Introduction

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I spent my first eight years from 1937 to 1945 at a small village south of Danzig/Gdansk with the name Wonneberg/Ujescisko (Stare).  My father came as a young teacher and organist to this village in 1930 and started a family.  We left in January 1945 (see left side).  I returned to Ujescisko as a visitor in 1970 and 2006.

Surroundings of Wonneberg / Ujescisko   top

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Surrounding villages in German and Polish.

Maps   top
Map of 1784

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Wonneberg is a very old village.  It is already drawn on a map of 1784.

...	Wonneberg before 1945

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Wonneberg just after 1945.............................................. Russian map

Google Map Overview

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This is special: Wonneberg was an Angerdorf.  A main and a side street formed an island, the Anger (yellow).  (Originally it was a public meadow.) There were three of the official buildings of the village, the shop/pub (14), the school (15) and the smithy (16).  Then there were a small and a big pond, a meadow and the pump house (17).  Most of the people took their drinking water from there. This was the place to meet and to talk to each other.  There were five farms (5000 ha altogether) on the right-hand side, the workers lived on the left-hand side. Most of them worked on the farms. The church (13) was outside the Anger on the main crossing of the village.  Usually the church was also situated on the island of an Angerdorf.

Inhabitants of Wonneberg top
List
We succeeded in finding the names of about 40 families, who lived in Wonneberg before 1945. 

xx Archut 59 Beyer xx Cozch 64 Dombrowski 65 Domrös 66 von Dühren, Artur (Wirt) 67 von Dühren, Felix (Bauer)  xx Flissikowski xx Grabowski 70/71 Grocholl 71 Groddeck 72 Hahn 12 Prang

xx Richert 37 Hansekowski 74 Heering  47/48 Hinz 49 Hoffmann 49/50  Hübner 56 Köller  29 Konrad  xx Krause xx Krönke 31 Krüger  33 Lademann 34 Lehre

35 Liesandt 36/38/39 Lischnewski  40 Mahlau  43 Mirau – Sielaff xx Pawlowski 16/18/19/20 Rösner xx Siek xx Spell 22 Splanemann 23 Splitt xx Stolz 01/28 Taube

03/04 Wittstock  06 Ziebarth 06 Ziehm. . . . . . . . . .

Many names came from my two elder brothers, who where 15 and 16 at the end of World War II. Many names also came from James Smith of the Lademann family living in the USA. He had procured them as a microfilm from the Mormones' "Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah". The numbers with two digits is the number of the 76 picture files he sent me. The families with xx are missing in the collection, but we knew them. 
There are also family names from Neu-Wonneberg, which we don't know with the exception 75 Herrmann. Then there is a card of the innkeeper of Hölle, 14 Puttkammer, and the one of my first teacher 02 Miss Tschiersky, who taught in Hölle, but lived in Danzig. 

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The names were collected by the "Heimatortskartei für Danzig-Westpreußen (1936-1963)". Obviously nearly all inhabitants got in touch with this place in Lübeck and sent their datas in handwriting.  We can't remember this process in the 1950s though it was shurely well known all over Germany. This organisation is closed, the datas were integrated into the Mormone library. You find them with "Wonneberg - Zwirngasse -  FHL INTL Film [ 444604 ]"

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My father's card was also among them. You can passably read it. The quality is often bad, because words written with ink were copied. It is a pity that many other families' datas can hardly be read. The card gives informations about  Name  Day  and place of birth, religion, family status Profession Last residence before 1945  Addresses after 1945

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01 Wittstock 02 Hahn 03 Farmer Hering, Mrs. Schwarz 04 Farmer Groddeck, Lehre 05 School 1st to 4th year (Ms. Schäfer). 06 Farmer Taube 07 Farmer Arthur von Dühren 08 Farmer Prang 09 Sielaff, Mirau  10 Splitt 11 Worker's' houses: Konrad, Domrös, Pawlowski, Dombrowski, Rosalewski, Ziehm(?).

12 Mrs. Rösner  13 Parish priest house Hoffmann, Church 14 Shop and pub von Dühren 15 School 5-7 Köller 16 Smithy Archut, Liesandt 17 Pump house  18 Workers' houses - Splanemann, Mahlau, Hansekowski / Grocholl, Flissikowski, ...  19 Mahlau 20 House owned by the village - Sieg, Lademann and the policeman Krüger. 21/22 Cozch, Lischnewski, Hübner, Ziebarth, Krönke, Richert

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We found the residences of 22 families.  We know 34 families, but we couldn't read many names of the towns on the cards. The residence is marked by a red point. The letters are the first ones of the family names.  This is sure: The families spread out all over Germany after the War.

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I tried to draw a map of today.  We recognized the red houses mostly built in red bricks.  The church was burnt in 1945. The ruins of the cemetery were still there in a small wood. You could not recognize the farms. Some of the main houses were destroyed in 1945. The small pond disappeared, also the pump house. There are a transformer house and the bus station now.  The buildings of the smithy and the shop/pub were old and replaced by new houses.

Leaving Wonneberg  top
The priest's and my family left the village before conquered by the Russian army, also the Grocholl and Krüger family later than we. The other German inhabitants had a hard summer and were sent away in 1945. 
Attempt of Using the Train 

...	We wanted to go westward by train.  This is the ticket written in 1945, 27 Jan.

But the train had to return to Danzig after several hours. The Russian army stood in front of Stettin and the rails were not free.

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Only the seeway was open. We found the ship Emsstrom, which stayed in the harbour of Neufahrwasser until a  convoy assembled. I found this statement about it on the internet: "Am 1.Februar 1945 verließen die großen Passagierdampfer Hansa (21.133 BRT), Hamburg (21.691 BRT), Cap Arkona (27.571 BRT) und weitere Schiffe die Danziger Bucht und erreichten die westliche Ostsee."

1937

Heute

Old Pictures    top
Church

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Two village views come from a postcard, which my mother sent to her cousin at Mülheim an der Ruhr in 1942.   The church was destroyed in springtime 1945.

Before 1942 and in February 2009

Before 1942 und in February 2009

...... I found this drawing on the internet on the web site of a Polish newsgroup.  Hopefully there is no copyright on it. If there is, please tell me.

Entrance of the church, before 1945

...	Former school (15) in 1930

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Former school (15) in 1939

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...	Farm Felix von Dühren before 1945 (7) Rainer Köller sent me this photo.

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You can see the position of the farm buildings with the help of the old map above. 1 dwelling, 2  cow shed and pigsty, 3 barn, 4 horse stable, 5 room for carriages and smithy, 6 Administrator's house.

Dwelling

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Franz Heering, Frau Schwarz, and Dora Heering on their carriage

Franz Heering in front of the stable in 1932 

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This is a photo taken from the first floor of the dwelling. You see the school with the two chimneys in the centre. The spire of the church is just right beside the fir tree on the right.  The scattering of trees and the fountain on the left are unknown.

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This is a view to the farm Prang with a chimney and to two willow trees, which stood along the big pond.  Felix von Dühren's farm is on the very left.

The house of the von Dühren family (14) in the background, the shop on the left, the pub on the right.

House of the Mirau family

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View from the pump house over the small pond to the former school (15) in 1965. Hans-Günter Sielaff took it in 1965.

...	This is the same place in 2006.

Old Photos of places in the surrounding    top

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Umgebung von Wonneberg/Ujescisko in Deutsch und Polnisch.

Estate Zankenzin, photo by  Barbara Lewko, 1993

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Estate Zankenzin, photo by Barbara Lewko, 1999

Estate Schönfeld, provided by Bartosz B.

School Emaus

Ruin of the school Hölle

Old Stories    top
Bruno von Stolzenberg

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A monument was erected in rememberance of the former cemetery in November 2008.  Inscription: ... Former protestant cemetery at Wonnenberg ... This is a great gesture of the present inhabitants of Wonneberg/Ujescisko. This brings back memories: As a seven year old boy I watched the funerals from the street many times before 1945. Schucker-Brunchen (alias Bruno von Stolzenberg) stood in the focus. I could watch him from a safe distance. We feared him in the streets. The older children teased him, so he chased all children and waved his walking stick. It was said that Schucker-Brunchen was a former priest. He was a bit confused. He visited *all* funerals in and around Danzig/Gdansk and gave condolences. He lived from the small money he received then. Schucker-Brunchen became as Schugger Leo a character of the world literature. He played an important underpart in the novel Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) by Günter Grass.  Grass: Near the end of World War II the number of funerals had increased so much that even Schugger Leo lost the overview.

The big pond had no inflow and no outflow and was filled by the surface water (rain). It was only about 80 cm deep. It was deeper in front of the street between the farmers Arthur von Dühren and Prang, so that the horses could dip in for washing. - The pond was the cattle watering tank. The horses were driven to the north west corner every day in the morning, so that they could drink water.  They already were harnessed as teams to two or four. In the evenings the cows came to the ponds for drinking, too. 

The youth didn't swim in the pond very often. The ground was muddy and the water became easily dirty. The children learned how to swim in a little pond north of Wonneberg in direction Hölle. You can still see it on the Russian map above.

The children had many more activities:

Obviously the pond was biologically in balance, because there lived fish, especially crucian carps. They caught the fish with a special technique: They opened an empty paillasse with two sticks and then two boys pulled it through the shallow water. Later on, when the fish were fried, nobody wanted to eat them. They were full of bones and the mud gave them a bad taste.

The winters were hard and long. The big pond was frozen all winter. Skating was the favourite sport. 
The carrousel was favoured: The older children drove in a post in the centre of the pond. They fastened one end of a long rope on the post. A skilled ice-skater took the other free end and made wide circles with the tight rope. More ice-skater hold fast to the rope and made circles with smaller radii. If someone had to loose the rope, he glided over the ice surface applaused by the others.

In January the slaughter from Emaus came to the pond and cut out rectangular floes with an axe. He pulled them out of the pond, shred them to smaller pieces, brought them with his lorry to his cellar and cooled his meat products in warmer seasons. When the floes still lay in the water, running on them was a favourite sport. Somebody jumped from floe to floe and had to hit on the centre, so that the floe could carry for a moment. It was dangerous to come under the ice surface. This happened once with a boy from Neuwonneberg, who was rescued with difficulties. When the slaughter left back a free water surface or during thaw, the children formed bigger floes and used them as floats. 

...... 2006.

When we visited Wonneberg/Ujescisko in March 2006, we found a children's playground and some benches on the south east corner in front of the former house of Mirau family (photo). Before 1945 there was a fair with a roundabout and some other amusement attractions every year on this place.  There was also the fire engine house.  This was the place , where the slaughter's lorry stood for transporting the ice.

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That is new to us: Water lilies on the big pond (Photo by Jacek Kalinowski, 2008)

New Pictures top
Jacek Kalinowski sent me the following photos. 

...	He combined four old photos with new ones.

This is the settlement "Sztery pory roku" (Four Seasons) in Zankenzin.
On the left and in the foreground there is a new school.

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There is also the new catholic church St. Padre Pio. 
The church is still under construction (December 2009). The spires are 35m high.

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Danzig-Wonneberg/Gdansk-Ujescisko on the Internet       top

German

Axel Katins
Praust
"Diese Website soll allen interessierten Historikern und Familienforschern zur Verfügung stehen, sich ein Bild der Stadt Praust (Kreis Danziger Höhe) und ihrer Einwohner zu machen."

Bund der Deutschen Minderheit Danzig
Bund der Deutschen Minderheit Danzig / Zwiazek Mniejszosci Niemieckiej Gdansk
Geschichte der Deutschen in Danzig nach 1945

forum.danzig.de
Schucker Brunchen und Blum Antje,  Eine Erinnerung an Bruno (Schucker Brunchen)

Wikipedia
Danzig,  Freie Stadt Danzig,  Ostgebiete des Deutschen Reiches,  Heimatvertriebener

English

Google Map Overview

Wikipedia
Gdansk, Free City of Danzig, Former eastern territories of Germany,  Heimatvertriebene, 
Family History Library (Mormon Church)

Gdansk (official web site)