Juul has been in contact with Uwe Schaper (1946) and his father Willy (1919) in Germany for quite some time. Willy (Wilhelm) is a son of Emma Sophie Johanne Baller (1892). They were able to give us many facts about the family and background information. Below you can find a story about the German period of J.F.W. Baller (1859).
He was baptised at 27 March 1859 and received his ‘Confirmation’ at Palm Sunday, 6 April 1873, in the church of the Holy Benedict in Quedlinburg. He left for Holland at the earliest in 1879. In 1877 he was still a pupil tinsmith and lived in Quedlinburg in house number 436. At 26 October 19877 he paid 21 Pfennig of community tax. In 1879 he lived in the Schulstrasse (School Street) 13 in Quedlinburg. This street is in the inner parts of the city. The house located at this address still exists.
At 1 April 1879 he was summoned by the District council to come to Quedlinburg castle at 23 April 1879 at 7 in the morning to be inspected for obligatory military service. This inspection consisted of a health inspection to see whether the candidate was healthy and suited to serve military service. According to the Law on the State Army from 2 May 1874 candidates had to draw a number at the inspection site (paragraph 13), who drew a low number had to serve. Who drew a high number was released from the duty for the time being, but was obliged to wait the next two years to see if the cohorts 1860 and 1861 were large enough. If that would be the case, the candidates were released from the duty entirely. This method was also used in Prussia. This is when the saying "Er hat ein schweres Los gezogen" came about.
The impression exists that J.F.W. Baller drew a good hand and was released from military service. Uwe Schaper thinks that, in 1880 and 1881 J.F.W. was still paying attention to the military service. He sent a letter to the district council on 11 March 1881 informing about his number in that year. The council (currently the German Office of Recruitment and Exemption) reacted by stating:
“Enclosed you can find the duplicate of the at 21 February by you requested proof of exemption and we request you to send us the fee of 50 Pfennig stamped.”
Translated from the Dutch translation of the German original text by Uwe Schaper.