All photos per Dana Moller , Gebauer Family Collection ( Germany )
In 1950 Karl Gebauer married Martha Hagen ( both shown at left ) and had a daughter , Renate ( photo at top ). Despite plans for a return trip , Karl Hugo Gebauer never returned to the islands and died in Germany in 2006 .
In 2012 , Karl ’ s granddaughter , Dana Moller , of Wacken , in Schleswig-Holstein , became the first Gebauer of German-Samoan descent to pay a return visit to the islands from Germany in 76 years . She kept a promise to her grandfather that she would stand on the beach at Faga , Savai ’ i , where he had spent many happy hours as a child . The photo above shows her at Tufuiopa Cemetery , in Apia , at the grave of her great great grandparents Hugo and Emma Gebauer .
| To Walk Under Palm Trees - The Germans in Samoa : Snapshots from Albums | Tony Brunt
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