Walburga Stemmer
Encyclopedia
Walburga Stemmer was a fruit-seller living in Weingarten (Württemberg)
who allegedly had an affair with Erwin Rommel
and gave birth to his daughter, Gertrud Stemmer (later Mrs. Gertrud Pan), on December 8, 1913. Rommel turned away from her and in 1916 married another woman, Lucie Mollin.
Stemmer died in 1928, a few months before Rommel had a child, Manfred, with Lucie. Her cause of death is sometimes given as pneumonia
though others claim that she committed suicide
.
The existence of his second family has emerged in a collection of more than 150 letters and photographs, kept for decades by his illegitimate daughter Gertrud Pan at her home in Kempten, southern Germany.
The letters emerged after Gertrud's death last year. "There were hints from some fellow officers and an army nurse, and was eventually put into the museum curator in Rommel's home town, who confirmed the family's existence," said Sallyann Kleibel, producer of The Real Rommel, to be shown on Channel 4 on August 2.
Rommel met Lucie in 1911 in Danzig. During a temporary posting in Weingarten, hundreds of miles away, he met the teenage Walburga Stemmer, and they had an affair.
In 1913 Gertrud, their daughter, was born, to Rommel's delight. He wrote to Walburga, calling her his "little mouse". He said he would like to set up home with her and Gertrud: "It's got to be perfect, this little nest of ours." However, he returned to Lucie and married her in 1916. Walburga never recovered from her rejection.
Gertrud's son Josef Pan, 62, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler from Kempten, whose family own the letters, said: "Rommel was Walburga's only love. As long as Rommel and Lucie never had children she held on to the conviction that he would return to her. When Manfred was born in 1928 she took an overdose . . . The explanation given in public was that she had died of pneumonia. Later the family doctor told my mother she had taken her own life."
Gertrud exchanged hundreds of letters with her father. She knitted him a scarf, which he wore frequently at the battlefront. Lucie knew about Gertrud, but to Manfred she was always "cousin Gertrud".
She was a frequent visitor to the family and was at Rommel's hospital bedside after he returned ill from Africa. There, she answered the telephone when a furious Hitler ordered him back to Africa, where he was defeated at El Alamein. She stayed close to the family even after her father's death.
Weingarten (Württemberg)
Weingarten is a town with a population of 24,000 in Württemberg, in the District of Ravensburg, in the valley of the Schussen River. Together with the southern neighbour cities of Ravensburg and Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance , it forms one of 14 medium-sized infrastructural centres in...
who allegedly had an affair with Erwin Rommel
Erwin Rommel
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II. He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought....
and gave birth to his daughter, Gertrud Stemmer (later Mrs. Gertrud Pan), on December 8, 1913. Rommel turned away from her and in 1916 married another woman, Lucie Mollin.
Stemmer died in 1928, a few months before Rommel had a child, Manfred, with Lucie. Her cause of death is sometimes given as pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
though others claim that she committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
The existence of his second family has emerged in a collection of more than 150 letters and photographs, kept for decades by his illegitimate daughter Gertrud Pan at her home in Kempten, southern Germany.
The letters emerged after Gertrud's death last year. "There were hints from some fellow officers and an army nurse, and was eventually put into the museum curator in Rommel's home town, who confirmed the family's existence," said Sallyann Kleibel, producer of The Real Rommel, to be shown on Channel 4 on August 2.
Rommel met Lucie in 1911 in Danzig. During a temporary posting in Weingarten, hundreds of miles away, he met the teenage Walburga Stemmer, and they had an affair.
In 1913 Gertrud, their daughter, was born, to Rommel's delight. He wrote to Walburga, calling her his "little mouse". He said he would like to set up home with her and Gertrud: "It's got to be perfect, this little nest of ours." However, he returned to Lucie and married her in 1916. Walburga never recovered from her rejection.
Gertrud's son Josef Pan, 62, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler from Kempten, whose family own the letters, said: "Rommel was Walburga's only love. As long as Rommel and Lucie never had children she held on to the conviction that he would return to her. When Manfred was born in 1928 she took an overdose . . . The explanation given in public was that she had died of pneumonia. Later the family doctor told my mother she had taken her own life."
Gertrud exchanged hundreds of letters with her father. She knitted him a scarf, which he wore frequently at the battlefront. Lucie knew about Gertrud, but to Manfred she was always "cousin Gertrud".
She was a frequent visitor to the family and was at Rommel's hospital bedside after he returned ill from Africa. There, she answered the telephone when a furious Hitler ordered him back to Africa, where he was defeated at El Alamein. She stayed close to the family even after her father's death.
- The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point, World War II, by Bierman and SmithColin Smith (journalist)Colin Smith is a British foreign-affairs journalist and military historian. He was born in Birmingham, England in 1944. For 26 years he worked for The Observer newspaper, of...
(2002). ISBN 0-670-03040-6 - http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/R/real_lives/rommel.htmlBiography of Rommel on Channel 4Channel 4Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in part describing his relationship with Stemmer] - Rommel letters reveal secret second family in The Sunday Times