This post is about findings of my Polish friend, Sylwia Iwanowska. Sylwia and I met quite some years ago while she was still living in Breslau/Wroclaw. She took us through a guided tour of Breslau and was able to show us all the buildings at the addresses that I found where my mom and her sister and mother had lived. The next time we met was when she was my tour guide/translator during my last trip to Poland. She was an amazing help to me.
She works guiding tours through the Primeval Forest of Poland in the area where she is now living. I recently received an email from her with the following text and including the pictures of the graves she found. This is a pretty interesting find:
I live now in the very east edge of northern Poland, however I could find a couple of graves with German names on them. I'm sending you some photos. The graves (stones and metal cross) are placed in small cemetery inside Bialowieza Primeval Forest (the part which belongs to Bialowieza National Park now) close to village Masiewo. Now people call it the "Evangelical Cemetery". Few people know of this place. I could not find any good sources for more accurate information about the place and the people buried there.
People say that this cemetery belonged to the small village of Czoło in pre-war times, but after the war this village was added to the Republic of Belarus (Soviet Union in those days). Now Czoło does not exist any more - this is what I heard.
I did some research myself for the baby boy who died at the age of a few months only. The name was Georg Bark. I've chosen this one as I once heard at a store that a German person was looking for such a grave. When he came to Masiewo, people told him that Czoło is on the other side of the border in Belarus and this man found nothing. This is what I heard.
Than I found a webpage called "Geni" on the Internet and I found the name of this boy - just the birth month was little bit different. I'm sending you the picture from the "Geni" as well. The person who is the administrator of the Bark family data typed as the father of Georg Bark, Ewald Bark, with a link to a webpage describing the story of this father as he was one of the rulers of Russian Tsar huntings in the Bialowieza Primeval Forest. I would be happy to know if the boy is really the son of this Ewald Bark, and if yes - why he died, and any other information the family could share with me about episodes in Bialowieza PrimevalForst - where I work now as nature educator and a licensed guide. According to the administrator of the website, these people were Estonian.
What do you think about this story and what are the chances that I could find more information about Ewald Bark and his family living here in Czoło/Masiewa/Bialowieza? He was quite an important person. Is there a chance to find other names of German people who lived in Czoło/Masiewo/Bialowieza or maybe Narewka?
Here is a link regarding the Bark family. This is Peter/Piotr/Pyotr related to Ewald Bark - father of Georg Bark (metal cross in the forest). In description we may read that Peter/Piotr/Pyotr was the tsar's minister born in Estonia which had some German connections - this could explain why the grave is in the Evangelical/German cemetery.
I also found information that Ewald Bark working in Bialowieza Forest for the Russian Tsar was related to the Tsar's Minister of Finances: Piotr (Peter) Lwowicz Bark.
The Geni link for this Georg Bark is here, Except for the 2 month descrepancy in the birthdate, it does appear to be this same person
Inscription: Here lies Georg Bark Born 12 Nov 1897
Died 25 Mar 1898
Back of cross inscription:
We will be with the Lord for all eternity
1 Thessalonians 4:17
Another stone found in the cemetery:
Kristian Rod(e)
Born the 6th of Jul 1874
died the 20th of Jun 1907
Photo of the stone above full view
The photo below has the same inscription but appears to be the
back side.
I am not able to transcribe this one.
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