Schlochau, Köslin and others

About the pre-1945 archive with German materials:

I visited the Köslin Archives this past September to look at the Lupow church books. We made an appointment ahead of time through a German friend - I tried to do it myself but they don't answer emails, even in Polish. Since we had only one possible day to visit the archive, I also wrote them a letter in Polish (I had it translated) and asked them to send me a reply verifying our reservation, which they did. I had noted in the letter what records we wanted to look at -I was told this is a good idea - they can have them ready for you.

My husband and I arrived at the Gromada Hotel the night before and then took a taxi to the archives. (our rental car was in the hotel's secure parking lot.) The building is in a nice park setting in the middle of Koszalin, but the building itself is an old communist block grey cement building with grafitti on the outside. We had our taxi driver ring the bell and wait for us to be let in. Once inside, the interior is ok - kind of like an old public school. The archive is on the top, up 5 flights of stairs. Once there, we had to fill out forms and give information including our passport numbers (so bring your passport). The research room is very small - it has about 8 places. My husband and I shared a table. Once of the women, who spoke quite good English (I was surprised because I was told the archive employees only spoke Polish and German) brought us the original church books - not microfilm. Together my husband and I looked at 3 different Lupow church books. However, even though there are no signs forbidding photos, DO NOT take any photos - my husband took non-flash digital photos and one of the people in the next room saw him, ran and told the archive lady, who yelled at my husband. At least she didn't take the film or camera! We arrived when the archive opened at 8 AM and stayed until they closed at 3 PM. I brought a water bottle with and went out in the hall to drink it, away from the church books. There is a bathroom on the floor - very old but clean and functional.

There is no possibility of photo copies. I would not even consider bringing any food, even to eat in the hall - I figured they could not complain about water. After we left the archive, we were so happy to be outside, we did not take a taxi back to the hotel, but walked back through the city, which seemed to be perfectly safe and interesting. I did find much good information about my ancestors.
Susan Biedron

 

See also: http://www.schlawe.de/familienforschung/koszalin/index.htm
for a list of their holdings.

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