Herta Bertel

Birthname: Herta Brigitte Krug, married since 1977: Herta Bertel (Salzburg, Landeskrankenhaus Salzburg (SALK) - Universitätsklinikum der PMU * 21.12.1943 -  † City of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstraße 7b  Friday, 12.04.2024)

Her birth and childhood

She was born in the city of Salzburg as Herta Brigitte Krug.Herta Brigitte was their taufnahme.  She then spent her childhood in Lessach, Lungau. As an unmarried child, she was placed in various foster homes on farms. Her maternal grandmother was deaf - dumb for life. The grandmother was considered stupid in Lessach because of her deaf-muteness. 

Her job as a civil servant in a health authority - Secretary at the public health department​

She was an unskilled worker and had only attended primary school  when she was still a young adult. After she moved to the city of Salzburg, she worked later for decades in the Gesundheitsamt Salzburg, Anton Neumayrplatz 3 (near Haus der Natur) as secretary until she retired. At first she lived alone at Müllnerhauptstraße 18 on the third floor. A few months later she moved into a municipal apartment on the second floor at Goethestraße 12, door number 21 in Itzling. Here she was initially together with a friend called "Sigi" (Siegfried Gmachl), with whom she ended her friendship. During this time, she worked as a secretary and met Dr. Michael Bertel and got married (5 August 1977). They initially lived together at Goethestrasse 12, door 21 (1976-1978). Peter Siegried Krug, who was living at Guggenthal 62 (Georg Weicklweg 32) with other orphans at the time, came to this council flat at weekends. A short time later, Michael and Herta were looking for a freehold flat. They found their first flat in Künstlerhausgasse in Nonntal and lived there for 4 years. They didn't stay there and bought a 119 square metre freehold flat at Hellbrunnerstraße 7b. They lived together after their wedding nearby 47 years. Dr. Michael Bertel loved her.

Her son was Peter Siegfried Krug (born 23.11.1966 in the city of Salzburg), known as Chess study composer

She gave birth to her only son Peter Siegfried Krug on 23 November 1966. The birth of her son was very painful for Herta Krug (later married Bertel). 

Christening of Peter Siegfried Krug
According to a baptismal certificate, volume 61, page 171 Rz 1416, Peter Siegfried Krug was baptised on 29 November 1966 in the parish "Erzb. Pfarramt St. Johannes Landeskrankenhaus", Müllnerhauptstraße 46. His godfather was Siegfried Gmachl.

The name of Peter Krug´s  father was Dr. Peter Strobl (according to Herta Bertel)  and he worked as a doctor by profession. Dr. Peter Strobl was blond and tall. Herta Krug (she was still unmarried at that time) was friends with the biological father (Dr. Strobl) in the approximate period 1962 - 1966. They went dancing in Kitzbühel. He already had a family. This doctor advised Peter Krug to have an abortion. His mother found it very out of character and disappointing. She did not demand alimony from the biological father and put Peter Krug in an infant home when he was born. 

The first days​ of Peter Krug's birth in 1966

Peter Krug's baptismal certificate stated that his mother Herta Brigitte Krug (her birth name before her marriage) was an unskilled labourer and that she lived at Müllner Hauptstraße 18. Peter Krug's godfather was Siegfried Gmachl, also an unskilled labourer. Siegfried Gmachl later lived with his mother (née Herta Krug) for some time in the Goethestraße 12 in Itzling (32 square metre rental flat, a Garconnière in Salzburg).

Peter Krug's real father was not stated on the baptismal certificate. His mother Herta waived his father's alimony and also erased the identity of his real father forever. However, this sealed the fate of Peter Krug's childhood poverty, as he was uprooted from home to home and from foster home to foster home without any possessions. Peter Krug never found out about his real father, neither what he looked like nor where he lived. Due to a lack of proof on his father's side, Peter Krug not only lost his father forever, but also his claims to alimony, and also his paternal inheritance claims.

 

Difficult relationship between Peter Siegfried Krug and Herta Bertel

Peter Siegfried Krug, her son was separated from his mother from birth. Peter Krug was placed in an infant home immediately after his birth. He was then sent to a children's home in Itzling at the age of 2. He was locked up. He stayed there until he was six years old.  As a toddler, Peter was allowed to visit his mother once a week from this childrens´s home (Kirchenstraße 33). The visit was always characterized by speechlessness and permanent accusations of guilt by the mother. Peter Krug, as a toddler could never understand this blame and when he returned to the children´s home this blame had a very negative effect on Peter's mind. Unfortunately, each visit with the mother always followed the same pattern. Peter could not cope with this emotional burden of constant blaming and later in school it led to him not being able to develop an interest in learning and not paying attention in class. 

 Thus, Peter Siegfried Krug often became an outsider at school and his mother labeled Peter a failure because of his poor grades in school. Insecurity and gnawing self-doubt and being an outsider characterized the entire later school years and led to his inability to perform as required. Freeing himself from this negative spiral and building up a sense of self-worth was the content of his entire later life.

  Peter Siegfried Krug’s family background

Apart from his mother Herta Bertel, Peter Krug has never seen his father, or a photo of his father, or his grandfather or grandmother and does not know any of his relatives.

All he knows is the little information he has from his mother (married Hertha Bertel): According to his mother, his father's name was Dr. Peter Strobl.

The big hope of her son Peter Siegfried Krug was never fulfilled

For over 40 years, Peter Siegfried Krug hoped to get affection from his mother Herta Bertel. But after he always was frustrated and depressed after a visit with his mother, he completely gave up hope with his mother. Through research and conversations with people he had known in the past, he came to the realization that his mother almost ruined his life through her destructive behavior. She never played with Peter and she couldn't have normal dialogues with him without burdening Peter with the same accusations over and over again. A reconciliation with the mother was until now impossible. He called on Christmas Eve (24.12.2011), only to say that there would never be another meeting until death. From 2011 until her death in 2024, her son Peter Siegfried Krug no longer visited her.

Family background of Herta Krug

Herta Bertel (born Krug) was said to have been an unmarried child herself as a child  She grew up in Lungau, Lessach and soon she was given away to other nursing homes. She came to a farm as a child and was soon employed as a worker. Like his son Peter Siegfried Krug, his mother was as a child a bed-wetter and was mocked for it in the area. As a bedwetter, she had to wander through the village as a child with her urine-soaked sheet for everyone to see...; she then went to the hospital repeatedly because she was so starved. From an early age, Herta Bertel had to work on a farm as a foster child for other farmers. She had no opportunity to play like other children and her toys were, for example, sticks that she found on the farm. As a young adult she came to Salzburg and got a job in the health department without having had any training. In the city of Salzburg she met Mr. Dr. Bertel, whom she later married. They initially lived together in the council flat in Itzling, Goethestrasse 12, after which her husband Dr Michael Bertel bought a flat on the top floor at Hellbrunnerstrasse 7b in the city of Salzburg, where Herta Bertel (born Krug) stayed until the end of her life with her husband Dr. Michael Bertel.

Musical memory

She had an exceptionally good memory for pieces of music and could recognise both the melody and the name of countless songs and classical pieces of music from the opening notes.

Her great love of nature

Herta Bertel was characterised by the rustic landscape of Lungau. She was an enduring mountain hiker throughout her life. After obtaining her driving licence, she fulfilled her passion for mountain hiking. She worked for 5 days at the health authority in the city of Salzburg. At weekends she was always in the mountains, which she reached by car (Model: Ford).According to her husband Michael B., they hiked a total of 400,000 metres in altitude together.  In winter she went cross-country skiing instead of hiking. Her husband Dr.Michael Bertel gave her cross-country skis as a Christmas present. She often took her son Peter Siegfried Krug with her on these nature excursions at weekends when he was still a child.

Herta Bertel was melancholy all her life, i.e. 80 years, and sought security and financial stability in her life

Her melancholy was a particular burden for Peter Krug in the first few years after his birth. Herta Krug (who was still unmarried at the time) visited Peter Krug once a week at the weekend in the Itzling children's home (Kirchenstraße 33). She picked him up and took him to her flat at Goethestrasse 12, which was only a few minutes' walk from the home. On the one hand, Peter Krug was happy to get out of the closed home, but on the other hand he would have liked a happier mother who didn't always complain about Peter Krug's behaviour and would also play with him from time to time. Peter Krug's wish was never fulfilled. Instead, he sat alone (he was an only child) in the living room and entertained himself with the toys his mother had bought for him. Her melancholy and accusatory behaviour saddened Peter Krug throughout her life until he drew the absolute line in 2011. From 2011 until her death in 2024, he kept his word and they did not see each other again during this time. 

The reason for her lifelong melancholy was her unresolved childhood and youth. She was uprooted as a small child and was forced to work on various farms. As an adult, she defined herself as a labourer and a fighter. Although she had been out of poverty for many decades and married a doctor, she behaved as if she were bitterly poor. Her past accompanied her every step of her life and determined her thoughts and feelings. 

An unfulfilled life

Her life was an unfulfilled 80 years. In her first phase of adulthood, she read many challenging books and all of Dostoyevsky's works. She listened to classical music non-stop. In the second half of her life, she married 1977 Dr. Michael Bertel, with whom she went on countless mountain hikes. Her focus was on movement in nature. Later, her intellectual interests declined sharply. She was plagued by material worries, even though she was at the age of 34 together with Dr Michael Bertel. 

Dominant, and low self-esteem - a life in "survival mode"
Social status symbols such as profession, property and secure income were at the top of Herta Bertel's personal scale of values. What others thought of her was important to her. - During her last visit with her son Peter Krug, she let Peter Krug know what she thought of him and his yoga teacher training and yoga activities: For Herta Bertel, his son Peter Krug was a failure and a good-for-nothing, a person who had achieved nothing. This was one of the reasons why Peter Krug broke up with his mother Herta Bertel for life in 2011. Her dominant personality and her constant disparaging remarks about Peter Krug became unbearable for her son.

Death
She suffered from osteoarthritis in both hips. One side of the hip was operated on, but unfortunately not the other. That was a medical error. She was still waiting for the operation on the other half of the hip and suffered so much at home that tears came to her eyes. However, she only took painkillers when the pain was already unbearable and was prescribed morphine at the end. She spent the last part of her life at home and was no longer able to leave the house, especially as there is no lift in the old building. Her husband Dr Michael Bertel bought her groceries and looked after her until the end. She died on Friday, 12 April 2024.

 

Others: 2 of the pictures show Herta Bertel, then still unmarried Herta Krug with Peter Siegfried Krug.