family history part 1








This is our family history, part 1 
as told in our family album 
with photos reaching back to 1827

from Johann Carl Christian Burmeister, 1827 - 1895
to Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich Burmeister, 1916 - 1975



Carsten was born in Germany


the family business, a hotel in Heide; at the turn of the century
Christian Burmeister had moved to Heide - near Kiel -  from Rostock


Carsten was born in Hamburg in 1947, the family moved to Essen in 1955
 Carsten's brother Thomas lives near Frankfurt


our ancestor is Johann Carl Christian Burmeister from Heide and Rostock,
which was the largest and most important port city in East Germany


Radjin, Yani and Saskia's great, great grandparents
my grandchildren Jackson, Bodhi, Koby, Keanu, Elijah's
 great, great, great grandparents


the Holthorffs (1896), Sophies family


Sophie and Wilhelm Burmeister
Radjin, Yani and Saskia's great, great grandparents
Jackson, Bodhi, Koby, Elijah and Keanu's great, great, great grandparents


Wilhelm E.D. Burmeister, Carsten's Dad and big sister Helmi Burmeister 
who married professor Hartmann, associate of Rudolph Steiner; 
both Helmi and Wilhelm attended Steiner schools for all their education


SPORN was the brandname of the products (Cognac [brandy] whiskey, rum, gin) that were produced in the Burmeister & Co family business, before / during WWII; the business had been going for some 50 years ... since 1896


during the war the business was relocated to an underground bunker;
top: a 1950 photo of the three brothers, from left Carl Heinrich, whose son Harald lives in Salzburg, Austria and Munich;
Friedrich or Fritz (Fred) who moved to America and was a banker in Chicago (his son is Bruce, about 5 years older than Carsten; I still converse with Bruce); on the right the youngest, Wilhelm; the middle photo is of Wilhelm during WWII, when he was a truck driver, driving the canteen


this is "Opa", Carl Fraass, with his daughter, Elly Burmeister ... "Nanni"


Carsten's "Opa", Carl Fraass



Nanni, Opa, Carsten and his little brother Thomas


above Carsten's Mum, Elly Burmeister, and little sister aunt Irmi


above "Mutti" and "Vati" ... Carsten's Mum and Dad, 
Elly Burmeister ... Radjin, Yani and Saskia's Nanni 
and their "Opa" Wilhelm Erich Dietrich Burmeister



"Mutti" and "Vati" on holidays



Wilhelm Erich Dietrich Burmeister, 1916 - 1975 (age 59)
Elly Burmeister, 1918 - 2001 (age 83)