[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Warthegau

[Guido Schulz]

>"Warthe" means to wait in German.

The Warthe is a river, that flows into the Oder. Located between Poznan
(Posen) and Szeczin (Stettin) in today's Poland. Gau is an expression for a
kind of region.

Guido Schulz / Berlin, Germany
mailto: guido.schulz at t-online.de


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Sonnenburg" <esonnenburg at gate-way.net>
To: "Ger-Pol-Volhynia" <Ger-Poland-Volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2002 2:00 PM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Warthegau


> 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.
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