My family on my mother's side is from the former German provinces of Pomerania and East Prussia. They lived in Königsberg, Stolp, Stolpmünde and on various estates. Some of the estates thrived, others less so. In between wars and bankruptcies, various relatives settled in Berlin, mostly around Charlottenburg, where my parents now live.
In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, my mother and grandmother fled Stolpmünde, a spa town on the Baltic coast, to escape the advancing Red Army. After what the Germans had done to the rest of Europe, everyone knew that the Red Army's revenge would be pretty terrible (and as usual, it was men who started the war and women and children who paid the price). Well, they made it out just in time. Here's a picture of Stolpmünde from the 1930s:
Family legend has it that my great-grandmother, who escaped on a refugee ship just after my mother and grandmother, walked up to the deck as the ship left the harbour, and took one last look at her burning hometown.
Pomerania and East Prussia are part of Poland now, which is fine with me. Stolpmünde is called Ustka. It seems to be prospering as a seaside resort. My family in turn has done well in post-war Germany. After Poland joined the EU, there were some fears that Germans would come and buy up their old houses, staging a property invasion. I don't think that's happened. Certainly no one in my family has the slightest interest in buying a house in Ustka or indeed Kaliningrad (Königsberg). But I thought it would be nice to see the old towns and the scenery my grandmother told me so much about.
Given the EU's current troubles, I also wanted to celebrate its biggest achievement: peace in Europe. In particular, peace between Germany and its neighbours. While Polish-German relations have improved a lot, I know very little about our next-door neighbour. So I thought I'd walk there, retracing my mother's escape route in peaceful times.
Well, I'm not retracting the route exactly. My mother and grandmother made their way over to the West by foot, by boat, by ship, by lorry and, I think, by train. I'm going to simplify it a bit, inspired by a new hiking path, the revived Pomeranian Way of St. James (Der Pommersche Jakobsweg). It's part of an ancient pan-European pilgrims' route. In pilgrimage terms, I'm walking the wrong way. Which doesn't matter because I'm not doing it for religious reasons (I'm Jewish, anyway). But if you feel inspired to spend your next holiday on this trail, please keep in mind that I'm walking the wrong way. You may find it easier to follow the trail in the right direction, from Kaliningrad to Rostock, for example.
I'm taking the train from Berlin to Swinemünde/Swinoujscie, and then I'm going to walk to Stolp and Stolpmünde.
Right now, I'm in Berlin. Here's a map showing where the wall used to be; it felt like a fitting starting point. After all, it's been 25 years since German reunification!
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