Kępa Tokarska

or: A visit to the Kępa Tokarska and the Kępa Ośnicka

by Jutta Dennerlein

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The threatening thunderclouds of the hot afternoon in May 2006 disperse just in time with the appearance of the boat, which comes off the silhouette of the island and crosses the stream in a straight line.

The boat is a wooden rowing boat, as they are often seen on the Vistula. It is steered by Grzegorz. His destination is the right bank of the Vistula, where Paweł Kowalski and me are already waiting for him.

Both islands were Kępas, since they were covered in trees and each of them held room for 3 to 4 farms. A long, long time ago they had been separated from the banks by the incalculable stream and for a long time the Vistula gave no preference to any of the created arms. It streamed past each of the islands as well as between them.

So the southwestern island, which lay nearer to the left bank, was named after the estate Tokary and became the Kępa Tokarska. The northeastern island, nearer to the right bank, was named after the nearby place Ośnica and became the Kępa Ośnicka.

The meadow shows some more specific features. The last flood was about three weeks ago and the island must have been completely under water. The ground has dried now and can be walked on. But the many uncovered places in the meadow show that the ground must have been extremely soft at some time. Innumerable prints of animal feet, mostly birds, run all over the place.

Especially numerous are the traces of storks. After the watermark had fallen, the island with many remaining puddles must have been a real paradise for frogs. That was before the storks had found the place.

But the storks have left over enough frogs, they jump out of the grass with every step we make.

Grzegorz points us to more strange plants. A row of trees, which is still without leaves, whereas the other trees already shine in their fresh spring colors. These from the distance rather insignificant trees show by nearer investigation 6-7 centimeters long thorns. The grass underneath them is covered with shiny dark brown pods, most of them about 25 cm long.

I think I have seen this kind of pods before in the Mediterranean. But how should carob trees have come to this island? How did these trees survive the heavy frost? Questions, not easily answered.

Later research showed that those trees were not really carob trees or St. John's bread (ceratonia siliqua) but a frost resistant tree of the same family: Honey locust (gleditsia triacanthos). This tree is native in North America not in Europe. It can be imagined that these trees have been planted by someone who liked them as an exotic addition to his garden. Parts of the pod and the grounded seeds could have been used as a sweetener or as a substitute for cocoa. The rest of the pods was good feed for the cows.

Not far from the supposed carob trees we find the rests of a cellar and other traces of human housing.

Now we realize, that the park like groups of trees actually point to the places where houses had stood. On artificial little hills (Wurten) big lime trees and chestnut trees surround what is left over from the houses. Certainly there were wooden houses. Everything except for the stone structures has disappeared.

Sometimes we also find metal parts around the houses. At the next place of a house we find a rather large piece of metal and we puzzle over what it might have been. Grzegorz has the most experience in farming and finally says that it could be a part of a horse mill. I think he is right about it, because horse mills have been in use on almost every farm. Most times they were used to grind rye to feed the animals with it.

We put the part back where we found it. We don't think of taking it with us. This would somehow be like theft from the people who had been living and working there. And apart from that, in a museum you would not take the exhibits either, would you?

At this farm we also find a well with the inscription "1904" at it's side. The cement tube of the well is still intact and the well has water.

But what else do we know about the people whom we are looking down their well?

The island with it's surface of ca. 140 hectares offered sufficient space for about 6 families. This number is indicated by the contract of 1759 and it seems that this number did not change much within the next 180 years.

But the names of the inhabitants did change within this time period. So the church books of the time between 1760 and 1800 show the names: Zittlau, Taube and Dobslaw.

The number of inhabitants for the Kępa Ośnicka in the year 1799 is given with 4 families and 21 souls [3].

For the time after 1800 the names Rossol, Schwentke, Tews, Jabs and Golnik are mentioned in the church books of Płock and Gąbin.

In 1882 the Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego notes: Tokarska Kępa 4 houses, 48 inhabitants and 101 Polish morgen (56,54 hectares) of land and Ośnicka Kępa: 4 houses, 30 inhabitants and 65 Polish morgen (36,39 hectares) of land.[4]

This change of names does not seem unusual for a period of 180 years and this very small number of households.

Nevertheless it seems that all Kępas have experienced more change than other places, especially within the 18th century. Maybe this can be explained by the rough and insecure living conditions on the Kępas. Besides the "usual" name change by lack of male descendants there might have been a tendency to leave the Kępas for a saver farm on the banks of the Vistula.

Looking at the flood marks which we can see on the trees of the small cemetery at the Kepa Ośnicka, we can easily imagine that all of the island regularly gets flooded ( in spring 2006 the marks at the trees reached about 1.5 meters height).

During the time of the floods only the houses on their Wurten offered comparatively save being. Only comparatively save, since the water which passed the houses was not the slow flow of a huge flooding area but the angry roaring of a stream carrying high water.

Grzegorz still knows one of the anecdotes being told about the Germans on the island. I liked this anecdote because it fits to my image of the Niedrungers:

According to this story, the inhabitants of the island were rather suspect for the German administration after 1939. Too independent were the islanders on their protected little realms. Too difficult was the observation of the island. But it was not political intrigue which the islander were suspected of. The Nazi administration suspected them to be keeping up their trade with Warszawa using the river and the dark of the night for it - they were suspected of being smugglers. The trade relations to the factories in Warszawa had a long tradition with the islanders. Now Warszawa was within the boundaries of the Generalgouvernement and this was like a foreign country.

But who gives up old habits and a good trading market only because the political structure has changed once again?

After the last war the Kępa and some areas at the left bank of the Vistula became property of the Polish Army. Some cement roads at the left bank still remind of this time.

For the Polish Army the isolated location of the island obviously was also very welcome.

Today the island is leased to a farmer from Ośnica. The natural boundaries of the island allows that his pigs can stroll free all over the island.

During our hike we were followed in very great distance by a sow and it's piglets. The piglets could only be seen as far away small, pink backs in the grass. Only after sow and piglets were behind the palisade and in safety, we went through a closer examination by a group of "youngster" pigs.

It seems that on today's maps the island is usually only called Kępa Ośnicka. Even the people living at the right bank of the Vistula don't know anything about a Kępa Tokarska. They say, that this island must have disappeared a long time ago. But this cannot be true, since up to 1945 both names are given as places of birth or places of dwelling in the records of the different Gminas - Paweł has looked this up! It seems to be an one-island-two-names-problem.

I think that it would be nice, if the name Kępa Tokarska would continue to be used in the future. After all the Kępa Tokarska might be the only Kępa which is mentioned in a theater play. [6]

Maybe the passing on of the interesting story of both islands can help a little bit to keep the name in memory and to maintain it's usage.

So our visit to the Kępa Tokarska and the Kępa Ośnicka is over. We have seen about half of the island and it has been a very impressive and informative tour. I'm really glad that Paweł was able to organize it during my stay in Poland.

Grzegorz will stay on the island and we are already awaited by his other cousin Marian, who will row us back to the bank.