Johann Wogh - compatriot and teacher in Deutschsanktmichael

Obituary of the Zillasch elementary school teacher Johann Wogh
(with kind permission of the HOG Deutschsanktmichael) 

Great commitment also outside the school 

The HOG Deutschsanktmichael/Zillasch sadly mourns the death of former elementary school teacher Johann Wogh, who passed away in Ludwigshafen on November 14, 2020 at the age of 87. 

Johann Wogh was closely connected to his hometown and the Zillasch community throughout his life, where he practiced as an elementary school teacher here from 1959 to 1965. The cohorts he taught during this time keep him in grateful memory as a competent and charismatic teacher. He not only taught his students reading, writing and arithmetic, but also taught them to love folk songs and nature. During the summer vacations, he organized backpacking trips from hut to hut in the Banat Mountains and the Retezat Mountains.

Together with his wife Rosina Wogh, née Holz, who was in charge of the kindergarten, he had a significant influence on the cultural life of Deutschsanktmichael in those years. The Wogh couple led several cultural groups that performed theatrical plays, dances and songs. They organized lecture series and performances of the German State Theater from Timisoara in the village.

Hans Wogh was born in Deutschsanktmichael on May 20, 1933, the son of Nikolaus Wogh and Gertrude Wogh, née May. He spent his childhood in his hometown, where he also attended elementary school. A hard blow of fate hit him at the age of six, when his mother died. 

After attending the Roman Catholic high school in Hatzfeld, he transferred to the German Pedagogical Teacher Training College in Timisoara.  In 1953 he took up his first position as a primary school teacher in Königshof. 

On June 12, 1955, he married our compatriot, the kindergarten teacher Rosina Wogh and they both moved to Königshof, where they spent their first professional years. His teaching career was interrupted by two years of military service.

On February 17, 1956, son Helmut was born. Even during the Königshof years, the connection to the home village did not break. In addition to the family bonds that were cultivated, the Wogh couple organized performances of the Königshof theater group in Deutschsanktmichael. 

In 1959 the Wogh family had the opportunity to return to Deutschsanktmichael. Johann Wogh worked as a teacher and principal at the elementary school there until 1965. In 1964 the family moved to Timisoara and after a year of commuting Johann Wogh moved to the elementary school No. 3 in the Fabrik district, then to school No. 9 in the Elizabeth district.

In 1970, on the occasion of a visit to his brother, Johann Wogh decided to stay in the Germany. The family was allowed to join him in February 1974. Johann Wogh could continue to practice his profession. Until his retirement in 1996, he taught at a special school, then at the Brüder-Grimm School in Ludwigshafen. 

Johann Wogh kept in touch with his compatriots and in the early years gladly took part in the Zillascher Homeland Meetings as well as in the Homeland Days of the Banater Swabians in Ulm. At our Homeland Meeting on May 27, 1989 in Karlsruhe he held the official speech.

Due to illness it was no longer possible for him to attend in the last years these kind of meetings.

The funeral service took place on November 23, the burial one week later in Ludwigshafen. Johann Wogh is survived by his wife Rosina, son Helmut with wife Gülhan and grandson Ilias, granddaughter Miriam with husband Dominic and great-granddaughters Marie and Amelie. 

The local community of Deutschsanktmichael will keep teacher Johann Wogh in an honourful memory. 

Maria Margareta Holz
Nicholas Heber