Britta Albert of Sabattus (left) and sister Bettina Bellefleur of Topsham. Photo contributed by Britta Albert
After 45 years of searching, Topsham sisters Bettina Bellefleur and Britta Albert will finally reunite with another, long-lost half-sister from Germany this July.
At age 4 and 5, respectively, Bellefleur and Albert were adopted by an American soldier who had married their mother in Germany. Later, they lost all contact with their biological father.
Bellefleur, now 59, and Albert, 60, were born in Bremerhaven, Germany, a seaport on the country’s north shore. They lived in an apartment with their mother, Maren Riedel, who divorced their father Albert Hans Rauchfleisch when they were toddlers. Albert says their mother met their stepfather, Robert Nurse, shortly after.
Albert said her mother was ready to leave Europe.
“She wanted out of Germany because of poverty. The government was still recovering from the war,” she said.
Albert said she remembers how poor her family was before moving to America. She recalled eating beef broth for dinner on many occasions. Albert’s grandparents lived in the apartment upstairs and had to care for her and her sister frequently because her mother couldn’t, she said.
Britta Albert age 5 (left), Maren Riedel Nurse, Bettina Bellefleur age 4, in Germany 1967. Photo contributed by Britta Albert.
After their mother married Nurse, she gave birth to their brother, Steven, and in 1967 moved the family to Topsham. Albert says it was a strange transition because she and her sister grew up in a city with cobblestone streets, and now were on a farm in Maine, feeding chickens. But she added that the best thing their stepfather ever did was bring them to America.
“Our stepfather is still alive and we love him, he’s our father, he’s the man that raised us,” said Albert.
Bellefleur doesn’t remember their biological father, but Albert said she has one vivid memory of him.
She remembers her father bringing her to a local German pub and giving her tiny sips of beer at the age of 4.
“That’s Germany for you,” Albert said.
She remembered wearing tights, with patent leather shoes and tripping on the cobblestones on her way home. The tumble caused her to drop her smoked herring and rip her tights. Albert said her father picked up the fish, wiped off the dirt and assured her that he cleaned it, making it okay to eat. Then he scooped her up and carried her the rest of the way home.
The sisters have no memory of saying goodbye to their father. They later learned their mother intentionally gave Rauchfleisch the wrong departure date. While their father believed they were leaving in May, Nurse had already taken the family to America in March.
Rauchfleisch arrived at his old apartment only to be told by his former in-laws that his daughters were gone.
Siblings Steven Nurse (left), Britta Albert, Bettina Bellefleur in Topsham, Maine childhood home. Photo contributed by Britta Albert.
Bellefleur and Albert had no idea they were adopted until ages 11 and 12. Albert said she found out when an insurance adjustor visited their home in Topsham to assess the damage from a small fire. She overhead the adjustor ask, “the two older girls were adopted?” When it was confirmed by her stepfather, Albert immediately ran outside to find her sister. She joined Bellefleur in feeding the family chickens and broke the news to her gently.
The sisters didn’t search for their father at the time, “We put it on the back burner. We didn’t want to hurt our mother’s feelings,” said Bellefleur.
When the girls were 14 and 15 their mother went to Germany for a visit. When she returned to Topsham their mother told them their father had remarried and handed them a photograph of their half-sister. Bellefleur said their mother refused to answer any questions and remained “tight-lipped” on the matter until the day she died. Without cooperation from their mother, Bellefleur and Albert’s search for their family hit a dead end.
This put a strain on the sisters’ relationship with their mother, said Albert. Both girls left home at age 17.
Albert Hans Rauchfleisch’s gravestone in Germany. Photo contributed by Britta Albert.
It was 45 years later, in October 2020, when a family friend tracked down the gravestone of their biological father. Bellefleur contacted the German church asking for the Rachfleisch family’s contact information. The church declined for confidentiality reasons. Instead, the church took Bellefleur’s information and passed it along to the Rachfleisch family. Two days later, Bellefleur received an e-mail from Christiane Gendreizig, their long-lost half-sister. Albert and Bellefleur said they sobbed when they read the email.
At first, the sisters were worried Gendreizig wouldn’t speak English. Luckily, German schools teach English as a second language and their sister was nearly fluent, they said.
“We giggle sometimes when she says the wrong word,” said Albert.
Since their first e-mail exchange in 2020, all three sisters have been in constant contact and video chat every week.
Bellefleur and Albert learned their half-sister’s childhood was very different from their own, having a close relationship with their father. The sisters learned from their new sibling that their father was forbidden to talk about them. Photographs of Bellefleur and Albert were taken off the walls in Rachfleisch’s parents home at the request of Gendreizig’s mother.
“She was his only child. When he lost his other two girls, he put 100% of his love into her. I want to know that he was a loving, kind, wonderful person, who loved his child, and was a good husband,” said Albert.
She wants to ask her new sister what they did for holidays. She wants to know the types of food he loved. “Maybe my father and I liked the same foods,” she said.
With no surviving biological parents, Gendreizig is the only one who can answer her sisters’ questions.
“I want to hear everything about my father because it was kept from me my whole life. She is the only one who knows now,” said Albert.
A family photo of Albert Hans Rauchfleisch (right) as a young boy with his family in Germany. Photo contributed by Britta Albert.
The sisters will reunite July 19, 2022, for the first time at Albert’s home in Sabattus. Albert and Bellefleur said they will show their sister the sites of Maine, have picnics, family barbecues and look at old photos of their father together.
Bellefleur and Albert said they are excited to make up for lost time.
“I can’t wait to do her hair, do fashion shows, stay up all night eating ice cream, and buy her all kinds of presents because we missed Christmases and birthdays together,” Albert said.
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