Ida Haar Hartwig

Ida passed away on June 19, 2014. Ida is survived by her son Larry Hartwig (Regina); grandson Karl Bernhard and family (Los Angeles) and granddaughter Kimberley Hartwig (Saskatoon). Ida was predeceased by her first husband Peter Kokorin in 1943, her son Viktor Hartwig in 1964, her second husband Helmuth Harwig in 2000 and her daughter Erika Bernhard in 2008.

Ida Haar was born January 13, 1918 on a dairy farm in Saky, Crimea, Russia to Leonard Haar and Rosa Dubs. She was one of nine children. She got her grade 7 in 1931. In 1934, she trained to become a telegraph operator. In 1936, she married Peter Kokorin, a radio engineer in Russia and in Central Asia. They lived and worked briefly in Tajikistan. Daughter Erika was born in Russia, 1937, as was son Viktor in 1941. She was repatriated to Germany with her children from Crimea in 1942. Peter worked as an interpreter for the German military, and went missing after Christmas, 1942. He was later declared dead. Ida worked as a telegraph/phone operator in occupied Poland, while her children were taken to Czech Republic. As the German army retreated from Poland, she ended up in Berlin. She worked at the main post office, until the Fall of Berlin. After the war, she ended up in Lohne, Germany with her children, and worked in a pharmaceutical factory as a “corker”. She met her second husband in Lohne, who had just been released in 1951 from a Russian P.O.W. camp. He had been a navigator in the German Air Force. He came to find work as a cabinet maker. They married in 1952, and he immigrated to Canada in 1953, with Erika, to Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Ida followed a year later with Viktor. They then moved to Regina, and Larry was born in 1955. Ida worked for many years at Luther College in Regina, mainly as a kitchen cook. After she retired, she was a regular at the Regina Farmer’s Market, selling her son’s honey. She lived from 1958 until 2009 at 660 Arthur Street, Regina, in the home built by Helmuth. She then lived at the Santa Maria from 2009 until her passing. She was a lifetime member of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, and enjoyed gardening.

Arrangements under the direction of Lee Funeral Home and Crematorium, Regina, SK.