Love, laughter and sausage: the Stewins’ American Dream, from post war Berlin to Burien

Valentine’s Day wraps love in sparkling red boxes and glittery cards promising undying tenderness and affection, but for Burien’s Hans and Marianne Stewin, love is more pragmatic.

Married for 66 years this March, the love story of the owners of Burien’s Hans Sausage and Delicatessen begins in post-war Berlin. 

The families of both Hans and Marianne were granted a new apartment – a rare and tremendous asset in Berlin at that time – because of hardship. Hans’ family had been bombed out of their home three times during the war, and Marianne’s mother was bed bound with Multiple Sclerosis.

The two families moved in side-by-side. Their relationship began when Hans would knock on his bedroom wall and wait for Marianne to knock back. A fast friendship had formed and would continue through the strains of post-war reconstruction and Marianne’s difficult home life.

When Marianne was 17, her mother died and she approached Hans with an idea. “I was a dreamer,” Marianne says, with a nostalgic smile. “I said, Hans, let’s get married and go to America or Australia.”

They were married in Berlin on March 25, 1960.

“I married her for her money,” Hans jokes. “And 66 years later, I’m still waiting!”

The new couple had their sights set on America, but they didn’t qualify to enter.

“There were three rules, Hans explains. “You had to have $1,000, a job, or a sponsor. We had nothing.”

With $135 to their name, the Stewins set off for Alberta, Canada, who were eager to take young, healthy people. Marianne had chosen Alberta because Hans had been trained as a sausage maker in Germany and she had heard Alberta has meat packing plants. Her smart thinking paid off, and Hans found a job in their new country within days.

After a year in Canada, they were able to come to America through the help of a friend. Once in Washington state, they settled into the neighborhood of Queen Anne, just in time to welcome their first child, a daughter.

After years of working for others, Hans decided to strike out on his own. With two business partners, he opened the original location of Hans Sausage and Delicatessen on 115 S. 156^th Street in Burien.

Their business and family grew. Hans and Marianne welcomed a son and eventually built the building at their current location (717 SW 148th Street B) and moved their business there.

Marianne says, “People ask me, ‘When will you retire?’ and I tell them, ‘I will drop dead in this store.’ I tell Hans, ‘We created this monster and don’t know how to get rid of it, so we’ll just keep it.'”

Through it all, they leaned on each other.

“She was smarter than me,” Hans says, “What she does I cannot do, what I do she can’t. It takes two to do a business.”

So, what’s the secret to 66 years of building a life together?

“Respect,” Hans says immediately. “There is no love without respect.”

“We grew up together,” Marianne adds. “This bonded us. We were just two young kids exploring the world, and then,” she pauses, “this…”

Marianne sweeps her arm around the room, indicating what they’ve built – a legacy of resilience, hard work, and love, right here in Burien.