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2003 Trip To Germany And Poland
Langkafel, Zampelhagen and Külz, Kr. Naugard
Duane and I took advantage of our time in the morning to visit Langkafel (Długołęka) and Zampelhagen (Sąlpolnica) two small villages just south of Naugard (Nowogard ) where Heinrich and Johanna Maass Luedtke (our great aunt) lived from 1875 to 1882.These villages are only a couple of miles apart but both had their own church.
The church in Zampelhagen was built of large irregular field stones interspersed with brick.The gables above the walls were constructed of brick. The tower in front, however, was clearly added later. The lower part was built with field stones that had been cut into square or rectangular blocks upon which was built a rather tall, red brick tower. Both the tower and gable were decorated with blind arches and windows. Gravestones piled up at the back of the church lot are the only evidence that a cemetery once existed but it’s not clear where it was. Heinrich and Johanna’ daughter, Bertha Auguste Wilhelmine Luedtke, who died in 1877 at the age of two years, would have been buried here but no markers or identification of any kind could be found among the pile of stones.
There is a shortcut between Zampelhagen and Langkafel that we took four years ago but we decided not to trust our luck on this old rutted wagon trail with our Skoda station wagon. It was much safer to take the highway three miles south to Hohen Schönau and then back mostly north to Langkafel. As you enter the village from the south you see several unimaginative dull gray block-style apartment buildings on the left apparently built during the Communist era.
The church there is unique in that the stone and brick walls of the sanctuary have been white-washed or plastered. It too had decorative blind arches and windows in the gable. Attached to the front of this small church is an unpainted, weather-beaten, wooden tower similar to that in Hohen Schönau. During previous visits to Langkafel, I hadn’t noticed the abandoned cemetery just beyond the lawn to the south. There, scattered in the scrub brush and weeds, were the broken remains of the old gravestones We searched for any identifiable markers but none could be found. A large house standing across the road from the church had crosses in some of the windows and
I wondered if it too might have been a parsonage or church school. Since we were there without Anetta, we had no way to find out. Langkafel was also the site of a Gut and we were impressed by the concrete fences that surrounded the former estate.
The morning went quickly and we hurried back to Naugard to meet Anetta. She explained that she was unable to call Mr. Szukoua from work but would call now from the hotel. We were relieved when he answered the phone but the suspense still wasn’t over. He told her, “Give me 20 minutes to find this church book and call me back". With time to kill we picked a table in the empty hotel restaurant and had a late morning tea break. About 30 minutes later Anetta called him back and when she got off the phone she said, “Can you tell by the look on my face if I have good news?”. There was no mistaking the wide smile on her face. Knowing the 1833-48 book was now waiting for us at the Archive made the day touring the countryside just that much sweeter. Now I was ready to get on the road again to find the “lost” village of Ornshagen. [Two years ago we had been within a mile of the village but missed it because it is very well hidden in the forest off the main road and we didn’t know its Polish name was Zerzyno.]
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Along the way to Regenwalde (now Resko) we stopped at Külz (Kulice) to see the recently renovated palace of the von Bismarck family which now serves as a University of Szczecin conference center.The enormous mansion has been beautifully restored. It is an imposing building with cream-colored exterior walls and a red tile roof. Inside the palace, one finds newly furnished and equipped conference rooms, lounges and guest rooms. Along one of the walls is an interesting collection of pictures showing the palace before and during the renovation. On another wall is a collection of photos of Pommern village churches. We learned that the guest rooms can be rented here at a reasonable cost when not otherwise occupied by conference attendees.
Outside, the immense grounds and young shrubbery are well maintained. However, the former palace now stands in striking contrast to the devastation next to it where brick walls of former barns stand in ruins.
Just beyond the ruins is the church which may not have survived untouched. The walls are an interesting combination of field stone and brick but some of the original uncut stones appear to have been replaced with stone blocks. A stone and red brick bell tower with a steeple rises above the gray tile roof. We could have spent more time in Kulice but I wanted to be sure we had ample time to explore Ornshagen, the earliest village I can document going back in our Maass family lineage.
Click here for more photos of Langkafel and Zampelhagen.
Regenwalde and Ornshagen
When we reached the turnoff to Ornshagen (Zerzyno), we were getting hungry and decided to drive into Regenwalde (Resko) for lunch. It was a beautiful day to enjoy a hamburger outdoors at a small café near the Rega River. Unfortunately, the bees seemed to think so too. But it wasn’t only the bees that got us going again -- I didn’t want to waste another minute getting to Ornshagen. You have to know the village exists or it is easy to miss -- as we learned in 2001.
If you watch closely, you can find a sign to Zerzyno about four miles (7 km) southwest of Resko on the road to Nowogard. We turned to the right down a narrow cobblestone road that disappeared into the forest. About two km down this road a narrow bridge takes one over the Paatziger (Piaskowa) River (perhaps creek is a better description). Ornshagen lies just beyond the bridge at the confluence of the Paatziger and Rega Rivers.
Very little remains of the former von Borcke estate and forestry station. A brief history of this estate and some photos taken in Ornshagen can be seen on separate pages in this website. The impressive Schloss (manor house) built by the von Bülow family in 1873 was totally destroyed by the Russians during WWII. We could find only a few remnants of some stone foundations. Today it appears that there are only a couple of homes left in the village that once housed 325 inhabitants living in 56 households. A couple of barns remain from the former Gut, one apparently had been rebuilt, another lies in ruins. The Schloss once stood in a park-like bend of the Rega River surrounded by beautiful trees and grounds. Now the grounds have reverted to their native and wild state. A decorative concrete fence still encloses part of the estate. Nearby a small dam has been constructed on the Rega River to generate electricity. The Rega is the longest river in northern Poland. Its headwaters begin in the Drawsko Lake District and flow over 100 miles (180 km) to the Baltic Sea. On the Paatziger River, just before it empties into the Rega, we found the remains of an old concrete dam and a brick structure that probably powered a mill of some kind. A small lake still backs up behind this dam. We couldn’t have had a nicer day to visit our forefather’s village. It was just delightful wandering around the grounds and through the woods and I wished we could have had more time to poke around but we wanted to get back to the church in Regenwalde before it got too late.
Regenwalde’s history goes back to at least 1288 when it received city status. The town and much of the county of Regenwalde were owned by the von Borcke family for nearly four centuries -- from 1447 to 1808. It was once an economic center, famous for markets particularly the St. Bartholomeus Day & Fair but its economy declined as a result of wars and Napoleon's conquest. At the beginning of the 20th century the capital of the district was moved to Labes (Łobez) and Regenwalde lost its importance. The city also sustained incredible damage during WWII. The town hall, which was erected in 1841, is one of very few buildings that survived. Today the city has a population of about 4700 people.
The church in Regenwalde is a towering red brick structure originally built at the end of the 14th century in Gothic style.The church has been restored after enduring several fires (the biggest in 1916) and in 1881 a tower 216 feet high was added. After WW II, this Evangelische Church was consecrated as a Catholic Church
and is now known as the Church of Holy Mary of the Immaculate Conception. A new floor being installed in the nave was nearly finished. The sanctuary and altar are certainly the most beautiful and impressive I’ve seen in this part of Pomerania. While we were there the Priest met us and invited us to have our pictures taken with him. He was eager to tell us about the church and several of the paintings that he had painted himself.
Because of my professional career in plant nutrition and physiology, I was particularly interested in learning that Karl Sprengel (1787-1859), a pioneering agricultural chemist and agronomist, was buried in the Regenwalde cemetery. In 1842, Sprengel founded the Agricultural Academy and Experiment Station in Regenwalde on 76 ha (188 acres) of land on which 200 different varieties of plants were grown. He initiated an animal breeding program and founded a dairy factory. And he also built an agricultural machinery factory and a new steam mill in Regenwalde. Although supported by the state, both the academy and the industry were privately owned and managed by Sprengel.
We had just enough time before it got dark to stop by Kniephof (Konarzewo) on our way back to Nowogard. Kniephof is the site of another of the Bismarck family estates and the one where
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck spent the first years of his childhood. The old manor house is now abandoned and in considerable disrepair. The first floor windows have been closed with bricks suggesting that this mansion too had been used to store grain or other agricultural commodities. Several large buildings and a very tall smoke stack remain from what I believe was a grain distillery; however, I may be wrong about their use. While we were looking and taking pictures of the buildings, several young boys joined us to see what we were doing. When Anetta explained, they asked us if we would like to see the site of a Bismarck grave. They gave us the impression that it was just inside the grove of trees adjacent to the estate. But they led us for quite a distance along a circuitous path through the trees and undergrowth. Finally, when we began to question if they knew where they were going,
we came to a small family plot with a rectangular gravestone about 30 inches tall. The name and dates engraved on the stone had nearly eroded away but they told us this was the grave of a Phillip von Bismarck. The boys said this information came from a member of the Bismarck family who had visited the plot sometime back. I’m not sure who Phillip was or if other family members were buried there.
It was getting dusk when we got back to the car and we still needed to take Anetta home and then drive to Gartz in Kr. Uckermark. We were wishing we didn’t have to say goodbye to Anetta but this was our last day together. Besides being a wonderful guide and translator, she is a delightful person we are glad to call a friend.
As we headed back towards Szczecin in the dark we had time to reflect on a perfect day that had been filled with new discoveries and excitement. We couldn’t have asked for more. And we were eagerly looking forward to the next day when we would finally get our hands on the 1833-1848 Regenwalde church books.
Click here for more photos of Ornshagen and Regenwalde.
Copyright © 2003-2004 Gene and Norma Maas
All Rights Reserved.This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
