European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 7, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Baby Benjamin could take family corny tradition to sixth generation. From my hit father Bobbie Helga and Ron Kurey and her father Theo Lehmann. Will tacos make it on be photos and Story by Mary Neth staff writer Gaudy in shrill oranges and reds the huge Sombrero topped Taco stand Stop German carnival goers in their tracks. It meant american Ronald Kurey and his wife Helga the stand they believe it s the first of its kind on the German Volkstedt scene is a bid for a secure less hectic future. They have invested a Large part of their savings on the Gamble that germans will become addicted to this Spicey mexican american fast food. Their children Are grown. Now they d like to step out of the Ever on the Road carnival life they have lived so Many years. They Are hoping that maybe they can Settle Down under the big Sombrero in a permanent place someday perhaps in an entertainment Park. Corn on the cob egg Rolls and other foreign dishes have become popular says Helga who is German. I think tacos will catch on on this Gray afternoon in Mannheim however there Are few takers. People Stop and gawk and read the signs then pass on. No one is really doing Well at this carnival says Kurey. It was better when the Volks Iest was right downtown instead of out Here in the boonies. Our location on the lot in t Good either. People pass five other food concessions before they get to us. Then too there s a lot of unemployment in the area. People Aren t going out they Aren t the Kuret have been travelling through Germany on the town to town carnival circuit since they married 25 years ago. We started out with a ring toss Helga s parents set us up with it then went on to a shooting gallery and since then numerous big carnival at present besides a bumper car they have a round up a ride that swirls passengers around in a Circle then tilts them up into the air at a dizzying Angle. The Ureys Volk fest income has not put them on easy Street but it has enabled them to put three children through school and finance a permanent Home in Stuttgart. Bobble 24 years old now runs their bumper car Concession with his 19-year-old sister Oan Lela. Only their older daughter Carolyn 23 and married is not actively in the business. The life has been physically hard but neither Ron nor Helga would have traded it. They like the close knit carnival atmosphere even the setting up and moving on. The Only thing really difficult was the separation from the children says Helga. While we were on the Road they had to attend boarding schools. They have had a Good strict Catholic education Kurey originally from Long Beach calif., met Helga when he was stationed at Lee Barracks in Mainz. It was around thanksgiving and she was helping her family by working at the pm at Coleman when they married a year later he became part of a carnival family that goes Back five generations. My great grandparents travelled through Germany by horse and Wagon with carnival attractions my Grandfather with carnival wagons drawn by steam engine she said. They were part of the Well known carnival troupe of lenders Kuehnel and Lehmann. Kuehnel is her Mother s name Lehmann her father s. My great Grandfather on my father s Side was half jewish. My Grandfather changed his name from the original Leve to the More German sounding while we visit in the House trailer parked snugly in the Back of the stand Helga prepares vegetables for dinner. Outside a washing machine is spinning a Load of clothes. The Ordinary routines of family living Don t Stop when the carnival people take to the Road. There Are knocks at the door relatives from nearby concessions drop by to offer help at the stand or just to visit. We Are related to almost everyone on the lot explains Helga. It s a big there is constant background clamor As a nearby roller coaster crashes and thumps along its tracks. The Ureys Are oblivious to the noise. They Are used to hearing the Bangs and bumps of carnival rides and the screams of excited passengers. Another Knock at the door. An older woman exchanges a few words As she returns a cooking pan. That was my Mother says Helga. She is 70 years old. My father is 73. Together they have run spook houses and rides and at one time had the largest transportable Ferris wheel in Europe. They sold the last Large ride and now Are Semi retired and running a food because of the jewish background surviving in Hitler s Germany was not easy for the family says Helga. Under a nazi racial Law passed in september 1935, her father was not classified As a jew the stigma however remained. The Law defining who was jewish gave German citizenship rights to those who were one eighth to one sixteenth jewish with just one jewish great or great great grandparent Helga says that though her father was taken into the military and sent to the russian front her Mother still was snubbed and the Kuret Are hoping that spicy mexkai4mi badly treated. While my father was in Russia for those eight yet she tried to keep the family business operating. Sometimes though because of the whisper that sin was that woman married to a jew,1 people Wou Kir her set up our rides. They tried to ban us from Cash when the Ureys Are at a Volks Iest the stand be Page 14 the stars and stripes Helga Kurey and daughter Dani
