East Prussia Archives - bruckfamilyblog.com

POST 184: TIPS ON USING THE “HEIMATORTSKARTEI” DIRECTORY FOR DANZIG-WESTPREUßEN: A CASE STUDY

Note: This post will admittedly be of interest to a limited audience, mostly ancestral researchers looking for records related to their non-Jewish German ancestors displaced from West Prussia by the advancing Red Army towards the end of WWII. However, since people of Jewish descent were obviously embedded in their communities and invariably interacted with their non-Jewish counterparts as friends, lovers, neighbors, business associates and clients, etc., before many of these people turned on them, some Jewish readers may be interested, as I was, what may have happened to their ancestors’ contemporaries. This post provides tips on using the so-called “Heimatortskartei” directory for Danzig-Westpreußen. I show readers how to find records using as an example a family my father was friends with he originally met in Tiegenhof, giving a brief family history and discussing some vital documents I found along the way.

POST 67: THE SUSPICIOUSLY BRUTAL DEATHS OF MY FATHER’S PROTESTANT FRIENDS FROM DANZIG, GERHARD & ILSE HOPPE (PART II)

POST 182: THE JEWISH ANKER FAMILY FROM DANZIG AS THE SOURCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT MY FATHER DR. OTTO BRUCK

POST 183: FATE OF SOME OF MY FATHER’S FRIENDS FROM THE FREE CITY OF DANZIG

My German friend Peter Hanke first made me aware of the “Heimatortskartei (HOK)” directory for Danzig-Westpreußen in 2018 when I was researching people from Tiegenhof my father knew as acquaintances and friends during the five years he lived there. Heimatortskartei literally translates as “home town index.” HOK is a systematic directory that lists the German population in the former German eastern settlement areas according to their place of residence in September 1939. Heimatortskartei was set up in post-WWII Germany for the purpose of identifying and locating people in the aftermath and destruction of the war. It helped displaced Germans to figuratively find their way back to their original home areas or connect with those from their former regions. Individuals from a particular “Kreis” (county or district) would register their names, addresses, and other relevant information with the Heimatortskartei, creating a sort of “social network” for those who shared the same origin.

When I originally looked at the HOK cards I was specifically searching for former residents of Tiegenhof [today: Nowy Dwór Gdański, Poland], so Peter sent me links to two HOK microfilm rolls from there.

Link to the first part of Tiegenhof:
https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/008301757?cat=232907

Link to the second part of Tiegenhof and Neuteich [today: Nowy Staw, Poland]:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/008301758?cat=232907

The available microfilms reside on the familysearch.org platform. Organized alphabetically, using the Tiegenhof directory was seamless. I revisited these microfilms in writing the previous Post 183. Aware that some of my father’s friends and acquaintances from his years living in Tiegenhof were not in the HOK directory, it naturally occurred to me they might have lived in Danzig or elsewhere in West or East Prussia.

When I began looking at the Danzig-Westpreußen directory, I immediately realized it would be much more challenging to find HOK records for these areas. Unlike the HOK cards for former residents of Tiegenhof, the ones from Danzig-Westpreußen are organized by street address under each of the municipalities in West Prussia. I feared that finding addresses specifically for former Danzig city residents might require knowing which “borough” they formerly lived in, like when searching vital records for people who lived in Berlin. Daunted by the prospect of finding anyone absent an address and city sector, I again turned to my friend Peter for tips on how best to search the directory.

A brief digression. I was first introduced to my friend Peter Hanke through the online archive “forum.danzig.de” when researching my father’s friend from Tiegenhof who at the time I only knew by her sobriquet, “die Schlummermutter.” As I discussed in the previous post, Peter helped me discover her real identity, Margarete “Grete” Gramatzki. The forum.danzig is focused on researching and writing about people and places in the Free City of Danzig, discussing and answering members and reader questions broadly related to the area, and more. I’ve infrequently made use of the forum’s talents because the exchanges are primarily in German though members are very willing to help non-German speakers answer questions.

Returning to the subject of this post, when I asked Peter for advice on how best to search the HOK directory, I learned another very useful service the forum provides, namely, developing indices for finding records in various archives and directories. Peter sent me two links. The first link (Figure 1) is to all the phone and/or address directories since these were first produced for the municipalities in the Free City of Danzig; often multiple jurisdictions or towns are included in the back of the Danzig city directories:

https://momente-im-werder.net/01_Offen/01_Adressbuecher/Adressbuecher.htm

Figure 1. The portal page from the “Momente in Danziger Werder. . .” listing the various address and phone directories available for towns in the Free City of Danzig

The second link (Figure 2) lists the names of all the streets by municipalities in the Free City of Danzig. This link also identifies by microfilm number and page numbers where HOK records for people who lived on those streets can be found.

https://momente-im-werder.net/01_Offen/80_Werkzeug/Heimatortskartei/0_HOK.htm to get a first impression

Figure 2. The portal page from the “Momente in Danziger Werder. . .” listing all the municipalities (circled) which link to the microfilms and page numbers by street for each town

The top left item under this link is “Dzg. Stadt” (Danzig Stadt), city of Danzig. Clicking on this provides an alphabetical list of the former German-named streets of Danzig. (Figures 3a-b) Likewise, clicking on the other municipalities at the top provides a list of street names from former times for those towns. (see Figure 2)

Figure 3a. The portal page for “Dzg Stadt” listing microfilms and page numbers by street starting with letter -A-

Figure 3b. List of all the streets in the city of Danzig that once started with the letter -O-, including Ostseestrasse discussed in this post

As readers can see, the instructions are in German. I suggest readers translate them using the “Immersive Reader” function. Readers will notice that Address Books for some years are shaded in yellow. (Figure 4) These can only be read using the “DjVu Reader” which will need to be downloaded to your computer. Instructions are provided on forum.danzig.

Figure 4. List and links to all the address and phone directories available for the city of Danzig; those shaded in yellow can only be read using the “DjVu Reader”

Let me make a few points about the HOK directory. While HOK directories exist for areas other than Danzig-Westpreußen where Germans were expelled from following the end of WWII, this is the only area where the records have been digitized and are available online. To appreciate how daunting it would be to narrow one’s search for HOK cards for just Danzig-Westpreußen without the forum’s user tools, this directory alone includes 265 rolls of microfilm containing 1,000,000+ records!

The HOK directory is based on the 1939 census. While forum.danzig has uploaded many pre-1939 address and phone directories for Danzig and surrounding municipalities, readers searching the HOK directory should concentrate on those from 1939 to 1942.

A challenge the forum.danzig’s user tools can’t obviously address is when one does not know which jurisdiction in the city-state of the Free City of Danzig the person being researched may have lived. According to AI Overview, the Free City of Danzig (1920-1939) (Figure 5) included the city of Danzig (Gdańsk), and the towns of Zoppot (Sopot), Oliva (Oliwa), Tiegenhof (Nowy Dwór Gdański), and Neuteich (Nowy Staw). In addition to these towns, it also encompassed 252 villages and 63 hamlets. When searching for someone in the HOK directory, it makes sense to begin by assuming the person lived in the city of Danzig proper, the largest municipality in the Free City, though clearly this will not always be the case.

Figure 5. 1940-41 map of the Free City of Danzig showing the major towns mentioned in this post

It’s worth pointing out that the HOK records for nearby East Prussia, which included the city of Königsberg [today: Kaliningrad, Russia], outside the Free City of Danzig, which had a population in 1940 of about 375,000 compared to Danzig’s approximately 400,000 at the time, have not been digitized. In 1940, Königsberg was considered one of Germany’s 10 largest cities. I suspect some of my father’s friends and acquaintances resided there as his albums include photos taken there.

The people who will be the focus of this post are Kurt Lau and his wife, Käthe Lau, née Pluskat, who my father first encountered in Tiegenhof, probably shortly after he moved there in April 1932. (Figure 6) My father also knew their sons, Peter (1923-2022) and Rudolf (1920-1944), though Rudolf was killed near Breslau [today: Wrocław, Poland] in 1944. My father remained friends with the Lau family throughout his life (Figure 7), a friendship my wife Ann and I continued until the death of Peter and his wife several years ago. (Figure 8)

Figure 6. Kurt and Käthe Lau at the beach in Steegen [today: Stegna, Poland] in 1935

Figure 7. From left to right: Paulette Brook, Lolo Lau, Christian Lau, Trixie Lau, Käthe Lau, and Kurt Lau in June 1963 in Deggendorf, Germany

Figure 8. In May 2012 in Oberhausen, Germany, me with Lolo and Peter Lau, Kurt and Käthe Lau’s daughter-in-law and son

I began my ancestral research around 2011, following my retirement, prompted by seven albums left to me by my father capturing moments in his life from the 1910s until around 1948. At the time I tried to make sense of who was pictured and their names, Peter and his wife, Hannelore “Lolo” Lau, nee Gross, both born in Danzig, were still alive. They were very instrumental in identifying people in my father’s pictures and relating stories about some.

Peter also told me about his parents, my father’s dear friends. I will briefly recap this and supplement it with what I learned or confirmed through my own documentary research. While I met both Peter and Lolo once as a child, it was obviously long before I developed an interest in ancestry.

The paterfamilias Kurt Lau (Figure 9) was born on the 25^th February 1892 in the West Prussian town of Thorn [today: Torun, Poland], located near the Vistula River. Kurt’s father was a customs house inspector who moved to Danzig following his retirement. Kurt worked for a bank before WWI. While fighting in Verdun, France he was twice wounded. I found evidence of this in ancestry. (Figures 10a-b, 11a-b) Following his second injury, he was transferred back to West Prussia to a town called Graudenz [today: Grudziądz, Poland], only about 40 miles north of Thorn where he’d been born. (see Figure 5)

Figure 10a. Ancestry cover page of WWI German Casualty List dated 18 May 1916 listing Kurt Lau as wounded

Figure 10b. WWI German Casualty List dated 18 May 1916 with Kurt Lau’s name circled

Figure 11a. Ancestry cover page of WWI German Casualty List dated 24 December 1917 listing Kurt Lau as wounded

Figure 11b. WWI German Casualty List dated 24 December 1917 with Kurt Lau’s name circled

In Graudenz, Kurt met his future wife, Kathe Pluskat (Figure 12) who was then working in a bookshop. A 1913 Graudenz Address Directory lists Kathe’s sister Ella and widowed mother Anna, with Ella appearing to be the owner of the bookstore. (Figure 13) The Pluskat family had previously lived in Gumbinnen in East Prussia [today: Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia]. (Figure 14)

Figure 13. Page from 1913 Graudenz Address Book listing Käthe Lau, née Pluskat’s widowed mother Anna and sister Ella

Figure 14. Map showing the distance from Gumbinnen (Gusev, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia) to Graudenz (Grudziądz, Poland)

Following Kurt and Kathe’s marriage in 1919, they moved to Danzig where Kurt went to work for the still existing Deutsche Bank. Their two sons were born in Danzig. The bank offered Kurt the job of managing the “Tiegenhofer Ölmühle” in Tiegenhof, which produced oil from the widespread rapeseed plant growing in the Großes Werder. The experience gained managing the mill in Tiegenhof allowed Kurt and a Polish partner to buy a different mill in Danzig-Neufahrwasser in 1937 (Figure 15), at which point the family returned to Danzig. As I mentioned in the previous post, as the Russians were approaching Danzig, Kurt shipped parts of the oil mill equipment from Danzig to Hamburg, and in 1948/49, from there to Deggendorf in Bavaria where the mill was reconstructed.

Figure 15. 1940-41 map showing Danzig and its surrounding suburbs, including Danzig-Neufahrwasser

More could be said about the Lau family but I’m merely trying to illustrate how I tracked down their HOK cards. Until I reviewed the notes I’d taken following my get-together with Peter and Lolo in 2012, I’d forgotten the Lau family had returned to Danzig in around 1937 so that their HOK cards would not have been filed under Tiegenhof. I’d also forgotten that I’d recorded the address of the home where they lived in Danzig, namely, Ostseestrasse 6. (Figures 16-17) Contemporary address books from 1939-1942 list Kurt Lau at this address (Figure 18), so had I not found my notes, I could still have retrieved his address. With the index that forum.danzig has developed cross-referencing street names and microfilm numbers, I quickly located the corresponding pages and their HOK card numbers. (Figures 19a-b) Absent this user guide, I would have had to scan multiple microfilms.

Figure 16. Painting of the Lau home in Danzig located at Ostseestrasse 6 done in 1972

Figure 17. 2012 photo of the still-standing former Lau home in Gdansk, Poland

Figure 18. 1942 Address Book listing Kurt Lau as the factory manager of the “Tiegenhofer Ölmühle” living at Ostseestr. 6

Figure 19a. Page 1 of the HOK directory card for Kurt Lau

Figure 19b. Page 2 of the HOK directory card for Kurt Lau

I already knew most of the information on Lau’s HOK cards. Often this is not the case. For example, in Post 67, Parts I & II and Post 183, I discussed the premature and tragic deaths of Gerhard & Ilse Hoppe, one-time friends of my father. The 1940 Danzig Address Book lists two addresses for Gerhard, presumably one of which was his work address. It required checking both addresses in the HOK directory to find the family’s cards. This is how I learned about the existence of their daughter Gisela, raised by Gerhard’s parents following his death, and how I managed to eventually speak with her and learn what little she’d been told about her parents’ deaths.

Admittedly much of the information in the HOK directory is now dated but, that said, can still provide ancestral researchers clues on possible towns to check for descendants.

A gentleman from Los Angeles whose Anker ancestors from Danzig were the subject of Post 182 had a great-uncle who had an affair with his cleaning lady. She lived in Zoppot in the Free City of Danzig. A child was a result of that affair. The LA gentleman has the former address and surname of the cleaning lady, but ironically, the HOK records for that specific street on which she lived were never scanned or destroyed. While ancestral research can at times be frustrating, it is the possibility that success is just around the corner that makes it so addictive.

POST 135: PICTORIAL ESSAY OF THE VON PREUßEN CASTLE IN KAMENZ, GERMANY [TODAY: KAMIENIEC ZĄBKOWICKI, POLAND]

Note: In this post I provide a short historical overview and visual sketch of Schloss Kamenz [Kamieniec Ząbkowicki Palace], the estate in Silesia where my third cousin’s father, Dr. Hans Vogel, worked for the von Preußen family during the Nazi Era. I also briefly touch on geopolitical factors that make it improbable the family will ever be able to reclaim the castle.

POST 133: “THE BUTCHER OF PRAGUE,” THE STORY BEHIND A UNIQUE PHOTO OF REINHARD HEYDRICH (PART I)

POST 133—THE BUTCHER OF PRAGUE, THE STORY BEHIND A UNIQUE PHOTO OF REINHARD HEYDRICH (PART II)

POST 134: SUSE VOGEL’S CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH THE “BUTCHER OF PRAGUE’S” SON, HEIDER HEYDRICH

The von Preußen and Bruck families are not related in any but an “Adam and Evish” sort of way though both have affiliations with Silesia, now mostly located in Poland. The filament of a familial connection passes through my third cousin Agnes Stieda née Vogel whose father Dr. Hans Vogel (Figure 1) was employed by Friedrich Heinrich von Preußen (1874-1940) (Figure 2) and his second cousin Waldemar von Preußen (1889-1945) (Figure 3) following Friedrich’s death in 1940. While employed by the von Preußen family, Dr. Vogel was tasked with archiving the vast collection of art and historical treasures stored at the castle in Kamenz. (Figure 4) Not only did the family employ Hans, but they also provided a measure of protection for his Jewish wife Suse and mischling half-Jewish daughter Agnes during the Nazi Era. For this reason, to this day the family is held in high esteem by the Stiedas.

Figure 1. Dr. Hans Vogel in 1955 with the paintings he retrieved from Vienna, Austria that had been stored there for safekeeping during WWII

Figure 2. Friedrich Heinrich Prinz von Preußen (1874-1940) during the 1930’s

Figure 3. Waldemar von Preußen (1889-1945), Friedrich Heinrich Prinz von Preußen’s second cousin

Figure 4. Schloss Kamenz [Kamieniec Ząbkowicki Palace]

After a series of blog posts dealing with Reinhard Heydrich, one of the evilest characters in a Nazi panoply full of them, I need to step away from this emotionally draining subject to tackle a lighthearted topic. Ergo, this pictorial essay and a brief history on Schloss Kamenz [Kamieniec Ząbkowicki Palace] that Peter Albrecht von Preußen’s ancestors once owned in Kamenz, Germany [today: Kamieniec Ząbkowicki, Poland].

One side comment before I proceed. Peter Albrecht has been exceptionally gracious and helpful in tracking down and sending me an enormous amount of illustrative and research matter, related not only to his von Preußen ancestors but also to my Bruck family. For example, as it relates to my antecedents, Peter uncovered two wills archived in Opole, Poland that I ordered that may possibly be related to my great-great-grandfather, Samuel Bruck (1808-1863), the first-generation owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel in Ratibor [today: Raciborz, Poland]. Though I’ve had them translated and interpreted by my fourth cousin, they are challenging in the extreme to make sense of because they are handwritten in Fraktur calligraphy and never give a precise date of birth of the testator, a man named Samuel Bruck but likely not my ancestor. That said, Peter has uncovered other materials that are definitively related to “my” Samuel Bruck, and, though somewhat dry, will form the basis of a future blog post as I discuss recent intriguing findings about him.

As I proceed to give readers a pictorial sketch of Schloss Kamenz [Kamieniec Ząbkowicki Palace], let me start by providing an historical overview of the castle. The first owner was Princess Marianne of the Netherlands (1810-1883) (Figure 5) who in 1838 commissioned the most prominent German architect of the time, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, to design the structure. Noted for his neo-Classical and neo-Gothic buildings, most famously found in and around Berlin, Schinkel created a monumental palace in the form of a medieval castle.

Figure 5. Princess Marianne of the Netherlands (1810-1883) the first owner of Schloss Kamenz who commissioned its construction in 1838 (Photo courtesy of Peter Albrecht von Preußen through the Koninklijk van Oranje-Nassau)

Princess Marianne married Peter Albrecht’s great-great-great-grandfather, Friedrich Heinrich Albrecht (FHA) von Preußen (1809-1872) (Figure 6) in 1830 (Figure 7), but by 1848 the couple were in the process of getting divorced, so construction on the castle was halted until 1853 and not completed until 1872, the year FHA died. The following year their eldest son, Friedrich Wilhelm Nicholas Albrecht (NA) von Preußen (1837-1906) (Figure 8), got married to Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg (1854-1898) (Figure 9), so Princess Marianne gifted them the castle. Upon NA’s death, the castle was inherited by the eldest son, Friedrich Heinrich (FH) von Preußen (1874-1940), the homosexual scion who has been mentioned multiple times in the previous three posts.

Figure 6. Friedrich Heinrich Albrecht von Preußen (1809-1872) in 1850 or 1852, Peter Albrecht’s great-great-great-grandfather

Figure 7. Lithograph of Princess Marianne of the Netherlands and Friedrich Heinrich Albrecht von Preußen’s 1830 wedding (Photo courtesy of Peter Albrecht von Preußen through the Koninklijk van Oranje-Nassau)

Figure 8. Friedrich Wilhelm Nicholas Albrecht von Preußen (1837-1906)

Figure 9. Nicholas Albrecht’s wife, Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg (1854-1898)

Aware that he was dying of stomach cancer and having no surviving siblings and no children of his own, FH sold castle Kamenz along with the nearby “castle” in Seitenberg [today: Stronie Śląskie, Poland] (Figure 10), and all its belongings to his second cousin, Waldemar von Preußen (1889-1945), nephew of Germany’s last Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II. (Figure 11) Upon FH’s death, Prince Waldemar transferred the cash to FH’s trust to be divided equally in five parts to FH’s nephew, Friedrich Karl Erich Albrecht (EA) von Preußen (1901-1976) (Figure 12), and four nieces, the daughters of FH’s youngest brother, Friedrich Wilhelm (FW) von Preußen (1880-1925). (Figure 13)

Figure 10. The former von Preußen castle in Seitenberg [today: Stronie Śląskie, Poland}, located approximately 20 miles north of Schloss Kamenz, that is today the city’s town hall

Figure 11. A rare and unique photograph showing Friedrich Heinrich’s second cousin, Prinz Waldemar von Preußen (second from the right), with family members including his uncle, the last German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II (in the center) (photo courtesy of Peter Albrecht)

Figure 12. (v. 2) Peter Albrecht at Christmas 1975 as a toddler with his grandfather, Friedrich Karl Erich Albrecht von Preußen (1901-1976); Erich Albrecht was one of Friedrich Heinrich’s five heirs

Figure 13. Friedrich Heinrich’s younger brother, Friedrich Wilhelm (FW) von Preußen (1880-1925), with his wife and four daughters between 1916 and 1920; the four daughters were Friedrich Heinrich’s other four heirs

Prince Waldemar fled castle Kamenz as the Red Army was approaching in 1945, dying in Tutzing, Bavaria on May 2^nd, six days before the official end of World War II in Europe. Obviously, the castle was abandoned along with all the artworks and belongings. Relocated Poles looted the castle and Russians burned and pillaged it. According to Peter Albrecht, however, Polish citizens report that 14 to 17 railroad cargo trains worth of movables were taken by the Russians and shipped to an unknown destination. The marble used for exterior construction was salvaged to construct the Congress Hall at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw.

Following Prince Waldemar’s death, rights to the castle that he obviously no longer had physical control over passed to his younger brother, Sigismund von Preußen (1896-1978) (Figure 14), then in turn to his son Alfred Friedrich Ernst Heinrich Conrad von Preußen (1924–2013), “Uncle Alfred” (Figure 15) as he is known to Peter Albrecht. Shortly before Prince Alfred’s death in 2013, he transferred all rights to the estate to Peter including the contents of the 14 to 17 railroad cargo trains, should they materialize.

Figure 14. Sigismund von Preußen (1896-1978), younger brother of Waldemar von Preußen (1889-1945)

Figure 15. Peter Albrecht’s “Uncle Alfred,” Alfred Friedrich Ernst Heinrich Conrad von Preußen (1924–2013), last heir of Schloss Kamenz

A brief word on an intriguing aside. Schloss Kamenz or Kamieniec Ząbkowicki Palace, as it is currently known, is situated within Poland. In a minor way, it figured into the negotiations leading to the eventual reunification of Germany in 1989. The “Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany,” or the “Two Plus Four Agreement,” is the international agreement that allowed for the reunification of Germany in the 1990s. The reference to “Two Plus Four” means that the agreement was negotiated between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Germany Democratic Republic (GDR), along with the Four Powers which had occupied Germany at the end of World War II, namely, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This treaty replaced the Potsdam Agreement, and involved the Four Powers renouncing all rights they held in Germany, allowing Germany to become fully sovereign the following year.

As I discussed in Post 132, the “provisional border” between Poland and Germany following World War II was known as the Oder-Neisse line. This partition meant that most of Germany’s former eastern provinces, including East Prussia and most of Silesia as well as the eastern parts of Brandenburg and Pomerania, including Danzig, were awarded to Poland and the Soviet Union. (Figure 16) The German populations of these areas either fled, as in the case of Peter Albrecht’s ancestors, or were expelled. The GDR accepted the border in 1950, but the Federal Republic of Germany always demurred considering it as provisional, pending a finalized peace settlement. However, as a condition of the Final Settlement, East and West Germany agreed to the existing border with Poland, with the renunciation and exclusion of any other territorial claims, in other words Germany’s former eastern provinces.

Figure 16. Map of the Oder-Neisse Line and Germany’s postwar territorial losses

The biggest issue for the Soviet Union at the time the “Two Plus Four Agreement” was being negotiated was Germany’s former territory of East Prussia, which today includes the Kaliningrad Oblast, the westernmost part of Russia. The other indirect issue for the Soviets was Poland which was regarded as a satellite state in the Soviet sphere of influence but was never part of the Soviet Union. Because the Oder-Neisse line was ultimately upheld as the border between the reunified Germany and Poland, any possibility that Peter’s family could make clams on Schloss Kamenz was obviated.

This was true at least until Poland joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. Peter’s family could now potentially make a claim for return of the castle. However, because of the exorbitant cost for the reconstruction of the castle, estimated at well north of $300 million, they have not yet done so. To date, the EU has already provided the city of Kamieniec Ząbkowicki €750,000 (more than $800,000) to restore the mausoleum and €5 million ($5,362,000) to fix the roof and the small copper clad spires atop the four corner towers. If the Polish government were to return the castle, they would do so in “as is” condition and the family would be compelled to reimburse the EU for all the work done to date.

The possibility exists, nonetheless, that Peter could make a claim for any of the castle’s goods secreted in the Soviet Union should they ever resurface.

Much of the information on castle Kamenz presented below is derived from personal communication with Peter. While there are multiple features that are part of the castle or grace the gardens surrounding Schloss Kamenz, I will discuss only two, the boiler house and the mausoleum. As previously mentioned, Nicholas Albrecht received the castle from his mother in 1873 upon his marriage, and in 1883 he started to build a large steam boiler house. (Figure 17) The conversion from coal to steam heat took place at this time, although the castle still had no sanitary installations.

Figure 17. The steam boiler house as it looks today; one of the towers of the castle can be seen in the background through the trees

Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg, married to Nicholas Albrecht, passed away unexpectedly in 1898 at the age of 44. Peter thinks the mausoleum on the grounds of Schloss Kamenz was built soon after her death; the photo of the mausoleum dates to 1899. (Figure 18) By the time the castle was abandoned at the end of World War II (Figures 19), five members of the von Preußen family had been entombed. (Figure 20) These included Princess Marie, Nicholas Albrecht, and their three sons, Friedrich Heinrich (1874-1940), Joachim Albrecht (1876-1939) (Figure 21), and Friedrich Wilhelm (1880-1925).

Figure 18. 1899 postcard of the mausoleum on the grounds of Schloss Kamenz

Figure 19. Exterior view of the restored mausoleum

Figure 20. View of the original interior of the mausoleum

Figure 21. 1920 photo of Peter Albrecht’s great-grandfather, Joachim Albrecht von Preußen (1876-1939)

Upon the arrival of relocated Poles to the area of Schloss Kamenz the bodies in the mausoleum were disinterred and defiled, and reportedly hung from trees. (Figure 22) Before they could be set ablaze, however, some virtuous Polish citizen calmed the rioters and reburied the bodies, carefully marking their locations on a map. Before this concerned citizen died, he gave his map to the President of the local historical society, and in 2017, the City of Kamenz and the Catholic Church of Poland exhumed the graves and held a funeral service at the reconsecrated mausoleum. (Figures 23-24)

Figure 22. Post-WWII photo of destroyed mausoleum

Figure 23. Location of desecrated bodies from the mausoleum relocated in 2017 using ground-penetrating radar

Figure 24. Photos of the five members of the von Preussen family reburied in the reconsecrated mausoleum following its restoration

According to what Peter reports, the European Union has provided funding for the eventual restoration of Castle Kamenz to its full glory. To date only the mausoleum and part of the main hall of the castle proper have been renovated. (Figures 25-32)

Figure 25. Burned out shell of Schloss Kamenz

Figure 26. Contemporary aerial view of Schloss Kamenz

Figure 27. One of the four corner towers of Schloss Kamenz

Figure 28. Aerial view of the gutted cloistered courtyard

Figure 29. Main hall of Schloss Kamenz in former times

Figure 30. Main stairwell as it looks today

Figure 31. Inside a main hall as it looks today

Figure 32. Peter Albrecht’s great-grandfather Joachim Albrecht (1876-1939) (left) with an unidentified man in one of the castle’s upstairs living rooms

In closing, I understand if readers are overwhelmed by the von Preußen family tree. My personal interest is trying to understand how the Bruck’s Hotel in Ratibor [today: Racibórz. Poland] owned by three generations of my family, obtained a “franchise” to use the “Prinz von Preußen” surname. This entails nailing down exactly when the building that eventually became the Bruck’s Hotel was built, whether its construction preceded or coincided with my family’s acquisition of the establishment, and, if it preceded it, when exactly my family purchased it. I’m uncertain whether historic documents survive to answer these questions. And, finally, because of our collaboration, Peter (Figure 33) has now found some not-so-distant ancestors that hail from Ratibor, suggesting our families may have had business dealings long ago. So, while this post may be of limited interest to many readers, I am pursuing it to better understand my family’s deep-seated connection to Ratibor and Silesia.

Figure 33. Peter Albrecht as a teenager with his recently deceased father, Horst Albrecht von Preußen (1934-2023)

POST 132: FATE OF THE BRUCK’S “PRINZ VON PREUßEN“ FAMILY HOTEL IN RATIBOR (RACIBÓRZ): GEOPOLITICAL FACTORS

Note: In this post, I discuss the fate of the hotel my family owned for three generations in Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland]. Largely intact following the cessation of hostilities after WWII, it appears to have been demolished for a combination of reasons, including geopolitical ones and the Soviet Union’s desire to remove historical traces of German connections to Silesia.

POST 11, POSTSCRIPT: RATIBOR & BRUCK’S “PRINZ VON PREUßEN” HOTEL

POST 11, POSTSCRIPT 2: RATIBOR & BRUCK’S “PRINZ VON PREUßEN” HOTEL

Regular readers know I periodically revisit topics or people I’ve talked about to amplify new findings. Since the process of learning rarely follows a linear path, one is often left to reevaluate previous findings or conclusions considering more recently uncovered evidence.

The family establishment in Ratibor [today: Racibórz, Poland], the Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen” Hotel, was owned for what I estimate are roughly three generations, from the early 1850s to around the mid-1920s. (Figures 1-2) A historic police file found at the “State Archives in Katowice Branch in Racibórz” indicates the business was sold in around 1926, and subsequently went through a series of owners. (Figure 3)

Figure 1. The Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen” Hotel formerly located at the corner of Oderstraße and Bollwerkstraße

Figure 2. The former entrance to the Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen” Hotel

Figure 3. The cover of the historic police file on the Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen” Hotel found at the “State Archives in Katowice Branch in Racibórz”

I thought I had previously laid to rest the issue of why the building does not stand today. It would be reasonable to assume the structure was destroyed during World War II, by Allied bombing of the city prior to its capture or in the waning days of the war when the Soviets encircled and seized the city. However, a post-WWII photo given to me by a curator at the Muzeum w Raciborzu proves the structure was largely intact possibly apart from the roof; the photo, while of high resolution, is taken at too great a distance to ascertain how badly the roof was damaged. (Figure 4)

Figure 4. Post-World War II photo taken from Racibórz’s Market Square looking east towards the largely intact Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen” Hotel

Realizing the Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen” Hotel, which oddly retained its name throughout its existence despite its Jewish origins, outlasted the cataclysmic events of WWII, I sought another explanation for why it might not have survived. This was provided, so I thought, by Mr. Paul Newerla (Figure 5), my friend from Racibórz, a retired lawyer who now researches and writes extensively about the history of Silesia and Ratibor. Paul sent me a copy of a letter he found in the Racibórz Archives dated the 27^th of March 1950 from the so-called Racibórz Municipal Board to the Municipal National Council in Racibórz (Figure 6); in essence, the letter states that damaged buildings in the town had been evaluated for their “historic character” and found lacking, so that parts of or all a structure could be dismantled to provide 5,000,000 bricks needed for the reconstruction of Warsaw.

Figure 5. Racibórz historian, Paul Newerla, and me in 2018 standing by the statue of John of Nepomuk currently located in middle of a parking lot

Figure 6. Letter dated the 27th of March 1950 retrieved from the State Archives in Racibórz by Paul Newerla establishing a quota of 5,000,000 bricks to be provided by the city for the post-WWII reconstruction of Warsaw

Indicative of the method used to clear burned and destroyed houses and buildings in Racibórz, Paul found another letter dated the 12^th of January 1948 sent from the Konservator of the Voivodeship, essentially the province, to the Technical Department of Racibórz’s Municipal Department. (Figure 7) The province was reminding the Municipal Board that the use of explosives to clear these damaged structures in the vicinity of historic edifices such as the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Racibórz was prohibited. It is safe to assume that explosives were similarly used to take down the Bruck’s Hotel.

Figure 7. Letter dated the 12th of January 1948 from the Province’s Konservator to Racibórz’s Municipal Board telling them that the use of explosives to tear down damaged buildings near historic structures is prohibited

Why the city of Racibórz would have agreed to or recommended the dismantling of perfectly functional structures like the former family hotel probably requiring only minor reconstruction at a time when housing was likely in short supply seems to defy logic. Paul jumped to my assistance to explain broader geopolitical factors that apparently dictated why the former family establishment was torn down. I will attempt to explain this to readers.

The address for the Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen” Hotel was Oderstraße 16 (Figure 8); the hotel was located on an east-west street that terminated along the west bank of the Oder River [Polish: Odra]. (Figure 9) The historic walled city of Ratibor lay along the west side of the Oder River, as does much of the current central part of Racibórz. The location of the hotel along the west side of the Oder River is significant, as I will demonstrate. Spoiler alert. The destruction of the Bruck’s Hotel may be partially related to the anticipated location of the German-Polish frontier following the end of WWII.

Figure 8. View towards the west up Oderstraße with the Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen” Hotel on the right side

Figure 9. 1903 view of the Oderbrücke, the bridge crossing the Oder River, looking towards the east

The subject of Poland’s western frontier was brought up by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin as early as late 1943 at the Tehrān Conference; this was a meeting between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin held in Tehrān between November 28–December 1, 1943. The chief discussion centered on the opening of a “second front” in western Europe. Stalin agreed to an eastern offensive to coincide with the forthcoming Western Front. On the Polish question, the western Allies and the Soviet Union were at sharp odds. While the Americans were not interested in discussing any border changes during the Tehrān Conference, Roosevelt agreed in principle that Poland’s western border should be extended west to the Oder River.

At the Yalta Conference, during the second of the Big Three conferences between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin held in February 1945, American and British officials agreed on the basics of Poland’s future borders. In the east, the British agreed to the Curzon line, the proposed demarcation line between the Second Polish Republic and the Soviet Union, two new states emerging after World War I; this line was first proposed in 1919. The British acknowledged that the Americans might push for Lwów, current-day Lviv in western Ukraine, to be included in post-war Poland. It was generally agreed that Poland should receive part of East Prussia, Danzig, the eastern part of Pomerania, and Upper Silesia; for reference Ratibor, present-day Racibórz, was in Upper Silesia.

In terms of this blog post, the following observation in Wikipedia is relevant: “With respect to Poland’s western frontiers, Stalin noted that the Polish Prime Minister in exile, Stanisław Mikołajczyk, had been pleased when Stalin had told him Poland would be granted Stettin/Szczecin and the German territories east of the Western Neisse [River]. Yalta was the first time the Soviets openly declared support for a German-Polish frontier on the Western as opposed to the Eastern Neisse. Churchill objected to the Western Neisse frontier, saying ‘it would be a pity to stuff the Polish goose so full of German food that it got indigestion.’ He added that many Germans would be shocked if such large numbers of Germans were driven out of these areas, to which Stalin responded that ‘many Germans’ had ‘already fled before the Red Army.’” The question of Poland’s western border was ultimately left to be decided at the Potsdam Conference.

Let me digress briefly to give readers a sense of geography regarding the whereabouts of the Western and Eastern Neisse Rivers in relationship to the location of Racibórz. The Neisse River, in Polish Nysa, is two rivers in present-day southwestern Poland. The better-known Nysa Łużycka, or Lusatian Neisse, is the more westerly and longer of the two rivers running 157 miles or 252 km; the Nysa Kłodzka, or Glatzer Leisse or Neisse of the city of Kłodzko (Glatz), is the shorter is 113 miles or 182 km and lies entirely within Poland. Both rivers rise in the Sudeten Mountains, flow northward, and empty into the Oder River. (Figure 10) Near the village of Ratzdorf, the Lusatian Neisse discharges into the Oder River.

Figure 10. Map showing the Western and Eastern Neisse Rivers, the Oder River, and the Bober River; Racibórz is located approximately midway between Opole (Oppeln) and Ostrava (Ostrau)

Görlitz, located on the more westerly Lusatian Neisse River, is the easternmost town in Germany (easternmost village is Zentendorf), and lies opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec. Görlitz is slightly less than 200 miles west-northwest of Racibórz (Figure 11), while Kłodzko along the Eastern Neisse is only about 90 miles to the west-northwest of Racibórz. (Figure 12)

Figure 11. Map showing the distance between Racibórz, Poland, located on the Oder River, and Görlitz, Germany, located on the Western Neisse River (Nysa Łużycka or Lusatian Neisse)

Figure 12. Map showing the distance between Racibórz, Poland, located on the Oder River, and Kłodzko, located on the Eastern Neisse River (Nysa Kłodzka)

As readers can easily discern for themselves, the Soviet proposal to establish Poland’s western frontier along either the Western Neisse or Eastern Neisse would have resulted and did ultimately result in considerably more land being included within Poland. However, at the time of the Yalta Conference, the precise location of Poland’s western border was still an open question. The western Allies accepted in general that the Oder River into which both the eastern and western Neisse rivers emptied would be the western border of Poland in that area. Still in doubt at the time was whether the border would follow the eastern or western Neisse. The western Allies sought to place the border on the eastern Neisse closer to Breslau [today: Wrocław, Poland]. Suggestions of a border on the Bóbr River (Bober) were also supposedly rejected by the Soviets.

At the latitude at which Racibórz is located, the eastern and western Neisse are situated much further to the west of the Oder River. In none of the materials I’ve read have I seen any mention that the Allies were seriously considering establishing the border between Germany and Poland along the Oder at this latitude; as mentioned above, the discussion always revolved around establishing the western frontier along the Neisse rivers or conceivably along the Bober River. (see Figure 10) While this may be true, as far as the local authorities in Racibórz may have been concerned, there may have been sufficient uncertainty as to where the final frontier would be established. Thus, to hedge their bets, the Communist authorities may have decided to dismantle the Bruck’s Hotel and salvage the bricks fearing it would remain on the German side of the border.

A recent citation sent to me by Paul Newerla sheds additional light on how the Bruck’s Hotel was destroyed. On page 69 of a book entitled in Polish “Od Joannitow Do Ratownikow–Czyli Dzieje Strazakow Ziemi Raciborskiej,” translated roughly as “From the Joanites to the rescuers or the history of firefighters of the Racibórz Land,” there is an eyewitness account by a former firefighter who worked for the fire brigade in Racibórz. (Figures 13a-c)

Figure 13a. Cover of the book “From the Joanites to the rescuers or the history of firefighters of the Racibórz Land,” with an eyewitness account by a former firefighter who worked for the fire brigade in Racibórz

Figure 13b. Polish account on page 69 by Racibórz firefighter of what happened to the Bruck’s Hotel when it caught fire after WWII

Figure 13c. Polish and German accounts by Racibórz firefighter of what happened to the Bruck’s Hotel when it caught fire after WWII

Below is the translation of what he wrote:

“One day (it was 1945, without further date) the fire brigade was alerted and ordered to the fire of the Hotel Bruck on the corner of Oderstraße and Bollwerkstraße (now Reymonta-Straße). The hotel was in unusually good condition after the war. When the firefighters appeared with their firefighting trailer in front of the burning hotel, they met Russian soldiers equipped with weapons. They refused to have the hotel deleted [sic]. The Polish administration was also powerless. So the beautiful hotel burned.”

It would appear, based on this account, that perhaps an evening of drunken debauchery by occupying Russian soldiers “accidentally” led to the Bruck’s Hotel being set on fire and to the establishment’s ultimate destruction; clearly, the soldiers had no interest in seeing the fire extinguished when the firefighters showed up. Depending on the intensity of the fire, it’s likely the bricks would still have been usable and likely salvaged.

Time and again through history, we have seen foreign invaders attempting to destroy traces of earlier history and culture in places they occupy, to rewrite the past, so to speak. The Nazis sought to eradicate Jewish culture. Currently, we are witnessing in the Ukraine Russians plundering museums in places like Kherson and Mariupol, because, above all, according to Putin’s propaganda, “Ukraine as a country doesn’t exist, it’s part of Russia—so they can grab anything they want.” Thus, like today, it’s probable the orders to wipe out evidence of earlier cultures in Racibórz following WWII were coming from someone high in the Kremlin, likely Stalin himself. Later, during the Communist Era, the headstones in the former Jewish Cemetery in Ratibor were removed and sold off because again, after all, Jews were never considered a part of the cultural fabric of the city.

In closing, let me make a few observations about the frontier between Germany and Poland, and the territorial losses that both suffered because of WWII. The Potsdam Agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union concluded on the 2^nd of August 1945, in anticipation of a final peace treaty, placed the German territories east of the Oder-Neisse line under Polish administration. All Germans remaining in the old and new Poland, it was decided, should be expelled. The Oder-Neisse line marked the border between the former East Germany and Poland from 1950 to 1990. The then-two Communist governments agreed to the border in 1950, while then-West Germany, after a period of refusal, conceded with reservations in 1970. Notwithstanding West Germany’s misgivings about this frontier, with the reunification of Germany, they eventually agreed to it when the German-Polish Border Treaty was signed on the 14^th of November 1990.

Ultimately, Poland for its loss to the Soviet Union of 72,000 sq. miles (187,000 sq. km.) of lands east of the Curzon line was compensated with 43,000 sq. miles (112,000 sq. km.) of former German territory. The final borders resulted in Germany’s loss to Poland of most of Silesia, half of Pomerania, the eastern portion of Brandenburg, a small part of Saxony, and part of East Prussia. The northern part of East Prussia, including Königsberg [today: Kaliningrad, Russia], was annexed by the Soviet Union, while Memelland became part of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, today Lithuania. (Figure 14)

Figure 14. Map of the Oder-Neisse Line and Germany’s postwar territorial losses

Thus, while we may wish to believe frontiers and borders are immutable, as we’ve seen in just the past nine years since Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, they are ever-changing and much more fluid than we would expect.

REFERENCES

Dafoe, Taylor. “Before Retreating from Kherson, Russian Troops Emptied One of Ukraine’s Top Museum of Nearly 15,000 Objects.” Artnet News, 14 Nov. 2022, https://news.artnet.com/art-world/russian-troops-loot-kherson-museum-2209777

Geanous, Jacob. “Russian art curators have reportedly helped loot dozens of Ukraine museums.” New York Post, 4 Feb. 2023, https://flipboard.com/article/russian-art-curators-have-reportedly-helped-loot-dozens-of-ukraine-museums/f-1f12bf14a5%2Fnypost.com

Grutchot, Katarzyna (ed.) “Od Joannitow Do Ratownikow—Czyli Dzieje Strazakow Ziemi Raciborskiej.” (“From the Joanites to the rescuers or the history of firefighters of the Racibórz Land”). Nowiny Publishing House.

“Neisse River.” Encylopaedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Neisse-River-Europe

“Oder-Neisse line.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oder%E2%80%93Neisse_line