I DISCOVER THE HISTORY OF MY POLISH HOME

As the English owner of a small farm in western poland (pomerania) i was aware that prior to the end of the second war this farm would have been home to a German family...

Sometime in 1945 Russian and Polish troops would have turned up and given the family a short time to grab what they could , and get out to make way for a family of Poles that had lost their home in what was now Russian land....

Maybe this German family were not Hitler supporters , maybe they were just farmers , doing what farmers do..... Many Germans that resisted this situation or who took too long packing were killed , so i often wondered what happened to the people who built and first lived in my home...

Today i had visitors , a nice German lady and her husband...Seems that Monika is the daughter of the man and woman who built and lived in this farm , and i was happy to hear that they survived the war ,made it to Gemany , and later came back to live in the farm again...

Monika showed me some great photo,s of the farm in its early years , and of her family , and we exchanged email addresses to swap yet more photo,s and information later... I was pleased to be able to tell her that i do not intend to demolish the old farm and build a new house , but wish to keep it looking as original as possible , despite it being cheaper to start from scratch....

I am very happy to know the history of my house , and meet some nice people , i hope maybe one day the guy who built this place can come to have a look at his old home....

I wouldn't be surprised if 50 years before WWII it was Polish house

article form XIX century (New York Times)

query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9507E4DF1E38E03 3A2575AC2A9679C94679FD7CF&oref=slogin

(Published: January 29, 1886
Copyright © The New York Times)

I love this one

WHY POLES LOVE BISMARCK ?

query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E04E0DE123AE63 AA15756C1A9679D946297D6CF

(Published: November 15, 1903
Copyright © The New York Times)

pure sarcasm :) have fun

edit.

after second article we know that it was native Polish land ... we weren't immigrants there.
and Poles were expeled form there, holded in prisons etc.
wildrover you can make with your house whatever you want
as to german tourists they know how this house changed owner in XIX century ...
as to Poles loyality in XIX ... it was rather like with Basks loyality to Spain ...
when I will find something new about Poles on their native land and German expulsions ...
I will post it. ;)
cheers

Polands borders have moved around quite a lot over the years , as you say , it may well have been Polish land way back in history.....but at least now i know more about its history....

is pomerania wielkopolska? I see a lot of cars with it on the bottom of the number plate?

Sort of....Pomerania is the old name for the region in the north west....partly wielkopolskie , and partly zachodniopomorskie

I can understand why people feel a bit inclined to point out that Poles were in that area before Germans. But the point of this post was merely as wildrover pointed out. Interesting background about his home.

It is a fact of life that people move around, people take other people's land, borders change, and who lives anywhere changes. Sometimes violently, sometimes peacefully. I believe the ancient Prus (not Germans or Prussians) but a tribe neither Slavic or Germanic were there before Poles or Germans. Also I believe the Wends, Kashubians or Pommern tribes were there.

But I'll bet wildrover's farm was not there then.

I often visit NYC where I was born and it is very different. Mostly gone are the large numbers of immigrants from my grandparents day and in there place are many other immigrants. I enjoy seeing my old home. It's nostaligic.

And as wildrover says, it is about his farm, not a contest of who has/had the right to be there or was there first.

Happy to hear you found out what you were always wondering about.

I think the farm was built in 1934...i don,t believe there was anything there before that....Its nice to know the history of such an old farm , and i am glad the family that built it survived the trauma,s of the second war.....I think they will be happy that their daughter managed to find the place at all...they didn,t think she would with only photo,s and a little information... I hope also that they are happy i don,t want to destroy the place and build new , but want to keep it as original as possible...After all it survived the war...i don,t feel i have the right to destroy it....I am happy i now know some of the history of the place from day one...and we will exchange photo,s and letters to find out more....