[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Holendrach

[Frank.Janke at t-online.de]

Hallo!
I have saveral statements on this subject.
They rather have the opinion that first settlers of these villages in
the 16. century  were of dutch origin.
Later "Holendry" stands stands for the form of village organization, and
in these villages you will find also german settlers.
The comparison to the Hauländer I think is not right. There are many
villages in the Chelm area from German Hauländer founded which were not
called Holendry. In the Gostynin area of the 18th - 19 century such
villages were called rumunki.
I have a very good statement on this subject by Barbara Czopek-Kopciuch
from Krakau held in Wittenberg University on 24-27 Okt. 2002.
Here the subject was: "Niederländisch-deutsch-slawische Sprachkontakte
im Mittelalter und ihre Spuren in (nieder-) deutschen Mundarten des 20
Jahrhunderts.

Best regards 
Frank Janke



-----Original Message-----
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 18:36:55 +0200
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Holendrach
From: Jerry Frank <FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca>
To: Mary Heard <mjhawhjr at ktc.com>, ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org

At 09:55 AM 20/05/2005, Mary Heard wrote:
>In some Lutheran Church records for Prazuchy, Congress Poland,
>(specifically for the time frame 1830 to 1835), I find the word
>"Holendrach" immediately following the name of the village, for
>example:  (in Polish) "w Prazuchach Holendrach" and "w Zakrzynohich
>Holendrach".  These expressions along with "zamieszkaly" immediately
>follow the name of an individual.
>
>Are these individuals German settlers living among some Dutch settlers
in
>these villages or in a Dutch area of the village?  Are they perhaps
Dutch
>settlers themselves?
>
>In later years I no longer see the "holendrach" designation attached to
>the individuals in the documents concerning these families.
>
>My thanks to anyone who can shed some lignt on this subject.
>
>Mary J K Heard


This explanation starts with the suffix "...ach".  This is a contextual
ending for place names that appear in records and one always has to
guess
with it is substitute for iec, ice, y or any other similar endings.

Holendry describes a form of democratic village government and often
becomes part of the place name, sometimes to be dropped in later years. 
A
Holendry's leaders are elected by the villagers in contrast to the
Schulzendorf system where the village Schulz (mayor) is appointed by a
nobleman.

There is some dispute among historians regarding the origin of the
term.  Many say that it derives from the introduction of that form of
government by the Dutch (Holland) Mennonites who settled in West
Prussia.  Others suggest that the actual spelling was Haulendry and
derives
from the Germans and their word, hauen = to cut down, in reference to
the
fact that these Germans came into the area, cutting down the forests to
make way for agricultural land.

The term applies regardless of what ethnic group lived in the village -
Dutch, German, or Polish.  It still appears in various forms in Polish
place names today.



Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca



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