End of Willi's apprenticeship (exams passed), the family house move and butcher shop, French lessons, and football
Translated from Willi's German.
...since his departure has been lost track of even by his own parents. I had a lot of odd chores to do; we three apprentices fetched a whole load of brushwood by handcart. But we made ourselves comfortable, and there was no lack of loafing about and striking poses. We also carried out a shop move to Riettern - it is a municipal shop. Garden work was often our daily occupation. During my apprenticeship I attended the trade school under teacher Lutz, and I once got a "very good" in the apprentices' exhibition. On the whole I passed both my journeyman's exam and my school exam well and easily.
On 15 April I had completed my training, and I did not stay a single day longer with Mall Huber, who at the football club was known only as "bald Max" or "the little hat-man with the little beard". In private life the main event was my dear parents' big move from Herdstrasse 34 to Hauptstrasse 34, and their running of the butcher's shop for a time.
At first I took French lessons with Fraeulein Loeck, but I soon gave them up - to my loss then and my annoyance today - because of football and grammar difficulties. Being a footballer was my ideal, though I had to stand firm before I got into Football Club 08; parish priest Neugert of the Catholic apprentices' club was my opponent. I played for the former club in the 1st youth team, and had lovely hours and wonderful, often...
Willi's original German, as transcribed.
auch seinen Eltern vermisst. Pudelche(?) musste ich viel machen wir drei
Lehrlinge holten per Handwagen einen ganzen Reisigschlag(?). Wir machten
es uns aber gemuetlich und an druecken und Posen machen fehlte es nicht. Auch
machten wir ich einen Geschaeftsumzug nach dem Riettern(?) mit es ist
ein staedtischer Laden. Gartenarbeit war oft unsere Tagesbeschaeftig-
ung. Waehrend meiner Lehrzeit besuchte ich die Gewerbeschule
bei Herrn Lehrer Lutz. Ich bekam einmal in der Lehrlingsausstellung
sehr gut. Ueberhaupt legte ich meine Gesellenpruefung sowie
Schulpruefung gut und leicht ab. Am 15. April hatte ich ausgelernt
und blieb aber kein Tag laenger bei Mall(?) Huber der von dem Fuss-
ballklub nur der kahle Max oder das Huetermannche(?) mit dem Baertchen(?)
Im Privatleben war das Hauptereignis der grosse Umzug meiner
lieben Eltern von der Herdstrasse 34. in die Hauptstrasse 34 und selbst
[Einschub: eine Zeit] Betreibung der Metzgerei. Im Anfang nahm ich bei Fraeulein Loeck
Franzoesischstunden, die ich aber wegen Fussballspielen und Gramatik-
schwierigkeiten bald zu meinem Schaden und heute zu meinem Aerger auf-
steckte. Fussballspieler war mein Ideal ich muesste aber fest hinstehen(?)
bis ich in den Fussballklub 08 kam(?), der Pfarrer Neugert vom
kath. Lehrlingsverein war mein Gegner. Ich spielte in ersterem Verein
in der 1. Jugend und machte schoene Stunden und wundervolle oft
Places: Villingen, Herdstrasse 34, Hauptstrasse 34, Gewerbeschule, FC 08 Villingen
Interesting facts
The dual training system. Alongside working in the shop, Willi attended the Gewerbeschule (trade school) - the classroom half of Germany's 'dual' apprenticeship, which combined hands-on work with formal instruction. He finished by passing both a school exam and the journeyman's examination (Gesellenpruefung).
Catholic apprentices' clubs. The 'Catholic apprentices' club' run by a parish priest belonged to a wider network of Catholic journeymen's and apprentices' associations (the Kolping movement) that gave young tradesmen lodging, evening classes and wholesome company - and, as here, ran their own sports and football teams.
Football fever. Organised football was booming in 1920s Germany, and most towns had a club. The '08' in FC 08 Villingen is the club's founding year, 1908 - a common naming habit among German clubs of the era.
Why French lessons. French was the prestige foreign language and near neighbour to this corner of Germany, close to the French border, so lessons had real practical value. Willi's regret at dropping them for football is the wry hindsight of an older man writing up his youth.
