Visit in Rütznow/Prusinowo, Pomerania, August 2004
April 2008
In August 2004 we went from Berlin to Poland, in order to visit
Rütznow
in Pomerania, where Peter lived for much of the time during the war
with his
grandparents and where he started school in the fall of 1944. Peter and
Caroline had been there already in 1989. This time we were lucky to
have a young man with us who was fluent in Polish. We visited the house
of the grandparents. These days several families live in it. One of the
tenants, Mrs.
Maziarz invited us for a cup of coffee. We also visited the school. the
empty room is the room in which Peter had his first school days. At
that time the school had only two rooms. The last photo shows the area
that used to be the stable area of the estate. there is nothing left of
the old buildings.
The black and white photos originate from the time of the war or are
older then that. The third photo shows Peter in his school outfit. The
fourth (color) photo shows a pine tree, still standing behind
the
house, which was an important part of childhood memories. The old
people are
Peter's great-grandparents whom he did not know, though. The
great-grandfather was a shepherd and it seems also a forester
in
the large estate to which the village belonged. The chronicle reports
that he went 60 km on foot when he was 80 years old and had to visit an
authority office.
Thanks to an e-mail connection we had the surprise of getting some
current photos of the house from our hosts.
