GERMAN WIDOW’S SUITORS

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26529, 18 September 1951, Page 6

GERMAN WIDOW’S SUITORS

ANOTHER MAN TO LEAVE N.Z.

ONE ON SHIP, SECOND TO FLY

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, September 17. To-day a Lower Hutt resident, Mr G. E. Engelbrecht, who is 62 years old, announced that he would fly to Nuremberg, Germany, in the hope of marrying Mrs Basilia Bauminghaus, a German war widow. A 64-year-old Murchison goldminer, Mr F. E. Hargreaves, left Auckland in the Rangitiki last Wednesday with similar intentions.

The men had read a letter in a newspaper from Mrs Bauminghaus which said that her family had died during the war and that she and her young daughter lived in a room in a little village. Her letter added: “Perhaps you know a way before it begins again in Europe to help me to bring my child to safety.” Mr Engelbrecht, who is himself a German, said that he had exchanged about 15 letters with Mrs Bauminghaus. He expects to leave in about three weeks and to arrive in Germany before Mr Hargreaves. He said that he had decided to go on the spur of the moment, and admitted that it was a long way to go without any concrete assurance of success.

Mr Engelbrecht has been in New Zealand for 48 years. He spent 28 years in Christchurch, Timaru, and Waimate, and has been in the Hutt area for about 20 years. He has never been married. At present he is employed in a Petone factory as a gardener.