Images of Stargard Szczecinski (Stargard)
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The alarm went at 03h00 and ten minutes later Débra and I managed to drag ourselves out of bed, shower and drink a cup of tea. In future I must remember that three and a half hours sleep is not enough! Laden like pack-mules we made our way down stairs to the compact 1600cc Skoda Felicia that we had arranged for the weekend. Our destination was to be the land of my forefathers, Pomerania, which is now the north-western province of Poland.
By 04h00 we were on our way. We drove northwards out of Prague and to Teplice where we left the Czech Republic and entered Germany. We passed through the centre of Dresden at about 06h00 as the sun rose over the magnificent old town. We pushed on towards Berlin, scooting anti-clockwise around the south of the reunited metropolis and north-east down the E28 highway towards Poland. Although the Kolbaskowo border crossing was just about deserted, it took the Poles an hour to process our passports and visa forms. I guess they don't see too many South African passports in these parts!
The autobahns in eastern Germany are atrocious. Corrugated concrete surfaces that made me wish I'd brought my motorcycle kidney belt along with me! However, the German government is investing millions of Deutsch Marks in upgrading the infrastructure in this part of the world, and there are some massive engineering projects in progress at the moment. Poland was not to provide much relief - the first few kilometres from the border post are quite comfortable, but the road rapidly deteriorates to a jaw-jarring hell-ride. Perhaps I'm exaggerating a little, but the going gets pretty tough, and cars are reduced to a snail's pace to avoid becoming airborne! Road works are also plentiful in western Poland so the roads will definitely improve in years to come.
Images of Stargard Szczecinski (Stargard)
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The reason why we had come to Matzdorf is that August Pautz was born here on September 27, 1830 one of the six sons of Carl Pautz (b. 1794) and Louise "Letto" Schoenhagen (b. 1797). August's siblings were William, Carl, Frederick, Gottlieb and Ferdinand. I am uncertain as to how I am related to this branch of my family that settled in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, USA before moving to Kansas in the late 1870's. I have been researching my family history since my father's death in 1990, and only got the lead about August Pautz in early 1999 from Ray & Katie Pautz who are also subscribed to the Pommern List.
Matzdorf is essentially a one street town. At the other end we encountered a quaint church where, as in Stargard, the kids were excitedly waiting to have their baskets of Easter goodies blessed by the stressed out priest who was doing the rounds of all the small churches under his jurisdiction. He roared up in his VW Golf, did his priestly stuff and then headed back to his car to make good his escape. Before he could leave for his next appointment I imposed on him in my hesitating German. I explained that I am an African of Pomeranian descent, and that I am researching the family history. I gave him a memo that I had painstakingly written in Polish explaining the same thing, and presenting all the information that I have on August Pautz. The priest took a quick look and handed the page back to me saying that I should go to St George's church in Goleniów (Golinow). He had obviously seen that August was Evangelical and not Roman Catholic, and decided to deftly pass the buck on this the busiest day of his year!
Images of Maciejewo (Matzdorf)
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For those of you who may find them useful, I got the following details from the Catholic church's notice board:
Images of Nowogard (Naugard)
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The "La Rochelle" left Hamburg on May 31, 1858. The voyage to the Cape Province of South Africa claimed the lives of 23 passengers (17 children and 6 adults) and the ship eventually arrived in East London on August 28, 1858. Carl settled in Braunschweig north of King William's Town where he died on March 13, 1898, and is buried (S 32°47'11.1", E 027°21'47.0"). My branch of the family is descended from one of his sons, Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Pautz.
Our first stop was the red brick Catholic Church in the typical Pomeranian style. One again it was the blessing of the eggs with no time for a foreign amateur genealogist! I resorted to my new contingency plan, and left memos on Carl August Ferdinand Gettlieb and Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Pautz in the secure collection box!
Thanks to Pommern Lister, Ronald Schulz of Moraga, California, I last month acquired a copy of the publication entitled "Heimatbuch, Kreis Regenwalde, Hinterpommern". This good reference work has a picture of the "schloss" in Plathe; Débra and I decided to find it. In fact it wasn't too difficult as it was right next to the Catholic church! The compact castle is in a sad state of neglect - it seems to have become the home of both the city council and the local community centre under Communism - but its potential beauty is obvious. Repairing all the broken windows would be a good start. Debra and I could only speculate how beautiful this riverside site would really be if it was located in Germany (i.e. with a BIG injection of capital). The plaques on the door read:
Alongside the small bridge that crosses the Rega River next to the castle, stands another impressive building. It looks like an annexe of the castle, but is now the Ploty Archive and Public Library. I folded two more of my Polish memos into an envelope, and pushed them under the door! From the sign on the outside (and a publication I have) I got the following contact details:
Besides being the home town of Carl August Ferdinand Gottlieb Pautz, I learned from Tom Pautz (a member of the Pommern List) that Friedrich Hermann Pautz was also born there on January 30, 1830. His parents were Carl Ludwig Pautz and Friederieke W. Mueller, and he also immigrated to the USA. The direct link between my branch of the family and Friedrich Hermann Pautz is unclear.
We drove around Plathe for an hour trying to find the "rathaus" pictured in the Heimatbuch, but to no avail. What we did find was an imposing, turn of the century station, complete with red brick and wood water tower - very photogenic!
Images of Ploty (Plathe)
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The municipal square would appear to be the focal point of social life in Regenwalde. All of the young people who were not at mass were hanging out in the square waiting for their friends to come out of church. Exciting stuff!! But more intriguing were the shows of bravado by the young bucks in their clapped out, old, Opel Kadetts. Two or three cars (packed with trendy but spotty boys) were engaged in "burning rubber" around the municipal building in an obvious attempt to attract the attention of the (perhaps not so) coy Catholic girls on the square! I've noted similar mating rituals in Los Angeles...only the cars were bigger, flasher and newer there. I guess we're all the same!
Eventually mass finished, and we were able to get into the church where I left memos in the collection box. I found a parish newsletter there, and can report that the church can be contacted care of Marzena Kamiñska at:
Unfortunately it is only in Polish, and downloads very slowly...so be warned!
Fellow Pommern Lister, Ellen Piehl asked me to keep to keep my eyes open for examples of old stone buildings as her ancestor, Johann Uecke was a master stone mason in Regenwalde (1818 through the 1880's). Ellen, sorry to say that if any examples of his work still remain, we did not see them.
Images of Resko (Regenwalde)
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Images of Lubien-Dolny (Niederhagen)
Niederhagen, Oberhagen and Dorow are all "one horse towns" next to a tributary of the Rega River. From the T-junction in the "centre" of Niederhagen, one turns right and down the cobble-stoned road to Oberhagen and Dorow. One rough road links all three settlements, and there are some fine examples of stone buildings. One feature of travelling in Pomerania that I personally enjoyed was that the majority of roads are lined with old trees, and the Niederhagen-Oberhagen-Dorow route was no exception. Obviously the trees can also be very dangerous - in fact on the way from Matzdorf to Golinow we saw a nasty accident where a driver had obviously lost control on a long right-hand bend and had hit an ancient tree. His car was a write-off and, from what we could see, he was barely clinging on to life. Certainly a sad Easter for his family.
Images of Lubien-Gorny (Oberhagen)
We took a few photos in Niederhagen and moved on to Oberhagen. On the left hand side as we drove through the village we saw an impressive, white painted manor house behind a dilapidated iron fence. A family was relaxing on the stairs at the front door. This obviously important building faces the T-junction that took us to Dorow. There we pulled over to take a breather and savour the fresh country air. Not a soul was to be seen, and in Dorow's small cemetery we found a memorial to German soldiers who died during the First World War. I shot a few pictures and stuck more of my Polish genealogical memos under the closed door of the Church. A few intrigued locals peered through their windows. We left this sleepy hollow, and headed towards Trzebiatów (via Gryfice) on national road 109.
Images of Dorowo (Dorow)
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The interior of the pension had been restored...in the customary "Communist Baroque" style! A lot of dark, heavy wood veneer marginally softened by inlays of a paler hue. Deep toned, mass-produced pseudo oriental carpets. Low wattage light bulbs further dulled by dusty, cream coloured lampshades and doilies. Clean, but potentially quite depressing! The room was large, with two single beds on the left and a double on the right. We also had a coffee table, a well used sofa and three odd chairs, one upholstered in the traditional (flaking) brown Russian leatherette. The television had a remote and 6 Polish channels showing re-runs that dated from the late-50's through the early 80's. It was an evening in a time warp!
Luckily we had bought food and wine earlier in the day as the corner shop across the road did not have anything very appetising. Débra bought a pint of beer, and I got a big bottle of water and a packet of crisps. The Bulgarian Merlot and cold meats were great. The conversation was animated. It had been a full and exciting day, and by 23h00 we were comfortably dead to the world.
Images of Trzebiatów (Treptow)
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