[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Visiting German villages in Poland

[Carolyn Schott]

Jerry and everyone else who responded - thank you! This is very helpful. I'm trying to plan this trip in a hurry, and work has been crazy. So I'm just trying to dig up some information now.

Thank you!

Carolyn Schott
Author of "Yes You Yes Now! Visiting Your Ancestral Town"


-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Frank [mailto:franklyspeaking at shaw.ca] 
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 10:45 PM
To: Carolyn Schott
Cc: ger-poland-volhynia at sggee.org
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Visiting German villages in Poland

Carolyn,

I was in Kochanow in 2012(I assume you mean the one east of Lodz) where my Hemminger line and one Steinwand ancestor lived.  There is a cemetery there, just north of the Catholic Church at these Google map coordinates 51.777406,20.017764 .  You can drive right up to it on good road.  The west side is Polish Catholic.  The east side, unkempt and with virtually no grave markers is the German part.  If you go a little further northeast to the town of Gluchow on the main highway, you can see the remains of the old Catholic church tower that was there prior to 1826 when the Germans had to travel there to register their b/m/d.  Aside from that, Kochanow is a simple street style village with a tiny convenience store just west of the Catholic Church.  There was a Lutheran Betshaus there at one time but I do not know the location.  We did not have a translator with us.  With one, you might find a villager who knows.  With the simple words "cemetarz niemiecki" (German cemetery), the lady at the convenience store confirmed to us the cemetery location which I thought was probably correct anyway.  There were Germans there through to WW II.  It started as an almost purely German ethnic village around 1803 or so and the majority of the people there were cloth makers, supporting the industry in nearby Lodz.

The roads in Poland are generally very good.  There are a few rough spots on the road that passes through Kochanow but very easy to manage without problems.

We managed 5 days traveling through numerous ancestral villages in Poland without a translator so I cannot recommend anyone at this time.  Sorry but also don't know anything about the other villages.


Jerry Frank



----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolyn Schott" <cgschott at comcast.net>
To: ger-poland-volhynia at sggee.org
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 9:18:08 PM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Visiting German villages in Poland

Has anyone ever visited any of the following villages in Poland?
Boginia (near Lodz)
Witkowo
Magnuszew, Kozienice
Kochanow	

Next month, I'm going to Poland primarily on a tourist trip. But I've convinced my non-genealogy friend to go to one or two ancestral towns with me. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to do much prep/research. My people all left these villages  by the early 1800s, so I'm not sure how long Germans even stayed in any of these villages.

If anyone has visited any of these villages, I'm curious whether there's still a German cemetery or old German church. Or any other points of genealogy interest I should know about. Or any sources of basic history about any of these villages I could read up before I go?

Also, if anyone knows a translator in Warsaw that I could hire to go with me to the village (I usually find that having someone who can speak the language and ask some questions is useful in visiting a village.)

Thanks!

Carolyn Schott
Author of "Yes You Yes Now! Visiting Your Ancestral Town"


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