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Vistula

Automated Translations

/ German Genealogy Pointers, Technology & Tools / / 1 Comment

We all have languages we do not understand or read. Some of us struggle along in our native tongue only; others have a small or large suite of languages with which they are able to work. In the end though, we all hit a language wall and need to rely on tools other than our personal skills.

ToolsAnd… that’s where the challenge begins.

Today, I was translating a small German paragraph for use here on ManyRoads. So for grins and laziness reasons, I thought I’d attempt to use Google Translate to help speed up my effort. Boy was I surprised! Let me explain what happened.

The paragraph I wanted to translate involves a particularly new, and what will be hugely difficult, branch of my mother’s family- the Szczepanskis. For the record, I had obtained this, for me significant, paragraph from the Sczepanski Family Archives (in Germany). Here’s what the “German” paragraph reads:

Vorbemerkungen: 1. Mennonitenfamilie. Nach der mündlichen Familienüberlieferung war der Stammvater ein katholischer Knecht namens Szczepanski (Szepansky), der bei einem mennonitischen Bauern von der Mennonitengemeinde Plauschwarren, Kreis Gumbinnen (Ostpreußen, auch “Preußisch-Litauen” genannt) arbeitete. Dieser Knecht ließ sich mennonitisch taufen und heiratete eine Mennonitin. Als später einige Familien aus der Mennonitengemeinde Plauschwarren ins Weichseldelta nach Polen übersiedelten, schloß Szepansky sich ihnen an und kam etwa 1730 nach Thiensdorf im Kreis Marienburg, wo er einen Bauernhof erwarb. Thiensdorf im späteren Westpreußen gehörte zur Mennonitengemeinde Markushof, Kreis Marienburg.

So with that text in hand, off I marched to Google Translate. I entered my text into the handy translate box and Voila! Here’s what I was given:

Preliminary remarks: 1 Mennonite family. After the oral family tradition, was the progenitor of a Catholic servant named Szczepanski (Szepansky), the (called East Prussia, also called “Prussian Lithuania”) at a Mennonite farmer from the Mennonite community chat Warren, district Gumbinnen worked. This servant was baptized and married a Mennonite Mennonite. Later, when some families from the Mennonite community in the Vistula Delta chat Warren moved to Poland, joined Szepansky on them, and came about after 1730 Thien village in the district of Marienburg, where he purchased a farm. Thien village in West Prussia, later belonged to the Mennonite community Markushof, Kreis of Marienburg.

Unimpressed with that translation (and honestly quite curious), I next went to Babelfish. In someways Babelfish is better, but in truth it is just as funny and inaccurate. Anyway here are the Babelfish results:

Prefaces: 1. Mennonitenfamilie. After the verbal family excessive quantity the master father was a catholic farmhand named Szczepanski (Szepansky), which worked at a mennonitischen farmer of the Mennonitengemeinde Plauschwarren, circle Gumbinnen (East Prussia, also “Prussian Lithuania” mentioned). This farmhand let itself baptize mennonitisch and married a Mennonitin. When some families from the Mennonitengemeinde Plauschwarren in the Weichseldelta to Poland moved later, Szepansky attached them and came themselves about 1730 to Thiensdorf in the circle Marienburg, where he acquired a farm. Thiensdorf in later west Prussia belonged to the Mennonitengemeinde Markushof, circle Marienburg.

Please understand, I do not think my German is perfect and certainly there are readers out there who can and should correct my translation. But here’s more what I think the paragraph is trying to tell us.

Introduction: First Mennonite Family.
Family oral history maintains that the family’s progenitor was a Catholic servant by the name of Szczepanski (Szepanky) who worked for a Mennonite farmer in the Mennonite community of Plauschwarren in Gumbinnen County (East Prussia, also known as Prussian-Lithuania). This servant was baptized into the Mennonite Church and married a Mennonite woman. Later when some of the Plauschwarren families emigrated to the Vistula delta region in Poland, Szczepanski joined them, arriving in Thiensdorf, Marienburg County about 1730. Once there, he acquired a farm. Thiensdorf later became part of the Marcushof Mennonite community in Marienburg County, West Prussia.

Now understand I am not picking on Google Translate or Babelfish, at all. But, these tools are a long way from perfection. In many ways, these tools actually seem a bit closer to comedic perfection rather than translational perfection. Certainly though they are good enough to give you the gist of a foreign document, especially when more than one automated translation tool is employed.

So by all means use the tools… but just don’t expect that complex translations or terms will be very precise, or accurate the first time.

“Un-German” German Names

/ German Genealogy Pointers, Tools / / 0 Comment

Last evening, my wife and I watched a documentary on Poland, it covered the Gdansk (Danzig)- Szczecin (Stettin) area in particular. Baltic Coasts – Hidden Treasures: Explore the coastline from Vistula Lagoon via Gdansk Bay to the sandy beaches and steep cliffs of Pomerania and West-Pomerania.Genealogy-Ideas

The reason for this post involves what I learned from one of the featured individuals, a talented young Photographer; his name- Michal Szlaga. Looking at his name never made me think of German descent or Germanic heritage but then the announcer pronounced his name and it was Michael Schlaeger / Schläger (exactly).

You can imagine my surprise.  I certainly would never have pronounced his name Michal Szlaga as Michael Schlaeger. (btw. please enjoy his site.) But there it was, a Germanic sounding name in Polish spelling.

If you are researching the Baltic region, as I do, this little example provides a useful object lesson in spelling and heritage/ research. Be cautious that you are not fooled by spelling.. sound counts, too.  If you do not know the pronunciation of particular languages you can and will be fooled.

Zeyer- the end

/ Kreis Elbing, WW2 / , , , / 0 Comment

Recollections of an officer of the chief administrative district in Zeyer.

Johannes Jahn, farmer and farm owner in Zeyersvorderkampen.
see original document

This document has been translated and reworked with additional family history
by Mark Rabideau.
zeyer ev. kirche The District of Zeyer was located in the northeast corner of the Free State of Danzig, in the area that included the towns of Grosses Werder, Zeyer, Stuba and Schlangenhaken. The district followed the Nogat River, starting at the village Zeyer to the Vistula Lagoon estuary. The total area of the District was about 2510 hectares (~6200 acres)  of which 480 hectares (`1200 acres) were the village of Zeyer, Stuba with the village of Neudorf was about 610 hectares (~1500 acres) , Zeyersvorderkampen about 1020 hectares (~2500 acres)  and Schlangenhaken another 400 hectares (~1000 acres). The total population of the district was roughly 1735 inhabitants of German descent and origin. The population was exclusively engaged/ employed in agriculture and related professions.

Up until 1945, the farms located in the area were in good condition. The majority of the farms and agricultural property holdings were small to medium sized. The lands of Zeyersvorderkampen were particularly favorable to dairies; the larger farms historically were also devoted to rapeseed, wheat, and sugar beet cultivation.

While Zeyer and Stuba were built-up areas, Zeyersvorderkampen and Schlangenhaken were so-called scattered settlements. Zeyer was considered to be the oldest settlement in the district. School texts chronicled settlement in the Zeyer village area as early as 1200; followed somewhat later by the village of Stuba.  Zeyersvorderkampen, which consisted of several islands in the Nogat delta, was settled much later, around 1730.  The town of Schlangenhaken was newest settlement in the district, it came into existence in 1929. Schlangenhaken was settled in the uncultivated areas of the Kampen Nogatmündung by order of the Danzig Senate.

Milk production was the key agricultural commodity produced in the district. Even during the war (WW2), a modern dairy under private ownership was located in Zeyer; while a cooperative dairy was located in Zeyersvorderkampen [Papatschen cooperative was partly owned by Richard Senger].
[see:

A third dairy, with offices in Stuba, was shut down during the war and merged with the dairy supplier in Zeyer.

In the commercial sector, there were four shops located in the village Zeyer including, grocery and hardware stores; one wind mill; a restaurant with bakery operations; a dry goods store selling clothing, footwear and dry goods. Additionally, there was a bakery and an inn (guest house).

Commercial enterprises in Zeyer included: a dairy, a butcher, a wheelwright, a blacksmith and two container manufacturers. The public sector in Zeyer included government buildings, two schools, two customs officers houses, a post office, a parsonage, and three village offices and a fire station.

The Zeyer Lutheran Church was located on the opposite bank of the Nogat in Elbing County.

On January 21, 1945, the first Russian tanks arrived unexpectedly in Elbing, just 8 km away. The population of the administrative district Zeyer received notification that night from the district office in Tiegenhof to immediately evacuate the area. Although the evacuation was prepared for in theory, it did not go according to the pre-arranged plan.  The original plan was to evacuate across the Vistula but because early that morning all the roads had become congested and overrun by the fleeing population, that evacuation plan was impossible. Additionally, the rural population found it very difficult to leave their farms. At the same time, the German Wehrmacht had hurriedly constructed a front along the Elbing River behind which people felt temporarily secure. Only the population of villages of Zeyer and Stuba fled towards Zeyersvorderkampern and Schlangenhaken.

During that same time, the entire livestock of the region had been driven off by Räumkommandos (Jeeps, personnel carriers) and grain reserves had been taken, as well. All that remained in the area were food stuffs capable of feeding the population for a short time.

The church came under artillery bombardment during the course of the fighting on February 3, 1945 as did the Zeyersvorderkampen dairy, three taverns, two dry goods stores, the forge and public buildings including: a school, five town buildings and the fire station.

Local horse stocks were taken over by the army. At the onset of battle, destruction of the buildings in Zeyer was limited to those on the edges of town. Initially only 3 properties were burned to the ground. However, very many buildings suffered heavy damage from artillery shelling and gun fire. But, the greatest destruction to the Zeyer area occurred after the area was occupied by Russians and Poles.

After the occupation, those who were left behind in the area no longer had any way to escape, since the Russians had already pushed through the province of Pomerania to the Baltic Sea.

On March 8, 1945, the German army was forced to retreat from its positions on the Nogat. The remaining civilian population was forced to withdraw to the Vistula Spit, where they were met by ships, mostly brought from Denmark. A small portion of the population in Zeyer could not bring themselves to leave their homes and awaited the arrival of the Russians. Most of those remaining people were working class families, the elderly as well as farming families [including Richard and Frieda Senger, ages 66 and 46 respectively.].

Based upon statements from a number of the survivors of the fall of Zeyer, those who were later expelled by the Poles, we know the following. After the arrival of the Russians in Zeyer on March 9, 1945, the entire remaining population was rounded up. All men between the ages of 16 and 60 were transported to the east [for incarceration in Soviet Gulags- concentration camps]. A number of the remaining survivors were held for questioning by the Soviets and ultimately tortured to death. Shortly after the arrival of the Russians in Zeyersvorderkampen the first murders began. The following were executed by the Russians for unknown reasons:

  • Farmer Franz Thiessen (7O years)
  • Farmer Adolf Block
  • Hulda Janzen and her daughter Klara Eichhorn with 1 year old son/ grandson
  • Mr. & Mrs. A. Mierau
  • 18-year-old Christine Wichert
  • Anna Braun of Zeyersvorderkampen
  • four-member family of farmer Fritz Dudenhöft
  • disappearing without a trace were Mr. & Mrs. Rathke Zvk

All women who remained were forced to be available for the pleasure of the Soviet troops, until the Soviet troops were withdrawn. [On the 17th of March 1945 Frieda Senger was indicted by the Soviets and assigned to forced labor camps- concentration camps. She was released in 1947. Between 1945 and 1947 Richard Senger was a forced laborer on what used to be his farm.]

What remained of the population of Zeyer was forced to go to Elbing to try and find food, as none was provided.

As the Russian troops withdrew and the first Poles moved in as an adventurous, unruly rabble. They looted houses of anything that remained from what the Russians had left behind. The Russians took all surviving animals and the best furniture. Agricultural implements and machinery were gathered by the Poles, bartered and taken away. The Vistula and Nogat dikes were breeched or blown up thereby flooding the entire countryside. The withdrawing Russians built bridges and walkways as needed from the materials remaining of destroyed homes and buildings. Under the management of the Poles, the devastation continued.  Buildings were abandoned due to lack of heating fuel or power; according to reports, many houses were also left without windows and doors.

The loss of life continued as many committed suicide. The remaining German population lived in Poland under the worst possible conditions; they received far too little food and were forced to do hard labor every day under severely abusive conditions.

Germans were outlawed. The new residents could do with them what they wanted. Under these brutal circumstances, the forced 1947 German expulsions were initiated. [This includes the same time frame during which 68 year-old Richard Senger began his walk on foot to West Germany. ]

Old, frail people; women with young children were forced to walk the 15 km [9 miles] [from Zeyer] to Tiegenhof in the freezing cold. In Tiegenhof, they were loaded into open rail cars bound for Marienburg; any baggage weighing more than 30 pounds was taken from them. From Marienburg, the journey continued to Halle in the eastern zone [Soviet Zone] of Germany where the deportees usually were force relocated. Numbers of deportees did not survive the hardships and died.

In the villages [Soviet style] collective farms were established because the Poles were not able to manage the farmlands privately.

The church came under artillery bombardment during the course of the fighting on February 3, 1945 as did the Zeyersvorderkampen dairy, three taverns, two dry goods stores, the forge and public buildings including: a school, five town buildings and the fire station.

Pietzkendorf

/ Prussia Maps, Senger / , , , , / 2 Comments

Recently I received an set of email messages from a very helpful reader (Vielen dank, Hans!). I have taken a risk and translated the gist of his correspondence into English. I have blended his materials along with my research to reconstruct a view of Pietzkendorf. I will add more information as it comes to light. Hopefully this “accumulated view” will paint a small picture of what Pietzkendorf once was… the neatly mown fields of today’s Poland not withstanding.

In days gone by, Pietzkendorf residents attended schools and Churches in nearby Ladekopp. The population was small, just a few families and homes were located in the village. The area was peopled largely by simple farm families. The Pietzkendorf, and Ladekopp area had been settled by German families as long ago as the 1500s. To quote Gameo:

By 1772 there were some 400 Holländerdörfer established in the Vistula region, but not nearly all were occupied by Mennonites or by Dutch settlers. Felicia Szper (p. 110) lists for 1676 the following villages as “Holländische Hufen” in the two Werders of Marienburg occupied by Dutch Mennonites: Platenhof, Tiegenhagen, Tiegerweide, Reimerswalde, Orlofferfeld, Pletzendorf, Orloff, Pietzgendorf, and Petershagenerfeld.

Horst Penner lists for the 18th century the fol­lowing villages with a predominantly Mennonite population: Altebabke, Altendorf, Beyershorst, Blumen-Ort, Einlage, Freienhuben, Glabitsch, Gross-Plehnendorf, Gross-Walddorf, Halbstadt, Herrenhagen, Heubuden, Klein Mausdorf, Kozelicke, Ladekopp, Marienau, Neuendorf, Neunhuben, Or­loff, Orlofferfelde, Petershagen, Pietzkendorf, Poppau, Pordenau, Reimerswalde, Rosenort, Rückenau, Scharfenberg, Schönhorst, Schönsee, Schmerblock, Schönau, Tiege, Tiegenhagen, Tiegerweide, and Wotzlaff.

The villages located on the Vistula were also char­acterized by being established in swampy areas that had to be drained. Ditches and canals led to the river at the elevated end of the land. Homes were located along the street, which at times fol­lowed the windings of the river. Villages established according to the old “German right” did not have the residence, barn, and shed under one roof, as did the Dutch villages, in which the barn was directly connected with the residence and the shed was at­tached to the barn, the whole in some cases forming a triangle. At some places the dwelling had an ad­dition for the retired parents called Endenkammer. The porch added to this structure in many cases was of Prussian and not Dutch background.

In some instances the land of each farmer ad­joined his yard. This would indicate that the pattern was related to the “Hufendörfer” practice. [...] This village therefore more nearly resembled a Hufendorf. However, it devel­oped peculiarities of its own. For this reason it is best to identify this type of village simply as Holländerdorf.

The streams and nearby river provided swimming activities for those from nearby villages and towns such as Ladekopp. It was a green, verdant area with trees, water, and a very wet environ (the area was 4-12 feet below sea level, even then). Windmills pumped water from the ground and into the drainage streams, keeping the land reasonably dry and arable. When the lowering of the ground water levels by German settlers began some 500 years ago, the main mechanical assistance was provided by windmills. Windmills provided the power to operate water wheels (early simple pumps) to scoop water from the lowest and wettest lands moving it up to areas behind constructed dikes. Ciechanowiec, Rev Krzysztof Kluk Agriculture Museum windmill 1945 In the early 1900s, steam engines in `kalteherberge` performed this task and replaced the original windmills. Toward the end of the Second World War (1945), the entire area was flooded in a valiant but vain attempt to slow and repulse invading Russian artillery and tanks. Today the area is again ‘nearly’ dry but it is much lonelier and emptier than before. The entire village of Pietzkendorf is gone except for its cement roads (see photo below).

The name of the village itself is derived from an old German word “pietzker”. In German, a Pietzker is a member of the fish-family ´schmerle´ which in English is known as ´loach´. Pietzkers are a tasty, flavorful fish that lives in the mud or muddy water of a slow moving river. The Linau running through Pietzkendorf is just such a river. The Pietzkers, in days gone by, were plentiful.

The residents of pre-World War 2 Pietzkendorf attended churches in Ladekopp; Roman Catholics, Lutherans and Mennonites, alike. My family (Recht und Wedhorn) attended the Lutheran Church (Evangelishe Kirche) in Ladekopp. I have found both records of Recht and Wedhorn family births and weddings in the ev. Kirche Ladekopp.

It is worth mentioning that there was at least one Baptist family in Pietzkendorf; almost every Sunday, they bravely and devotedly walked nearly 12 kilometers through Ladekopp to the Baptist congregation in Neuteich. Their names are lost in the mists of time.

Pietzkendorf bei Ladekopp Foto

Milchbude Lage und Pietzkendorf Landkart

The following photos provide images of the area that used to be Pietzkendorf as it appeared in 2010. This is the same area where Frieda Senger was born and raised in the early 1900s. Today nothing remains of the buildings and village that was Pietzkendorf.

Milchbude-Pietzkendorf Weide Milchbude-Pietzkendorf Feldweg Milchbude-Pietzkendorf Felder an der Linau
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