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Naming Convention |
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Not all the places where German settlers were located did have a German name and some of the German names used by the inhabitants cannot be found in any map. The German sounding place names that our ancestors used might be Polish names pronounced in a German way, like Schlonsk for Słońsk or Plotz for Płock. These spellings cannot be found in any map. Some places got a German name when they were founded and later also got a Polish name. This is especially valid for places that were founded during the period of the Prussian administration (1795 – 1807). Examples are Schröttersdorf (later called Kolonja Maszewo) or Leonberg (later called Lwówek). But also some of the older places like Wiesendorf had a German name right from the start. The German name later was written in the Polish way: Wyszendorf. Most places had Polish names till the Nazi administration created German names for them in 1939. A good example for this is Białobrzegi, which was called Petersdorf after 1939 because a family called Peter was the biggest land owner in the village)1. The Nazi imaginativeness also managed to break connections that the original place names still had reflected: Nowe Boryszewo and Stare Boryszewo were places connected by history, because Nowe Boryszewo had been a German settlement near a place called Boryszewo (which later was called Stare Boryszewo). The Nazi naming for the two places was Tiefenbach and Wachau. Nobody can see any connection between these place names. Since many German settlements were located near existing villages, they often used the name of the existing village with an addition to the name that indicated the new settlement. Some of these additions to placenames and how they appear in Church Books are shown here: |
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| Holendry, Olędry |
Initially used for settlements of "Holländer" (= Dutch people), later used for settlements in swampland and for settlements founded according to Hollaender rules. |
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| Rumunki | Settlement on cleared woodland. German: "Räumung" or "Rodung". |  |
| Kolonja | A settler colony. |  |
| Budy |
Makeshift lodge, hut or shed. German: "Bude" or "Hütte". |  |
| Nowe | New settlement, as opposed to Stare (= old). |
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| Niemiecki | German settlement as opposed to Polski (= Polish). |
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Some other naming extensions are:Dwór = Belonging to the Manor Folwark = Grange Dolny = Lower Górny = Upper Kościelny = Belonging to the church Królewski = Belonging to the king Mały = Little Niżne = Lower Szlachecki = Belonging to nobility Wielki = Great Wyżne = Upper. )2 |
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)1 Frieda Heimlich: Petersdorf/Bialobrzegi, Weichselniederung; in: Der Heimatbote 1958 Nr. 5 )2 TOPONYMIC GUIDELINES OF POLAND, GŁÓWNY URZĄD GEODEZJI I KARTOGRAFII, Warszawa 2002 |
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