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Henry Lockett von Wittelsbach

b. 1958

Born
11 Apr 1958, Rosswies
Country of birth
Germany

Living person. The family sees only the name, dates and photo; everything else stays private unless they choose to share it.

facts
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sources
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Facts and their sources

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A life in time

  1. Born · Rosswies

    Birth, Rosswies

What was it like?

The world around Rosswies, 1958: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Henry was born around the same time as Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Joachim Löw, and Tom Hanks.

Born around the same time

  • Frank-Walter Steinmeier

    1956 · German politician, president of Germany since 2017

  • Joachim Löw

    1960 · German footballer and manager

  • Tom Hanks

    1956 · American actor and film producer (born 1956)

  • Mel Gibson

    1956 · American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (born 1956)

  • Stephen Harper

    1959 · 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015

  • Martina Navratilova

    1956 · Czech-American tennis player

Fashion

Sunday Best for Children

Sundays were special, and children wore their best clothes, including starched aprons and prized white patent leather shoes. Because these shoes were expensive, they were often reused even if they did not fit perfectly.

Around 1955–1955

The Klepper Coat Status Symbol

The Klepper coat, a rainproof jacket, became a significant status symbol for West German men by 1955. Nearly two-thirds of all raincoats produced in the country that year were manufactured by this firm.

Music

Milk bars and jukebox music

Youths frequently visited milk bars to drink milkshakes and listen to music on Wurlitzer jukeboxes, which cost one groschen per selection. Alcohol was prohibited in these establishments for those under 21 years old.

Rare records and fragile needles

Shellac records were so rare that customers had to trade in an old disc when buying a new one. The needles used to play them often wore out after only two or three uses.

Getting around

Affordable holiday travel in the 1950s

In 1954, vacationers could book bus trips to various German destinations, such as a Rhine cruise for 55 DM or a trip to the Black Forest for 90 DM. Many travelers saved up throughout the year for these annual holidays, and the majority typically did not travel more than 500 kilometers from their home.

Restricted and complex transit journeys

Travel between West Germany and West Berlin was restricted to specific transit routes, and passing through East Germany often involved long waits, tedious checks, and mandatory transit fees. Travelers frequently endured strict vehicle and passport controls, which remained highly politicized and time-consuming until agreements in the early 1970s eased these conditions.

Daily life

Cramped and basic postwar living conditions

In the early postwar years, families often lived in severely cramped, makeshift conditions such as barracks or subdivided rooms, with many sharing a single bed among multiple people. Basic necessities like light, heating, and running water were frequently missing or unreliable, forcing households to use items like oil lamps and primitive stoves for warmth and cooking.

Difficult conditions for school children

Classrooms were frequently overcrowded, with up to 60 children per class, and students often used slates and dip pens instead of paper. Many children faced interruptions to their schooling during winter months when classrooms could not be heated due to severe fuel shortages.

Food

Prosperity Symbolized by Hearty Meals

Following the scarcity of the postwar years, a "wave of eating" began in the mid-1950s where hearty portions of potatoes, thick sauces, and pork roast with fat crust became symbols of newfound prosperity.

Shrimp Peeling Wages

In the 1950s, a skilled shrimp peeler could process six pounds of shrimp per hour and earned 2.15 Deutsche Mark for this labor.

Prices and wages
Around 1954–1955

Worker wages in 1955

In 1955, the average hourly wage for a West German industrial worker rose to 1.76 Mark from 1.65 Mark in 1954.

Work

The Exhausting Sleep Sunday

Steel workers facing relentless cycles of night and Sunday shifts coined their limited time off as Schlafsonntag, or sleep Sunday, to describe the exhaustion following their rotating schedules.

News and letters
Around 1960–1960

Telegrams were often slow and expensive

By 1960, telegrams often took more than 12 hours to arrive, leading to complaints that they were no faster than regular letters despite being much more expensive.

Slow mail delivery in the 1950s

In the 1950s, mail delivery could be surprisingly slow, with some letters taking 2.5 to 3 days to travel between cities like Hamburg and Heidelberg, while registered mail sometimes took 14 days.

During their lifetime

  1. 1961

    Berlin Wall separates nation in 1961

    The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 ended free movement from East Germany and created a death strip that separated families for decades.

  2. 1992

    Record asylum applications in 1992

    In 1992, the number of asylum seekers in the Federal Republic reached a record high of over 438,000, following the collapse of the Eastern bloc.

Family

Parents

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.