The Story of Hansi


My grandfather Walter Koenig Senior, was a noted sports journalist in the 1930’s and lost everything in World War II.
After the war he did not want to live in destroyed Munich anymore and eventually built a house in the mountains close to the Austrian border.
There he could write and be away from people. He also kept big dogs there, New Foundlanders and St. Bernards.
He didn’t particularly care for cats, but one day when walking the dogs he came upon a farmer who was about to drown some kittens in a sack.
In Germany in the 1950’s people in the country had no money to spay or neuter cats. Their purpose was to keep rodents out of barns.
My grandfather felt so sorry for the kittens that he asked the farmer to give him one. He named him Hansi, which means Johnny in German.
The kitten grew to be a large and tough indoor/outdoor cat who never ate cat food or visited a veterinarian. He had to be tough around the big dogs, and also ate their food, which was home made.
Hansi and I were born about the same time, so I remember him from every visit from age four or five or so.
When I stayed over, he used to sleep with me. He liked sleeping on my legs. Boy was was he a heavy cat.
Years later in 1981, after I had finished University, my grandfather called to tell us that Hansi had gone into the woods and did not return. He had lived about 23 years.
To remember my grandfather and Hansi we named our new adopted cat Hansi as well.