Baroness Ella von der Brüggen was born at Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava) in Courland, a Baltic-German region of the Russian Empire in what is now modern Latvia, on 6 August 1890.
Ella’s father died when she was six years of age. Her mother endured considerable financial difficulty in bringing up Ella and her sister alone. At the age of sixteen years, Ella left school and journeyed to Berlin in order to train as a kindergarten teacher. Two years later, she returned to Friedrichstadt to seek employment.
Ella found a post with Baron Eduard Alfred Gustav von Taube (1864-1917) and his wife, Gabriele (1870-1956), a member of the eminent Girard de Soucanton family. The von Taube household was at Rickholz (Riguldi). The Baron and Baroness’s daughter, Helene Pauline Julie (1891-1983), known as "Nelly", was Ella’s near contemporary. Her student would be the much younger, Arved Berend Gustav Etienne (1905-79) to whom she taught reading and arithmetic. When Arved was ten years old and went to school in Reval (Tallinn), Ella remained in the von Taube household as another daughter to her employers.
Ella’s intelligence and good heart led to her teaching the working-class children of Friedrichstadt, teaching herself Estonian and Swedish to do so.
World War I destroyed the socio-political relationship between Baltic-Germans and the Russian Empire. Courland was conquered by Germany in 1915 and included into the military Ober Ost (“Upper East”) administration. All German schools and societies were closed in the Estonian Governorate and Germans were ordered to leave the Courland Governorate for inner Russia. After the Russian surrender at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1917, German forces occupied all Russia’s Baltic provinces. The Ober Ost military administration began plans for German colonization of Courland proposing that 1/3 of arable land be reserved for settlement by German war veterans. This was approved by Courland's German nobility. On 28 December 1917, Baron Gustav was murdered by Russian forces. "Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels" and "Genealogische Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften" state “von Matrosen ermordet”. Gabriele, Nelly, Arved, and Ella moved into Pomerania. They returned to Rickholz when Germany lost most of the region to Poland.
Ella took over the management of the estate livestock. She would rise early with a farm servant to see to the animals’ welfare. She would frequently walk through a snowy landscape at night to watch over a pig or a cow as it gave birth. She worked in the fields and in the fisheries on the von Taube land. However, such efforts could not hold back the changes to the map of Europe had changed: Ella von der Brüggen and the von Taube family would never truly regain their Baltic-German homeland.
In the early months of World War II, members of almost all Baltic-German families, including the von Taube and Girard de Soucanton dynasties, were resettled under the Heim ins Reich programme. In accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, they were moved into the Reichsgaue Wartheland and Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen, newly established on the territory of occupied Poland. Ella von der Brüggen and the von Taube family were settled in the Reichsgau Wartheland. Arved managed a Polish goods outlet and Ella acted as his secretary, dealing with accounting and deliveries.
Peace brought as much upheaval as war. The majority of all ethnic Germans were expelled from these lands by a victorious Soviet Union. A further resettlement was planned for the territory remaining to Germany under terms of the border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference, i.e. west of the Oder–Neisse line. By 1948, more than 48,000 ethnic Germans had settled in Celle. This number included Ella von der Brüggen and the family of Gabriela von Taube. The caring and unselfish Ella became indispensable to many people in the von Taube circle of acquaintances.
Together with Nelly, Ella cared for Gabriela von Taube until her death in 1956. The two friends, contemporaries and “sisters” then moved to Kiel on the Baltic coast of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Ella came to love Kiel as a true home.
Baroness Ella von der Brüggen died at Kiel on 14 September 1981 aged 91 years. Her body was taken to Celle and interred in the von Taube plot. Her simple memorial plaque is slightly to the side of those commemorating the family. A biblical citation refers to the following biblical verse:
1 Moses. 12:2 Und ich will dich zum großen Volk machen und will dich segnen und dir einen großen Namen machen, und du sollst ein Segen sein
Genesis: 12:2: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing
Ella’s father died when she was six years of age. Her mother endured considerable financial difficulty in bringing up Ella and her sister alone. At the age of sixteen years, Ella left school and journeyed to Berlin in order to train as a kindergarten teacher. Two years later, she returned to Friedrichstadt to seek employment.
Ella found a post with Baron Eduard Alfred Gustav von Taube (1864-1917) and his wife, Gabriele (1870-1956), a member of the eminent Girard de Soucanton family. The von Taube household was at Rickholz (Riguldi). The Baron and Baroness’s daughter, Helene Pauline Julie (1891-1983), known as "Nelly", was Ella’s near contemporary. Her student would be the much younger, Arved Berend Gustav Etienne (1905-79) to whom she taught reading and arithmetic. When Arved was ten years old and went to school in Reval (Tallinn), Ella remained in the von Taube household as another daughter to her employers.
Ella’s intelligence and good heart led to her teaching the working-class children of Friedrichstadt, teaching herself Estonian and Swedish to do so.
World War I destroyed the socio-political relationship between Baltic-Germans and the Russian Empire. Courland was conquered by Germany in 1915 and included into the military Ober Ost (“Upper East”) administration. All German schools and societies were closed in the Estonian Governorate and Germans were ordered to leave the Courland Governorate for inner Russia. After the Russian surrender at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1917, German forces occupied all Russia’s Baltic provinces. The Ober Ost military administration began plans for German colonization of Courland proposing that 1/3 of arable land be reserved for settlement by German war veterans. This was approved by Courland's German nobility. On 28 December 1917, Baron Gustav was murdered by Russian forces. "Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels" and "Genealogische Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften" state “von Matrosen ermordet”. Gabriele, Nelly, Arved, and Ella moved into Pomerania. They returned to Rickholz when Germany lost most of the region to Poland.
Ella took over the management of the estate livestock. She would rise early with a farm servant to see to the animals’ welfare. She would frequently walk through a snowy landscape at night to watch over a pig or a cow as it gave birth. She worked in the fields and in the fisheries on the von Taube land. However, such efforts could not hold back the changes to the map of Europe had changed: Ella von der Brüggen and the von Taube family would never truly regain their Baltic-German homeland.
In the early months of World War II, members of almost all Baltic-German families, including the von Taube and Girard de Soucanton dynasties, were resettled under the Heim ins Reich programme. In accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, they were moved into the Reichsgaue Wartheland and Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen, newly established on the territory of occupied Poland. Ella von der Brüggen and the von Taube family were settled in the Reichsgau Wartheland. Arved managed a Polish goods outlet and Ella acted as his secretary, dealing with accounting and deliveries.
Peace brought as much upheaval as war. The majority of all ethnic Germans were expelled from these lands by a victorious Soviet Union. A further resettlement was planned for the territory remaining to Germany under terms of the border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference, i.e. west of the Oder–Neisse line. By 1948, more than 48,000 ethnic Germans had settled in Celle. This number included Ella von der Brüggen and the family of Gabriela von Taube. The caring and unselfish Ella became indispensable to many people in the von Taube circle of acquaintances.
Together with Nelly, Ella cared for Gabriela von Taube until her death in 1956. The two friends, contemporaries and “sisters” then moved to Kiel on the Baltic coast of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Ella came to love Kiel as a true home.
Baroness Ella von der Brüggen died at Kiel on 14 September 1981 aged 91 years. Her body was taken to Celle and interred in the von Taube plot. Her simple memorial plaque is slightly to the side of those commemorating the family. A biblical citation refers to the following biblical verse:
1 Moses. 12:2 Und ich will dich zum großen Volk machen und will dich segnen und dir einen großen Namen machen, und du sollst ein Segen sein
Genesis: 12:2: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing
Baroness Ella von der Brüggen was born at Friedrichstadt (Jaunjelgava) in Courland, a Baltic-German region of the Russian Empire in what is now modern Latvia, on 6 August 1890.
Ella’s father died when she was six years of age. Her mother endured considerable financial difficulty in bringing up Ella and her sister alone. At the age of sixteen years, Ella left school and journeyed to Berlin in order to train as a kindergarten teacher. Two years later, she returned to Friedrichstadt to seek employment.
Ella found a post with Baron Eduard Alfred Gustav von Taube (1864-1917) and his wife, Gabriele (1870-1956), a member of the eminent Girard de Soucanton family. The von Taube household was at Rickholz (Riguldi). The Baron and Baroness’s daughter, Helene Pauline Julie (1891-1983), known as "Nelly", was Ella’s near contemporary. Her student would be the much younger, Arved Berend Gustav Etienne (1905-79) to whom she taught reading and arithmetic. When Arved was ten years old and went to school in Reval (Tallinn), Ella remained in the von Taube household as another daughter to her employers.
Ella’s intelligence and good heart led to her teaching the working-class children of Friedrichstadt, teaching herself Estonian and Swedish to do so.
World War I destroyed the socio-political relationship between Baltic-Germans and the Russian Empire. Courland was conquered by Germany in 1915 and included into the military Ober Ost (“Upper East”) administration. All German schools and societies were closed in the Estonian Governorate and Germans were ordered to leave the Courland Governorate for inner Russia. After the Russian surrender at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1917, German forces occupied all Russia’s Baltic provinces. The Ober Ost military administration began plans for German colonization of Courland proposing that 1/3 of arable land be reserved for settlement by German war veterans. This was approved by Courland's German nobility. On 28 December 1917, Baron Gustav was murdered by Russian forces. "Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels" and "Genealogische Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften" state “von Matrosen ermordet”. Gabriele, Nelly, Arved, and Ella moved into Pomerania. They returned to Rickholz when Germany lost most of the region to Poland.
Ella took over the management of the estate livestock. She would rise early with a farm servant to see to the animals’ welfare. She would frequently walk through a snowy landscape at night to watch over a pig or a cow as it gave birth. She worked in the fields and in the fisheries on the von Taube land. However, such efforts could not hold back the changes to the map of Europe had changed: Ella von der Brüggen and the von Taube family would never truly regain their Baltic-German homeland.
In the early months of World War II, members of almost all Baltic-German families, including the von Taube and Girard de Soucanton dynasties, were resettled under the Heim ins Reich programme. In accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, they were moved into the Reichsgaue Wartheland and Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen, newly established on the territory of occupied Poland. Ella von der Brüggen and the von Taube family were settled in the Reichsgau Wartheland. Arved managed a Polish goods outlet and Ella acted as his secretary, dealing with accounting and deliveries.
Peace brought as much upheaval as war. The majority of all ethnic Germans were expelled from these lands by a victorious Soviet Union. A further resettlement was planned for the territory remaining to Germany under terms of the border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference, i.e. west of the Oder–Neisse line. By 1948, more than 48,000 ethnic Germans had settled in Celle. This number included Ella von der Brüggen and the family of Gabriela von Taube. The caring and unselfish Ella became indispensable to many people in the von Taube circle of acquaintances.
Together with Nelly, Ella cared for Gabriela von Taube until her death in 1956. The two friends, contemporaries and “sisters” then moved to Kiel on the Baltic coast of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Ella came to love Kiel as a true home.
Baroness Ella von der Brüggen died at Kiel on 14 September 1981 aged 91 years. Her body was taken to Celle and interred in the von Taube plot. Her simple memorial plaque is slightly to the side of those commemorating the family. A biblical citation refers to the following biblical verse:
1 Moses. 12:2 Und ich will dich zum großen Volk machen und will dich segnen und dir einen großen Namen machen, und du sollst ein Segen sein
Genesis: 12:2: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing
Ella’s father died when she was six years of age. Her mother endured considerable financial difficulty in bringing up Ella and her sister alone. At the age of sixteen years, Ella left school and journeyed to Berlin in order to train as a kindergarten teacher. Two years later, she returned to Friedrichstadt to seek employment.
Ella found a post with Baron Eduard Alfred Gustav von Taube (1864-1917) and his wife, Gabriele (1870-1956), a member of the eminent Girard de Soucanton family. The von Taube household was at Rickholz (Riguldi). The Baron and Baroness’s daughter, Helene Pauline Julie (1891-1983), known as "Nelly", was Ella’s near contemporary. Her student would be the much younger, Arved Berend Gustav Etienne (1905-79) to whom she taught reading and arithmetic. When Arved was ten years old and went to school in Reval (Tallinn), Ella remained in the von Taube household as another daughter to her employers.
Ella’s intelligence and good heart led to her teaching the working-class children of Friedrichstadt, teaching herself Estonian and Swedish to do so.
World War I destroyed the socio-political relationship between Baltic-Germans and the Russian Empire. Courland was conquered by Germany in 1915 and included into the military Ober Ost (“Upper East”) administration. All German schools and societies were closed in the Estonian Governorate and Germans were ordered to leave the Courland Governorate for inner Russia. After the Russian surrender at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1917, German forces occupied all Russia’s Baltic provinces. The Ober Ost military administration began plans for German colonization of Courland proposing that 1/3 of arable land be reserved for settlement by German war veterans. This was approved by Courland's German nobility. On 28 December 1917, Baron Gustav was murdered by Russian forces. "Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels" and "Genealogische Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften" state “von Matrosen ermordet”. Gabriele, Nelly, Arved, and Ella moved into Pomerania. They returned to Rickholz when Germany lost most of the region to Poland.
Ella took over the management of the estate livestock. She would rise early with a farm servant to see to the animals’ welfare. She would frequently walk through a snowy landscape at night to watch over a pig or a cow as it gave birth. She worked in the fields and in the fisheries on the von Taube land. However, such efforts could not hold back the changes to the map of Europe had changed: Ella von der Brüggen and the von Taube family would never truly regain their Baltic-German homeland.
In the early months of World War II, members of almost all Baltic-German families, including the von Taube and Girard de Soucanton dynasties, were resettled under the Heim ins Reich programme. In accordance with the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, they were moved into the Reichsgaue Wartheland and Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen, newly established on the territory of occupied Poland. Ella von der Brüggen and the von Taube family were settled in the Reichsgau Wartheland. Arved managed a Polish goods outlet and Ella acted as his secretary, dealing with accounting and deliveries.
Peace brought as much upheaval as war. The majority of all ethnic Germans were expelled from these lands by a victorious Soviet Union. A further resettlement was planned for the territory remaining to Germany under terms of the border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference, i.e. west of the Oder–Neisse line. By 1948, more than 48,000 ethnic Germans had settled in Celle. This number included Ella von der Brüggen and the family of Gabriela von Taube. The caring and unselfish Ella became indispensable to many people in the von Taube circle of acquaintances.
Together with Nelly, Ella cared for Gabriela von Taube until her death in 1956. The two friends, contemporaries and “sisters” then moved to Kiel on the Baltic coast of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Ella came to love Kiel as a true home.
Baroness Ella von der Brüggen died at Kiel on 14 September 1981 aged 91 years. Her body was taken to Celle and interred in the von Taube plot. Her simple memorial plaque is slightly to the side of those commemorating the family. A biblical citation refers to the following biblical verse:
1 Moses. 12:2 Und ich will dich zum großen Volk machen und will dich segnen und dir einen großen Namen machen, und du sollst ein Segen sein
Genesis: 12:2: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing
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