Texts and Research
Stories between research and narrative
It is only in the telling that events become history.
Hannah Arendt
Rudolf Alicke Traces of a Place Between Road, Faith, and Community
Rudolf Alicke was born in December 1863 in Grünhaus near Gumbinnen, according to later American records. His biography can only be reconstructed from official documents—fragmentary, yet clear in its overall direction.
At about fifteen years of age, he is said to have emigrated in 1878. The reasons remain unknown. East Prussia offered limited prospects to many young people. What is certain is this: he left early—and he did not stand still.
In the United States, Rudolf consistently worked in technical positions: first as a fireman, then as a machinist, and later as Chief Machinist’s Mate in the U.S. Navy. His workplace was the engine room—heat, coal dust, rotating shifts. There, origin did not matter; skill did.
The Chapel of the Holy Three Kings in Rondorf Traces of a Place Between Road, Faith, and Community
A historically grounded narrative account of the former chapel in Rondorf.
The text combines archaeological evidence, written sources, and local tradition, placing them within a broader spatial and historical context.
It offers a readable overview of the development of the site, the chapel, and its transformation leading up to the new beginning around 1900.
Nikolaus Houallet Traces of a Parish Priest
Nikolaus Houallet was parish priest in Immendorf.
He served here during the final years of his life and remained in office until shortly before his death in 1895.
This contribution follows the surviving traces of this parish priest: his origins, his education, and his ecclesiastical service in the Rhineland of the nineteenth century.
Archival sources, official records, and his death notice form the basis.
Immendorf was his place of ministry and forms part of his family history.
His grave in the Immendorf cemetery remains a visible trace of this life.
Bernhard Steiner (1921–1945) Tracing a life between Rondorf and Lower Silesia
A simple gravestone in the cemetery of Rondorf sets a search in motion.
The research leads from Cologne-Rondorf through archives and eyewitness accounts to Lower Silesia, revealing how war, displacement and individual lives are intertwined.
A source-based investigation into local and family history.
By a conscientious chronicler of Rondorf
A narrative local history from Rondorf
On a snowy night, a young couple becomes stranded in Rondorf, near Cologne and gives birth to their child in an old stable at the Johanneshof.
What follows is a modern, ironic variation of the Christmas story,
in which neighbors, the police, shepherds and self-appointed wise men all play an unexpected role.
A literary local history with satirical and contemporary references.