Rudolf “Rudi” Braune was born in Halle, Germany, during a massive blizzard on October 16, 1919 to Emma and Ernst Braune. His only other sibling, his sister Trudchen, who was 6 years older, doted on her cute, blue eyed, blond, curly haired baby brother. From a very young age, Rudi honed his entrepreneurial and financial skills that would serve him well his entire life by doing the accounting for the family business. He then went on to study engineering as World War II was looming.
He was athletically gifted and enjoyed cycling through Germany, paddling on his favourite river, the Saale, and excelled at gymnastics, a sport that also introduced him to his future wife, Margot.
During the war, Rudi was stationed for several months in France and then spent the winter of 1942 on the Russian front where he was injured during an attack. When he was well enough to travel again, he made his way back to Germany and was informed that his engineering skills were needed for the further development of the Messerschmitt 262, a German warplane. This at least removed him from the battlefield.
Towards the end of the war, the Americans wanted to take several German scientists, engineers and intellectuals, back to the United States as “guests of General Eisenhower.” Rudi was chosen to go, but fate had another plan. His fiancée, Margot, had just been hospitalized after an explosion left her with serious injuries. He did not want to leave her behind, so the trip to the States was abandoned. Instead, as soon as Margot was well enough, they married.
After the war, Halle became part of East Germany, controlled by the communist Russian regime. The young couple wanted to leave the devastation of war behind and start a fresh life elsewhere. The plan was to go to West Germany and save up for a new life in North America. Again, fate intervened and Rudi was captured by the Russians (supposedly for spying for the Americans) and spent 2 months in prison. Upon his escape, he and Margot made their way to Hannover in West Germany where they lived for a few years before Rudi set out for Canada to see if this was really where he and his family—which now consisted of a wife and young daughter—wanted to make their home. And indeed, Toronto was where his future lay. Margot and baby Gisela followed 4 months later.
They spent their first few years in Canada sharing a house with 2 other German families before settling into their dream home by the Scarborough bluffs in 1956. By this time, they had a second daughter, Birgit.
Rudi, with his entrepreneurial spirit, was not satisfied only working for an engineering firm. He decided to invest in different properties: a guesthouse in Nassau and a 168 acre farm in Elk Lake where the family shared some wonderful memories. He also bought a brick and tile plant in Beaverton and set up several engineering/manufacturing companies that made, among other things, heat exchangers, winches and early pollution control devices for the steel industry. He spent much of his time in his later years investing in the stock market, something he had a real knack for. Everything he did, he did for his family. His own needs were very Spartan. He was happiest when those around him were happy, and he made all of us very happy.
