Library of Congress Interview with William M. Woessner The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project WILLIAM M. WOESSNER Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: November 29, 1999 Copyright 2002 ADST Q: Today is November 29, 1999. This is an interview with William M. Woessner. This is being done on behalf of The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and I'm Charles Stuart Kennedy. You go by Bill? WOESSNER: Yes. Q: Let's start at the beginning. Could you tell me when and wheryou were born and something about your family? WOESSNER: On May 14, 1931 in College Point, Queens County, part of New York City. My dad was a New York City fireman. He had lost his father when he was a boy, went into an orphanage, came out at 14, and went to work on a railroad to support his mother and siblings. He and my mother married in 1929. I have a younger brother. Q: What is your mother's background? WOESSNER: She was a housewife. She worked for R.G. Dunn and Company when she came out of high school. She also had to go to work young. But she enjoyed R.G. Dunn and Company and made some money on the stock market and then lost it all in 1929. Interview with William M. Woessner http://www.loc.gov/item/mfdipbib001286 Library of Congress Q: So, she got married. WOESSNER: Yes. She and Dad had known one another from the time hwas in the orphanage. Q: Were you living in College Point? WOESSNER: Yes, I was born there and grew up there until I left to go to Europe on a Fulbright and on to Northwestern University, the Army, and then the Foreign Service. I never came back after that. But the family lived there until very recently when we had to move my mother down here. Q: I think it's so interesting to look at where our Foreign Service people come from, particularly people of your generation. So few were to the manner born. Did your father have any high school? WOESSNER: No. He finished elementary school education in the orphanage and then was released at the age of 14. He was always very conscious of the fact that he had not had more formal education. Those were rough years. His mother took in washing, one of those classic stories. He had two sisters and a brother. The brother went into the orphanage with him. The girls stayed with their mother. Then as a New York City fireman, again and again he took the exam to become an officer, but he never had the academic background to make it. I think he was conscious of that. Q: College Point. During the time you were growing up, what was ilike? WOESSNER: Although it was part of New York City, it was very much a community apart. Physically, it was separated from the rest of Queens. To get out there, you had to take a causeway through marshland. It was located close to what became the Queens end of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. Largely Germans originally settled it in the mid-19th century, Hungarians from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a certain number of Irish. A man named Interview with William M. Woessner http://www.loc.gov/item/mfdipbib001286 Library of Congress Conrad Poppenhusen founded an institute that was the first free adult education school in the United States. There was a hard rubber factory there. Its heyday was in the 1920s with lots of Biergartens along the shore. People would come over from Manhattan. It was a happy community, lots of trees. We really had a very enjoyable childhood. Q: Did you get any feel for local politics? I would imagine that, with your father being in the fire department, you couldn't help but avoid politics. WOESSNER: I think in those days if you had a position in the police or the fire department, you had to register as a Democrat, but other than that, neither of my parents was ever politically active. Q: What about at home? By the time you were getting aware of things, it was still the depths of the Depression. Was this a subject of concern? Having a job with the fire department was considered a good deal, wasn't it? WOESSNER: I remember Mother often saying how fortunate we were that my father had this job. He went to the fire department about the time they got married. I can remember as a boy homeless people coming under the window looking for food. That seems so incredible today, but it's true. We didn't have anything left over from the end of one month to the other. My father's salary of $3,000 a year was a princely sum in 1931 through 1939. Then everything changed. But during those years, people would come and look for food. She would have them in for soup and sandwiches or a piece of pie. She was a good cook. If we were deprived, we didn't know it. We were just so happy. It was very secure. Q: I remember the same experience, although I was in Pasadena, California. We lived close to the railroad tracks and people used to come by and ask for food. WOESSNER: It was a two-family house. Shortly after I was born, my parents moved in with my maternal grandparents. They were downstairs; we were upstairs. My grandfather Interview with William M. Woessner http://www.loc.gov/item/mfdipbib001286 Library of Congress died in 1940 when I was nine. So, I had both grandparents for that whole time. It was a tremendous formative influence. It was really a close-knit loving family. Q: Your name is of German origin. How about the German influence? This is prior to World War II. WOESSNER: We were very conscious of being a German-American family, although both my mother and father were born in the United States, probably because my maternal grandparents were so close at hand. My grandfather emigrated in 1890. His name was Mohrmann. Before he left Germany, he felt that he owed his country something, so he did his military service and served from 1888-1890 in the Zweite GardeRegiment zu Fuss. He served in Berlin. 1888 was the so-called “Dreikaiserjahr.” The old Kaiser died and was succeeded by Vicky's husband, who was the great liberal reform hope. He only lasted 100 days and then Kaiser Bill came to the throne. That was important to my grandfather, yet when he came to the United States, there was no question where his loyalty lay. It was very interesting. There was a love of the Heimat, but this was his new country. The real test came with the First World War. He had only one son. His son felt obliged to volunteer. My grandfather understood that and accepted it, but it was painful. His son went into the Navy, but never saw action. He died in the flu epidemic two days before the war ended. He was the only son they had, and then my mother, who was younger. So, I was always aware of the memories of that uncle. My grandparents spoke Platt Deutsch at home to one another, so would hear that. But they spoke English to us, of course. On my father's side, the family was also German, but I didn't learn about them until much, much later. My father's mother was born in the United States. My father knew that his father had come from Germany but didn't know any of the details. While assigned to Embassy Bonn, my wife and I went rummaging around the churches in southwest Interview with William M. Woessner http://www.loc.gov/item/mfdipbib001286 Library of Congress Germany. We found that my father's grandparents had emigrated to the U.S. in 1870. My father's father was only four years old. Q: What effect did the Hitler years have? WOESSNER: It impacted us in the following way. I remember a real serious falling out among old friends in the German-American community. My grandparents belonged to something called the Steuben Society, which was primarily for social contacts, picnics, bus rides, dances etc. But in the 1930s, there were friends of my grandparents who became Hitlerites. My grandparents were not involved, nor did they know people in the Bund, but there were peoplprimarily those who had emigrated a generation later than my grandparentwho spoke out in favor of Hitler. My grandfather wouldn't have any part of that. So, friends really parted over politics in Europe. It was interesting. In 1940, war had already broken out in Europe. The local chapter of the Steuben Society in College Point had a meeting and was thinking maybe they should not march in the Memorial Day parade because there was anti-German sentiment and people questioning whether it was appropriate. My grandfather stood up at the meeting and said his only son had died wearing the uniform of the United States Navy, he was proud to be an American, he was also proud of his German heritage, and if they didn't have the guts to march, he would carry the flag alone. He was 77 at this point. So, in fact, he marched, they marched; it was the biggest turnout the Steuben Society ever had in a Memorial Day parade. He was made the marshal of the third division. As they were marking time to fall into line behind the second division, he dropped dead of a heart attack.