Anneliese Elisabeth Miklosy 96 of Laguna Beach, CA the widow of Leslie Daniel Miklosy died peacefully at her Laguna Beach home with son Les George at her bedside.

Anneliese was born July 5 1927, the youngest of two girls and two boys to parents Elisabeth and Georg Fraunhofer in Achdorf village, a borough of medieval city Landshut in Bavaria Germany. Anneliese would like her friends and family to remember her life and US immigration story.

Since Achdorf was authoritatively Catholic and her mother a practicing Jehovah's Witness, Anneliese was segregated to attend Nikola Schule - an elementary school for girls far from home where she commuted to by bicycle. In 1939 the Nazi's invaded Poland but despite the war and family hardship, Anneliese attended Hochschule (high school) and the Hitler youth girls school Bund Deutsche Maedel. BDM was the obligatory girls school of the Nazi party youth movement.

When the Nazi's invaded Poland in 1939 her brothers were drafted by the German army and send to the infantry front-lines, the older sent to Norway was captured and held in a Russian prison camp, the younger sent to Dunkirk France. In 1940 her sister Hanna was disabled in a severe trucking accident and remained hospitalized. A year later mother Elisabeth suffered a cerebral stroke and became paralyzed, Anneliese remained at home as full-time caregiver for her mother while attending school.

In 1942 at age 16 she became a technical drafter and illustrator with the Messerschmidtt AG aircraft factory in Regensburg Germany where the Me-109 fighter aircraft was produced for the German Luftwaffe. She lived in worker barracks there and commuted home on weekends by train. On Tuesday 17 August 1943 the US Army/Airforce began "Mission No. 84" a strategic bombing mission with B-17 Boeing Flying Fortress heavy bombers, 376 aircraft in Operation Regensburg-Schweinfurt. That morning Anneliese reported to work but her supervisor instructed her to return home to begin her summer holiday. She returned to Landshut by train to hear the sound of heavy bombers, the bombing of Regensburg had begun. Anneliese considered her fortune in bewilderment, the US bombing raid killed all her co-workers and leveled the Messerschmidtt factory.

In 1945 Anneliese began work for the Landshut Wasserwirdschaftsampt (Water Department) as a technical illustrator, located close to home in Achdorf she could manage both care-giving at home and work.

Later that year she met her future husband Leslie Daniel Miklosy, "Laci" to friends he was a war refugee from Hungary who was working for the American occupation forces in Landshut. Laci dreamed of living in the United States since childhood, since the Russians occupied his family estate and war refugees occupied her home from the war, Laci and Liska wanted to leave Germany for the promise of a new life "im Amerika". Soon new repatriation and immigration programs offered by the Americans allowed Laci to fulfill his dream.

Also that year 1945 the American occupation forces had entered Landshut and met stiff resistance from the German army entrenched in the high-ground above the city. Liska recalled while riding her bicycle home she was machine-gunned by an Allied squadron fighter in a strafing run over MuenchnerStr. She recalled one morning when a US Soldier looking for German soldiers entered her bedroom, when he discovered the error he left the room ashamed and embarrassed.

On the day of her lucky star 17 August 1949, Liska 22 and Laci 24 were were married and sought legal legitimate immigration to the United States. The US immigration officials set requirements for legitimate immigration: an American sponsor to receive them state-side, financial security in cash, English proficiency, knowledge of American history, and proof of BDM deprogramming. The couple met all the requirements but the US Immigration authorities wanted Anneliese to prove she was not a Nazi sympathizer. Since she attended BDM the authorities investigated whether she was indoctrinated due to "Nazi Verzierung" or Nazi programming. Their probation lasted another two years until their final legitimate immigration was granted.

By 1951 the married couple were ready to immigrate, so with an American sponsor state-side, $600 in cash and a sewing machine, the couple qualified for immigration as guests of the United States but with no social entitlements. On 31 September 1951 the couple boarded the last sailing of USNS General S.D. Sturgis with 1317 passengers from Bremmerhafen Germany arriving in New Orleans 11 October
1951. The Sturgis was a maritime ship modified in 1950 to carry military personnel and passengers returning from war. Among the passengers the ship manifest showed there were 463 Poles, 138 Germans and 79 Hungarians.

By 3 October 1951 the couple were in the middle of the Atlantic ocean sailing toward the US promised land. Given the couple's sacrifices and drawn by sponsorship the Sturgis' newspaper headlines gave them pause:

3-October-1951
American 5th Airforce Headquarters: 68 US Saber jet fighters defended the onslaught by 125
Russian jets over North-West Korea with 6 shot-downs, no American losses were reported.
United Nations N.Y.: The U.N. A new anti-aggression plan embracing the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, to defend against an aggressor on behalf of the world organization.

5-October-1951
President Truman disclosed the Soviet Union had detonated a second atom bomb test on 24
September 1951, having prior knowledge drew international attention for atomic energy control.

6-October-1951
Confirmed by nuclear experts the Soviet Union is now in a position to launch an all-out war
with NATO and this second nuclear weapon test will probably be followed by others.

The young couple contemplated their surroundings, was US immigration a massive mistake? To a land unseen? What had they done leaving Germany family and friends and a secure job for such uncertainty? The trip by sea lasted 14-days, they arrived in New Orleans on 11 October and boarded a train for Los Angeles where authorities received them. With guidance from their US sponsor they settled in an apartment downtown Los Angeles. Leslie began his first job with the Singer Sewing Machine Company as a shop coordinator, Anneliese
as a seamstress with her Pfaff sewing machine. By 1953 Anneliese bore a very lucky son Les George, born to model parents who gave him attention, commitment and love.

By 1960 Leslie became a developer of single-family homes in Sunland California, in 1965 LESLIE HOMES developed a large portion of Top of the World in Laguna Beach where Anneliese named streets after familiar cities from her homeland Germany: Bonn, Bern, Tyrol, Alpine and Nestal. By 1970 she worked for the Laguna Beach School District cafeteria and later as a seamstress and sales associate for the Balcony Tea Room at Diamond and South Coast Highway.

Anneliese' favorite past times were spent working in her garden at her TOW Laguna home and playing the piano or her classic original 1959 Wurlitzer organ, a music dedication for Liska would be "Song about Anne" by Annie Lindstrom. Anneliese loved animals and tended a garden home for song-birds, owls and the canyon critters visiting her yard.

Among Anneliese's favorite things were Favorite Composition: Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, Favorite Singer: Connie Francis, Favorite Tenor: Pavarotti, Favorite Food: Chinese Orange Chicken, Favorite Chocolate: Mon Cheri. Anneliese approached difficulty with positive sentiment, among her favorite expressions were these:

"Alles gute kommt von oben" - All good things come from above
"Es gibt Schlimmeres" - Worse is possible
"Schon wieder aufgewacht" – (I) woke-up again
"Das Haus verliert nichts" - A house looses nothing
"Be grateful for something to dust"
"Aging is not for sissies"
"There must be a higher power"

Anneliese is deeply loved by her extended family and local Laguna friends. A little placard hanging outside her home entry door reads "Bin im Garten", today her spirit hovers with the butterflies among her garden Daisies and Camellias.