader (née Marienbom) from New York. Now, by unanimous decision of the general meeting, the position of association archivist, which had been vacant since the death of Richard Schrader (-Homburg), was transferred to cousin Carl Hermann Schrader (-Scharbow). Cousin Carl Hermann held the position of archivist from 1950 to 2004, i.e. for more than half a century.
The 19th Family Day was held for the first time in Hamburg on 9/10 June 1951.
Twenty-seven members from 12 Schrader clans and two guests of honour attended.
And now it was as it would remain in the following decades: cousin Carl Hermann, then 29 years old, gave
a lecture. The second dominant figure at that time and for the next 20 years was the association’s heraldic master, Dr Wilhelm Schrader-Rottmers (-Rottmersleben).
A highlight of the Hamburg Family Day was a visit to the archives of District Court Director Dr Ascan Lutteroth, a genealogist and historian well known in Germany at the time.
The following year, on 25 May 1952, the 20th Family Day was held in Soest, Westphalia, for the second time since 1927. Local honorary member Malte Schrader Sr., of the Königslutter clan, was responsible for the preparations.
In Soest, the general meeting decided to hold new elections for the members of the executive committee and advisory board the following year. From 1953 onwards, these elections were to be repeated every three years.
This rule, which is a matter of course in our understanding of democracy, first had to be established within the family association. Until then, the prevailing view had been that the chairman could remain in office and did not need to be re-elected “as long as he enjoyed the confidence of the members” (minutes of the 17th Family Day, 12 June 1949). Our current advisory board members Christa (-Königslutter) and Klaus (-Groß-Gleidingen) took part in a Family Day for the first time as children in Soest.
For the 21st Family Day, 23 members gathered in Düsseldorf for the fourth time
on 17 May 1953.
As decided in Soest the previous year, the chairman was re-elected for the next three years, and the members of the executive committee and advisory board were re-elected for one year each.
A few weeks later, honorary member retired Lieutenant Colonel Malte Schrader died at the age of 82, and almost simultaneously, the co-founder of our family association, Quedlinburg lawyer Martin Schrader, of the Quedlinburg clan, also passed away.
The 22nd Family Day was held for the third time in Braunschweig on 25–26 September 1954. Twenty-eight members from nine clans were in attendance.
After Family Day had been celebrated annually since 1948, the 23rd Family Day was held in Bad Pyrmont on 12 May 1957 following a three-year hiatus, and the following year
the 24th Family Day was held in Ratzeburg on 12 May 1958.
The reason for choosing this venue and date was the 250th anniversary of the ennoblement of the brothers, Privy Legation Councillor Professor Dr. Christoph Schrader and
Privy Councillor of Justice Kilian Schrader, into the imperial nobility on 19 May 1708, both from the Schrader (-Wahmbeck) clan.
Kilian von Schrader is the progenitor of all living bearers of the name von Schrader today.
4. The Sixties
After another three-year break, the 25th Family Day – the anniversary meeting – took place in Altenau in the Harz Mountains on 13/14 May 1961.
Deputy Chairman Heyno Schrader (-Küblingen), who owned a summer house in Altenau, had taken on the organisation of the Family Day. Twenty-five members from nine clans accepted the invitation. Chairman Paul E. Schrader (-Küblingen) had now been chairman of the association for 25 years.
There was then a seven-year hiatus, meaning that the 26th Family Day could not take place until 1968.
For long-time treasurer Rudolf Schrader (Königslutter), father of Base Lieselotte, and long-time chairman Paul E. Schrader (Küblingen), the 1961 Altenau Family Day was to be their last. Cousin Rudolf died on 10 July 1965 in Düsseldorf, and Paul E. Schrader died on 13 September 1967 as a result of a traffic accident, also in Düsseldorf.
On 22–23 May 1968, the 26th Family Day (following those in 1924, 1929 and 1954) was held in Braunschweig for the fourth time.
Twenty-six people from nine clans took part. Heyno Schrader (-Küblingen) was elected chairman and remained in office until 1973. Cousin Carl Hermann Schrader (-Scharbow) was not only confirmed as archivist, but also appointed first deputy chairman. New members of the advisory board were
High Court Judge Dr. jur. Hans-Ludolf Schrader (-Braunschweig) from Kassel and Dipl.-Ing. Jens Peter Schrader (-Rottmersleben) from Cuxhaven.
The 27th Family Day took place on 10–11 May 1969 in Goslar.
Dr Wilhelm Schrader-Rottmers, herald master of the association, described this meeting as the “greatest and most dignified” in the association’s nearly 50-year history. The reason for such euphoria was both the reception by Goslar’s mayor, Degenhardt, and the atmosphere of the historic imperial city and the impressive conference venue in the famous Hotel Kaiserworth.
Thirty-seven participants from 13 clans had gathered. The speech by Mayor Degenhardt was particularly significant in that he had been a fellow student of Dr Wilhelm Schrader-Rottmers and had good professional contacts with a number of other lawyers among the Schraders.
All those present were invited to sign the guest book of the city of Goslar. Mayor Degenhardt, for his part, signed the “Family Days Memorial Book” donated by advisory board member Jens Peter Schrader (-Rottmersleben).
However, the 28th Family Day in Altenau, planned for 1970, was postponed by one year, allegedly so that it could be held after the association’s 50th anniversary (27 December 1970).