Turek Parish Pictures

The following are pictures from the Turek Parish. Click on the thumbnail view for an enlarged view of the picture.

Unless noted otherwise, all images below courtesty of member Gail Elliot.

Lutheran Church in Turek, still in use though only several times a month. Pre WW II membership was around 5000. Today, average attendance is around 30.
Interior of Lutheran Church in 1991. The entire building was extensively renovated and repainted in the 1990s.

Gail provides the following story regarding the German Lutheran cemetery at Turek:

When we were in Poland in 1990 we noticed how beautifully kept the cemeteries were, or rather, the Catholic cemeteries! Especially on Sunday, you would see people taking care of the gravesites.  We received directions from some ladies at the Evangelical Lutheran Church and drove out to the cemetery, about 2 miles north. There were some people working in a beautifully kept cemetery and I went up to one of them with "Arndt" written on a piece of paper. She said "Ach, Deutch!" and pointed north.  There was another gate, with the German/Protestant area separated from the Polish/Catholic cemetery by a high wall. The entrance was not immediately seen, being hidden by large trees.

As we entered the cemetery, a path stretched before us, surrounded by an overgrowth of weeds climbing over wrought iron fences, around gravesites and across tombstones. Someone had placed a cross of tree branches in the middle of the path about half way into the cemetery. We searched among the graves for Karl and Barbara Arndt and it was our good fortune to  find them, with the added surprise of marigolds: someone had planted flowers! We had come with a picture taken of the grave before WWII and so had an idea what we looked for.

A few years later we found out who was taking care of the graves. It was the widow of Adolph, the son of Karl Arndt and his second wife, Berta Ziegledorf.  Adolph was a half-brother of my grandfather, born in 1914 (the year my mother was born). Adolph married Marianna (surname not known). He was sent to battle with the Polish Army in 1939 during the Nazi blitz of Poland in 1939 and they never heard from him again. Left behind were Marianna and one son. Marianna married again, continued to care for the graves of Karl and Barbara Arndt and in 2000 put the marble slab on it seen in the last picture. Marianna Pietrzyk is pictured. The cemetery appears to be much better cared for in 2000 than it was in 1990. 

Cemetery in 1991 showing the Karl and Barbara Arndt gravesite as it was then. Overgrown graves in 1991 - Stuebner gravestone in the background.
Arnd tombstone as it was in 1991. The cemetery as it appears today, cleaned up and maintained.
Turek town square with Catholic Church. Funeral procession in Turek with horse drawn hearse.
Small farm near Turek.    
       

 

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