Kosbab Germany & Poland

Germany and Poland

Information sources confirm an area known as Hinter Pommern in Germany was re-indexed after 1945 and is now in Poland.

Bandekow
Badesow
Bandsechow Bandsechow
Bandsekow Bandeskow See notes re: Band....
Berlin Berlin
Bezirk Bezirk Bezirk
Bremen
Burzen Burzen
Coeslin Coeslin
German Genealogy Sources
Gelderland - Relates to a number of towns
Hinter Pommern Hinter Pommern Hinter Pommern
Hebrondamnitz Hebrondamnitz
Hesse
Jatzkow
Kreis Kreis Kreis
Lauenburg Lauenburg
Lublow
Lübzow
Neustettin Neustettin
Odor River

Osseken
Ostpreussen Ostpreussen
Pommern History and Links
Pomerson
Pommerensdorf
Pommernsdorf
Pommerania Eastern
River Odor
Schwerin
Seehausen
Stolp Stolp Stolp Stolp Stolp Stolp
Listing of all towns in Stolp
Slupsk
Stadt
Stettin Strettin Strettin
St Petri
Wuertemberg
Wilhelm
Vor Pommern
Zezenow

Maps

A listing of all towns in Stolp

A list of all German towns now in Poland and what their new Polish names are; If this list is hard to decipher, go to the original location.

Bezirk = A district of Berlin (Example: Coeslin)
Kreis (e) = District/County containing village, hamlet or small town (Example: Stolp)
Stadt = Town / City
Pommern was a Province

The 1900 Census says that Johanna Kosbab and Wilhelm Bartz were married in
about 1865 or 1866. The family has a lot of military papers for Wilhelm.

In November 1861, Wilhelm Bartz lived in Burzen (town), Kreis (county) Neustettin, Bezirk (district) near Coeslin.

In October 1871, he lived in Bandsekow, Kreis Stolp, Bezirk Coeslin, so it
looks as if he met and married Johanna from somewhere in that area.

HISTORY

Hinter Pommern was east Pomerania and east of the River Oder.
Vor Pommern was west Pomerania and west of the River Oder.

After 1945 (end of WW2) Poland reclaimed everything east of the Oder River (Hinter Pommern). Most towns in this area had their German names altered or translated into Polish names. See the example below. It is noted that after the second world war ended, 1945/46 Hinter Pommern was cleansed of its ethnic population. While the Western powers were aware of this cleansing operation they remained silent during this time.

Stolp Germany is now Slupsk Poland.

10/10/99 Notes on Pommern.

Index of German / Polish Town names.

LDS microfilms and Military Registers of the area, also highlight Mielke and Huth but these are area's not towns. Unfortunately, Stolp was a large area which included many towns.

A LDS microfilm of Stolp Germany confirmed the existence of an Otto Kosbab.

An Otto C Kosbab was born in 1886 in Stolp, Ostpreussen Germany. His wife was named Frieda born in 1840 in the same place.

The Geurikink Genealogy home page (Family Tree Maker) includes a reference to the Kosbab name. The page also mentions the following area names which the researcher was interested in:
Achterhoek area in Gelderland around Winterswijk. Dinxperlo, Aalten, Huppel, Henxel, Miste, Meddo, Ratum. Friesland, Tzummarum, Franeker, Bolsward.

There was a story overheard of 2 sisters (Kosbab Aunts) remembering a train journey to a ship and a large island in a lake that they had passed. Could this have been a journey from Pomeranian which was once an independent state in Poland, then taken over by the Germans and now back in Poland?

According to their death certificates, Edward Kosbab and Augusta Gewanski (possibly Genofske) were born 1857 in Hinter Pommern, Germany.

A grand daughter of Edward and Augusta had a bible which showed her mother (Bertha) or their eldest child as being born in Pomerson Germany. Research has showed no exact match except for below or it was Hinter Pommern.

Stettin.....Pommerensdorf..........1213
Stettin.....Pommernsdorf..........3025

Sources of Information

The First World War began to 28.7.1914 by the declaration of war of Austria Hungary at Serbia.

1,8,1914 declaration of war of the German Reich at France. For Germany with it the 1 began. World War.

The First World War ended for the German Reich to 11.11.1918. 12)

In the First World War 289 citizens of the city forest at the front lost their lives.

There is no Bandeskow in Kreis Stolp, Pommern. There are two villages south of Schwerin named Bandekow, but that's not Pommern;-(Probably this tiny little village is named Bandsechow. My friend is a specialist for Pommern and he has got a list of all places in Pommern including numbers of families and inhabitants. So Bandsechow was the only choise, which came near to Bandeskow. He gave me that information about Bandsechow: It is placed near Stolp and Lauenburg/Pommern. It has had 78 Families and about 300 inhabitants.( Till 1945) I prepared a little map, so you can see the approximate position.

On monday I'll make contact with the registrar's of Bremerhaven, former Heppens, as to whether they still have proof of my grandfather Albert Hinrich Carl.

Gerd

Just in case you were wondering...
I found Gerd Kosbab by searching on the internet and popped him an email. Gerd replied with...
In your list of patronymics I found Albert Kosbab. Probably this could be my grandfather, he was named Albert. The name of my father was Kurt. He was born near Bremerhaven. He had one sister. She was named Alice.

I have since received a couple of other emails from Gerd, one included the map. He also tells me he is back on the Kosbab trail with the help of his 87 year old mother after giving up for a while. I beleive Gerd will be invaluable when it comes to all things German... Source

Sharon Lunde
I am researching a Kosbab family that settled in Rochester, NY in the mid 1880's. Church records indicate that they were from Deutch Kartstnitz, pommerania. Two brothers August and William came here. They had 2 sisters and 7 brothers that stayed in Germany/Stolpe area.

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Pommern

General Information

Description

Introduction
Pommern was a Prussian province. Its capital was Stettin.

Political Divisions:
An outline overview (presented by Gunthard Stuebs)
In 1895 the province of Pommern had the following districts and Kreise (counties):

Regierungsbezirk (district) of Stettin with 13 Kreise (counties):
Anklam, Demmin, *Greifenberg, *Greifenhagen, *Kammin, *Naugard, *Pyritz, Randow, *Regenwalde, *Saatzig, *Stettin-Stadt, Ueckermuende, *Usedom-Wollin.

Regierungsbezirk (district) of *Koeslin with (*12) Kreise (counties):
Belgard, Bublitz, Buetow, Dramburg, Kolberg-Koerlin, Koeslin, Lauenburg, Neustettin, Rummelsburg, Schivelbein, Schlawe, Stolp.

Regierungsbezirk (district) of Stralsund with (5) Kreise (counties):
Franzburg, Greifswald, Grimmen, Ruegen, Stralsund-Stadt. (This area was the former Swedish-Pommern).

(* area totally or partially lost to Poland in 1945)

Religious Divisions:

Court Districts:
Before 1900 the court districts in Pommern province were as follows:
The highest provincial court was the Oberlandesgericht in Stettin. The lower courts were

Landgericht Greifswald with (11) Amtsgerichte: Anklam, Barth, Bergen, Demmin, Franzburg, Greifswald, Grimmen, Loitz, Stralsund, Treptow, Wolgast.

Landgericht *Koeslin with (12) Amtsgerichte: Baerwalde, Belgard, Bublitz, Kolberg, Koerlin, Koeslin, Neustettin, Polzin, Ratzebuhr, Schivelbein, Tempelburg, Zanow.

Landgericht *Stargard with (14) Amtsgerichte: Dramburg, Falkenburg, Gollnow, Greifenberg, Jakobshagen, Kallies, Labes, Massow, Naugard, Noerenberg, Pyritz, Regenwalde, Stargard, Treptow.

Landgericht Stettin with (15) Amtsgerichte: Altdamm, *Bahn, *Fiddichow, Gartz, *Greifenhagen, *Kammin, *Neuwarp, Pasewalk, Penkun, *Poelitz, *Stepenitz, *Stettin, *Swinemuende, Ueckermuende, *Wollin.

Landgericht *Stolp with (7) Amtsgerichte: Buetow, Lauenburg, Pollnow, Ruegenwalde, Rummelsburg, Schlawe, Stolp.

(* area totally or partially lost to Poland in 1945)

History
After the 30-Years-War (1648) Pommern consisted of two areas: Schwedish-Pommern in the West under Swedish rule and the Eastern area under the rule of the Brandenburg Electors.

After the defeat of Napoleon, Sweden in 1815 renounced all her claims to areas in Germany including Pommern. Pommern west of the Oder River was also called Vorpommern (Cis-Pomerania) while east of the Oder River Hinterpommern was called (Trans-Pomerania).

In 1938 areas from the former provinces of Westpreussen and Posen which were lost after WWI were added in an administrative reform. In 1945, Poland took all Pommern East of the Oder River (Hinterpommern) as well as the area around Stettin. Hinter-Pommern was cleansed of its ethnic German population and given to Poland in 1945. The Western powers were silent on the ethnic cleansing. Stettin was renamed Szczecin.

Genealogical and Historical Societies

Genealogical Societies
Note: The listed societies are volunteer organizations working with volunteers, and inquiries should be accompanied by return postage, and if they are likely to occasion work, by a small fee.

Arbeitsgemeinschaft ostdeutscher Familienforscher e.V. (AGoFF)
Fuhrweg 29
D-53229 Bonn
Research area Pommern, President:
Mr. Elmar Bruhn
Lohkamp 13
D-22117 Hamburg, Germany
F.: +49-40-7127073
Forschunfsaufträge werden nicht übernommen, sondern nur Aufkünfte (an AGoFF-Mitglieder kostenlos, an Nichtmitglieder je nach Aufwand) erteilt.

Genealogical Societies in Germany

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Genealogical and Historical Records

Church Records
The Lutheran church was in charge of record keeping until 1874.

Civil Registration Records
Civil records were introduced in Prussia in October 1874.

Other Records

Census

Citizenship

Education

Emigration and Immigration

Land
The whereabouts of the records for the Landgerichte and Amtsgerichte is unknown. Of special interest are the land deed records (Grund- und Hypotheken-Acta) with no published survey known to date.

Military

Tax

Gazetteers and Maps

Gazetteers

Atlases and Maps

On-line map of Pomerania (20K)

On-line map of Pomerania from FEEFHS (219K)

There is LDS microfilm #068814 available of Karte des Deutschen Reiches, scale 1:100000, 1km = 1cm which may be borrowed via the Family History Centers. It covers Germany for 1914-1917.

Topographical Maps (Messtischblaetter 1:25000) may also be purchased from (request their map catalog for Pommern)
Institut für Angewandte Geodaesie
Stauffenbergstr.13
10785 Berlin
GERMANY

Bibliography

Genealogical Works

Wegweiser für Forschung nach Vorfahren aus den Ostdeutschen und Sudetendeutschen Gebieten sowie aus den deutschen Siedlungsraeumen in Mittel-,Ost- und Suedosteuropa (AGoFF-Wegweiser): Verlag Degener, 91413 Neustadt, Germany (1991 and later) (The out-of-print English edition is being presently revised.)

Ortsfamilienbücher: see our List of Ortsfamilienbücher

Archives and Libraries

Miscellaneous Subjects

Customs

Databases
German Genealogy Sources in Poland by Schroeder & Fuelling
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/German_Genealogy/kbak.htm

Emigration Waves

Events

Mailing Lists
There is a Pommern-L genealogy list for anyone with a genealogical interest in Pommern. To subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@genealogy.net with message subscribe POMMERN-L
A description (in German) of the list is also available.

Patenschaft

Regional Publishers
General List of Publishers and Booksellers

Regions of Settlement Today

Professional Researchers

Travel Guide

Other Internet Resources

FEEFHS (Federation of East European Family History Societies) German Genealogy Cross-Index

(Private) Internet pages maintained by others

Homepage of Karin Schöpke: http://www.on-line.de/~karin.schoepke
(German and English) and
http://www.on-line.de/~karin.schoepke (German)

Pomerania - The Land by the Sea: http://hinterpommern.de/
(mostly in German - presented by Gunthard Stuebs)

Pommerscher Verein Freistadt (Pomeranian Society of Freistadt): http://www.execpc.com/~pommern/

A listing of German Genealogy sources of information.

Genealogy German written in English

Genealogy German written in German