We visit Poland

We’ve spent the last two days in the German city of Gorlitz on the Neisse River which forms the German/Polish border. Our base at the Hotel Silesia has been a real gem – a beautiful 150 year old building which is being tastefully renovated. The rooms are big with high ceilings, our balcony overlooks a street of similarly lovely buildings and it is warm – a good thing, as it has been snowing intermittently since we arrived here. Ross’s photos now take on some other colours.

The city itself is very old, with some buildings dating back to the 1200’s, so we have taken some long walks in the Alte Stadt (old city) to take in the beautiful architecture – and the coffee and cake.

The main reason for our stay here was to take a trip to Poland to visit the former German area of Schlesien (Silesia) to the village where my parents grew up. Again for the history buffs, at the end of WW2 Schlesien became Polish territory and many German people who became displaced (in German ‘Vertrieben’). This was the case with both my parents’ families and they ended up having to leave behind their homes, livelihood, and most possessions to seek refuge in the west. They ended up in the area of Osnabruck in the village of Hasbergen, reliant on the goodwill of local citizens for homes and work.

Now back to the story. The snowfalls caused us some concern because we don’t have snow tyres on the car. However, the travel gods again came to our rescue when the hotel owner introduced us to one of his staff,  a German speaking Polish woman. Renata said her husband Andreas (and his car) was available for hire to take us wherever we wanted, he was familiar with the area and would act as an interpreter for us. Not only that, but as it was her day off, she would come too. The price was right so we ventured into the unknown with two people we had only just met, German as the only common language, maps and diagrams lovingly made by family who had been there before, old family photos of the property and hopeful of a great day.

We were not disappointed. At their home Renata and Andreas first fed us home-made pierogi – dumplings with potato inside, fresh cream on the side and coffee then showed us their lovely house and garden. As we drove, they gave us great insights into the history and geography history of the area – and in Andreas’ case the hunting qualities of many places. Dave would find himself in paradise here. We were asked lots of questions about life in Australia, cost of living, food habits and so on.

Snow was falling as we first drove east towards Breslau (Wroclaw) on the autobahn, then headed south onto lesser roads. Several times Andreas stopped to ask directions until we finally found the signs we were looking for – the village of Cieplowody, formerly the German, ‘Lauenbrunn’. First stop was the church and the adjacent cemetery where my paternal grandfather and one of dad’s sisters were buried. After over 60 years and the custom of re-using graves, plus the snow cover, it would have been a miracle to find headstones, so I was not greatly disappointed when we couldn’t find them. We could only look through the door into the beautiful church and the stained glass windows.

However, with a little help from the town mayor who happened to pass by, we found the property where both my mum’s and dad’s families lived from the late 1920’s.  Both my mum and her cousin Christa Farr (whom we wrote about earlier) had talked about and showed me pictures of a brick doghouse in the yard and, crazy as it sounds, as soon as I stepped out of the car, there it was.

The buildings also looked familiar due to the photos I had seen. Andreas knocked on a door and after explaining our visit to a woman resident, we asked permission to take photos. Renata and I also had the opportunity to use the toilet which was upstairs and so have a look at the inside of the house. A young man came to see us and asked if I was related to some women that his grandfather had talked about. They were my mum’s sisters, Herta and Ruth.

In the same area we found my father’s family house and took photos there. We found the railway station, old schoolhouse and some other scenes that would be familiar to my mum, then drove a little way to the village of Plottnitz (Blotnica) where some other relatives lived. However, the as evening approached and our photo opportunities diminished we decided to head for home.

Renata and Andreas insisted we try their fish soup, drink champagne and meet the rest of the family, an offer hard to refuse. All in all we had a most amazing day, made so much better with the help of these generous people. For me to see the places that I have heard so much about was a dream come true. Ross as always, has been patient,  taken photos from all possible angles and has nodded knowledgably whenever anyone speaks to him in a language other than English. His understanding of German is increasing everyday.

Today was spent in Gorlitz looking around the town and visiting the Schlesiches Museum which is dedicated to preserving and displaying  the history and culture of this area of Germany/Poland.

Tomorrow we head to Prague. As neither of us speak Czech this will be a whole new adventure. We want to say a big Thank you to our family in Germany for your wonderful love, care and friendship and of course "nur ein Bier" for Ross. Now that we are  "Skypers", we will see each other more often.