Family Tales

     Family has always been a focal point in my life. My parents raised me with the understanding that our past helps to shape our future and also taught me to understand my own history. My family on my father's side has always had a rich overseas presence even going to the point where my parents were the fourth generation of ex-patriots to work overseas in Europe and Asia.

     For context, my family came to America from Germany in 1848 where my great great great great great grandfather worked as a saddle maker in San Francisco. Finding it to be a profitable business, especially during a gold rush, my great great great great great grandfather passed down his entrepreneurial spirit to his son, Paul E. Sammann.

     Now, in 1911, Paul Sammann decided to take a job in Asia, working as a representative who made made and imported American products in Japan and China. After working there for so long he fell in love with what he did and decided to move with his family to Kobe, Japan to start a business. The Paul E. Sammann Company worked as a manufacturer representative for American made products all over Japan and Asia. His business flourished before tragedy hit soon after.

     In 1939, Paul Sammann and his family decided to take a vacation to America to visit family back in San Francisco. There, they receive a letter from Japanese Nationalists who demand that Paul move his business out of Japan. While he was away, they had ransacked his offices, terrorized his employees, and took the office manager to the front of the building and hung him. While shaken up, Paul knew he had to keep a level head so he and his family move the business to China, where the he ran the main office from Shanghai. Yet, that didn't stop his entrepreneurial spirit.

     On New Years Eve, 1942, Paul and his wife buy a car in Vancouver to be shipped to Hong Kong. It's there where they travel on a cruise liner with other passengers who decided to make the perilous trip across the Pacific. At the time, Japanese submarines were sinking American ships that came through so, while tuxedos and cocktails were still in style, the passengers would also cover up all the port holes to ensure there wouldn't be  any light and would also wear their life vests constantly. After arriving in Singapore where they celebrate for a few days, their journey begins. Paul decides to drive from Malaysia all the way to Burma (now Myanmar), where he has two offices. At the time, the Japanese were patrolling the roads, killing everyone who opposed their cause. So, Paul decided to wield on a fifty gallon gas tank to his car and make the trip anyways.

     The trip was brutal and it was there that Paul witnessed the darkness of humanities. During their travels, Paul and his wife were constant under threat of Japanese attack and always had to keep their guard up. Twice, Paul had to escape Japanese pilots who shot at his car and even had a bridge blown  up right in front of the car. When he got to Burma, the hotel he was supposed to be staying at had been firebombed. The trip took ninety days in total and was chronicled by my great great grandmother, who sent it in to the Chicago Sun Times to be published.

     That determination that Paul Sammann had was one that has been passed down generationally. While he may not have been the best at what he did, Paul worked as hard as he could to provide a life for his family. His overseas ties never died out and both my grandfather and my father work with many Asian clients. Paul's legacy helped to define my family identity.