I arrived in Berlin via train in the late afternoon on Wednesday, August 1 from Marburg (the business end of the trip that paid my airfare). After some confusion, I picked up my Avis rental car from the downtown office on Budapester Strasse. I got lost almost immediately trying to find my way to the Autobahn, but with some luck, and a kind postman (I think) who gave me directions, eventually found my way to it. Rush hour traffic crawled along, not unlike the Garden State Parkway which I normally drive every day. At last I reached the Berliner Ring and followed signs for Prenzlau and route A11. The A11 Autobahn could easily be the worst "highway" I have ever driven. It is being repaired, which meant only 1 lane in each direction for several stretches, but much of it has clearly not been repaved since the days of the East German government. The parts that had been completed were very good.
I finally left the Autobahn and started up route 113, the local road. It was almost 7 PM, but I decided to see Kyritz, my great grandfather's village, before heading to Löcknitz for a hotel. A sign at Lebehn pointed down a one lane side road, which passed a tiny chapel and modern cemetery before ending at Kyritz about a kilometer from the turn-off. Kyritz consists of perhaps a dozen houses and sundry farm buildings. The whole region is open, rolling farm fields of grain crops, with some small wooded areas intermixed. It is not a wealthy part of Germany, but the houses are tidy and well kept. I pulled over at the main intersection (well, the only intersection), which is really just a 90 deg. left turn, with a dirt track to the oldest looking farm buildings to the right. A street sign said simply "Kyritz". I guess there's no need to say "Strasse" when there is only one. Some kids on bikes saw me from down the road and came to investigate. I said "Guten Abend" to the first one to arrive, but he didn't reply. I don't imagine they get many tourists. ;-) I took a few photos and then headed back the road to Lebehn, with the kids following until they got back to their houses. On the way to Löcknitz I passed through the villages of Grambow, Ramin, and Retzin (location of the Pfarramt, tomorrow's destination). With the help of a map posted on the main street in Löcknitz, I located the hotel suggested by Pastor Huse, the Haus am See. It was a very nice, modern hotel, right on the lakeshore, with 9 rooms (85 DM, single) and an excellent restaurant. I ended the day with dinner on the terrace, looking over the lake enjoying Rindroulade, rote Kohl etc., and looking forward to the next two days of research in the Retzin Pfarramt. I had called Pastor Huse from Berlin, and he was expecting me at 9 AM. By the way, neither he nor the hotel staff spoke any English, so it was sink or swim auf Deutsch.
Thursday, August 2. I ended yesterday with my arrival in Löcknitz, anticipating a couple of days of research with the real church books, not just celluloid copies of them. Perhaps before I go on, I should explain what brought me here in the first place. About a year ago, I mailed a shot-in-the-dark letter to the Pfarramt, seeking confirmation of the birth data of my mother's paternal grandfather. I had given up hope of hearing anything back when I received a reply in February. It cited his birth/baptismal record in the church book, as well as that of a stillborn sibling and a cousin. The best part was learning my great grandfather's parents' names, hitherto unknown to me. The opportunity to attend a chemistry conference in Marburg in July then developed into a plan to travel to the Pfarramt and do some first hand research. I knew the pastor couldn't devote the time to it, and he was agreeable to have me come.
So, back to the trip.
I awoke early and breakfasted downstairs in the hotel dining room: cold cereals, rolls and jam, fruit, cold cuts and cheese, a very nice example of your typical German breakfast buffet. I grabbed an extra roll and nectarine for lunch, and then headed for my appointment at the Pfarramt. It is located in a rather typical looking house in the village of Retzin, about 6 km from Löcknitz. At first I didn't see it, as the sign on the gate was very small. Pastor Huse welcomed me eagerly, a very personable and friendly man. He asked about my trip and where I was staying. I replied that I took his recommendation for the Haus am See and found it very satisfactory. He said it had one of the best restaurants around. He ushered me into a room with a nice large, round table, several chairs, and a couple of rest rooms (Damen und Herren, natürlich). On a table at the side of the room were the four church books for Sonnenberg and Lebehn/Kyritz. The oldest and fattest covered 1696 to 1806, the next from 1806 to 1866, and the two other covered from 1866 to as recently as the 1970s. However, it was the two older ones that held the most interest for me.
I asked Pastor Huse if I might photograph pages from the books, but he said that was not allowed. So, everything I was going to get I would have to get live, as it were; no photocopying as you can do with microfilms at the FHC. The pastor brought me a bottle of mineral water, asked if I needed paper, pens, or anything, which I didn't, and left me to my work. I quickly perused the books (but carefully, as the bindings were not in the best of health) to get a feel for their organization. Births, confirmations, marriages, and deaths were each in their own section of the books, and Sonnenberg entries were always separate from Lebehn/Kyritz until late in the 19th Century. The handwriting was variable, but not particularly bad anywhere.
I spent 9 hours that day going through the books page by page. Several members of the Radue family appeared sporadically from 1806 to the 1820s, and my known ancestors in the 1830s. I did not find any further extension of my direct line of descent, but I did start to see a pattern. The same few people appeared as baptismal sponsors for the children of a few other families, some of which had Radue women as wives/mothers. The other interesting point was the occupation of most of the men: Schäfer or Schäfer Knecht. This must have been quite an area for sheep, since they were virtually all shepherds.
Around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Pastor Huse brought me some coffee and cookies, a most welcome refreshment which kept me going until about 6, when he indicated it was time for him to leave. I was ready to pack up for the day by then, too. I decided to explore a little more before dinner, so I drove down to Sonnenberg to get a better look at the church there.
The main part of the building was granite block masonry construction. The base of the tower was of the same material, but not quite as fine in workmanship. The steeple was half-timbered, or Fachwerk, auf Deutsch, with brick infill, and the weathervane had a date of 1726. I would discover as I traveled around that all the churches were of the same construction, but each had a unique steeple. One could tell the villages apart by the steeples. Schwennenz had a sign announcing there would be a service (Gottes Dienst) on Sunday at 10 AM. A little later at Ramin I saw that they would have their service at 5 PM. Pastor Huse does 4 services each Sunday, rotating through his 11 churches.
Eight o'clock found me back at Haus am See again, for another late dinner overlooking the lake. Tomorrow I would have to be a little more organized in my note taking to get the most out of it. I decided I would transcribe every record which contained a Radue name, whatever the status of the person. That would give me the best picture of how the Radue family fit into the community back in the early 1800s.
In the next part, I'll cover my second day at the Pfarramt, including my surprise visit to see the inside of the Retzin church.
Friday, August 3. I told Pastor Huse that I would come at 10 o'clock today, as I needed to go to the bank to cash some travelers checks. The woman at the hotel wasn't sure they could accept them (American Express, in Deutsch Marks no less!), and since it was Friday, I figured I'd better get some cash. My impression in recent years is that the concept of the travelers check is getting lost. You sign them when you buy them, you sign them when you use them, if the signatures match, Bingo, they're good. Maybe I'm naive, maybe forgery is way up, I don't know, but it's not that simple anymore. In the Löcknitz Sparkasse (a bank) the bureaucracy was admirable. First, they needed to see my passport; OK, no problem. Then I had to fill out a form with my name and home address and signature. Then there was a sort of reverse receipt, I guess, which I again signed and gave back to the clerk, and then finally I signed my checks and handed them over. At last I had my 400 DM; at least they didn't charge me the 5 DM per check charge, because my TCs were already in Deutsch Marks.
My financial wheeling and dealing done, I headed back to Retzin for day two with the church books. I made columns on my paper to match the ones in the books. That way I could make a straight transcription of the entries just as they appeared. I traced or copied a few words that I had trouble interpreting, so I could study them more later. The name "Louisa" and "Ehefrau" (wife) gave me trouble for a time, as they looked more like "Eruha" and "Ehetrin," but I finally got them. I never did figure out "Tagelöhner" (a day laborer) until I asked Pastor Huse. Most Radue entries were between 1799 and 1821, many, as I said, with a Radue as wife/mother or Godparent. There was only 1 (male) Radue marriage, in 1818, and one birth, in 1821. Two other entries showed up in 1790 and 1775. I don't know where all these other Radues were born and married; not in Lebehn or Sonnenberg records. I asked about other nearby villages, such as Ladenthin, Schwennenz, and Hohenholz. Those records belonged to the Barnimslo Pfarramt (now in Poland), but were destroyed during WW II.
By 5 o'clock it seemed that I had found and recorded in my notes as much as I was going to be able to extract from these church books. I packed up my papers, and Pastor Huse took care of the business end of things: 25 DM per day for searching the church records, probably the best 50 DM I'll ever spend. That done, he asked if I'd like to see the inside of the Retzin church. Is the Pope Catholic (no, I didn't really say that)? As we walked across the street and down to the church, he told me there are about 80 residents in Retzin, about half of whom are Christian. When he has a service there once a month, perhaps 12 come. We walked up the path to the front door through the overgrown grass which surrounded the building. He unlocked the door, and we entered first the base of the steeple tower, and then passed into the nave. It was simple and magnificent at once. The church proper is 760 years old (you read correctly!), but the brick tower and steeple only 130. Actually, the top of the shortened steeple is even newer, as the original was destroyed by artillery fire during WW II. The inside was stuccoed and whitewashed, and the eight rows of pews painted pale blue and off white. They are post war, as the older pews were used to make coffins at the end of the war. The front of the choir loft is decorated with floral designs inside squares, in a brick red and tan color scheme. There is no longer a pipe organ, as it was a war casualty also.
However, I didn't really see any of that when I first walked into the church. The dominant feature is a magnificent Baroque altar piece, towering probably 10 to 15 feet above the massive granite altar. Carved and guilded figures of the apostles surround the central crucifix. Who could imagine that such a treasure dwells within this humble church? The pulpit, to the right, was also highly carved with spiral columns, enclosed steps to climb to it, and a wall mounted canopy with carved filigree and finials on top. A parament hanging from the front said "Bei Dir ist die Quelle des Lebens" (Through You (God) is the source of life). Balancing the pulpit on the left was the patron's box, a place of honor for the wealthy nobleman and family who would have supplied most of the funds in the old days. It was clear that Pastor Huse was very proud of this church, and he had every right to be. I took several pictures, and thanked him for showing it to me. I don't know if every village church is like this, but it wouldn't surprise me. As we said our goodbyes, I told Pastor Huse that he had opened a long closed door for me to the Radues, and that I could never thank him enough (ich kann Sie nie genug danken). He does not have access to the Internet, but I gave him the address of my web page anyway. If he ever gets a chance to see it, I told him, he could find all my genealogy information, as well as a link to the web site of my own church, St. Peter's Lutheran, in North Plainfield, NJ.
I left the Pfarramt and drove back over to Ramin to see that church better. I had not gotten out of the car there the night before. This church seemed the best maintained from the outside. The churchyard was a well groomed modern cemetery, highly decorated with flowers. The only entrances to the building were on the sides, making the steeple (Fachwerk and stucco infill) at first seem like it was on the back rather than the front. As I walked around the far side and returned to the front, I stopped short at one grave, which seemed to hold a special position right in front of the building: Rosawitha Huse, geb. von Schöning, 1940 - 1991. I never had a chance to ask Pastor Huse about his family, but this almost certainly must have been his wife, as he looked to be about 60 or so himself.
It was starting to look a little like rain was coming, so I headed back to Haus am See and had dinner inside this time. Rain indeed did come while I was eating, chasing some people inside. Tomorrow, Saturday, would be my last day in Pommern. I planned to do a complete tour of all the villages again, and that will be my final episode.
Saturday, August 4. Today I made a circular tour through most of the villages I'd already visited and mentioned previously. It had rained overnight and everything was wet, but the storm had passed, and the sky was clear and sunny. First, I headed back to Retzin, to photograph the church some more, and the Pfarramt, which I had not done the day before. The old church was wearing its 760 years very well; the old stone work looked very solid. I took several shots around the building, showing the original narrow Gothic window openings and curious porthole windows on each side. It seemed a shame that the grounds were so overgrown, but I guess with only 12 faithful, there aren't too many people to take care of such things. A few people were working in their gardens, but no one said anything to me. I finally solved one puzzle which had been bothering me for the last two days. A traffic light just outside the Pfarramt would stay red for many minutes at a time, and people would patiently sit there in their cars waiting for it to change. Upon walking the 100 yards or so to the edge of town, I realized why. The road to Glasow was so narrow that only one vehicle could pass at a time, so traffic had to alternate. Many of the intervillage roads were equally narrow, so there were occasional pull-outs on one side or the other so cars could pass each other.
From Retzin, I headed for Sonnenberg via Ramin. In Sonnenberg there was a pair of storks on a nest atop a telephone pole (actually two poles in an A-frame). I switched to my telephoto lens and started snapping pictures from some distance away, gradually moving closer and taking more photos. I figured since they were nesting right in the town, they were well habituated to people. Well, I finally went beyond their comfort zone, and they flushed from the nest and circled around. One landed on the roof of the church, giving me one more shot at it there. Returning to my car, I started up and headed southwest out of town toward Glasow, which was due south of Retzin via the narrow road I described above. About halfway from Sonnenberg to Glasow, the road went over a rise that gave a very good view all around. Off to the right, a dirt track led into a field with a little knoll that was even slightly higher. From there, I could readily see four steeples surrounding me in the distance: Retzin (the shortest), Ramin, Sonnenberg, and then Glasow up ahead. As I mentioned before, every village had a church, each with a distinct steeple. The only exception was Lebehn, where the church had been destroyed in the war - The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) - and never rebuilt. That's why Lebehn and Kyritz were part of the Sonnenberg parish. From the knoll in the field I took a full 360 degree panorama, starting with the Retzin steeple centered in my viewfinder and working around clockwise - 15 frames altogether.
In Glasow the church and yard was again well maintained, with flowers decorating the graves there. The steeple was a sort of modified Zwiebelturm below the spire, and the iron gate into the church yard bore the Greek letters Alpha and Omega. There was also a small memorial to those who died and disappeared in WW II: "Zum Gedächtnis den Gefallenen u. Vermissten! Zur Mahnung den Lebenden 1939-1945" (For the Remembrance of those killed and missing in action! As a Reminder to the Living 1939-1945). I continued on to Krackow, which one could legitimately call a town, it being rather larger than the other villages in the area. There I rejoined route 113, which I had taken the previous Wednesday on my way to Löcknitz. I turned north again, starting to close the circular tour I was taking.
Just a bit north of Krackow was the turn-off for Hohenholz. I spotted another steeple there and headed down the narrow road to investigate. Hohenholz was another very small village with a nice old church. The steeple here was constructed in tiers, like a wedding cake, and the upper two were badly in need of reshingling. The church was surrounded by another graveyard, again well kept and full of flowers. Off to one side, however, and several feet lower was another section overgrown with weeds. At one end were nine black crosses, mounted on stone or boulder bases. They all bore names of various members of the von Eickstedt-Peterswaldt family, each identified as Graf or Gräfin. The unkempt condition of the graves (one cross was dismounted and propped up) clearly told the story of the apparent demise of this family, with no one left to care for the plot.
Back on the main road, I again headed for Lebehn and Kyritz. Just beyond Lebehn there was a small lake, with a couple parking spots and a picnic table at roadside. It was about half past noon, so I stopped and had the yogurt and nectarine that I had brought from the hotel breakfast buffet. A signboard next to the table illustrated all the varieties of wildlife that were to be found living in and around the lake. I finished my lunch and walked along the lake edge a little. At one spot, a row boat was padlocked to a small dock, but the several inches of water in the boat and the condition of the hull showed this boat hadn't sailed in a long time. I drove back to the turn-off for Kyritz. Part way down the road was a modern cemetery and small chapel, so I stopped and wandered around a bit. There were no Radue graves (I didn't expect any), but there was a Raduenz. Also, in one spot, there were 15 graves of what must have been WW II soldiers. They were all in their 20s and 30s when they died, except one who was 60, and they all died between March 10 and March 31, 1945. No ranks were indicated, no medals or iron crosses depicted; just simple bronze plaques with names and dates. General William T. Sherman was speaking of another terrible conflict when he said "War is all hell," but he was no less relevant here.
I went on down the road to Kyritz again - just about a dozen or 15 buildings at most. Nothing looks really old; maybe some were pushing 100-120 years or so. The 8 or 9 houses were fairly modern. As I described previously, slightly off to the right of the houses, down a dirt track, were some long shed-like barn structures. They were enclosed by a fence and there was a locked gate, but it didn't look like there was any activity there. Perhaps these could have been sheep barns? In the early 1800s, the time when I found Radues recorded in the church books, most were shepherds (Schäfer). I don't know how long the sheep tending lasted. Corn and other crops I didn't recognize are the main products now. I wandered around a bit, went down to the pond where my great grandfather perhaps swam as a boy, and took some more photos. If Kyritz was always so remote, no wonder my great grandfather left.
A roadside map in Lebehn indicated that Ladenthin had a church, so I decided to go there. It's not far from Kyritz, if you're a bird, but by road one must go through Schwennenz. The road through Schwennenz and for quite a distance outside of town was cobbled (as are many other local streets) and was very rough. Finally it returned to blacktop. I could see no steeple ahead in Ladenthin, so I assume it was destroyed in WW II and never rebuilt. The church was very pretty, with a well kept cemetery yard. The building was different than the others, almost like a mini cathedral, with a transcept across the nave. I made my way back to the highway, over the cobbles of Schwennenz again, and turned north toward Grambow. This time, I did not turn toward Ramin, but continued north to intersect with the east/west road to Löcknitz, right at the Polish border. North of Neu Grambow, the border was so close across the field that I could see the border markers at the edge of the woods. At the border crossing there was a large multi-lane gatehouse with cars lined up to enter Poland. A large parking lot held many full car carrier trucks, I assume waiting to head east. I headed west, through Bismark and past Plöwen (more steeples, but didn't stop), to arrive back at Löcknitz and good old Haus am See.
That evening I had my final dinner on the hotel terrace, Schweineschnitzel Hamburger style (sunnyside egg on top), while a large group of Germans celebrated some special event inside. Their party went on into the early hours. I'm sure much of the excellent Herforder Bier must have been consumed. I prepared to leave the next morning, heading back to Berlin to return my cute little Audi A2 diesel rental car. In Berlin I would meet up with my distant cousin Solveigh, related through my father's ancestors from Lippe-Detmold. But that, as they say, is another story.
This ends my four day adventure in Pommern. Thanks to all who have expressed their appreciation for these narratives. It's been fun writing them, and I'm glad if they've brought you some enjoyment. I certainly had a great time while there.
copyright Walter G. Blenderman, 2001