THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 27, 2002
The Victory Block Parties Following
World War II Were National News
 We have an interesting letter from Mrs. Ann Maurer of Richmond Hill, who writes: “A friend of mine living in Florida had sent me the enclosed copy of a photograph. I don’t know if you will be able to use it, but I am sending it to you in case you can. The picture was taken from the third floor apartment at 198 Menahan Street. This apartment was then occupied by the Mueller Family. The photo was taken on the day the block held a victory party celebrating the end of World War II. This block was between Knickerbocker Avenue and Wilson Avenue. The tall, light-colored building on the upper right hand of the photo, is St. Barbara’s School from which my two children graduated.
“I enjoy your column each week.”
Old Timer’s Note—We responded to Ms. Maurer and mentioned that the image shown in the photo copy she had sent was a treasure and part of our history. As such, we regarded it a worthwhile task to attempt to obtain the original, so that we could reproduce it properly in the newspaper for the enjoyment of our readers.
The end of World War II was cause for celebration on Menahan Street between Knickerbocker Avenue and Wilson Avenue in Bushwick.
Unfortunately, this is not possible as Charles Mueller, who had sent Mrs. Maurer the copy, has since passed away. The house where he was living has been sold, and his estate settled. He never married, and Mrs. Maurer does not know of any relatives that she could contact.
We thank Mrs. Maurer for her efforts on our behalf. We believe the image reproduced here, was probably taken in early September in 1945. Radio Tokyo had announced the surrender of Japan at about 8:30 p.m. on August 14, 1945, Hawaiian time, which was 2 a.m. August 15, 1945, New York time. The Old Timer was in the U.S. Navy in World War II, and the ship he was on was in Pearl Harbor (along with about 150 other ships) when the announcement was made. When the word spread at Pearl Harbor that the war was over, ships started firing pistol flares up into the sky and this great celebration lasted for more than an hour. Later that evening, Joe Serra of Ridgewood and I, along with two other sailors, had the mid-watch from midnight to 4 a.m. We were on the bridge and had tuned in CBS Radio. They were talking to people around the United States and asking what people did when the word came that Japan had surrendered. They mentioned that in Ridgewood people were rolling kegs of beer into the street and having parties.
On September 2, 1945, the formal document of surrender by Japan was signed aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
In early September of that year, a number of block parties were held in our neighborhood as the residents rejoiced that their loved ones would be returning home shortly.
Did any of our readers attend the block party on Menahan Street pictured in the photograph?
***
 The other photo was taken on the S.S. Bremen, one of the large ocean liners operated by North German Lloyd
On board the S.S. Bremen, an ocean liner operated by North German Lloyd between New York and Germany. (photo: Hanns Tschira)
between New York and Germany. In the mid-to-late 1920s before the stock market crash in October 1929 and the start of the Depression, a number of residents of our neighborhood who had prospered in America would return to their homeland in Germany for visits and would travel on North German Lloyd liners. Maybe some of our readers have this same photo in their family files and can identify some of the people and date the photo was taken by a professional photographer, Hanns Tschira.
Old Timer’s Note—If you have any remembrances or old photographs of our neighborhood that you would like to share with our readers, please write to the Old Timer c/o Times Newsweekly, P.O. Box 299, Ridgewood, NY 11386. All photos will be carefully returned to you.