[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Warthegau

[Ed Sonnenburg]

The Warthegau was mainly in Poland.  My grandparents and parents were there
as well.
"Warthe" means to wait in German.   This was German occupied territory
during the war.
There were alot of Germans living in Poland and many that had escaped or
were pushed
out of Russia.  Germany and Russia made an agreement. Polish people were
taken from
their farms and German families were given those farms.  In return the Poles
would receive
land in Russian occupied territory.    My grandparents got a farm overnight.
House and
animals etc.   The Poles never did get land or farms from the Russians.
Overnight the Poles
became the slaves to the German farmers.   At the end of the war when
Russian forces
came west the people in Warthegau weren't treated good.  Since my family had
escaped
Volhynia in 1931 the Russians were looking for them in 1945 in Warthegau.
My uncles took
off from there.  The next night the Russians came into their homes looking
for them.   The women and children were left alone.  At the end of the war
the Allies gave the
Poles 3 days to take revenge on Germans.   Any German that was mean to Poles
was caught
and killed.   The Poles did come and want to take my grandfather but his
Polish servant put in a
good word in for him so he was left alone.   When the war was over many
German men were rounded
up in Warthegau and other Russian occupied territory and deported to Siberia
to pay for war
damages.   My grandfather was there from 1945-47.  Many men didn't make it
back.

The Russians and Germans did make another agreement after the war.  The
young and old
were deported to Germany.  Most of our families were reunited in Germany
with this agreement.
My grandmother was still in Poland in 1947.They also wanted to come to
Germany.   There was a long line of people standing in line for tickets and
my grandmother was well back in the line.  A railroad ticket person came out
his booth and gave people tickets.  My grandmother and her  5 children got
tickets.  They
got on the train and rode to the village closest to the Polish/German
border.   On Christmas Eve
at night they walked over the border into Germany.  When Russian border
guards came near they
all threw themselves into the snow.   My father's feet, socks and shoes were
all frozen together
when they finally got to Germany.   My grandfather was able to join them in
Germany when he came
back from Siberia.