The Family’s Separation and Reunion

The Master Butchers Singing Club

This flow traces the Waldvogel sons’ separation across countries and war, and the family’s efforts to find one another again.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Household of Four Boys A Household of Four Boys from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". Brothers at Home Different temperaments Franz, Markus, Emil, and Erich grow up in a busy butcher’s household.

A Household of Four Boys from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". Brothers at Home Different temperaments Franz, Markus, Emil, and Erich grow up in a busy butcher’s household.

Brothers at Home Different temperaments Franz, Markus, Emil, and Erich grow up in a busy butcher’s household. Their play, work, and sibling bonds unfold under Fidelis and Eva’s care. A fragile security The family’s routines seem solid, but illness, money troubles, and the boys’ appetite for danger continually unsettle them.

Tante’s Departure Plan Tante’s Departure Plan from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". A Family Divided A proposed solution Tante Maria Theresa persuades Fidelis that the younger boys should go to Germany, where their grandmother can help raise…

Tante’s Departure Plan from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". A Family Divided A proposed solution Tante Maria Theresa persuades Fidelis that the younger boys should go to Germany, where their grandmother can help raise…

A Family Divided A proposed solution Tante Maria Theresa persuades Fidelis that the younger boys should go to Germany, where their grandmother can help raise them. Delphine objects Delphine fears that the move will sever the boys from their home and father. She cannot yet persuade Fidelis to abandon the plan.

Markus Stays Behind Markus Stays Behind from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". A Fever Changes the Plan An interrupted departure On the morning the group expects to continue toward Germany, Markus becomes dangerously ill.

Markus Stays Behind from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". A Fever Changes the Plan An interrupted departure On the morning the group expects to continue toward Germany, Markus becomes dangerously ill.

A Fever Changes the Plan An interrupted departure On the morning the group expects to continue toward Germany, Markus becomes dangerously ill. Delphine insists that he cannot travel. A reprieve Tante leaves with the twins while Fidelis and Delphine take Markus home. His illness keeps him in America and strengthens his bond with Delphine.

War Separates the Brothers War Separates the Brothers from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". Sons on Opposite Sides A changed identity Emil and Erich are raised in Germany and enter a Nazi military system.

War Separates the Brothers from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". Sons on Opposite Sides A changed identity Emil and Erich are raised in Germany and enter a Nazi military system.

Sons on Opposite Sides A changed identity Emil and Erich are raised in Germany and enter a Nazi military system. Franz serves as an American pilot, while Markus joins the United States Army. Loss and uncertainty Emil is killed, Erich becomes a prisoner, and the family waits across an ocean for news. The brothers’ childhood unity cannot protect them from political division and war.

Finding Erich Finding Erich from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". A Difficult Recognition News from a camp Markus learns that a German prisoner named Waldvogel may be his brother. He obtains permission to visit with Fidelis.

Finding Erich from "The Master Butchers Singing Club". A Difficult Recognition News from a camp Markus learns that a German prisoner named Waldvogel may be his brother. He obtains permission to visit with Fidelis.

A Difficult Recognition News from a camp Markus learns that a German prisoner named Waldvogel may be his brother. He obtains permission to visit with Fidelis. An unresolved reunion Erich recognizes them but refuses to respond, still bound to his imposed German identity and wartime loyalties. Father and brother leave without bringing him home.

Before Eva’s final illness

1930s, before the family’s Chicago trip

During the family’s Chicago trip

World War II

After the war, in the 1940s