Books

BOOKS

Recommended Reading




Title: Der Kreis Schlochau
Author: Manfred Vollack und Heinrich Lemke
Publisher: Gerhard Rautenberg 1974

This is the ultimate book on Kreis Schlochau and very hard to find. One must search through old book stores because it is out of print. The history of the county and cities is given, also churches and towns in Schlochau. Usually even the smallest village has a paragraph about it. Many black and white photos throughout. 600 pages.







Title: Das Schlochauer Land
Author: Johannes Gurtzig and Helmut Becker
Publisher: George Druck, Kassel 1982

This is another hard to find, out of print book. It has a fantastic collection of old postcard photos of towns in Kreis Schlochau. A wonderful way to see the towns the way they were before the war. Some modern pictures are included. 344 pages.








Title: Aus Schlochaus Vergangenen Tagen
Author: Blazejewski
Publisher: Friedrich Golz 1912












Title: A Terrible Revenge - The ethnic cleansing of the East European Germans 1944-1950
Author: Alfred-Maurice de Zayas
Publisher: Alfred-Maurice de Zayas 1994

You need a strong stomach to read the testimonials of mistreatment by people who survived (2 million did not) their expulsion ordeal. They are true stories of horrific cruelty. This books deals with expulsions from East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, and the Sudetenland. Also included is the bombing of Dresden. Excerpt: "Of course it must not be forgotten that the local Nazi Party officials bore a large part of the responsibility for the catastrophe, often blocking timely evacuation of civilians until it was too late to proceed in an orderly manner. Innumerable columns of people in flight were thus overtaken by the advancing armored divisions. People were mowed down by gunfire or outright flattened by tanks rolling over them. Considering the dangers of flight, many refused to leave their homes." 149 pages. PS - Considered right wing and controversial in Germany.




Title: From the Ruins of the Reich - Germany 1945-1949
Author: Douglas Botting
Publisher: New American Library 1985

Included in this book are the incredible battle for Berlin, the rape and pillage by invading Russian troops, starvation and the black market after the war, the breakdown of Russian & American relations leading to the cold war, and Stalin's desire to push communism all the way to the Atlantic with a World War III. An example of post-war bartering: With a half pound of butter you could get 50 cigarettes. With 40 of those you could get a bottle of wine and schnapps. You could trade the schnapps for two pounds of butter and start all over again. Astounding casualty statistics: Poland lost 1 in 6 of it's population, Russia 1 in 10, Yugoslavia 1 in 10, Germany 6%, and 6 million Jews died out of 10 million in Europe. 315 pages.




Title: Pommern in 1440 Bildern. (Pomerania in 1440 Pictures)
Author: Klaus Granzow
Publisher: Gerhard Rautenberg 1986

A fantastic collection of old photos with a little text in German at the beginning of each Kreis chapter. A lot of aerial views of major cities in Pommern are depicted. Many of the pictures taken from 1929-31. For a researcher it is a good way to see what life was like in the whole region 70 years ago. There is a chapter just on Schlochau with pictures of Schlochau, Hammerstein, Domslaff, Stegers, Landeck, Baldenburg, and Preussich Friedland. Two other variations of this book exist one about Silesia and the other about East Prussia. A heavy book (6 lbs!) 709 pages.




Title: Hour of the Women
Author: Christian von Krockow
Publisher: HarperCollins 1991

An amazing true story that you can't put down, and a bestseller in Germany. A young woman struggles to survive after the war. Life was so organized that you needed papers even to flee as a refugee. Her parents are a baron and baroness living around the area of Stolp. He was too proud to steal food. A stranger remarked, "There goes Prussia," as her mother walked by. To feed her newborn child, self, parents and refugees, she must constantly come up with new, secret, and dangerous plans. Very descriptive about the plight of Germans under Russian and Polish rule and about the hardships of fleeing by train back to Germany. Written in a nice storytelling style. 212 pages.





Title: German Boy
Author: Wolfgang W. E. Samuel
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi 2000

Another amazing true story that you can't put down. A mother, daughter, son and grandmother must flee the Red Army advancing on Silesia. Very descriptive about the end of the war, the occupation of the allied armies, and the desperate struggle to feed themselves and barter on the black market. 357 pages.






Title: Ships of our Ancestors
Author: Michael J. Anuta
Publisher: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 1999

A thorough collection of nearly 900 ships that carried immigrants to their new homes around the world. It is a photograpic collection with no text. Some of the ships look luxurious, and you wonder how it must have been to cross the oceans on these beautiful liners. 380 pages.