We will probably go to Poland next year for a wedding. A friend who is an Asian Indian Hundu met a Catholic Pole in NYC and they will return to Europe for a wedding. That in itself is froth with ironies. But he comes from the same area of Poland that my namesake ancestors lived, except it was part of Germany at the time.

One cousin did an extensive genealogy before he had children and now claims he no longer has the time for such frivolities. My family came from Lobsens which today is Łobżenica. I am hopeful that a friend of the groom will come with us to look for records and a cementery. We found out there are also records in a town called Pila. I do not expect to find anything but it is of course, well worth the time and effort to see if there is anything.

Mrs. Adu started to verify the genealogical information we had and contacted JewishGen. Through that organization, we discovered a very distant cousin in Israel who also is compiling information who sent us his version of the family tree.

My great grandfather has the same name as my father. We knew the GG had two wives and possibly had a third when he lived in Lobsens. The third wife has a name eerily similar to my mother. We are hopeful that we can determine the truth.

We will fly into Berlin. Mrs. Adu does not want to visit Germany but we are planning four or five days there. A cousin we found about years ago, was one of the last Jews to legally leave Germany in December 1939. He was three at the time. Among the places we will visit is the house where they lived.

I have no desrie to see other parts of Germany. But we want to visit other places while we are there. In previous visits we have been to Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz, Austria, and Prague.

We wanted to visit Vilnius but it is 18 hour train ride, 8 hour drive, and the flight connections are incovenient. Thus we are considering Amsterdam. Mrs. Adu visited Amsterdam before we married which is when they owned New Amsterdam but for some reason, I have never been there. We will also make a side trip to Brugge.

Many on these boads have offered a great deal of advice on Amsterdam.

We are inveterate museum goers and Mrs. Adu is a watercolorist and I have had more than two dozen photographic exhibits, so we like to linger.

We will continue to do our research but:

Can anyone recommend a hotel in Poznan?
Does anyone prefer a car rental agency in Poznan?
Does anyone know about birth, death, or wedding records around Poznan?

Thank you all in advance for bearing with such a tale and providing advice.

I can't help with Poland but you may like to visit these websites for the Amsterdam part of your trip:

http://www.jewishhistoryamsterdam.com/

http://www.amsterdam.info/jewish/

http://www.jhm.nl/education/programs...jewish-quarter

And whilst not in Amsterdam you may want to visit http://www.kampwesterbork.nl/welcome/

Have you looked at www.airbaltic.com for cheap flights from Berlin to Vilnius?

I can highly recommend the Hotel Brovaria in Poznan. I stayed there in September and loved it. It's right on the square (and what a beautiful square it is). The rooms facing the square are noisy if you leave the windows open but you don't hear anything if you close the double windows. I believe there is some sort of AC or ventilation in the room but we didn't need it in late September. The Poles are party people and the Hotel Brovaria is a central location for drinking into the night. They also have a good restaurant.

The room was large and all rooms are non-smoking. I can't remember the bathroom but nothing untoward comes to mind so I'm sure it was fine. Breakfast is included in the room price and I highly recommend the ham - the best I had in Poland. There is no elevator in the hotel and there were 56 steps to the second floor rooms.

The staff is wonderful. I would definitely stay here again.

I didn't have a car so I'm not sure where you would park one but the hotel can advise. There seemed to be areas to park within 2 short blocks.

Another restaurant I can recommend on the Poznan square is Ratuszowa, Stary Rynek 55 – traditional Polish meals. Both the Brovaria and Ratuszowa have indoor and outdoor dining.

If you're looking for another town to visit in Poland I suggest Wroclaw and can give a recommendation for a very reasonably private guide.

Here are my photos:

http://modigliani.shutterfly.com/poland2011

I can only suggest you visit Krakow if possible. I really enjoyed this gem of a city.

Thank you all. Yes Poznan looks like a most charming city.

I like look into Airbaltic.

I will keep your info if we go to Amsterdam.

Sorry, Linca I will not be Madrid for your GTG.

Hello Adu,

Just a thought about the archives in Poznan - Poznan was under Prussian rule from 1793 - 1918, so I am wondering how far back your research is going to go. If it's that far back there is the possibility that the records are German, and you will need to be prepared for the handwriting, which is quite difficult to read. If you think you'd need it I can supply some links to guides to old scripts, so you can print them out and take them with you to read the records.They are really very different from the roman alphabet we use. Not to mention that old Polish handwriting may present its own problems. I did a quick search and did not find anything useful specifically for Polish - probably if there's anything it's all in Polish! However, since you have a family member coming with you, this may not present a problem.

Lavandula

Sorry, I just re-read your post - it's clear to me now you may well want these links anyway if Lobsens was under German rule at that time:

http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/Englisch/Sutterlin.htm (Suetterlin script 1915 - 1941)

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=deuts...1t:429,r:4,s:0

(German "Kurrentschrift", 19th C.)

Lavandula

Thank you Lavandula, you raise an excellent point I have not considered. I have printed out the Rosetta Stones that you provided.

My cousin has traced our family back to about the 1760's in Lobsens.

I am hopeful I will be able to photograph the records so I can read them at my leisure.

Adu, the Library of Congress has an exceptionally good microfilm and other record of genealogical research. So does the Mormon Church (God help us, but they do!). You might get in touch with them both. I found my Irish and English relatives dating back to - OMG Eléanore d'Aquitaine - through the Library of Congress. Is it any wonder I was drawn to the Périgord?

Seriously, both will help you with genealogical research and both have enormous resources.

One thing I discovered when editing books about the Holocaust, and I edited many, was that it was a huge challenge to find the names of streets in German and other cities before the Holocaust. I must've spent 100 hours researching the original names of streets in Berlin for a book I edited called "Soaring Underground" (a wonderful read, by the way, if I do say so). Everything changed in Europe at that time, so it's incredibly hard to channel research and find the right current-day names, not to mention that the streets that used to exist don't exist anymore and are all name-changed. For an editor, it's quite a major challenge.

Thank you StCirq and I understand your concern. (We were drawn to the Périgord for the cave drawings. Everyone's ancestors.)

Not only have the streets been renamed but the Nazis destroyed the tombstones of many Jews and in certain towns used them as paving stones.

One cousin did contact the Mormon Church genealogical facility, which I believe is the largest in the world, and the Library of Congress. But I will check with hm reagrding LOC.

I just looked up Soaring Underground on Amazon and it was well-received by their readers. Another cousin wrote a self-published memoir as the child of two survivors of Nazi Germany but it does not seem as intersting as your book. (I do not think she reads Fodor's.)

Oddly enough, I enjoy the mystique of ancestry more than the actual facts. My cousins and wife are conducting the research. As an undergraduate, I was a history major but received an MA in English. I simply fill in the missing parts as I chose. And just walking the streets of Łobżenica would be intriguing and rewarding. Today its population is 2,000 while at its height was 20,000.

Once a year my wife buys the ancestry.com software which comes with two weeks of free research. And for those two weeks she wildly searches records.

Thanks again.

Re. logistics you may want to take the following into account:

On June 3rd, 2012, the new international airport of Berlin will (or is supposed to) start operations and will replace the old Tegel and Schönefeld airports. Geographically, it is on the premises of the latter, at the SE edge of the city. So if you want to take off to Poland right after arrival, you should remember to rent the car or plan train connections from there.

Also in June 2012, Poland (and Ukraine) will host the (Football) Euro Cup. You can expect full hotels and a sharp increase in tourism, especially if your travel plans coincide with the matches in the tournament cities.
For further infos on dates/venues:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2012

Since you will be more in the center/North of Poland anyway, why not check if a trip to Gdansk and the Baltic sea or the Mazurian Lakes district is something for a side trip.

Thanks, we are waiting upon a date for the wedding.