The Story of Wottge Open Space

Join us at the Broomfield Public Library, 3 Community Park Rd., Broomfield, in the Eisenhower Room, for a fascinating presentation by Fred Martin on Wottge Open Space!

The 62-acre Wottge Open Space in Broomfield, once the Wottge family farm, has a rich , centuries-old history behind how this Broomfield resource came to be.

For over 200 years the Wottges owned and operated a family farm in Germany. World War II drew the family patriarch into war and divested the family of the farm when Stalin partitionedEast Germany to Poland. This started the family’s migration through world history to Broomfield.

At the end of World War II, following the horrific crimes of Nazi Germany, the mass expulsion of ethnic Germans from homelands annexed to Poland has often been overlooked by historians.  The Wottge family lived this history. After enduring the final months of war combat, the confiscation of their farm, and the hardships of post-war Germany, the family made the crossing to America with the help of Catholic War Relief Services. They arrived as immigrant farm laborers in Colorado in 1952.

The slideshow presentation includes many historic photos, maps and documents that make this heroic story come alive.

The presentation is by Fred Martin who has presented history programs for the Broomfield Veterans Museum, the National Museum of World War II Aviation in Colorado Springs, and many other civic and community groups.