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- in the border areas to see which country the people wanted to belong to. These areas had been Danish prior to 1866, and they were given the chance to rejoin Denmark. I believe the referendum was in 1920, Egernsund and Rinkenaes reverted to Denmark, and the present border is about 20 kilometres south of Egernsund.
- A very large retailer in Stokkemarke on the island of Lolland took a great interest in the referendum. He wanted to employ a young person from Schleswig in the store and hired my father. Stokkemarke was my mother's home town, and this is where they met.
- My mother was the daughter of a very progressive farmer, Anthon Madsen. He was born in 1866 and was to have emigrated to the USA, because farming in Denmark was very bad at the time. However, he ended up inheriting the family farm as his older brother was handicapped and unable to operate the farm. Anthon Madsen worked very hard at modernising the farm, and as the farming economy improved at the turn of the century he became fairly wealthy. In spite of the fact he had very little formal education, Anthon Madsen was elected to the municipal council, the board of directors of the local dairy co-operative and local consumer co-operative. He was very interested in Co-operatives, and through him my father was able to get the position of manager of the Co-op Store in Horbelev, where my brothers (Paul Henrik and Bruno Volger) and I were born and raised.
- Dad's sister Ingeborg (Inge) was married to Otto Sorensen. He was a self made man who established a private dairy in Copenhagen. He was an astute business man who ran a good business. They had two sons, Paul and Erik who are both still involved in the dairy business. My Aunt and Uncle were good people. Both lived until they were very old. Aunt Inge died in 1993 at the age of 93. She left me the old sea chest that had belonged to her Grandfather - the Captain of the Fidelitas.
- Dad's younger brother Heinrich Friedrich (called Heini) was born in 1903. He married Lise Hansen and established a store in Egernsund. The store was mainly groceries and ship provi
sions. Uncle Heini had a tremendous sense of humour and as a teenager I loved to spend time with him. They had one daughter (Ella) who is married and lives in Aarhus. Ella and her hus
band (Jorgen) have no children of their own but have adopted twin girls. Uncle Heini and Aunt Lise also had a son, Henry, who lives in Egernsund and is married and has a daughter and a son.
- I have mentioned the tensions due to the political situation of the region. For example, my Grandfather (page 15) had a half-brother Wilhelm Godt (son number 5), who lived in Augusten
borg, about 20 kilometres away from Egernsund. He joined the Germans and the two families stopped seeing each other - except at funerals - and the family in Augustenborg consequently spoke German.
- Berthel Peterson Godt (son number 1 of Hans Christian Godt page 8) was born in 1814 in Rinkenaes. He became the Pastor of the Rinkenaes Church. During the revolt (1848-1851) he supported the Germans, and in 1850 he was forced to leave. After the German occupation (1866) he returned to the region and was made supervisor of the Danish Churches in the region. He was rather unpopular, but ended up as Bishop of Schleswig.
- The Grandfather of Peter Godt (Rendsburg) was Peter Heinrich Volquard Godt. He was the owner of a farm 10 kilometres away from Egernsund. This man would not become a Danish citizen, so after reunification of 1920 he sold the farm and moved to Holstein.
- Historically, Germans have not always been popular in Denmark, or in this branch of the family.
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