I was born in Hamburg, Germany, right after World
War II. My father was Wilhelm Heinrich Keidel A1112-31, first child of Carl Fritz Ernst
Keidel, a well-to-do merchant in Varel. I was named after my grandfather. Wilhelm was
sent to college to study business, but disappointed his father by following a musical career
instead. An excellent pianist, he led the Willy Keidel Orchester and specialized in dance
music.
My mother was a displaced Prussian aristocrat with illegitimate parental links
to the Romanovs. After fleeing her birth city of St. Petersburg in 1917, Baroness Marinka
von Medau-Tellbach wound up in Hamburg as Maria Tellbach and became an actress and
singer. My parents met professionally and eventually got married and had children. During
the war, they had to move twice after their homes were bombed. They finally found an
apartment in St. Pauli in a less than desirable neighborhood, but there weren't that many
still standing buildings to choose from. On March 19, 1945, their new home was hit by a
bomb. One half of the five-story apartment building collapsed, burying my 3½ year old
sister Marianne and my 7 months old brother Willy. Yes, both, my brother and my son
were named after my father.
(left)I was born less than a year after the war and am seen here
with Struppi, our Scotty.
(middle)About 1950, I am in awe of the "Weihnachtsmann," Father
Christmas. Little did I know that I would become Santa Claus later in life!
(right)About age
nine I visited my grandfather in Varel. I am standing with my mother in front of his house.
Note my name on the sign!
(left)I proudly walk with my dad at age 11 through downtown Hamburg, being rebuilt after the the war.
(middle)In 1958 I traveled to Kufstein, Austria with my parents. We are in the same castle to which I took MY sons in 1997.
(right)In 1960 we emigrated to Willits, California. I get exposed to American culture atop a horse during Willits' renowned "Frontier Days."
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