Iron wedding: There were sparks on the sidelines more than 60 years ago
Created: 04/20/2022, 11:01 am
Celebrating an Iron Wedding: Anni and Helmut Ulbricht with son Armin (left) and daughter Dagmar (2nd from right) and son-in-law Franz Schilling (right).
© Hartl
Helmut Ulbricht saw his Anni for the first time 68 years ago at the soccer field in Mammendorf.
That first encounter turned into love for life.
Mammendorf – Three years later, on April 6, 1957, the two married in Mammendorf.
This year, 65 years later, Anna and Helmut Ulbricht are celebrating their Iron Wedding.
It was pure coincidence that the two met in Mammendorf, because neither Anna nor Helmut came from the community.
Helmut Ulbricht originally comes from the Sudetenland, his family was expelled from their homeland during the Second World War and ended up first in Jesenwang's Pfaffenhofen district and then in Mammendorf.
Many letters
Anna Ulbricht, called Anni, grew up in the Upper Palatinate.
Back then, in 1954, she was visiting her brother in Munich and the two went to Mammendorf.
There, Anna's brother played at the football game where a young man named Helmut was watching.
"I really liked your hairstyle right away," the 91-year-old recalls today.
The young lady wore her white-blonde hair in a fashionable bun and he immediately noticed her.
The two quickly became more than friends.
But the lovers were 230 kilometers apart, because Anna lived in the Upper Palatinate.
Telephones were rare in those days, so the two wrote a lot of letters.
"I was already getting two a week from him back then," Anna Ulbricht (89) recalls when we first got to know each other.
Once Helmut's longing for his Anni was so great that he cycled the whole 230 kilometers to her.
The couple married in April 1957. © Gog (repro)
Two years passed in this way, then the then 26-year-old Helmut plucked up courage and asked the parents of his loved one for their hand, which they granted him.
It wasn't a matter of course, because Helmut was Catholic and Anna was Protestant.
You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.
After a year of engagement, the two were finally allowed to marry.
It was celebrated in a small circle at home in the Martinssiedlung in Mammendorf.
The relatives and friends always came in groups to the bride and groom's house.
Two years later, their son Armin was born, another three years later their daughter Dagmar was born.
While Helmut worked in a sawmill for 43 years, Anna worked in outpatient care for the elderly.
The two celebrated their golden wedding anniversary and diamond wedding anniversary with a family outing.
In the meantime, the Ulbricht family has expanded, with five adult grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
A third great-grandchild will soon be born.
When asked what it takes for such a long and happy marriage, Anna Ulbricht replies: "Tolerance, being able to absolutely rely on one another and trust." And Helmut, who has been by her side for over 65 years, adds: "And give in."
(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular FFB newsletter.)