Caryl May recently reunited with her East German childhood pen pal, after 60 years of silence.
In 1949, when Caryl May (then Koepke) was 10 years old, her teacher began a pen pal program with students in Germany. May soon began writing letters to a boy named Gerhard Boch, who was a few years older and lived in East Berlin. The pair wrote to one another about their hometowns, sent photos, and exchanged small gifts like chocolates and pencils.
Boch told May about his dog, and riding his bike through the countryside—but he rarely let on that his country, now under Soviet rule, was an oppressive and dangerous place to live.
The letters continued over the next few years, and the two children shared more details of their lives. Boch told May that American movies were illegal in his country, and that he was unable to obtain “precious things” there. Then in 1953, he sent a letter with a fake return address. He told May that his country was becoming more and more unbearable, with Stasi officials reading mail and bugging phones. Then his letters stopped coming.
May always wondered what had become of her German friend—and when she showed her box of letters to her sister-in-law almost 60 years later, the two women decided to track him down.
They enlisted a German history teacher, Annette Isaacs, for help. But Isaacs thought he might be difficult to find. “The man is 74. I thought, ‘Maybe he’s not alive anymore?’” Isaacs told the Chicago Tribune. “The other problem is he was born in East Germany. Now we have the reunification. Do they still have East Germany in their archives? Did he flee when the Berlin Wall was created?”
But Isaacs researched the case, and discovered a man by the same name, who had fled East Germany in 1960, carrying just two suitcases. He had later become a pharmaceuticals executive, married, and had two children. He lived in Heidenheim, in Southern Germany—but when Isaacs contacted him, he didn’t recall an American pen pal.
Then she copied one of the letters, and everything came flooding back to him.
The two pen pals were delighted to reconnect, and have once again begun sharing details of their lives. When Boch left East Germany, he left most of his personal possessions behind, including family photos—and he was thrilled when May sent back one of his childhood photos that she had saved for decades.
As it turns out, Boch and his family have visited Chicago several times over the years. “We’ve been that close,” May said, “and never knew it.”
He’s planning a trip back next year—and this time around, a visit to his old friend is finally in order.