 Diekwisch is a common name in Northern Germany and translates into “meadow by the lake”.In the 1840s and again in the 1920s, members of the Diekwisch family moved from Germany to the United States, mostly to Illinois.Thomas Diekwisch’s parents are Annelore Spruch and Gerd Diekwisch, also from Bielefeld and born in 1930 (father) and 1933 (mother).