Finding Döbrastocken

I mentioned on the home page, that May of 1982 was a very special time – a magical time in our family’s history. Mom and dad came to visit when we were stationed in Wiesbaden Germany. Of course, they wanted to see us (Dick and Leslie), and they wanted to see their grandchildren (Douglas and Janice). But they had a few other things in mind for that visit. Mom wanted to be reunited with her second cousin, Anton Letang, and dad had several alternate agendas.

Beyond the family visit, his first order of business was to relate to me how he had structured his estate regarding the disposition of his company, Georges’ Screw Machine Products, and its related companies if he and mom passed away. Very typical of dad, it was the ultimate in fairness to all three of his sons.

Next, like many people, he really wanted to find where his father was born. I only knew this because mom told me, not because he asked me directly. So, I asked mom if we had any information about where Grandpa Lang was born. She said, “I think he was born in Oberfranken.” We didn’t know where that was so I went to my German friend Ziggy who owned a restaurant and a whore house. Ziggy said Oberfranken is a whole region of Germany in upper Bavaria. When I queried mom for more detailed information, she said that after World War II, they sent care packages to a place called Döbrastocken. Of course, nobody knew where that was either.

Now it was a quest. How to make it happen for dad, this man that gave me everything and asked nothing in return. Luckily, I was a Deputy Commander of a large Air Force reconnaissance unit. If we couldn’t find a place on map, who could? So, I called one of my airmen in a building across the compound from my office and asked if we had a World Gazetteer. After getting a yes, I asked him to look up a place called Döbrastocken, umlaut and all. He called back about an hour later and provided latitude and longitude coordinates in degrees, minutes, seconds.

Well what do you want? This is the Air Force! We’re not the Army with UTM coordinates of a mortar target just over the ridge line. We bomb things from aircraft! So, when I asked him to bring me a map, he brought a Jet Navigation chart. Next task, roll out on our picnic table the 5 ft. x 3 ft. chart covering most of Europe, and use a straight edge to plot an X on the map. There’s no detail there of course.

So, the family decided on an adventure. We set out heading east toward the Czech border in two cars: Leslie, mom, and Janice in our late model Opel, and me with dad and Douglas in an older Mercedes. After one overnight where we bought some wonderful crystal, we were off the Autobahn on country roads. A road sign appeared, pointing the way to the village of Döbra. So, if there’s a Döbra, there could be a Döbrastocken. We pulled into Döbra about mid-morning on a Saturday. Not sure what German women do now on Saturday mornings, but at least in the 1980s some came out to sweep the gutter of the street. I got out of the car and, although very far from fluent in German, I was confident of pulling off that conversation. “Excuse me, can you please tell me where I can find Döbrastocken.” She looked up and asked what my family name was. Totally baffled! My German just isn’t that bad. So, I asked again. And she asked again. When I said “Lang. Ich bin Herr Lang.” She replied, “Jah Herr Lang” and proceeded to tell me how to find Döbrastocken which was just outside the village. You probably still can’t find Döbrastocken by typing it into Google Maps, but you’ll get very close by looking up “Döbra, Schwarzenbach am Wald”. You’ll find that it’s about a 30 minute drive from the larger town of Hof, which is very close to the Czech border.

It turns out that Döbrastocken is just three farmhouses down a road outside the village of Döbra. We stopped at the first and asked young boys if they knew of the Langs. They didn’t. Next, we drove to an old house that was all boarded up. Could that be it? I went to the third house and knocked on the door. Not polite I know, but I thought the man who came to the door was probably older than the dirt. He was very hard of hearing so I called for the other quasi-German speakers (mom and Leslie) to join me. The man confirmed that the Langs had lived in that boarded up house but no one lived there anymore (which was obvious). At mom’s suggestion, we got back in the cars and returned to Döbra, knowing that there was probably a cemetery associated with the village church. We were right, and there’s nothing like six Americans walking around your cemetery and into your church to draw the attention of the pastor. We had a nice chat with him during which we learned that the last Lang to have lived in that house was a woman who had married 16 years earlier and moved away with her husband.

It’s a good thing Mom took pictures of those Lang gravestones because they’re no longer there. Leslie and I went to Döbra in July 2019 and learned that gravestones are removed after 25 years. The timing probably also depends on whether or not someone is paying for the upkeep of the gravesite. But new Lang gravestones are there and members of a small band told us to look at a war memorial on the side of the church. Sadly, two Lang names from Döbrastocken are there, having been killed in WWII in 1943. There’s also a Lang bakery in Döbra. The woman who waited on us said that a Frau Lang lived upstairs but she didn’t seem inclined to go find her.

It was quite a successful adventure, but the magical part was the inspiration to start recording our history for future generations.