Kirchplatz Borui, Kr. Bomst, Provinz Posen

We arrived in Boruja Koscielna at about 1130 hrs and parked behind the church. We had just missed the Sunday services but fortunately the church sexton let us inside. The interior structure of the church is pretty much intact, but the decor of the altar and the paintings on the walls and ceilings are all post-war. The exterior is in excellent shape, too. All four clocks in the steeple were keeping the same, correct time. I have a photo of the church from the early 1990's that shows a shell hole from the war still open over the front door. Now it's been repaired. There is also a small fieldstone shrine added to the yard in front of the church.

The buildings around the Kirchplatz are all still there, but now theyre just houses. All the businesses (like the butcher, baker, and tailor) are gone now. With cars and buses available I guess everyone goes to Nowy Tomyscl to shop, although there was a little paper and tobacco kiosk across the street from the church.

After exploring the church, cemetery, and the area around the Kirchplatz, we got back in the car and went looking for the family farms. While we were well received in Nowy Tomyscl and central Boruja Koscielna, out on the farms people were very suspicious and even angry at us when we showed up. I've been told that many of the farmers, even after fifty years, do not have formal ownership of their land. This could account for their attitude toward foreigners (especially Germans) showing an interest in their places.

When Herwig Fenske last visited the main Fenske farm in 1995 the place was abandoned. Although the eastern barn was still standing (Picture 19 ), the house was a ruin (Picture 20 ). The windows were gone, the roof was almost gone, and the garden was so overgrown it was taking over the house. Herwig was so upset and disgusted he carved the name "Fenske" into the front door (Picture 21 ).

When we arrived we were surprised to see the eastern barn had been torn down. Our second surprise was that the house was occupied. As I approached the farmyard gate I saw that the yard had been cleaned up, the house entry repaired, and the windows replaced (Picture 12 ). There was a young boy in the yard and a fire heating a large pot. What I didn't see was the owner hiding behind the gate (you can see his hat in Picture 13 ). He suddenly popped up and scared the hell out of me. We weren't able to communicate with him at all: not with German, not with English, not with sign language, and not with our Polish phrase book. In any case, he didn't seem to mind me taking pictures around the outside of the farm, but it was clear he wasn't going to let any of us through the gate, let alone into the house. Too bad.

By the time we were done here, the sun was going down, and we decided not to continue on to Gloden and Wollstein. I plan on getting there in September of 2002.

1 Where we parked behind the former evangelical church. It's been the local RC church since 1947. On the right you can see the cleaning ladies leaving the church after the Sunday services.	2 The upper half of the steeple. To my surprise, all four clocks on the steeple were keeping the correct time. Considering their age, that's amazing.	3 My cousins Taina and Georgie, and Georgie's husband Markus in front of the church entrance
4 The church altar. The columns and decorative woodwork are original, but the painting and statues have been added since the war.	5 The church organ and loft	6 Looking toward the altar and pulpit. l to r: the church sexton, Markus, Georgie, and Taina
7 Another view of the front of the church.	8 The old Borui Friedhof and Friedhof Kapelle. The cemetery is entirely Polish now.	9 Bruno Fenske's farmstead until the expulsions
10 The old wooden windmill. The vanes are now missing and the mill itself is about to collapse.	11 The northern barn at the Fenske farm, looking south	12 The front of the Fenske farmhouse
13 Looking east across the farmyard to the ruins of the eastern barn	14 The back of the western barn and machine shed	15 The irrigation ditch my G-Grandfather dug in the 1890's, still functioning
16 The rear of the Fenske farmhouse	17 The west side of the farmhouse and what's left of the machine shed	18 The farmstead of Alfred Fenske until the expulsions
19 The eastern barn in 1995	20 The Fenske farmhouse at its worst, in 1995	21 Herwig Fenske leaves his mark on the front door