In the Hirschberg Valley, Silesia

Around Hirschberg many small towns bear witness of the centuries of rich cultural history of the Riesengebirge (Giant Mountains).  

Bad Warmbrunn (Cieplice) has its name from two thermal springs. Its origins go back to the 13th century, when a monastery was founded here. From the 16th century, people started travelling to these springs and Bad Warmbrunn became a "spa" town. The springs belonged to the Cistercian Abbey, whose monks took over the task of caring for patients and guests. 

Close by in Krummhübel (Karpacz) is the castle ruin Burg Kynast from the 13th century.

a huge tree ivy (Hedera helix) on the walls of the castle courtyard

 view from the castle keep

the way down

enroute

beer?

Another tourist attraction is Kirche Wang, a short walk uphill through the forests from Karpacz.

A short walk through forest leads to Church Wang, of Norwegian origin and built in Norway around 1200. The whole wooden building was dismantled in its Norwegian place, sold and transferred and reerected here in 1832. It has served as a parish church until the expulsion of the German population in 1947.  A small protestant Polish community nowadays celebrate their services here. 

 

This hotel in Krummhübel (Karpacz) has kept its German name. 

Schloss Lomnitz, now a hotel and cultural centre . 

A tourist attraction of a more recent date: the "up-side-down" house  from a building contractor  - complete with lawn mower and ingrown roots ...

Hirschberg (Jelenia Gora)

Hirschberg (now Jelenia Gora) is 10 km south of Langenau and the nearest town. It has a pretty historic centre with arcades and baroque houses on the main square and a mediterranean feel. 

ein Hirsch

The town is the entrance to the Hirschberg Valley leading towards Schneekoppe (1603m) and  the Riesengebirge, where skiing is the winter sport and tourists go hiking in summer. It is a beautiful valley with a string of Prussian castles, parks and mansions, some in ruins. In recent years many of them have been rebuilt or renovated and converted into hotels. We stayed in one: Stonsdorf Palace with a park around and views towards Schneekoppe.

 Schneekoppe

in the park of Stonsdorf Palace

as so often, a robin came to greet me on my walk through the park

and the house cat ...

The charming house has been carefully renovated and has a very good chef. 

The place is a bit difficult to find. Our car navigation system had problems, we were lucky to have brought old-fashioned maps ...

But the motorway towards Breslau is well endowed: this may possibly be the only Autobahn in existence where not only outside temperature but also tarmac temperature is measured and posted.... There must have been some  EU money left over after the main construction earmarked for spending on this particular stretch of road?

Langenau

And what is this? Another "Lost Place" for photographers? Who lived in these ruins?

it used to be a thatched roof

This is a truly lost place , but no one comes here for photo workshops. Every few years a visitor from Germany comes and mourns over this neglected property. 

This is my mother-in-law's home in Langenau, Silesia, in a beautiful valley north of Hirschberg, now Jelenia Gora,  now Poland.  Here she grew up in her family with her father, mother and four sisters on their own large farm with cows, horses and over 40 ha of fields and land, where they and their ancestors had lived for hundreds of years . A very beautiful but very poor valley. 

the valleys north of Hirschberg towards Langenau

This house next door is in slightly better condition and still occupied. A Polish family still lives there.  This was the home of my father-in-law, who lived across the street in the same village. They were farmers, too, as many other families in the valley, but had an electrician's workshop  where my father-in-law learned his first trade. 

In May 1945 the Russian army on their way westwards moved into the houses and farms and stayed for six weeks, followed by Polish families, who became the new owners. It was a lawless time, his father kept records that the stories of such gross injustice and horrendous atrocities will be remembered. Finally, after months of uncertainty, all German families, who had held out, were moved out in two treks to the west, the first half in July 1946, the second in July 1947, when everybody had to leave everything behind. 

1038 inhabitants from Langenau, 35 people and their luggage in each railway waggon, 20 kg of bare necessities per person, which were often taken away, robbed, during the various "controls" - all his family were transported off to other parts of Germany where they arrived about eight months later, having lost everything and having buried a grandmother and many much younger friends, members of other Langenau families, on the way.

All in all up to 14 million people were expelled from the eastern parts of then-Germany to make a new life in the western parts, 14 million were added to the local population in the destroyed cities of post-war Germany; the newcomers were not welcome. 
Here they had to start from scratch - the younger generation tried to make a living out of nothing, my father-in-law, 19 years old at the time, studying hard at night and working during the day, became an engineer, the older generation suffered from the trauma for the rest of their lives.  

The old protestant church of Langenau - only the tower is left. The cemetery was flattened, no German names can be found here anymore. The only reminder of the long German history, heritage and culture of Langenau (now called Czernica) I found in this old German plaque about its foundation on the church tower walls.  

Increasingly, the last surviving members of these lands and their children and grandchildren come to visit and learn about their history and try to make up with the Polish population, who have been so luckless in the cultivation of the fertile soil and the upkeep of the old homesteads.