Farewell to Stefan Stader

Yesterday afternoon (16.12.2003) the funeral service for Stefan Stader (born 20.07.1923 in Satnitz, Slavonia, died 10.12.2003 in Hanau) took place at the Bischofsheimer Cemetery. He died after a long illness and leaves a wife, two daughters, two sons-in-law and three grandchildren. The installation of the urn in its final resting place will take place at a later date.

Present at the funeral were the AKdFF committee member Jakob Schuy, as well as Anton Krämer and Günter Junkers. Jakob Schuy said a few words at the end of the service, as follows:

Dear Mrs. Stader, relatives and mourners, we must say goodbye today to someone who, as well as in his private life, also gave much to the general public.. He was a family man and already early on in his life he began to show an interest in family research and above all in the origins of the settlers who, 2 - 300 years earlier, followed the call of the Habsburg Kaiser and emigrated from regions all over Germany to Hungary to build a new life there.

In 1975 he became a member of the newly-founded AKdFF society (a working group for Danube Swabian family researchers) for which he has done so much in the way of researching the settlers of the Austro-Hungarian region of the time, like no other person. He wrote and published several Family Books.

When he was transferred by his employer - the Opel factory - to Kaiserslautern as foreman, a new world opened up for him there for family research, for in the hometown of Pfalz there are thousands of family index cards recorded of emigrants. He became actively involved in this, too, and helped with several publications. At the same time, the idea grew of pooling together all the varied sources of emigration details into one source, so that anyone who was researching would find everything in this one book.

That was an immense undertaking and took all the energy and spare time left of his private life, but he still never neglected his family, being a family man. And so a work was written which is unique in this world to family research. Only in October was the sixth volume of this work published, and when you think of how each volume covers 7 - 800 pages, you can see how extensive this work is.

Unfortunately, fate didn't allow him to complete his work. Another two or three volumes need to be given literary form before they are ready to print and we don't know how we can close this gap which he has left behind.  The AKdFF and all Danube Swabian researchers are indebted to Mr. Stader and will always honor his memory.

A full obituary will appear in the March edition of the Researchers Pages. Thank you to everyone who commemorates our honored member, Stefan Stader. The priest had a few comforting words: At Advent, the door to Heaven has been opened to us. With this in mind, I wish everyone a Happy Christmas. You may also write to the Stader family at: Haingrabenstr. 49,  63477 Maintal, Germany.

With best wishes,
Günter Junkers

(translated by Diana Lambing)