Images of Trzebiatów (Treptow)
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We rose early as we had arranged to have breakfast at 08h30. The pension served simple but healthy fare for approximately DM 5 per person - cheese, cold meat, scrambled egg, bread, butter and either lemon tea or toxic sludge coffee! We were well rested and excited about the day ahead.
Over the 1998 Easter weekend, Débra and I had spent a rainy few hours in Trzebiatów (Treptow), and decided that it justified a second visit as it was home to the only Evangelical Lutheran church we had been able to find in Pommern (N 54°03'38.0", E 015°15'39.0"). On our last visit someone had shown us exactly where the pastor lived (on the same street as the church), but he was unfortunately out on his Easter rounds at the time, and we were unable to meet with him. Although the same situation applied this time around, I was now armed with my trusty Polish memos, and filled his mailbox with a copy of all the information had! Unfortunately we have not been able to take a look around the inside of the Evangelical church.
Those engaged in Pomeranian genealogical research may find the following information about the Evangelical church in Treptow useful:
Images of Trzebiatów (Treptow)
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Images of Mrzezyno (Deep)
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The cemetery in question is both beautiful and sad. Beautiful due to it's idyllic setting - plush green, overgrown, steel fence and stone gate, a freshly ploughed field to one side, and a quaint church just down the road in Rottnow. Sad because the German graves appear to have been brutalised. Most of the cast iron crosses have been broken off and are nowhere to be seen. Tombstones have been toppled and/or smashed, and only a few fragments are to be found in the undergrowth. The Polish graves in the same cemetery are fairly well tended. I doubt whether the German graves have received any attention in 50 years.
But wait. Some person (or group of people) erected a memorial tablet at the entrance of the cemetery in 1996. In Polish and German it quotes Psalm 90.1 and then reads "In memory of the generations of Germans from Rottnow and Lerche who rest in this cemetery". It is a very moving spot.
Although it has a small store, Rottnow is not even a "one horse town"! It's really small. The focal point of the 100 metre long main street is the small (Tudor style) wooden framed Catholic church, which falls under the parish of Wisbu. It is really beautiful. There was a service in progress when we were there, but I got some great photographs of the church last year.
The information on the board outside the church reads:
Pictures - Cemetery, Rotnowo (Rottnow)
Pictures - Church, Rotnowo (Rottnow)
Johann Friedrich Wilhelm was born on October 3, 1842 and travelled to South Africa with his father, Carl August Ferdinand Gottlieb Pautz (of Plathe). A few years later he joined the Frontier Armed & Mounted Police in Grahamstown, under the command of Sir Walter Currie. He served in the Native Wars of 1877-79, and was present at the attack on Moroisi's Mountain on the night of November 20, 1879. He received his discharge in1880, being medically unfit, after a service of 18½ years, being a Sergeant Major on his retirement. He died on June 22, 1908 and is buried in the King William's Town cemetery (S 32°52'57.9", E 027°24'20.4").
The Catholic church at the centre of Wisbu is built in the same style as the one in Rottnow - white walls, red tiled roof and a wooden bell tower capped with a tin peak. During our visit in 1998, Débra and I met with the parish priest who declared in broken German "The Lord's house is your house"�.and invited us in, opening up his refrigerator and pantry to us while he went out on his Easter basket blessing round! On his return we discussed my genealogical quest, and he told me that he had no old records at the church. Our communication gap was very frustrating, and I was unable to clarify what happened to the old records, and whether the Catholic churches in Kreis Regenwalde had previously been Evangelical churches. Nevertheless, we spent a good afternoon with the hospitable Polish priest whose contact details are:
Pictures of the Church in Wyszobór (Wisbu)
Behind the church in Wisbu there is a small cemetery. There are only Polish graves to be found in it, but there is a (broken but restored) memorial to the 90 men from Wisbu who died in the 14-18 War. Alan Krueger from the Pommern List may be interested in this inscription:
One hundred metres further is a high stone wall behind which a new stone building is under construction, but where we also saw a large older stone building. Before I could shoot off a few photographs of the building, Débra and I were approached by a group of men in their 20's who told us in no uncertain terms that we were NOT to take any pictures of the old house or the new construction! They hovered around waiting for us to leave. As we drove back to the centre the yobs started swearing at us so Débra gave them some "lip" in Afrikaans and taught them some new sign language! I used the opportunity to shoot a picture of the unsightly "Babilon Disco" next to the impressive stone wall. I would rather be able to show you the manor house but, thanks to the strange Polish "hospitality", you'll have to wait till my next visit! We drove to the other side of Wisbu and, and the less hostile environment, shot a few pictures of some of the aging farm buildings. It was certainly time to move on.
Pictures of Wyszobór (Wisbu)
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Woldenburg's Catholic church is another of those humble, 19th century buildings that are so characteristic of Kreis Regenwalde - compact, "Tudor style" wood construction, white walls and a wooden bell tower capped with a tin peak. There are two large trees at the entrance gate to the church, and I would guess that they are about 150 years old. Across the road from the church is an active farmyard (occupied by chickens) with an impressive double-story, stone walled homestead. To the right is white-washed stone and brick barn. On the wall facing the road, the apex just below the roof is adorned with the head of a cow (I didn't see any horns to risk calling it a bull) and on the cornerstone are the initials J v P and the date 1875. From the Kreis Regenwalde "Heimatbuch" I deduced that this must refer to Julius von Puttkammer who was "Vorbesitzer" of Woldenburg from 1876 through 1884.
We had come to Woldenburg for a reason. Another of the son's of Carl August Ferdinand Gottlieb Pautz (my progenitor) had been born here. Hermann Johann Heinrich Pautz (brother of Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Pautz of Wisbu, and my great-great-grand uncle) was born on April 13, 1854 and immigrated to South Africa with his parents and six siblings when he was four years and one month old. He settled in Braunschweig (outside King William's Town) where he died on June 27, 1941 and is buried (S 32°47'11.1", E 027°21'47.0").
We walked through Woldenburg and then back to the church. We were then approached by a very presentable young man who asked us, in good German, what we were doing in Dabie. We explained our genealogical quest, and he told us that he was a "Dolmetscher" (translator) for his German boss who lived in the house across the road from the church, and asked whether we would like to have a word with him. This was really unexpected, and we of course said "Yes"!
Klaus Bindbus is a large man with a greying full beard. He is a jovial man who really looks like a farmer. He was intrigued with our quest (that his translator explained in more detail once I had given him a copy of my Polish memo) and started to share some information with us:
"Der Chef" (the boss, Klaus Bindbus) was not there, and we were met by his brother who escorted us to the big barbecue fire. There farm labourers were busily stacking straw bales into a big circle in the sand around the fire. A feast of fresh pork had been prepared earlier in the day, and this was simmering on coals fed from the large fire. Off to one side was a long trellis table on which were various salads�and a range of home made vodkas. Cases of beer stood alongside. As we made ourselves comfortable on the straw bales, Débra and I were presented with an orange flavoured vodka each. This was going to be fun!!
"Chef" Bindbus eventually joined the party, and I got to learn a little more about him over a few raspberry-flavoured vodkas. His family originally came from one of the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia, I can't remember which) and he moved to Dabie from Dortmund in Germany about 5 years ago. He was making a living, and supporting most of the village, with a small farming operation. I did not go into his house across the road, but Débra tells me that it has not been refurbished, and that it was "full of engines and engine parts"! His contact details in Woldenburg are:
Some of the Poles, like myself, spoke German as a third language and were intrigued by our presence. Most spoke only Polish and Russian, but it's amazing how two people can converse without having a common language. The vodka certainly helped to break the ice! A hi-fi and speakers had been connected up, and the music was pumping - dancing seemed like another good way to open up the communication. It worked, and Débra and I had a great time kicking up the dust. I pulled out the cameras and shot off a roll of character shots; we were really having fun!
Some time during the course of the evening the Chef sprawled through the trellis table and was carried off to the homestead, as was his brother an hour or two earlier. The party roared on.
I remember nothing after that�
Pictures From The Party In Dabie (Woldenburg)
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