The rise and fall of a family business.

The family was shattered by the events of the war, the father was skeletal thin from being imprisoned in a British POW camp in Poland, The mother and the children were traumatized and humiliated from the wild deportation and the trip through war torn Germany to Bavaria. But now they were on their way to rebuilding their lives and their business.

after setling into the bunker and making it habitable as a dwelling for the family, the father and the sons, along with three Gablonz friends who were now neighbors went to work on the glass hut. They built a furnace, scrounging cement and bricks from the American soldiers in the nearby base. And an inventory of all the molds the boys had smuggled out they were able to offer a four hole sew through button as the very first creation from the new glass hut. They were in business! German clothing factories needed buttons desperately, and the family could provide them with buttons. They were black glass, very inexpensive, but it was providing money to the family, and besides much needed money, it provided pride and accomplishmen. They had survived. And with a working furnace, they could rent out time to other glassmakers and bead and button makers to fill their orders. Everyone was working together to rebuild their lives and the new glass industry.

An exciting event happened one day, when a traveler from Czechoslovakia came through town and met with the mother. He offered to guide her over the East German border into Czechoslovakia so she could go to Gablonz to try and retrieve some of their possessions they had left behind. She spoke to her husband, and her children, explaining the dangers and the benefits if her journey was successful, and it was agreed that she would have a better chance of succeeding than if the father went, and that he was needed in the glass hut filling production orders. So off she went, along with four other women who needed to recover their possessions. It was going to be an 8 day trip, one day there, one day to sneak across the border, two days to get to Gablonz and retrieve their belongings, two days back to the border where the guide was waiting for them, one day to cross the border back into East Germany, and one day to get back to neuGablonz. Dangerous? Yes. Tiring? Of course. But it would be worth it. The trip to Czechoslovakia was somewhat dangerous, dodging police patrols and roaming bands of bandits and desperate starving refugee, and when they got to the border the guide‘s expertise came into play, as he knew where the land mines were buried And the towers and schedules of the patrols. They made it across, and it took two days for the four women to journey to Gablonz. The first shock was discovering the name changes to all the towns and villages in Sudetenland, from German names into Czech names. The Czechs were erasing all traces of the Germans who used to live there.

eventually, she made it to Gablonz, however it was now Jablonec, and went to the house they used to lived in, in the tiny village of Gistei.

when she knocked on the door, it was oped by her long time friend Hannah, who screamed with delight and gave her a big hug. She was so pleased to see her. They spoke for hours, filling each other in on what had happened to both of them. Hannah and her father, who had worked in the glass hut as the manager, was now in charge of the glass factory. The government had given them the house to live in, not as the owners, the house was owned by the state , as was the factory. But all the furnishings, artwork on the walls, rugs, kitchen appliances, cutlery, cups and plates, everything, was now theirs to use. Soon, Hanna went up into the attic, and on the mothers direction, took out from a secret hideaway a bolt of expensive material, and a silver plate. By now, the mother had to leave and travel back to the border where the guide would be waiting. She met up with one of the women who had come to Jablonec with her and they made their way back to the border meeting place. In time. The guide was there, and they all successfully crossed the border into East Germany and onto NeuGablonz. The expensive material she made into a business suit for her husband, and the silver plate was sold to pay for a decommissioned military jeep. It was the first civilian vehicle in NeuGablonz.

‘Not only had the family survived, they had rebuilt their business and their standing as the leading family in the town. They eventually became the biggest, and most successful glass factory and jewelry designer in NeuGablonz.

‘Let me introduce you to Emil Hubner and Sonne.