Tag Archives: schlesien

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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.
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Discovering Silesia: Karpacz with its churches and with Sniezka

In May 2023, we spent a week in Silesia, in “our” castle Staniszów near Jelenia Góra. From here, it was a short car ride to Karpacz, formerly called Krummhübel. Many German artists had been here at the end of the 19th century and in the beginnings of the 20th century.  Carl Ernst Morgenstern taught plein-air painting around Karpacz. Theodor Fontane wrote a criminal story for Krummhübel.

 

Karpacz centre with two churches from around 1900

The centre of Karpacz (Krummhübel) is a touristy place – this is the main street. 

There are two churches here, both built around 1900.

The church of the Holy Heart of Jesus, (Kirche des heiligsten Herzens Jesu, Kościół Najświętszego Serca Pana Jezusa) was inaugurated as a protestant church in 1908. 

A  nice painted wooden ceiling inside. The church became catholic in 1945.

The church Visitation of our Lady (Mariä Heimsuchung, Parafia Nawiedzenia Najświętszej Maryi Panny) was inaugurated in 1910, and the nave was rebuilt after 1945.

A painted wooden ceiling here as well.

Also this church was protestant and became catholic in 1945.

 

Wang church (Kościół Wang)

The attraction of Karpacz is the wooden Wang church. 

The church was built in Vang in southern Norway in the 12th or 13th century. In the 19th century, this church became too small for the congregation. It was decided to sell the church and use the money earned to build a larger new church. A painter from Norway, professor Jan Christian Dahl, lived at Breslau at that time, and he convinced the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV to buy the church for 427 Mark. The church was disassembled and shipped to Berlin. The king had intended to rebuild the church on the Pfaueninsel at Berlin, but then changed his plans. Count Leopold Christian von Schaffgotsch donated land between Krummhübel (Karpacz) and the Schneekoppe (Śnieżka), at Brückenberg (now Karpacz Górny). The church was reassembled here and inaugurated in summer 1844.

Two lions guard the entrance to the church.

Inside, viking faces frame the door; they may be warriors with split tongues. 

This is the choir…

… with the baptismal font (Saint John in his fur coat baptizes Christ).

The column shows Daniel in the lion’s den.

This door leads to a corridor around the nave. 

The Vang church has become THE cultural landmark of Karpacz.

 

Hiking from Polana to Słonecznik, with a partial view of the Śnieżka

Behind the Wang church, you have to pay an entrance fee for the Karkonosze park, which is a nature reserve now. A path leads to Polana, a meadow that I suspected was the place, where my grandfather had painted the Schneekoppe (painting owned by Heimatverein Kleinmachnow).

But, when reaching the meadow Polana, it becomes clear, this is not the place, where my grandfather’s easel was. 

I follow the path uphill and can sometimes see the Schneekoppe between the trees.

I reach one of the many granite blocks scattered around here… and I am not alone. The Poles enjoy hiking.

I reach another granite rock, the Słonecznik. A beautiful view into the Hirschberg valley. 

The Schneekoppe(Sniezka) can be seen from the Słonecznik as well. 

I walk back down.

On the meadow Polana, I look for the place, where the  former mountain hut Hasenbaude once was, but it seems that nothing remains of it.

No, I my grandfather’s easel was not here… may be it was south of the Schneekoppe (Sniezka), on the other side?

Back at home, I solve the puzzle. The easel WAS south of the Schneekoppe, above Petzer or Pec pod Sněžkou. I could identify Petzer and  the mountains on the painting and I believe, the easel stood at the Lenzenberg, now called Zahradky. 

There is something more to explore! The Giant Mountains in the Czech Republic. I will return!

 

Sources:

  • Plates on the churches
  • Description of the Vang church, handed out in the church.
  • Tomasz Torbus, “Polen – Reisen zwischen Ostseeküste und Karpaten, Oder und Bug”, Dumont Kunstreiseführer, Ostfildern 2011
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Discovering Silesia – On the Szrenica, the mountain that carries frost

In May 2023, I am in Silesia, where we spend one week in the castle Staniszów to explore the area around Jelenia Góra.

Now we spend a day on the Szrenica above Szklarska Poręba.

 

Szklarska Poręba is surrounded by mountains

Szklarska Poręba is a resort surrounded by mountains, the main landmarks being the Szrenica (right) and the Śnieżne Kotły (left). 

The Śnieżne Kotły (“Schneegruben” or “Snow Pits”) still carry a bit of snow in the western snow pit. The pits are in geological terms “cirques” (in German: “Kare”) left by a glacier.

Chair lifts and ski lifts take hikers and – in winter – skiers up to the Szrenica, as the straight lines in the forests indicate.  

Szrenica is called “Reifträger” in German. Both in German and in Polish, this mountain carries frost (“Reif” and “szron” mean “frost”).  

German painters have been inspired by the panorama around Szklarska Poręba (Schreiberhau). In summer 1920, they founded the Lukasgilde (guild of Saint Luke) and built the Lukasmühle as a place to meet and to exhibit their paintings. 

Georg Wichmann is one of the founders of the Lukasgilde.

 

Source: Hans Wichmann, “Georg Wichmann 1876-1944)”, Bergstadtverlag Wilhelm Gottlieb Korn 1996.

In winter 1922/23, my grandfather Hermann Radzyk was at Schreiberhau (Szklarska Poręba) and painted the Reifträger (Szrenica) with the church Kościół pw. Bożego Ciała (Corpus Christi).

Source: Polska.org – this painting has in the meantime disappeared from the website polska.org.

In addition, Hermann Radzyk painted the Schneegruben with the same church in the foreground.

Source: My own photo taken in the house of the grand-son of a friend of my grand-father.

 

Exploring the Szrenica with the gorgeous view

We take the chair lifts to the Szrenica – there are two sections, one after the other. 

A special experience. The small chairs  are hard to sit on and they move in “slow motion”. Slowly, but safely, we arrive on the top.

The view of Lower Silesia with Szklarska Poręba in the foreground is gorgeous.

We walk up to the top view point.

We look west, where a hiking path follows the border between Poland and the Czech Republic.

We look south east, where we can see granite rock formations. They are called Svinské kameny (“Pig stones”). They have a Czech name, as they stand already in the Czech Republic. Such granite rocks can be found all over in the Giant Mountains. In German these rocks are called “Wollsackverwitterung”, in English “spheroidal weathering”.

We look east to the Śnieżne Kotły. The former mountain hut (Schneegrubenbaude, it can  be seen from far) is now a radar station (Radiowo-Telewizyjny Ośrodek Nadawczy – RTON Śnieżnymi Kotłami). 

We look north towards the Isergebirge (Góry Izerskie), Szklarska Poręba and Lower Silesia.  

We have a snack at the Reifträgerbaude (Schronisko na Szrenicy)…

… and look at the fotos. They show that, indeed, the Reifträger or Szrenica does carry frost in winter. 

It must be cosy in the hut, when it is that frosty outside.

On a panorama walk,…

… we reach the shelter Hall Szrenicka located below the top.

We return to the chairlift station,…

… admiring some more of these rock stones (these are called Końskie Łby or horses). This is, where the ski run “Lolobrygida” starts – what a name for a ski run. 

We return to “our” castle Staniszów and enjoy another excellent dinner.

 

Sources: