Tag Archives: Eulengebirge

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Hermann Radzyk painted the viaduct in the Góry Sowie in 1924

Exactly a hundred years ago, in 1924, my grandfather Hermann Radzyk painted this rack train viaduct in the Eulengebirge (Góry Sowie) in Silesia (now Poland).

On the rear side, Hermann Radzyk wrote down the year and the name of his painting. He called it “Der Viadukt (the viaduct)”, and he added “Silberberg, Eulengebirge”. The painting is family-owned.

Look at the cone shaped hill behind the viaduct on this old postcard. It shows the same viaduct, the so-called “Silberbergviadukt” or, in Polish, “Wiadukt Srebrnogórski”.

(Source: Jacek Gruzlewski and Tomasz Przerwa, p. 224)

The easel of my grandfather stood on the Silberberg pass (Przełęcz Srebrna) above the viaduct. He looked south towards the valley of Herzogswalde (Zdanów) and the mountains of Wartha (Góry Bardzkie).

I only found two places, where I could see the viaduct from the Silberbergpass today. In summer 2023, I stepped into the high grass of the wild meadow above the viaduct. This is all I could see from the viaduct. I am a bit lower than the easel of my grandfather.

Along this wild meadow, there is a small footpath that leads down into the valley under the viaduct (see https://polska-org.pl/539823,Srebrna_Gora,Wiadukt_Srebrnogorski_Most_Katarzyny.html for a good description of the path from the car parking to the viaduct)

A hiking path crosses the viaduct. It was drizzling, when I was here.

The second “window” was on the local street above the pass road (Warowna Street leading to Hahnvorwerk or Budzowska Kolonia), where the viaduct appeared once more between the trees. 

However, the easel stood more to the right and not as high as I am now. Today, my grandfather Hermann Radzyk could no longer reproduce the painting of the viaduct. 

I invested quite some detective work to identify the viaduct my grandfather had painted. This was an opportunity to get to know Silberberg and the Eulengebirgsbahn, the railway of the Owl Mountains. Let me tell you.

I will start with my detective work which comes in three steps: First, where in Europe is this viaduct? Second, found two viaducts, where are they “hiding”? Third, which of the two viaducts is on the painting? Closing it up, I wanted to make sure, that it was really not the Herzogswaldeviadukt  that my grandfather painted, but it was the Silberbergviadukt.

 

First challenge: Where in Europe is this viaduct?

My sister owns the painting of the viaduct. In June 2024, I packed my tripod and drove to  my sister’s house to take photos. We took her paintings down from the walls. Only then I found out about the description on the rear side: 1924, “”Der Viadukt”, Silberberg, Eulengebirge”. Knowing this before would have made my detective work easier. From the beginning, I would have looked for the viaduct in the Eulengebirge (Góry Sowie, Silesia).

But I was not aware of the description on the rear side, when early in 2023, I started to look for the viaduct. I had to guess, where in Europe this viaduct stands. The vegetation looked middle or northern European. Perhaps Silesia?  I investigated all mountain railway lines in Silesia in the Internet and ended up discovering the two red brick viaducts in the Eulengebirge (Góry Sowie) near Silberberg (Srebrna Góra). They both are very similar and they both look like the viaduct on the painting of my grandfather, as the old postcards show.

(1) This is the “higher” viaduct just below the Silberberg pass, called Wiadukt Srebrnogórski (in German Silberbergviadukt).

(Source: https://polska-org.pl/539823,Srebrna_Gora,Wiadukt_Srebrnogorski_Most_Katarzyny.html)

(2) … and this is the “lower” viaduct just after Silberberg called Wiadukt Zdanówski (in German Herzogswaldeviadukt). 

(Source: https://polska-org.pl/522602,Zdanow,Wiadukt_Zdanowski_Most_Dziewiczy.html)

It is clear to me, my grandfather has painted one of the two viaducts, but it is unclear to me, which of the two and from where.

Let us check out, where we are: Srebrna Góra is in Silesia, part of the Powiat Ząbkowice Śląskie, located north of Powiat Klodzko at the south east edge of the Eulengebirge (Góry Sowie) and north of the Góry Bardzkie.

Source: Google maps and my additions.

 

Second challenge in May 2023: Found two viaducts in the Owl Mountains in the Internet, now – where are they “hiding”?

On my hiking map, I marked the two viaducts.

To find the viaducts, I settled in the Lesny Dvor in Wolibórz near Srebrna Góra in May 2023, with a friend. 

We drove to Zdanów (formerly Herzogswalde) and above Zdanów we looked north to where we knew, the viaducts should be. We could not see any viaducts, just trees and above the dense forest the Fortress of Srebrna Góra (the Srebrna Góra Twierdza). A friendly dog barked at us from a garden, wagging his tail. The owner came to the gate. “What are you doing here?” He and his wife invited us for coffee. They told us, that we can see the viaduct from the hiking path close to where the road to Srebrna Góra forks. 

We drove to the fork. My friend left the car and her face brightened up, as she spotted one arch of the “lower” viaduct. We parked the car to walk there. We heard children laugh. We saw the “lower” viaduct, the Herzogwaldeviadukt, behind the trees.

A young man sat on a stone. He said that he is a mountain guide. A mountain guide? Here? But soon we understood. The viaduct is a climbing park now! 

The children that we could hear laugh are here to learn how to climb. The viaduct has been “recycled”. 

Later I drove to the parking above the Small Silberberg pass and, via Fort Ostrog (Spitzberg), I climbed down to the “upper” viaduct, the Silberbergviadukt. The area around the viaduct is very, very steep. I reached the top of the viaduct – it is now a hiking path. Not everyone might want to cross the viaduct. It looks dizzying.

Around the viaduct, it was not only steep, but also wet. I did not climb down to the bottom of the viaduct. Instead, I followed the old railway track to the “lower” viaduct, the Herzogswaldeviadukt. 

Very impressive. In some places, landslides cover the trench that the Germans had dug for the railway. The hiking pass across the Herzogswaldeviadukt is comfortable and less dizzying.

Still I do not understand, which of the two viaducts my grandfather has painted, the “upper” or the “lower”. They are so similar!

 

Third and final challenge in August 2023: Which of the two viaducts is on the painting and where was the easel?

I returned in August 2023 and settled in the Palac Kamieniec near Klodzko twice, once on my way to Kraków and again on my way back from Kraków. From talking to the friendly couple at Zdanów, I now understood that the easel stood north of the viaducts and Hermann Radzyk painted looking south to the valley of Zdanów and to the Góry Bardzkie. I had two alternative hypotheses for the location of the easel, one for the “lower” viaduct near Srebrna Góra and one for the “upper” viaduct near the Silberberg pass.

I do not remember, how often I walked around the two viaducts, until I understood clearly, it was the “UPPER” Silberbergviadukt that my grandfather had painted, and the easel stood on the Silberberg pass (Przełęcz Srebrna). In the meantime, I had acquired the wonderful bilingual book of Jacek Gruzlewski and Tomasz Przerwa about the history of Silberberg. The old photos were useful for my investigations.

Let us look at the painting again. The easel stood clearly ABOVE the viaduct on a meadow with bushes and not too far away from the viaduct.

The view behind the Silberberg viaduct is a good match with the background on the old postcard – there is the same cone-shaped hill behind the viaduct.

(Source: Jacek Gruzlewski and Tomasz Przerwa, p. 224)

The photographer of this old postcard stood south below the Silberbergviadukt looking north to the meadow with the bushes, where the easel was.  

(Source: Jacek Gruzlewski and Tomasz Przerwa, p. 224)

Now I am convinced, Hermann Radzyk painted the “upper” viaduct, the Silberbergviadukt and the easel was ABOVE the viaduct on a MEADOW, on the Silberberg pass. 

 

Final check: “Lower” Herzogswaldeviadukt excluded – Hermann Radzyk did not paint the “lower” viaduct

I excluded the “lower” Herzogswaldeviadukt, first because already a hundred years ago, there were trees in the valley north of the viaduct, as this photo taken from the south shows. No meadow behind this viaduct to put down the easel.

(Source: Jacek Gruzlewski and Tomasz Przerwa, p. 221)

I excluded the Herzogswaldeviadukt, because second, in the valley north of it, I am always BELOW the viaduct. I verified that on site. I took my photo in the valley north of the Herzogswaldeviadukt  and I am looking up to the viaduct. A little bit farther, the path turns behind the mountain and the viaduct disappears. No place here to look down to the viaduct.

It would have been inconvenient to put down the easel here, there are no houses in the wild valley behind the Herzogswaldeviadukt. The couple of Zdanów had suggested, the easel was higher up and closer to the Small Silberberg pass, but at that point, I am too far away and there are hills in the visual axis to the Herzogswaldeviadukt. 

Yes, it is confirmed for me, the painting shows the “upper” Silberbergviadukt or, in Polish, the Wiaduct Srebrnogórsky. I am happy to have solved the puzzle of the viaduct.

Let us now learn more about the Railway of the Owl Mountains and about Silberberg and its fortress.

 

The Eulengebirgsbahn (Railway of the Owl Mountains) was built to speed up the transport of coal from Neurode to the weaving factories of Reichenbach

North East of the Eulengebirge (Góry Sowie) were the weaving factories, where the weavers’ rebellion took place in the year 1844. About this rebellion, the German author Gerhart Hauptmann wrote the play “die Weber (the Weavers)” in 1892 (we read it at school 60 years ago). The weaving factories around Reichenbach needed energy. Coal mining was at Neurode, on the other side of the mountains. The Eulengebirge (Góry Sowie) and the Warthagebirge (Góry Bardzkie) were in the way. The Germans decided to connect Neurode and Reichenbach by building a railway, the Eulengebirgsbahn, nick named “Eule”. The railway from Reichenbach to Silberberg was inaugurated in 1900. Two years later, in 1902, the Germans completed the section between Silberberg and Neurode. For this section, they had to overcome the Silber pass (Przełęcz Srebrna) that separates the Eulengebirge (Góry Sowie) from the Warthagebirge (Góry Bardzkie). They built the cog railway between Silberberg (Srebrna Góra) and Neudorf (Nowa Wieś). Crossing the two canyons between Silberberg and the Silber pass required constructing the two spectacular viaducts. The Herzogswaldeviadukt was 24m high and 90m long. The Silberbergviadukt was 27m high (Gruzlewski and Przerwa , p. 220 and p. 224) .     

(Source: Google maps and my own additions to lay out the approximate route of the railway and the mountains)

The cog train became a tourist attraction. The journey was 4.2km long and lasted about 27 minutes to overcome 175m (Gruzlewski and Przerwa , p. 230). The viaducts were spectacular. The railway had to be cut into the mountains, the rocks were 18m high.

(Gruzlewski and Przerwa , p. 223).

In 1924, when my grandfather put down his easel on the Silberberg pass, he surely had arrived with his family by cog train and left it at the station on the Silberberg pass.

(Gruzlewski and Przerwa , p. 216).

There were only a few tourist facilities on the Silberberg pass, the Waldfrieden (left hand side at the edge) and the Gasthaus zur Friedrichshöh (right hand side) (Gruzlewski and Przerwa , p. 58ff ). Probably my grandfather stayed in one of these facilities with his family.

(Gruzlewski and Przerwa , p.108)

Unfortunately, the cog wheel section had not been constructed carefully and was halted already in 1931. The last rack train travelled on October 11th 1931 (Gruzlewski and Przerwa, p. 228).

Today, the two viaducts belong to the cultural heritage of Poland, as indicated on the hiking map. The railway track has become the hiking path that I explored when investigating the viaducts. I came across quite a few hikers from Poland that enjoyed crossing the viaducts.

 

About the Silberberg Fortress built by the Prussians, now and before a tourist attraction

Today the Silberberg Fortress (Twierdza Srebrna) is the tourist attraction of Silberberg. I visited it in October 2022 on my first “detective tour”, then feeling desperate, because I had no idea, where to look for the places of the easel of my grandfather; I was even not aware of the viaducts below the Fortress. Almost one year later, in 2023, I knew about the viaducts. Again, I climbed up to the Fortress to get an overview of the western ridge of the Góry Bardzie that are on the painting of my grandfather. I could recognize the meadow behind Herzogswalde (Zdanów).

 

 It was wet and rainy. Not as sunny as on the painting of my grandfather. Today, there are more trees, but the hills of the Góry Bardzkie are still the same. 

In the souvenir shop of the Fortress, I found the wonderful book of Jacek Gruzlewski and Tomasz Przerwa (“Silberberg. A mirror of time – Srebrna Góra. Zwierciadlo czasu”, Srebrna Góra, Sova 2021). Back at the Palac Kamieniec in the evening, I read the book drinking a glass of good Polish wine. Good Polish wine? Be assured, you can find that.

The Silberberg Fortress had been completed by Frederick II from Prussia in 1785. He had a complex of fortresses constructed on various hills above the Silberberg pass (Gruzlewski and Przerwa, p. 100). 

After 1880, the Fortress became a tourist attraction (Gruzlewski and Przerwa, p. 106).  In the time between the wars, about 60’000 tourists per year visited Fort Silberberg; they benefited from the railway station on the Silverberg pass (Gruzlewski and Przerwa, p. 130).

The fortresses have a gloomy past in the Second World War; the Nazi imprisoned Polish officers  (p. 107) and there were also Finnish prisoners (p.174).  I felt sorry for them. The vaults are very dark and wet, and I got lost in them.  

The Silberberg Fortress is a touristy place today as well. On weekends the two car parkings on the small Silberberg pass fill up quickly. Most tourists are from Poland. In addition I could hear some German; the children and grand children of the Silesians that had to emigrate after 1945 are now coming to Silesia to find the houses of their ancestors; the houses are now inhabited by the descendants of the Poles that had to emigrate from former East Poland. A beautiful testimony of the events after 1945 is given the Karolyna Kuszik’s “Poniemieckie”. 

 

The art scene at Srebrna Góra

Usually, my grandfather travelled to places with an active scene of artists. Gruzlewski and Przerwa included the chapter called “Artistically” on p. 239. They mention that plein-air painting arrived only shortly before the First World War;  Carl Ernst Morgenstern had painted the fortresses and Max Leipelt’s company from Cieplice (Warmbrunn) published postcards based on these paintings. In 1921-1922, the printer Franz Otto moved to Srebrna Góra and produced a calendar with wood cuts about the area. Was Hermann Radzyk aware of this calendar, when he decided to visit Srebrna Góra? In the 1920’s, the artist Max Günther moved to Srebrna Góra. Was Hermann Radzyk in contact with him, when he came to Srebrna Góra in 1924? I do not know. 

 

Srebrnra Góra and its rack railway – what a wonderful area

It was in October 2022 that I visited the Eulengebirge for the first time looking for the paintings of my grandfather, but not yet knowing any of the locations of the easel. I then drove along the south border of the Eulengebirge and was very surprised, when all of a sudden, the road went up steeply taking me to the Silberberg pass. In 2023 I returned three times to the area around Srebrna Góra and started to feel somewhat at home. The Poles I met off the beaten tracks asked me: “What are you doing HERE?” I showed them the painting of my grandfather – “I see”.

I thank the friendly couple at Zdanów that invited us for coffee. They spoke German and were the owners of a German diploma paper about Herzogswalde from the 1950’s. The owners of the Lesny Dvor proudly lent me their books about (German) Silesia, and German maps hang on the walls of their hotel. In addition the Palac Kamieniec is proud of their maps hanging on their walls. All that helped me to solve my puzzles about the paintings of my grandfather. And it gave me a feeling of reconciliation between Poles and Germans – this provides hope for the future.

Sources:

 

 

 

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Hermann Radzyk painted the “Blick in das Glätzische Land” with Falkenberg (Silesia) in 1923

A hundred years ago, in the year 1923, my grandfather Hermann Radzyk painted the “Blick in das Glätzische Land (view of the Glatz district)” in Silesia (now Poland).

The painting is owned privately by a friend of our family.

This old postcard is a very good match. 

Source: Panoramy i widoki Sokolca, Sokolec – zdjęcia (polska-org.pl)

The postcard confirms, the painting “Blick in das Glätzische Land” shows Glätzisch-Falkenberg from the Euldörfel. 

The Euldörfel was a holiday resort located above Falkenberg (today Sokolec). The “lower” houses (pensions and hotels) of the Euldörfel stood on this slope above the valley. 

Source: Euldörfel-Schwarzwasser (Eulengebirge) :: Ansichtskarten-Lexikon

The houses of the “lower” Euldörfel spread loosely along the road leading uphill (across the photo from bottom left to middle right hand side); where the road turns, the “upper” Euldörfel begins (right hand corner of the photo). From here, it is about a half hour walk to the Hohe Eule (Welka Sowa), the highest peak of the Eulengebirge (Góry Sowie).

The Euldörfel  has mostly disappeared today. Just meadows and trees, where the houses were a hundred years ago.

 

In August 2023, I identified the approximate position of the easel

From the valley below the former Euldörfel and above Sokolec, I climb uphill on a steep and winding footpath that ends joining this comfortable hiking path.

This panel shows, what the hiking path looked like a hundred years ago: It was a comfortable road that was used by coaches and pedestrians to get to the Euldörfel. 

I imagine my grandparents and their daughter (my mother) walking along this road, while a horse carriage carries the easel, the canvas, the paint brushes and the oil colours. 

A little bit higher up, I find another panel. 

The panel shows two pensions of the former  “lower” Euldörfel, and they have totally disappeared today. Nothing but meadows here.

Where was the house with the shed and the two trees that my grandfather had painted in the foreground? Back at home I study this old postcard again, and I am pretty sure, the house in the foreground was at the turn of the road towards the “upper” Euldörfel (see red circle). 

Right above the turn, there was the famous pension called Müller Max Baude. Perhaps my grandparents stayed at the Müller Max Baude. Also this pension has disappeared.

Today, the view of the valley is hidden behind trees, as my photo shows. For this photo, I stand a bit lower than where the easel of my grandfather was (red circle on postcard).  

 

Geographical location of the easel 

On my Compass hiking map, I have marked the location of the painting. From the  viewpoint at the former Euldörfel, my grandfather looked south towards the village Falkenberg (Sokolec) with Saint Martin’s church. 

At the viewpoint, the map mentions “Murski pasterski” which means “shepherds’ walls”. However, I believe the “shepherds’ walls” were remains of the Euldörfel. At the time the map was created, it was perhaps not allowed to mention the German past with the Euldörfel. 

With googlemaps, I give the overall geographical localization of the painting “Blick in das Glätzische Land”.  

Source: Googlemaps

 

I needed several excursions to find the location of the painting “Blick in das Glätzische Land”

In autumn 2022, I am at Silesia for the first time to look for some paintings of my grandfather. I just knew, he painted somewhere in the county Glatz, now called Powiat Kłodzko. I settle in the charming hotel Palac Kamienec near the city Kłodzko.

The park of the Palac is romantic, particularly on a hazy autumn morning. 

On the first day, I drive north to Sokolec, look at Saint Martin’s church, and feel helpless. Will I ever be able to find the paintings? I am not able to recognize this church from the paintings.

A year later, in 2023, I return to Silesia. Sokolec with Saint Martin’s church attracts me again and again. I evaluate the valley above Sokolec. I start to suspect that the “view of the Glätzisches Land” shows the valley of Sokolec. However, at the viewpoint above Sokolec, I see only meadows and trees, no houses here, even no ruins. Around the Eulenbaude, still higher above Sokolec, I find a few houses; from here, it is not possible to see the valley and Sokolec (Falkenberg).

I look at Saint Martin’s church again and again. I see that the belfry is shorter than on the painting. I notice the panel that says, the tower had been destroyed during the war; it was rebuilt after 1945. Perhaps the belfry was higher before, and it is this church that my grandfather painted?

The landlady of the hotel notices that my grandfather had painted a red house next to the church in the valley. There is a red house next to Saint Martin’s church still today, she says, and it is on sale. This is what the red house looks like now; it may be difficult to sell it.

Finally, I solve the enigma; a few months later, in August 2023, I park my car above Sokolec (in the hairpin turn of the new main road leading to Rzeczka – see Compass hiking map).

Through meadows and trees, I walk uphill on the winding footpath, and I find the panels that show the houses of the former Euldörfel. Now I understand: Where I only see meadows now, there was the holiday resort Euldörfel a hundred years ago, and my grandparents were here in 1923. From here, my grandfather painted the house with the shed in the foreground, the village Sokolec, Saint Martin’s church and the mountains of the county Glatz in the background.  

The postcard confirms, the painting shows the view of Sokolec (Falkenberg) from the Euldörfel.

 

Source: Panoramy i widoki Sokolca, Sokolec – zdjęcia (polska-org.pl)

I am pretty sure that the easel stood at the turn of the road (red circle).

Another enigma of Hermann Radzyk solved – I feel close to my grandparents (that I have never met) and to their daughter, my mother. 

 

The area around Sokolec with the Welka Sowa is well worth visiting, also today

Though less well-known than the Riesengebirge (Karkonosze), the area around Sokolec with the Welka Sowa, the highest peak of the Góry Sówie, is worth visiting.

On Welka Sowa, the Bismarck tower has just been renovated. It shines in brilliant white.

I climb the tower and enjoy the view of the “Glätzisches Land”. The mountain in the middle (with meadows and forest stripes) is Niczyja (Neumanskoppe). Sokolec (Falkenberg) is located left at the foot of Niczyja. The mountains in the background are the Góry Stołowe (Heuscheuergebirge) that mostly belong to the Powiat Klodzko (County Glatz). The Góry Stołowe form the background of my grandfather’s painting “Blick in das Glätzische Land”.

By the way, behind Niczyja (former Neumanskoppe) is Sierpnica (Rudolfwaldau), where my grandfather painted the “Neumannskoppe” with the “Maria Schneekirche”  in 1919.

When hiking around the Welka Sowa, I hear the soft hissing sounds of the Poles around me. I do not come across any foreign tourists. The Poles ask me again and again: “What are YOU doing HERE?” I was the only non-Polish hiker. “Ah”, they said, when I showed them the photos of my grandfather’s Silesian paintings. 

Sokolec is a laid off small village with a friendly restaurant. The Oberza PRL commemorates “socialist” times, with the Trabbi…

… and with the menu that contains meals with a communist touch.

I found some lighter meals on the list – I liked those with fish and cabbiage. I visited the Oberza several times, when investigating the area, and I enjoyed the hospitality.

The panel on Saint Martin’s church at Sokolec thanks for the funds and the active support received by former German and present-day Polish inhabitants as “a symbol of comprehension and admonition for peace”. 

I wish that peace will prevail – now and in future.

 

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Hermann Radzig-Radzyk painted in Silesia a hundred years ago: Neumannskoppe with Maria-Schnee-Kirche

In May/June 2023, I was in Silesia, looking for some places, where my grandfather Hermann Radzyk put up his easel a hundred years ago (as an artist he painted under the name of Hermann Radzig-Radzyk).

One painting I was looking for was the “Neumannskoppe” of 1919 (belongs to my sister and me). 

I know title and year from a letter of my mother to her best friend. I acquired the painting from a friend of the son of my mother’s best friend.

I solved the puzzle end of May 2023: To paint the “Neumannskoppe”, my grandfather had put his easel up at Rudolfswaldau, now Sierpnica. The mountain Neumannskoppe has become Niczyja. The wooden church with the baroque belfry is called Maria-Schnee-Kirche (Kościół Matki Bożej Śnieżnej, i.e. “Our Lady of the Snows”). 

I was at Sierpnica end of May 2023 to see, what the church looks like today, and I took the photo from where the easel was (approximately).

Today the church is hidden behind trees.

While taking my photos, I met Dziki who lives near the church. He gave me his winter photo. The trees without leaves allow to see more of the church that my grandfather painted.

Source: Photo taken by Dziki Domek.

Now let me tell you, how I solved the puzzle to find the easel for the painting “Neumannskoppe”.

 

Where is the Neumannskoppe?

I started by looking for the Neumannskoppe. I suspected, the Neumannskoppe is a mountain somewhere in Silesia. I entered “Neumannskoppe” in google maps – no result. I continued googling and googling “Neumannskoppe” combined with various terms… and after a lot of googling, I found this old German-Silesian advertisement for the “Grenzbaude im Eulengebirge” (boundary mountain hut in the Owl Mountains). 

The advertisement says that the Grenzbaude is located between the “Neumannskoppe” and the “Hohe Eule” (1). Hence the “Neumannskoppe” is not far from the “Hohe Eule”. Googling “Hohe Eule”, I found the name “Wielka Sowa”, which is the highest mountain in the Góry Sowie (Owl Mountains). 

Conclusion: The church with the Neumannskoppe is not far away from the Wielka Sowa. I asked Google to show me the churches around Wielka Sowa and  I clicked on all of them.

At Sierpnica, I found the church that my grandfather had painted. It is now called Kościół Matki Bożej Śnieżnej, in German Maria-Schnee-Kirche.

Source: Marius Tyski, Church of our Lady of the Snows, Instagram, appeared in google maps about a year ago, in the meantime I can no longer find it there. 

This is the location of the Kościół Matki Bożej Śnieżnej on my hiking map of the Owl Mountains, south west of the Wielka Sowa. 

Source: Compass Góry Sowie, mapa turystyczna, scala 1:35’000

But where exactly is the Neumannskoppe? It must be either the peak Sokól or the peak Niczyja – this puzzle remained. I solved it at the hotel Lesny Dvor at Wolibórz (Volpersdorf) – we stayed here a few days. The Lesny Dvor had a German map whith the Neumannskoppe – and comparing with my hiking map, it becomes clear that the Neumannskoppe is now called Niczyja.  

Source: German map that hangs in the hotel Lesny Dvor at Wolibórz

Niczyja (“nobody’s mountain”) is the approximate translation of  “Neumannskoppe” (“new man’s mountain”).

My grandparents must have spent their vacation at Rudolfswaldau in 1919, when their daughter (my mother) was 3 years old. My grandfather took his easel, canvas and colours with him to paint the Maria-Schnee-Kirche in front of the Neumannskoppe. About a hundred years later, in May 2023, I was here as well – at Sierpnica – and solved the puzzle.

 

The church Lady of our Snows (Kościół Matki Bożej Śnieżnej) is a historical treasure

The church Kościół Matki Bożej Śnieżnej was built out of wood in the 16th century. It is one of many “Schrotholzkirchen” in Silesia (see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Schrotholzkirchen_in_Niederschlesien). 

It was a protestant church. After the War of 30 years, after 1648, it became a catholic church (the area belonged to catholic Austria at that time). In the 17th century, the tower burnt down, and the new baroque tower was built.

I could not enter the church,  I could just look through the window and capture the interior with the altar…

… and the benches.

Visiting more wooden churches or Schrotholzkirchen might be another interesting target in Silesia. 

 

Meeting today’s Silesians while wandering off the beaten tracks looking for the easel of my grandfather

When looking for the places, where my grandfather put up his easel, I usually wander off the beaten tourist tracks. At Sierpnica, I walked uphill on an unpaved path and through the adjoining meadow to get the view of the church from above. The tourists that visit the church, walk around it and leave again. They do not walk uphill to places, where they can hardly see the church. A car comes on the unpaved path and stops. “What are you doing HERE”, the driver asks me in fluent English. “Look at this”, and I show him my photo of my grandfather’s painting.  “Yes, this IS the church,” he says. We exchange addresses and he sends me the winter photo of the church. Later, I enjoy the hospitality of Dziki. He invites me to his house and family. He shows me his photos from German times before 1945, when Sierpnica was still called Rudolfswaldau. He is proud of the German photos decorating his house. The German past is an integral part of his house.

This is not the only house in Silesia that keeps memories of the German past. Karolina Kuszyk wrote the beautiful book “In den Häusern der anderen – Spuren deutscher Vergangenheit in Westpolen” (2). She  describes  places, buildings and objects that the Germans – expelled after 1945 – left behind and that the Poles took over, most of them expelled from the eastern districts taken away from Poland in 1945. Touching biographies on both sides. Years later Germans return to see the places of their early youth or of their ancestors. Sometimes they find the houses and objects left behind 50-60 years ago and sometimes friendships arise between the former and the new owners. 

My grandfather opens my eyes for Silesia from a hundred years ago, and following him opens doors to experience Silesia today.

 

Notes

  • Footnote (1) More precisely, the Grenzbaude is located on the top of the pass between Neumannskoppe and Hohe Eule. It is called “Grenz”-Baude or “boundary hut”, because it is located on the boundary between the districts Glatz (now Klodzko) and Waldenburg (now Walbrzych). The advertisement says, it takes 50 minutes to walk to the Bismarck tower on the Hohe Eule. The Grenzbaude is proud to have electrical light and central heating.   Above the Grenzbaude was the Grosssprungschanze or great ski jump. 
  • Footnote (2) Original title: “Poniemieckie”. German title translated to English “in the houses of the others – tracks of the German past in West Poland”, christoph-links-Verlag Berlin 5. Auflage 2023.