Viktoria Wilhelmina von Klencke

 I have been very fortunate in my life to have met some very interesting people, and as I have become older, I am thinking back on them. I plan to write some of what I remember before I begin to forget.

The first person that has come to my mind is Victoria Wilhelmina von Klencke born von Ruperti. She was the German mother-in-law of my childhood friend Christine Pierpont von Klencke.

I met her the first morning  that we stayed at Hämelschenburg in June of 1974, at a lovely breakfast set at a table in the hall of their capacious residential apartment in the castle. Each plate had a large strawberry on it. 

Viktoria was obviously in charge. She was a tall, thin woman with sharp features and a commanding presence. I would soon learn from whence this came.

Also at the table were her son, Lippold, who was engaged to my old friend from Baltimore, Christine Pierpont, Peg McCarty and a 16 year old Swedish girl named Anna. Anna was at Hämelschenburg for the summer to learn German, as her father had been when he was 16. Anna was very pretty, sweet and a little bit shy.

Viktoria asked, “Hast du gut geschlafen?” We all had to answer in German, which was a stretch for Peg and me. “Ja, ich habe gut geschlafen.”

Once we had said that, we could pretty much keep our mouths closed.

Our first impression of the castle was that it looked almost feudal. They had just installed central heating, but the ornamental stoves that were previously used to heat were still in each room. 

There was a moat surrounding the castle with a large pond in front, and even a dark and dank dungeon. The exterior walls in the basement were about 4’ wide, as evidenced by the window sills.

Personally, I was in awe of the place and its baroness. Viktoria even had an “egg route”. Once a week she would cross to the barn across the road and fill a basket with eggs to be delivered to various people in the surrounding villages. I went on this egg route once with Christine when she became the baroness. I believe that tradition finally went by the wayside.

She also would take a milk can, a large painted tin vessel with a swinging handle on top, to the barn for their milk.

I was very curious about Viktoria, so I asked Christine about her.  She grew up in East Prussia, where her father was President in a palace called Pless.

She was named after Kaiser Wilhelm, named Viktoria Wilhelmina. It meant victory to Wilhelm.

She had married Lippold’s father Leopold in the early 1940’s before he was sent off to war. On one of his leaves she became pregnant with Lippold.

In 1990 Peg and I went to the palace in  Pless with Christine, where we heard that it had become a military hospital during WWII. Viktoria returned to her former home as a nurse to the injured soldiers.

During the tour we went through an enormous bathroom with a huge bathtub, which Christine said that Leopold had loved when he was injured and recovering there. Of course, I had to take a photo to present to Viktoria.

We then went to a baroque-style church next to the palace that was hugely ornamental in a rococo style.

There was spectacular use of plaster, paint and 3 dimensional sculptural sculptures throughout. As we stood at the altar, Christine told us that Viktoria’s godfather, the aforementioned Kaiser Wilhelm, had held her there as she was baptized. I had a chill hearing that in the same spot where it took place.

Lippold’s father died in the war shortly before he was born. Viktoria took over running the castle and made sure that it was preserved for him to take it over when he came of age and his education was finished. Christine admires how she was able to do this on her own, especially since Lippold’s parents were not fans of hers.

Whenever we visited Hämelschenburg she regaled us with many stories from the history of the castle. During WWII they took in many cousins who’s properties had been taken by the armies. 

After the war ended in May of 1945, some American soldiers took over the castle for a few weeks, relegating the residents to the small church on the property. This included Lippold, who was not a year old yet.

The officer in charge of the Americans told Viktoria that she should not lock anything, as the soldiers would then be tempted to break in to them. Viktoria was astonished that not a thing was stolen, and thereafter she loved Americans.

Some time after Lippold took over running the castle, the woods, fields, etc. Viktoria moved to Heidelberg where she moved in with an uncle of Lippold and his male cousins. Her relationship with the uncle is vague to me, but I heard that she did all of the cooking and housework.

The last time that we saw Viktoria was at the house in Heidelberg where she made us a delicious midday meal of Wiener Schnitzel and told us about her life in a regular house right outside the beautiful city of Heidelberg.

After lunch we piled into her VW beetle and she drove us on a beautifully narrated tour throughout Heidelberg and it’s surroundings. Both of us were terrified by her driving. As Peg says,”she drove like the aristocrat that she was. Everyone should make way.”

I felt wistful leaving her that last time, as I felt that we might not see her again.  In fact, the arrangement with the uncle fell apart and Viktoria returned to the castle.  She died a few years later and is buried in the family graveyard a slight walk up the hill from the back of the castle.

I actually wrote to Viktoria in her last few years asking to interview her for a book I wanted to write about a few strong women who had made it through WWII despite many obstacles.

She wrote back with a sweet message telling me that her memory was failing, so she didn’t think that it would work.

Nonetheless, I have some great memories of this  amazingly strong woman and know some interesting stories about her life as an adult.