The Bomb Blast Through My Window

By Sasha Osborne

Eva-Luise Buchinsky (see front cover picture) was a refugee from East Prussia, a state which no longer exists and is now part of Russia. During the Second World War her family fled to Hamburg in Germany, which was also not safe because it was bombed by the allies. Eva-Luise ended up spending most of her adult life in Cambridge and Histon, because it gave her the happiness and freedom she wanted.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781447873488

Book preview

Histon and Impington Reality Fiction Series

THE BOMB BLAST THROUGH MY WINDOW

Based on a True Story

By Sasha Osborne

Copyright ©2023 Sasha Osborne

‘The Bomb Blast Through My Window.’

All rights reserved.  Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying will institute an infringement of copyright.

ISBN 978-1-4478-7348-8

Front cover photo taken by Albrecht Buchinsky (The author's uncle).  Back cover photo taken by John Osborne (The author’s partner).  Copyright @2023 Sasha Osborne. All rights reserved Any unauthorised copying will institute an infringement of copyright.

Please contact the author at [e-mail]

CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

THE BOMB BLAST THROUGH MY WINDOW

THE DEAD BABY STORY

A SHORT HISTORY OF HISTON AND IMPINGTON

Written In Eva-Luise Buchinsky’s Own Words

PREFACE

Eva-Luise was a descendant of the Krink, Buchinsky and Courvoisier families.                      The Krinks arrived in East Prussia from the Rhineland in 1721 after the Black Death, to farm in Gross Warkau, Insterburg, Konigsberg in East Prussia. 

After the Second World War the area became Kaliningrad, Russia.  Many family members escaped to Hamburg in Germany which appeared to be a safe haven from the Russian Occupation, but unfortunately it was heavily bombed by the allies because it was a harbour town. 

Hamburg like many other parts of Germany was rebuilt after the Second World War.

Eva-Luise’s final destination was Histon, Cambridge, in pursuit of a better life.  Her friend told her that England was a lovely place, which is why she came to this country.

BY SASHA OSBORNE

INTRODUCTION

My mother Eva-Luise Buchinsky was born in Tilsit, East Prussia and her father Dr Herman Buchinsky was born in Konigsberg, East Prussia. 

Prussia was a Germanic Kingdom from 1200 to the 1900s. It included lands in France, Poland and Lithuania.

The Kingdom of Prussia was founded 18 January 1701 when the Elector Frederick III was crowned Frederick I at Konigsberg.  It was a driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state in the German Empire until its dissolution 1918.

31 January 1773 Frederick I announced that the newly annexed lands would be known as The Province of West Prussia and the former Duchy of Prussia and Warmia became The Province of East Prussia.

1815 the Eastern most province of Prussia was known as East Prussia.  The boundaries remained until World War 1 and the population was mainly Lutheran.

Prussia remained in the hands of the landowners and aristocracy (the Junkers).  My grandfather was also one and became a Doctor of Law and a Judge.  He was also a Cavalry Officer.

After the Second World War East Prussia was occupied by the Russians. Tilsit became Sovetsk and Konigsberg became Kaliningrad, and all German speakers became refugees and fled, and a few were very unlucky and were killed.

I had a DNA test done a few years ago and discovered a relative who was also descended from the Krink family like me and that she was the great niece of my great grandmother Therese Courvoisier (ne Krink).  It was this relative who informed me that our family originated from the farm in Gross Warkau, Insterburg, Konigsberg in East Prussia.  (She told me to check this on the Internet and I found the farm owned by Gustav Krink who was one of five farmers in the area).

Another strange coincidence was that she also lived in Hamburg like my mother’s family had done and she even lived in the region of Bergedorf where my mother’s brother Albrecht and his family lived for many years.  We have never met this newly found relative who I came across when I DNA tested.

My nephew said that he hoped someone would write about our family one day, so this is what I have done.

My mother’s family came from a state which no longer exists.  This became a problem when I tried to register my mother’s place of birth after she died.  The area is now Russian. I spent two hours telling the registrar that my mother’s place of birth no longer existed and that she was not Russian and could not speak Russian and that the original population no longer existed.

Yes, people and a country or town can just disappear into thin air.  East Prussia did!

Eventually the registrar rang an official in London who told her to put Tilsit, East Prussia on the