The Secret Language of Cattle Dealers: German-Jewish Roots with Ken and Hannelore Krug
Hannelore Krug, a German-Jewish immigrant, and her son Ken, a genealogy enthusiast, discuss their family’s roots in Hesse-Nassau, Germany. They detail the family’s history as cattle dealers, noting a unique professional German-based jargon that incorporated many Hebrew words, including for numbers. Hannelore describes immigrating to New York in 1937 and her rapid linguistic assimilation, while Ken recalls German becoming a secret language used by his elders. Through preserving heritage words like schneckchen and traditional recipes like bienenstich, Ken pieces together their ancestral puzzle. He concludes by highlighting his extensive genealogical research and successful efforts to reclaim their family’s German citizenship.
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Hannelore Krug was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1929 and spent her first 8 years in Bad Soden am Taunus. Her father and grandfathers were cattle dealers in the Hesse Nassau region. When she arrived in the USA in December 1937, she lived in Middletown and Goshen NY, agricultural communities in Orange County, NY. After graduating high school there she worked in a bank in Middletown.
Ken Krug’s career as a VP/CFO has been with large, complex non-profits including The Asia Foundation, the RAND Corporation and the LA Jewish Federation. He was educated at Columbia College in New York City and Stanford Business School’s MBA and public management programs. Originally from New Jersey and NYC, he moved to California in 1975. A passion of his is Jewish genealogy, especially of his ancestors from the Hesse Nassau region in Germany from which his mother, Hannelore, emigrated in 1937.
