My boss has asked me to help trace his Polish Fathers' family and I am obviously struggling.
His father was born 21/03/1926 in Poland, place unknown as boss cannot recall..only that it begins with a W...his name was Czeslaw Najgebauer. In 1940, aged 14 Czeslaw was transported through Siberia, and never saw his family again. He walked through the middle east corridor, eventually meeting up with the Polish Army where he fought at Monte Cassino. He was injured and somehow ended up in the UK, where he recovered and trained and fought the remainder of the war in the British Army.
He was exiled from Poland and never returned.
I have found no record for Czeslaw as yet other than his UK Records of Marriage, Citizenship and Death and am unsured where to begin.
I know Czeslaw was Catholic and his father owned a Shoe Factory and they were rather wealthy but what happened to his family is unknown.
I am also sure that Najgebauer is not an indigenous Polish name, as Bauer is German I believe...
I have a million questions but as this is my first post will leave it at that for now!
I know a woman of this name, I taught her some years ago in Speed Callan. Anna I think her name was. I always called her Miss Najgebauer as I loved the surname, it sounds cool. I don't know what she went on to do, sorry. Still, I can confirm the existence of such a name here. I live in Upper Silesia.
In 1940, aged 14 Czeslaw was transported through Siberia, and never saw his family again.
from tehran through iraq to israel and on.. gerneral Anders army... there is a thread about this here.. search also may want to talk to red cross as they have excellent records of exiled families from this period.
I will certainly contact the red cross...I have searched for the General Anders info on here but it found no results. Would it be possible to post a link to that please.
NAJGEBAUER: Polish respelling of Neugebauer, also appearing as Neubauer (new famrer), which origianted to mean a new settler to an area, newcomer possibly with the hint of an unwelcome intruder. It may have also been used in Yiddish by Jews.
NAJGEBAUER: Polish phonetic respelling of the original German or Yiddish name is most widely used in Poland (492 users - Upper Silesia being the main stronghold), whilst only 2 people use it in Germany (Fulda district)
NEUGEBAUER (743) - stronghold Upper Silesia NEUBAUER (922) stronghold on Baltic coast around Gdańsk and Słupsk. NAJBAUER (42) stronghold Warsaw; only 8 in Germany.
Thank you all for your help with the origins of this surname. Please accept my apologies for not replying sooner, I have been ill with a nasty ear and throat infection and a little hayfever thrown in for good measure!
I have received some info on some names that Czeslaw told his wife were his relatives, unsure if this is siblings, or sibings and parents.
Mrs Najgebauer recalled these names and I have tried to find the nearest match to them, as her memory isn't fantastic and my boss was unsure on the correct spelling of them.
I will list what Mrs Najgebauer said they were, and what I have taken them to probably be.
Anna Joshua (I am unsure if this is Polish) Danusha (I have found Polish name Danuta) Stanidt (I have found polish name Stanistaw) Crisa (boss said it sounded like Creesha, I have found Polish name Krysia) Forgot to add, initially Czeslaw was caught by the Nazi's, and they took over his fathers Shoe Factory. He recalled a friend or relative going one day to buy shoes from there and the Nazi's shot her. Czeslaw managed to ecape but was then captured by the Russians.
I am not sure which region Germany invaded first but it was very soon after the outbreak of the war, maybe this can help on the locality...long shot I know.
It could have originated from "Neigebauer", which sounds identical. I looked into the dictionary and "die Neige" might mean "end", "bottom" while the verb "neigen" means "to tilt, to lean, to incline". So it is possible that "Neigebauer" might have meant not quite rich farmer or someone inclined to agriculture. But this is just my opinion.
Although no-one in Poland spells their name Neigebauer, that spelling is possible. But I think it would simply be a spelling variant of the more common Neugebauer rather than havnin some separate meaning all its own. That's my take, but with names most anything is possible.
"Neigebauer" is just a phonetic spelling of Neugebauer...more like a dialect than another meaning altogether.
PS: "Neugebauer" means a new farmer, not necessarily a settler in Poland(as Poles wouldn't had called him with the german name "Neubauer" I think) or a rich farmer....just a farmer who is either new at farming at all or a new farmer in the area.
jursitzky.net/Familienname_Neugebauer.htm
Interesting: In old Middle German a new farmer is called "Gbur", the polish word is "Gburek".
Neugebauer and similar would have been generated in a German-speaking area. To ethnic Poles (unlesss they were bilingual) it would have been meaningless and just a name. There were once many German agrarian colonies in Old Poland which retained their language and customs for many generations.
BTW the name Noworolnik (new smallholder or Negebauer) exists in Poland.
I now have some exact information and hope someone can help....
Czeslaw and his family were from Lodz.
They owned to houses, a shoe factory and employed at least one servant.
His Father was Jozef Najgebauer, Mother Anna and siblings were Joshua, Danutia, Stanislaw and Krysia.
I am really struggling to find much information on what happened to the Polish Catholics in Lodz...there is a wealth of information on the Jewish...so does anyone know or can point me to a site which focuses on the Catholics in this area?
I'm not 100% sure this is the place to go, but the Polish-German Reconciliation Foundation are said to assist victims of Nazi crimes. Maybe they can advise you as to who can help you in your quest.
Is this thread still alive? I need some help too with the surname of Neugebauer (exact spelling). The difficulty is trying to find any information online because we now live in faraway Australia. My wife is from Lodz and the person whose info I am seeking was her 3 x great grandmother. Her name before marriage was Matylda Neugebauer but I don't know any exact dates to offer. If I allow 25 years for each generation then I calculate she was born between 1850 and 1860. She married Kazimierz Królikowski and they had at least 3 daughters, Julia, Helena and Stanislawa. I believe the Neugebauer family were either from Lodz or moved to Lodz but nothing is too sure. Any information regarding the parents or sibling(s) of Matylda Neugebauer would be great news.
Hi Robert, I have been looking for any relatives on my father's side for many years. I have even been to Lodz to find any record of them.
My brother (Colleen's boss) and I have missed having our father's side of the family around. My farther (Czeslaw Najgebauer) lived a full happy life in England before dying at the age of 86. Now, all I have is my brother as my mother also died, in her 80's. I would very much like to talk to you, as you may be related. And if so, we have so much to share.
