International
Page 10
Street Roots • Dec. 29, 2017-Jan. 4, 2018
A tree cavity in the Groom Oak has served
as a letter box more than 100 years. Below,
the steps leading to the ancient oak, where
more than 1,000 letters are delivered each
year.
P H O T O S B Y PETER W E R N E R
Looking for love in 2018? Write to the tree
Ancient oak in a German forest serves as a post office fo r love letters
B Y G EO R G M E G G E R S
meters above the forest floor. It is an
ancient, beautiful tree, but what really
makes it special is a little hole left by a
ometimes reality is as unbelievable as
fallen branch. This small cavity serves as a
fiction. Sometimes, there are lucky
letter box. This is where letters that are
coincidences in life that could not be
mailed to the “Groom Oak” end up. The
written in a work of fiction because nobody
tree has been called this since the daughter
would believe them. Peter and Marita
Pump’s marriage is based on such a chain of of a Dodau forester married a chocolate
producer from Leipzig under the oak in
lucky coincidences. “There is no question; a
1891. Before that, the couple had hidden
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small cavity left behind by the fallen branch.
Dating websites advertise on TV, on the
Since then, people who are looking for a
internet, and on big billboards, saying they
will find the right partner for everybody. '
partner or friends send letters addressed to
the oak.
Algorithms and personality tests are said to
Around 1,000 letters are mailed to the
show who will fit together with whom and
Groom Oak each year, and they are
they supposedly calculate the best choice of
partner. Without any kind
delivered by a postman
of calculations involved,
who places them into the
Peter and Marita Pump
hole in the trunk. Those
met each other in 1958.
interested can visit the
" T h e G ro o m O a k Is
How well they would
oak, climb a ladder to the
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eventually fit together
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was difficult to guess
letters. Anybody is allowed
then and, viewed from
to open and read them,
today’s perspective, nigh
~ KARL HEIWZ MARTENS since “the privacy of
FORM ER P O S TM A N
on impossible. This is
letters has been cancelled
because a lucky
for the oak,” as Karl
coincidence played the
Heinz Martens explained.
main role in bringing
The 72-year-old delivered
them together. It took the form of a sheet of
letters to the Groom Oak
until 1994 and calls his deliveries to the oak
paper in a tree. The couple is married to
this day.
the “highlight of his job” as a postman. For
The tree that brought them together is an years, Martens climbed a ladder and placed
letters into the cavity - and explained to
oak that is about 500 years old. It is situated
visitors what made the tree so special.
in the Dodau Forest close to Eutin, the
The tree, which has its own address, has
district capital of the northern German
state of Schleswig-Holstein. The
even received international attention: TV
circumference of the oak’s trunk is five
crews from Japan, Denmark, Norway, the
then German Democratic Republic and
meters and the top of the tree reaches 25
P H O T O B Y PETER W E R N E R
Western Germany have interviewed
Martens. Mail often arrives there from far
across the globe. “After the Goethe Institute
mentioned the Groom Oak in their text
books, many letters came from China and
from the U.S.,” Martens said. Martens can
report of successes: he knows several
couples who met each other thanks to the
oak.
One of these couples was Peter and
Marita Pump. In 1958, Pump found a sheet
of paper with her address in the cavity in
the tree and the next day he wrote to an
“Honoured Miss Marita.” Peter Pump had
been stationed in Pion as a young soldier
and while he was taking driving lessons, he
got to know the region. The driving
instructor showed the young soldiers
something special: an oak with its own
address. Pump put his hand inside the cavity
and felt several letters. He chose one that
only held a name and an address and
decided to write a letter. Why exactly did he
choose this name, this address? The now
76-year-old shrugged: “Just for fun, as a
joke,” he laughed. When Marita received his
letter, she was very surprised. The sheet of
paper with her address had been deposited
in the oak by colleagues - without her
knowing about it. “I used to be rather
timid,” she said. “They wanted to help me
get a boyfriend.” Even they couldn’t have
anticipated how successful their actions
would be.”
“I would be delighted if we could enter
into a friendly word war with each other,”
Peter Pump wrote, somewhat formally, in
his first letter. At first, Marita did not even
want to answer the letter but her mother
thought it was witty. “It is her fault that I
wrote to him.” Marita points out. At that
time, chance had not yet been outsmarted
by a lg o rith m s - in order that the pair could
find each other, support from friends and
family was needed. The couple wrote to
each other for a whole year before Peter
built up the courage to go and visit Marita.
He had a friend who accompanied him and
Marita had a female friend at her side.
“They were there for support.” Peter laughs.
After a short time, Peter Pump was
travelling from Pion to Marita’s place in
Haffkrug every other weekend. “By bus, this
used to be lik e a j o u r n e y a c r o s s h a lf t h e
globe,’7 Peter sighs, as he looks back on
their courtship. In 1960, they got engaged
and in 1961, the two were married. Today,
the Pumps have two children and seven
grandchildren. In 2011, they celebrated
their golden wedding anniversary.
How can a marriage, one based on so
many coincidences, work out, launched from
a sheet of paper with only a name and an
address? “Our characters are different,”
Marita said. “But communication is key. We
have always talked about everything
together.”
-------- —
- u u l ucLween ti
it just felt right. “Many times, we did not
have much,” said Peter. “At least on the
material side.” For Marita, their meeting
was fate: “It was just meant to be that w<
find each other. We had little and were
rewarded for our modesty,” she says. The
couple weathered their economically
difficult times together. “That created a
stronger bond,” Marita said. “We always
iscussed together-’ how we would take th
next hurdle,” Peter added.
.,
3 few years after their marriage
that Marita first visited the place where
their relationship began. She was
See GROOM OAK, page 11