Eva was born in 1927 in a small village called Liebling in Romania. Although being born in Romania, her family were Danube-Schwab, which are German descendants that migrated down the Danube River looking for farmlands to settle. Her father was a carpenter and they had a small farm. As a young child Eva and her sister worked on the farm growing vegetables and tending to the animals. Then the World War II broke out and Romania was taken over by Germany.
In 1943 Russia started to push back against the German Army and started to conquer Romania. As the Russians came into her village, Eva witnessed some terrible atrocities as a teen girl. Her family decided to flee the Russians’, so they packed up their belongings and loaded them onto a horse pulled wagon and left. Their journey took them by foot from Romania to Austria.
In Austria, Eva worked as a cook for a well to do Austrian family. While in Austria, she met Hans Lang who had recently from duty in the German Army and was searching for his family who also had fled Romania. They fell in love and dated for a few years. Then Eva’s family decided to move to America because their father had a sister in Harrisburg, PA.
Eva’s family came to the USA in 1951. Unfortunately, Hans could not get a visa because of his duty in the German Army. But, Hans and Eva had a plan. Thus, their only child, Hans Jr., was born in late 1951 and because of that Hans Sr. could come to the USA. In 1952 Hans Sr. came over and Eva and Hans were married a month later.
During the day Eva worked as a seamstress and in the evening, they cleaned an office building until midnight. Eventually they saved enough money to buy a house. They became naturalized citizens in 1959 and were so very proud. In 1972 her husband started an automotive repair garage and Eva quit her job to run and manage the office. They also owned a few apartment buildings, so when the garage closed for the day there was always more work to do somewhere.
Eva worked hard her whole life but found one pleasure she enjoyed. Going to the casinos. She also loved to bake and cook. And no one could make a better strudel than Eva!
