[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Fw: Poland Maps 1919-1939 Rumunki translation

[richard benert]

Several days ago, Mike McHenry asked, with respect to the designation, 
Rumunki, for certain types of settlement in Poland, why this distinction 
seemed necessary.  This made me curious, so I checked my copy of Kossmann 
and sent Mike the following answer.  I had intended to send it "to all", but 
pushed the wrong button, as usual.  Reading Kossmann's German text is, for 
me, like pulling teeth, so I hope that anyone who really knows German and 
can really understand Kossmann will correct me if I've misstated anything.
Dick Benert

> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "richard benert" <benovich at imt.net>
> To: "Michael & Maureen McHenry" <maurmike at bellatlantic.net>
> Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 3:54 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Poland Maps 1919-1939 Rumunki 
> translation
>
>
>> Mike,
>>
>> I should leave your question for our German friends to answer, but it got 
>> me curious and led me to look at my Kossmann for myself.  I always have 
>> trouble translating him, so I'm not totally sure of what he's trying to 
>> say about Rumunken.  It's clear that there are legal differences between 
>> Rumunken (or Pustkowien, or  Freibauern, or any of several other names 
>> given to these isolated settlements) and other sorts of settlements.  In 
>> one section, Kossmann seems to be pointing out that their remoteness from 
>> estate villages gave them certain freedoms from duties to a landlord. 
>> Most often mentioned is freedom from labor duties, but this was usually 
>> obtained at the cost of paying higher taxes.  They were often given 
>> responsibilities as forest keepers or watchers, naturally enough, since 
>> they were often isolated in the forests they had settled into. 
>> Apparently their contracts had only the force of private law, and so they 
>> were always under time restrictions, from 10 to 50 years.  This 
>> apparently placed them lower in the legal scale than true "colonies". 
>> Kossmann points out that some gentry tried to keep their "Pustkowien" off 
>> of an 1835 list of colonies drawn up in Warsaw because their being so 
>> listed would deprive them of their right to shorten leases and would 
>> generally place these colonies under the protection of state agencies. 
>> The government at the time was eager to encourage immigration of Germans, 
>> and arbitrary actions by landlords would serve to discourage immigration.
>> This may or may not help to answer Mike's question.
>> I hope I haven't misread Kossmann too badly, but if I have, I hope that 
>> Jan, Jutta, Guenther or somebody will correct me.
>>
>> Dick Benert
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Michael & Maureen McHenry" <maurmike at bellatlantic.net>
>> To: "'Jan Textor'" <textor_jan at hotmail.com>; <FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca>; 
>> <LeissKG at web.de>; <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 9:41 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Poland Maps 1919-1939 Rumunki 
>> translation
>>
>>
>>> Thanks Jan. I wonder why this distinction seemed necessary?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>                    Mike
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Jan Textor [mailto:textor_jan at hotmail.com]
>>> Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 11:41 AM
>>> To: maurmike at bellatlantic.net; FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca; LeissKG at web.de;
>>> ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
>>> Subject: RE: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Poland Maps 1919-1939 Rumunki 
>>> translation
>>> Importance: High
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Mike,
>>>
>>> I quote from 
>>> http://www.upstreamvistula.org/Places/Naming_Convention.htm:
>>>
>>> 'Rumunki = Settlement on cleared woodland. German: "Räumung" or 
>>> "Rodung".'
>>>
>>> Hope this helps.
>>>
>>> Jan Textor
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>From: "Michael & Maureen McHenry"
>>>
>>>>To: "'Jerry Frank'" ,        "'Klaus-Guenter Leiss'" ,
>>>
>>>>Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Poland Maps 1919-1939  Rumunki 
>>>>translation
>>>
>>>>Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 10:53:27 -0400
>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>>I down loaded the Plock rectangle. Near the town of Lipno there is the
>>>
>>>>abbreviation RUM. before a few town names. In the legend it has Rum.
>>>
>>>>Rumunki. The word isn't in my Polish dictionary. Can someone translate?
>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>>                     Mike
>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
>