German history of my new home in Poland

I recently become a happy owner of a house on Polish Pomerania. I love the house architecture and the place it's settled. I would love to know about the history of the house. I've got one small photo made in 1930's and as I'm going to remodel the house, would be great to reference original style. Maybe there are some successors of the previous owners could share some history.

Where would you start with no German language knowledge?

Do you know when the house was built? That's your starting point. If you have the rough date you can read up on the history of how it should look inside and out, if you want it have some authentic features.

If the house has substantial German influence you can find information on the net about German houses. If your house is a farm house for example, lots of images here of authentic interiors which you could adapt for modern purposes:

maggieblanck.com/Germany/HousesIn.html

You can also get a good idea of the kind of furniture etc to choose. I can see that there are several 1930s pieces in the rooms alongside much older pieces.

Here's a link from the same site showing exteriors, can you spot anything like your house?

maggieblanck.com/Germany/Exteriors.html

The term 'Polish Pomerania' is amiguous. In Germany the terms they used for 'Pomerania' were "Vorpommern" and "Hinterpommern". What is now 'Województwo pomorskie" in Poland which may be what you have referred to as 'Polish Pomerania' was for major part "Westpreussen" for the Germans. The term 'Polish Pomerania' was never really used in history. The Poles simply called it "Pomorze" between 1920 and 1939.

What German history? Are you deluded? Germans are Serbians who tragically mistaken under the pressure and I sincerely apologize to Poles for all the sh** that Germans done to them.

Perhaps the OP is American? They do tend to use their own terms for Polish things. I really don't like to hear Germanic or Anglicized forms of Polish place names. For example, I hate hearing Silesia for Śląsk or Masovia for Mazowieckie. But the worst is when Americans translate Polish street names into English such as referring to Ulica Piękna as Beautiful Street. Would they call the Champs-Élysées the Elysian Fields? No, they wouldn't so why do they take liberties with Polish names. Having said that I am guilty of calling Warszawa, Warsaw :))

What Polish Pomerania?

Go to the nearest District Court (Sąd Rejonowy?) and try to obtain copies of the old pre WW2 land records. They will tell you the history of the house and its previous owners. You'll have to be very lucky though since many of these documents were deliberately destroyed by the Soviets and the Polish commies right after the war.

Really?

But sure Atch with that logic you'd never call Dublin Dublin, it's be Atha Cliath and Wexford would be Loch Garman etc.

I call it Silesia and any Silesians I speak to about Silesia call it Silesia too...there's even sports teams down here that use Silesia instead of Slask, I don't think it's a big deal for Poles to use the different versions...anyway Sileisa is more likey the German name that then English one and Silesia was German for a long, long time

Ironside middle of zachodniopomorskie

Perhaps. I wonder why the OP wrote "owner of a house on Polish Pomerania". Do they say "owner of a house on California" in the US?


Silesia is not the German name. The German name is "Schlesien".


Only for slightly more than two hundred years (1741-1945), Mr I Know What You Don't Know.

Actually:



From here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silesia#History

It's it funny that after a democratic referendum where the people decided to remain part of Germany it was instead awarded to Poland. Funny that eh?

Oh those pesky League of Nations guys and their meddalling in world affairs. Just imagine a successful Silesia powering Germany in modern times, instead we have sh!tholes like Ruda Slask and Bytom, Chorzow and Myslowice

So, anyway from 1741 to 1921 it was German; 180 years.
It's been Polish since 1921; 95 years.
Pretty easy to see that it was German for longer, let's not bother counting pre-1741 becasue Poland wasn't a republic then and freedom wasn't really afforded to the common people.

Now, let's go back to ignoring each other, I think you're a flaming galah and you think I'm one too so please let's never speak again, it was so much better that way

Sadly a result of 60 years of Soviet occupation and oppression, but mindsets and the economy is improving.

Ah, OK, thanks.
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Not that long.
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Wow Mr Genius in action again. From 1741 to 1871 belonged to Prussia. From 1871 belonged to the German empire hardly a democratic republic but I let it slide.

Not 180 years but 70 years when it comes to whole Silesia and when it comes to the upper Silesia you're talking about only
50 yearswhereas the same upper Silesia belonged to Poland as you noticed for at least95 years.
That is about as much as an Independent Ireland exist. Maybe should be merged with Britain again after all what is 95 years to a few hundred years, eh?

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You might have no heard about three Silesian uprisings which point out at the popular sentiment of people that wanted to be part of Poland. Also that 60% of referendum pertain to the whole upper Silesia but in 1922 that country has been spilt along lines of pro-Poland pro-German vote, some counties went to Poland and some remained in Germany.

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No it wasn't. Pretty easy to spot an ignorant .....!
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Why don't move to Germany, eh?
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Poland was a republic back then and was more free than any other country in the world. Geez ....you don't need a mule you can ride your own ignorance.

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Who told you that BS? Most papers where taken by the Nazi German official when they were running west from the Soviets. If you have any evidence that such a destruction happened I would like to see it as I'm not familiar with it.

How do get 60 years?

That would be 44 years or 46 years. Depends how you're counting it. I would say 46.

Dubhlinn Smurf, remember? The other Irish name for Dublin which is the Anglicized form of it, thanks to the Brits not being able to pronounce the original, easy though it is. The thing is that Irish place names in their English form are often just a corruption of the Gaelic because of the Brits not being able to get their heads around Irish, and some are direct translations from the Irish like Greystones, na Clocha Liath, so it's not so bad I think. Interesting point you made though!

A Polish district court, Iron. Most newer land deed records were worthless because they were only held for 50 years anyway unless there was a mortgage/ loan or something on the property. Politically motivated destruction of these records took place in both the "Recovered Territories" as well as in areas of Poland where ethnic Germans had stayed behind after the country regained its independence. The Russians did the same in East Prussia.


That's a myth. The Nazis didn't care too much about these documents for the above mentioned reasons. They even left most vital records behind, which were much more valuable.

Older Germans still often refer to 'Vor- u. Hinterpommern' when referring even casually to post-War Pomerania:-) To many, it remains German.

Depends if you take into account the transition period , so i might be 8 years wrong, stop being a argumentative little sod and contribute to the thread.

@ Iron

Forgot to say: most documents that have survived the war are now in Polish state archives. Some of them get published online, others require a visit, and many are still inaccesible to the public.

> I really don't like to hear Germanic or Anglicized forms of Polish place names.
>For example, I hate hearing Silesia for Śląsk or Masovia for Mazowieckie.

Well you wouldn't expect Poles to say 'London' instead of 'Londyn' when writing in Polish, would you? And don't tell me that you really say 'Roma' for Rome, Espana for Spain or use some Inuit word for Greenland? Macro-geographical names (regions, major cities, countries) always have a national form in each country. You'd only use the local name when it's too obscure to have made it into your own language.

And you'd have to Anglisize Śląsk anyway, bearing in mind the small matter that two of those letters don't exist in English...

That's where I stopped reading, go get in the sea.

Join Ziem and don't bother posting to me coz I don't read it


Where I'm from the Irish translates as 'sleeping rock' into English but the English name is just a mess :P

A - 345 years; Silesia is Polish since 990 until 1335 when Casimir III Great was forced to relinquish his claims to Silesia in the Treaty of Trentschin.

B - 191 years; Silesia is Czech since 1335 until 1526.
C - 215 years; Silesia is Austrian since1526 until 1741
D - 204 years; Silesia is Prussian and German since 1741 until 1945



Schade, wirklich schade, mein lieber Smurf!
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Poland (red) at the end of the reign of Kazimierz III (1370); Silesia (yellow) had been lost, but the Kingdom was expanding to the east

I do admire your precision Ziemowit; but then where was Silesia before 990??

@Wincig
From 935 to 990: Bohemia (loosely under the Holy Roman empire from 955 on.

From 902 to 935: Anarchy after Magyar raids devastated the area.

From sometime in the mid 800's to 902: Greater Moravia

From about 600 to the mid 800's: Several West Slavic tribes

From about 400 to 600: essentially depopulated after Hun raids drove the inhabitants away.

About 100 to 400: Germanic tribes, Goths and Vandals, including (probably) the Silingi, who apparently took their name from the hill just south of Wrocław.

500 BC to 100: Celtic tribes.

3000 BC to 500 BC: Indo-European tribes (proto-Germans and Proto-Celts, possibly Proto-Balto-Slavs mixed in).

4500 BC to 3000: Danubian Neolithic farmers (non-Indo-European, probably originally from Anatolia in Turkey).

9000 BC to 4500 BC: Scattered Mesolithic hunter gatherers.

Before 10000 BC: up to 2000 meters of ice covered virtually all of Silesia.

No German history. Its just history of delusion.

Yes and back in those times ancestors of future Silesians lived in Balkan Ice age refugium and were Serbians (ie Sarmatians).

Is this a new hypothesis on the origin of humanity? The "Out of Serbia" hypothesis?

mafketise

You don`t understand. What hypothesis on the origin of humanity? What "Out of Serbia" hypothesis? I didn`t mention Serbia but Silesians, Balkan Ice age refugium, Sarmatians and Serbians. I am always quite precise when write here. Little bit crazy by some standards, but precise. See, no doubt that 10.000-12.000 years ago Sarmatains (ie Proto Slavs) lived in Balkan Ice age refugium. Not that rest of Europe wasn`t populated with them but, for obvious reasons (unpleasant Ice age occured), bulk of population lived in Balkan Ice age refugium. And no, Balkan Ice age refugium wasn`t only place where at that time lived Sarmatians in great number. They lived in Crimean Ice age refugium, too. By some, that branch lived not only on Crimea but all around what is today`s Black Sea. Just, in those times Black Sea wasn`t sea but lake, fresh water lake.

Anyway, ancestors of modern day Silesians are population that followed Danubian Balkan-Baltic line, so they originate from Balkan Ice age refugium, as I said. Not that Sarmats from Crimean/Black Sea refugium didn`t influence them (all Sarmats intermixed and exchanged influences), but just their main population, in successive and slow migrations along the Danube river and its river net, came from Balkan Ice age refugium and that way re-populated what is now Silesia- that part of Sarmatian realm (Europe).

Also, by many scientific branches (archeology, history, linguistics,..), modern day Serbs from Balkan and Lusatian Serbs, represent last people (Slavs) on this Earth, who as their own ethnic name using what back in past was universal name of all Sarmatians (ie Slavs, ie Proto Slavs). In other words, Sarmatians = Serbians.

So tell me mafketise, where did I mistaken in my previous comment? How did I deserved that you upset me with your provocation? Should I be blamed for your own limitations, incapacity to admit to yourself simple truth about European past?

Back on topic please