In June 1918 The Great War was still raging in Europe, and Willy got his chance to be a German soldier. As was the custom, he started a journal recording his observations and experiences .…
World War One Was Exciting! When Willy was 14 and finished with school he started his three year blacksmith apprenticeship with his father. It was 1914 and World War One had just started. He thought…
Brother Otto Writes to the Chicago Gehebs In Germany Hitler had a strong grip on Germany, and the people were just getting by. Brother Otto wrote in 1936: “The political situation in Germany is all right…
Home Sweet Home After being away from his family in Schmirma, Germany for 11 years, Willy Geheb returned to Germany in 1934. He brought along his wife, Irma, and their baby son, Willy. Although it was…
Willy always missed his family in Germany. He wrote to his siblings offering to pay to bring them to America and help them build their new life. Willy was the only family member to leave…
Finding His Way Through Chicago
Chicago was thriving in the 1920s, but with prohibition still the law of the land criminal activity was peaking. Gangland murders were common as the gangsters fought to control the lucrative illegal liquor industry.
Adios, Mexico. Hello, Chicago. Willy tried to find his way in Mexico, but the oil fields shut down, there was a revolution and the country was in turmoil. In the five years since he left…
The Geheb family in Germany was always concerned about their adventurous son and brother. Willy was the only one of the family to move farther than twenty-five miles from the family home.
Just one mere month after writing to his family about his new job working as a blacksmith, Willy gets the disappointing news he has been laid off. Feeling discouraged by the news, he doesn’t know what to do next.
A Brazilian Adventure Awaits In 1923, Willy packed up his tools and bought a one-way ticket to Brazil. Germans had been immigrating to Brazil for almost one hundred years, and he saw no future in…