I had registered domain via 1and1 over 2 years ago and after not notifying me they had let it laps and it went into redemption period. I would like not to deal with 1and1 AT ALL but retrieve my domain and have it transferred to another registrant i do business with. Any way I can contact Schlund + Partner directly to do this? Any one had successfully done similar things ?
Please help.

If the .com domain name is in redemption period, only the last sponsoring registrar
can redeem it. Your only other options are to wait for it to become available or make
a backorder for it with the top 2-3 providers in the biz if you can afford it.

Unfortunately IIRC, 1&1/Schlund doesn't do redemption. Feel free to correct me if
anyone got them to do so.

Why they supposedly didn't notify you is anyone's guess.

"last sponsoring registrar can redeem it" - meaning what ? I said i registered it via 1&1 via Schlund.
1&1 can redeame it see their FAQ, there is a form that you fax, but i rather die than have them do anything for me
So back to question how can i contact Schlund to redeam my domain from "redemption period"

You don't. 1&1 is Schlund. They discontinued their Schlund brand at the beginning of this year and you you will most probably referred to 1and1.com in the matter.