Back to the Roots Tour
Poland 2016
www. WiebeWorldWide.net
Trip through Poland 25 august – 7 September
Henry Neugebauer, Kris Drum, Larry Wiebe came from Vancouver and San Francisco. Rolf Fieguth came from Fribourg, Switzerland, Andre Dieball lives in Berlin and Ellen Julia, Jean-Pierre Julia and Jérôme Julia came from France to participate in this adventure.
1.
Vierraden , Tobacco country
We left Berlin direction Danzig. On the way we stopped in Vierraden where Henry and I spent some time during the war. Our mother, grandparents, Gerda and her children went there when the bomb attacks on Berlin were too intense. We lived in a farm where my parents rented two or three rooms from a farmer. We both have vivid memories of this little town. Of course it has changed considerably but some old farm houses and barns are still there. With my mother I used to go to one of these barns where the women were seated on both sides stringing up Tobacco leaves to be dried in the upper sections. One could see by the structure of the barns, the foundation is of stone about 1,5 meters high, the upper part was made vertically of boards with spaces between them to let the air pass through to dry the tobacco. Henry has a photo taken Inside of one of these barns, probably around 1944 with me standing in the middle.
Henry started school in this village.
I had two traumatic experiences there. Once I was hit by an army « jeep », no physical injury and once I found myself in the middle of some attack (I used to think it was a bombing attack). I woke up sitting on the edge of a huge crater which was filling with water. That is where a very upset grandmother found me; I must have escaped from her surveillance.
2.
Neuteich Nowy Staw
We visited this village where we had delicious cake and coffee in a « Bäckerei » just opposite a Church which had been restored. The keeper of this Church was very friendly and happy to have people climbed down into his cellar (vaulted) and up his Church spire from where we had a view over the whole countryside.
When walking around the outside we saw the foundations made of enormous stones – old gravestones some dating back to the 16th century, difficult to photograph.
3.
Ladekopp – Altmünsterberg
In Ladekopp we saw several old Mennonite houses which have been restored and are now historical landmarks (they are inhabited).
There we also visited a Mennonite cemetery where we found many Penner and Wiebe graves. Ladekopp is also the native town of the Mennonite Stobbe clan who produced (and still is producing in Oldenburg) a brandy called « Stobbes Machandel ». Stobbes were recently active and helpful to restore the cemetery with their family tombs.
Altmünsterberg, the place where Irmgard Wiebe born Behrends wife of Otto Wiebe had her final farm and where she died. We found a house which could have been hers but we are not sure. We could not go inside.
Inside my grandmother’s farm in the middle of the kitchen there was a well. Since all these houses are built on a similar pattern it is difficult to identify even comparing with old photographs.
On the cemetery near by ( Heubuden) , see point 5 below) there were again many Wiebe, Penner, Enss graves. But most surprising of all ; we found Sturmführer Fritz Wiebe, my mother’s brother who died in a car accident in 1934 at the age of 27. He left a wife (Leni) and unborn child (dead at birth). The tombstone was very different from all the others – a simple piece of rock, the inscription was not worn off, difficult to read because of the nature of the stone. We are quite certain that my grandmother was buried in this same cemetery but as a young Polish girl pointed out, these graves have been disrupted and the stones are not necessarily at the right place and some stones have been « reused » elsewhere.
We did not go to Ottlau. Rolf said there was nothing left of my grandfather’s farm, where his father Hans-Otto Fieguth spent many holidays with my mother and her two brothers.
The reconstruction of a Mennonite house at Orloff (community of Tiegenhof /Nowy Dwór Gdanski) by a young Polish business man was very interesting. His intention is to make it into a cultural center.
Inside we found the rest of a huge oven, many rooms. On some walls there was still painting like wallpaper with flowers and birds.
The porch in the front was supported by 8 sculptured pillars, each one representing 16 hectares of land. The door was sculptured with symbols explaining life, eternity and the number of members in the family.
4.
Tiegenhof (Nowy Dwór Gdanski) We visited the Mennonite Museum probably the second day.
5. Heubuden Stogi
This was the cemetery where we found the grave of Fritz Wiebe – it has the character of a museum. After many years of neglect and devastation that have left huge marks it has been restored and catalogued carefully by younger Polish local enthusiasts, interested today in their homeland – some tombs from Gross Lesewitz have been transported here. Some other Mennonite cemeteries (or what was left of them) in the region have been restored, but this one is so to speak the central Mennonite Memory cemetery.
Heubuden is very close to Altmünsterberg ; Henry remembers having walked as a child with his mother from his grandmother’s house at Altmünsterberg to the Heubuden cemetery – maybe to see the grave of Fritz but also of Irmgard Wiebe, our grandmother.
6. Marienburg Malbork (third day)
Rolf tried to find the house of his grandparents and where his mother was born. He was told it had been turned into a police station and then later torn down.
The castle is huge and very impressive. I entered a small section but it was very dark inside. It had been destroyed to a large extent during the war. Now it is completely rebuilt, all in brick.
(Rolf thinks this was part of our visit the second day.)
And where was the house being reconstructed which Andre thought we could rent for about 10 – 15 people if we wanted to come back. There was a couple taking care of it. Rolf said it was the arcade house in Petershagen/Zelichowo, part of Tiegenhof/Nowy Dwor Gdanski. The internet name and address
Marek Opitz
Zelichowo 31A
82-100 Nowy Dwor Gdanski
Poland
opitz@opitz.pl tel +48 503 00 56 25
Mr. Opitz calls this house « The little Hollander – arcade house » at street 502, near the Church sw. Mikolaja/Holy Nicholas.
GPS : 54.241707,19.143578
7.Lodz
It is a nice city with a busy mainstreet, called Piotrowska (Petrikauer Strasse). All along there are life size statues in bronze either of famous people or of typical characters of that area.
We went to the factory « Manufaktura », an old industrial complex, now turned into amusement and restaurants. We had dinner in a very typical place (Restaurant « Galicja ») where the boys drank 1 litre chops of beer.
The next day we visited the Modern Arts Museum, Mondrian, Chagall, Buren, Max Ernst etc.
In Lodz Rolf, Jean-Pierre and Jérôme left our group, Rolf to continue to Bratislava and the boys back to work.
Rolf says that in internet he found a lot of Neugebauers and Flemmings (the latter apparently Jews) actually living in or near Lodz.
Our great grandfather Johann Neugebauer was an architect. He built in Lodz, Breslau and Riga. He was married to Wilhelmine Maline – our father thinks she was of Huguenot origin.
8.
Wroclaw Breslau is the city of dwarfs. There are over three hundred all over the city representing various trades and occupations. There are about 15 of them in corners around the Rynek, leaning against light posts, sitting on the steps of a pizzeria or resting on the square of Holy Elisabeth church. Originally they were used to make fun of the king and reigning elements since the population was not allowed to criticize, they said it was the gnome that was making fun of the administration.
We visited mainly the medieval square around the town hall the Rynek with many beautiful old buildings, originally in gothic style, were later refurnished in renaissance architecture. It seems a very active cultural city. In the old city one finds a meander of little narrow street around the cathedral. There are 110 bridges to cross the Oder and a dozen islands, sometimes called the Venice of Poland. We took a short boat tour around these islands some of which are waiting for new owners. In the same area we found the Church Ste Croix and St Barthelemy – one Church above the other.
9.
Cracow Krakau Kraków
We went directly to the salt mine (Wieliczka) which is south of the city of Cracow. This was quite an adventure. Very well illustrated with figures carved in salt. We descended over 300 steps into huge chambers which had been excavated during the years. This mine has been exploited this the 16th century.
To come back up to the surface there is a small iron elevator – one can imagine the miners coming back to the surface but theirs was certainly less comfortable.
We visited mainly the square around the town hall with many beautiful old buildings. It seems a very active cultural city. It used to be the capital of Poland with an impressive castle (« Wawel ») which is now a museum, later (about 1650) the capital was transferred to Warsaw.
That evening we ate in a wonderful restaurant on the main square at the foot of the castle.
10.
Auschwitz
The visit lasts at least three hours. It is quite conform to what we have seen over the years but to see the place and have direct explanations adds to the horror and desolation. One cannot imagine treating a human being like less than an animal, less than dirt.
With our guide we saw the different places where the prisoners left their suitcases, their shoes. In one behind a glass wall there was a mountain of hair and next to it the demonstration of weaving this hair into blankets. We saw a gas chamber and a cremation oven, the gallows where in 1947 the first commander of the camp, Rudolf Höss was executed.
In one of the buildings the hall was lined with photographs of prisoners of the years 1942 – 43 with the names, the date of arrival and the date of decease. Most did not live more than two-three months. There were also pictures of children not more than 6-7 years old, just skin and bones.
That evening we went to the Jewish quarter of Cracow to eat in a Jewish restaurant recommended to us (Ariel). It was a square with many little restaurants – the atmosphere was very lively and gay.
The next day we started our long trip (6 hours) back to Berlin.