Thought of Fleeing Farbezin
By Werner Hornburg
When I think about 59 years ago and what we as children experienced during the war, I have strong feelings for my home. Saturday evening, March 3, 1945 we were told to prepare for the evacuation of Farbezin. No one was allowed to leave before this time without being severely punished. My confirmation celebration was planned for March 4th, but that would not come to pass.
Earlier that evening Russian tanks had arrived and a building had been set on fire. We were prepared to flee but the Russians ordered everyone to remain. The next day our village was full of Russian tanks. The cows were herded to be driven away. The men of our village were conscripted to accompany the cows. On the 24th of June we were given a half hour notice that we had to leave and evacuate Farbezin. We left with our neighbors and the owner of the estate, Heinrich von Dewitz and his wife. She had only the family Bible wrapped in paper.
The Polish led us to the Oder River. Every day our fortune was controlled by the Polish. We arrived in Luebzin on the Oder and waited to be transported by ferry to Poelitz. The Polish said goodbye to us with these words, “You are here now, where you should be.”
Because of a break in the Oder River dam we had to walk two and a half miles through backwater to Poelitz. We came a barn near Stettin. The first train to Berlin was a freight train and we arrived in Berlin at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Our destination was the Juli Chorin Cloister where my aunt was a member of a Protestant Order working as a nurse.
She had wanted to attend my confirmation but she could not because of the political situation. Since my aunt had been with the Chorin Cloister for 25 years we were given a small apartment. There were problems with our care and my mother contracted typhus. Often for many days we did not have any bread so we had to be content with potatoes. On 15th of May we learned from hometown friends that my parents were able to settle in Klein Polzin.
The Expulsion from Pommern and our hunger were the reasons we came to Klein Polzin where we have rebuilt our lives here in Vorpommern. It can be said that after the 58 years that we have lived here, we have not forgotten our Pommern roots. We have driven to our home village of Farbezin on several occasions. Every time we go there to our former house it is with mixed and sad feelings. I will never forget my Farbezin roots.
 |
 |
| Farbezin Church in an old postcard | Dewitz Manor House in an old postcard |
 |
 |
| Dewitz Manor in 2005 | Farbezin Church in 2005 |
 |
 |
| We attended the dedication of a monument in the Farbezin churchyard on 14th of May 2003. We were surprised by the positive acceptance of the Polish residents of the village. Every pew in our small village church was completely filled. | Inscription on the Monument - In memory of the many generations of Germans who resided here until 1945 and mindful of their dead resting in this cemetery. |