In 1987 we received from the lawyer, who had to search for the heirs, a wreath ribbon he found on the grave of Alfred. Alfred died in solitude, angry on the world and on himself. Who were these 2 women? Formerly it was common practice that the woman took the name of her husband which makes it extra difficult when you go searching. If I could find someone it would probably be children or grandchildren, that is what I thought at te start. Nothing could be further from the truth. Helga from Australia is 85 (2014) and better yet, she came especially along in Antwerpen in May 2014 during her trip through Europe.

How to start a search like that? There was nowhere any indication or link. So I started to search for the names in German telephone books on 11.01.2014. That was an impossible task. Where do they live? Throughout Germany I found 746 Wießner and 11039 Hübner. That was obviously a little bit too much to contact.

In order to work in a more limited environment I focused my search for Hübner on the internet in Australia. Perhaps they were there with less namesakes and it was to be hoped that the name was not otherwise written like Huebner, Hubner,… I had more luck this time, there were only 60 Hübners in the telephone directories. At worst I could write them all and hope that a positive result came out. But first I wanted to try to continue the search in my way. I found an artist with the same name on internet but that was not the Helga I was looking for. Then I thought to myself: “what would I do if I would emigrate?”. Of course I would look for compatriots. Instinctively I picked on 18.01.2014, without knowing it, the right German language Association out of it. The Secretary knew the name Helga Hübner but did not know immediately who it was. At the next dance night he would spread my message. 9 days later the dance evening took place and bingo. No descendants but Helga herself responded via her friend by mail:

Afterwards it went very fast and we met each other in Antwerp on 15.05.2014. In just 16 days of search I found Helga in Australia. Even in a small country like Belgium you don't get such a positive result in such a short period. I've read the mail that I received a couple of times as it was so unreal. She herself has told several times during her visit, what she felt at the time that her name and Alfred Jezelin's name was called . Imagine you close an important period in your life and all of a sudden 27 years later someone's looking for you on the other side of the world.

Your effort to find the Hubner family has been successful.

I am Helga's partner and my name is Frank Kovacs (Hungarian born and emigrated to Australia in 1958). Helga told me many times about the connection between the Jochmann and Jecelin families. Here is Helga's Story.

I am Helga Hubner, Loni's, Gizella's and Fritz's sister. My husband Hubert past away. My father Fritz Jochmann was a Glass technician an expert in ornamental glass technology. He had many publications regarding practical glass manufacturing.
I can recall that Alfred and his wife visited our family after the war when we were very poor living in Konstein. They arrived in a big nice car and had many business discussions with my father. Alfred was a very clever business man. They visited us many times and taken us on outings. As a business deal between my father and Alfred my father received some money for his formulas and practical glass manufacturing notes. We 3 girls also got a nice gold bracelet each that I love and always ware on outings. The two families became friends. Mrs Jecelin was very kind to me, giving me some of her unwanted clothes as we were similar stature.

I immigrated to Australia with Hubert but Loni kept touch with the Jecelins. My brother Fritz often helped in Alfred's factory. Loni for a long long time visited Alfred travelling from Schleiden to Euskirchen by public transport when he became a recluse not trusting anyone often looking for things and thinking that people were steeling from him. Loni was very disappointed and sorry in what become of him.

From the short biography and some anecdotes that Helga told me Alfred had a dark side. Helga told me that on one occasion they went on a country drive including Helga's Father and twin sister and a deer appeared on the road in front of the car. Alfred had a glee on his face accelerated and hit the deer to the amazement of others in the car. Got out and put the deer in the boot still kicking. Took the deer to the village's butcher to be collected later. The Jochmann's were shocked.

15.05.2014 was the big day. A beautiful sunny day, little could go wrong but Murphy was present. We were waiting in the hall of the hotel when my cell phone went off. It was Frank the partner of Helga. It turned out that they had taken the wrong train. They were first on a train in the wrong direction and were now heading in the right direction. That wasn't too bad, I only had to shorten the city promenade a little bit. Once arrived the first story that Helga told us with enthusiasm was how surprised they were on the dance evening of their club. We have heard it several times that day in English and German, she could still not believe it. The meeting felt mutually as if we met family from a distant country. Unfortunately the day passed too quickly but everyone has enjoyed it. That day we talked a mixture of Dutch, German and English which we recorded on tape by admission of the guests. It would have been impossible to write down useful information while I was busy with 3 languages simultaneously. Below you can hear her story how she had experienced the announcement on that particular dance evening.


Translation of the fragment
Helga: you did found me too. I really think about the Austria club when a message was announced: “I have here an email. Does anybode knows Helga Hübner and Loni Wießner? Does anybody knows a certain Jezelin? “I, I” she called them. Emmy: I think she has not slept that night when she heard the message. Helga: I have to tell my son everything when I go home”
More anecdotes are or are to be included in a separate page depending on the progress I make in listening to the tape. Take a look at the photo report

Helga's collection has thinned out throughout the years because she gave pieces away to people who appreciated the glass work of her father. You can find the pieces that she still has in the photo gallery. You will notice that here and there a 'zczc' mark is made in the photo which means that the same pieces are also in Alfred's archive. It is not yet clear who has made these pieces. Possibly they exchanged pieces amongst each other as an example or did they made sometimes both the same pieces? That is the subject of further research in the production notebooks of Alfred. Take a look at global overview and the photo gallery_of_the_individual_pieces

The story of the family's life was not always pleasant. The history is included in this section and is still in development. Further info is collected. Life after the second world war will be integrated in the biography of Alfred as Fritz and Alfred had an important role in each other's lives. Their characters were totally different, but both had an insatiable passion for glass. They had mutual respect for each other and they supported each other through thick and thin. See also photo's of the Jochmann family