The return to Gross Bartelsdorf (Bartolty Wielkie) 1995-06-01 part1

This video is showing my mother Gertraud and her sister Hildegard´s first return in their home village Gross Bartelsdorf in East Preussia, which was a part of Germany before 1945. Today, this area belongs to Poland. My mother´s family name was Xionna. My grandparents were Paula and Franz Xionna. The oldest daughter´s name is Irmgard. All five used to live in a house on the main street, today marked number 9. My mother Gertraud (the tallest of the two women in the video) was born in 1936. One extremely cold morning in January 1945, the whole population of the village had to leave when the Russians invaded from the east. My mother survived a 4-week long trip in -20 degrees Celsius and snow, on foot, by horse carriage, by train and by boat until she reached safety in West Germany together with her two sisters and her mother. All three sisters are today 2022 still alive. Two lives in Herne in Germany and my mother lives in Sweden.
Today this is happening again in Ukraine. People need to learn.
(This video is completely uncut due to lack of time and editing software.)

[@project.2024]

I live here, there is so much change after 30 years. Less trees, more buildings. Amazing video, im glad you uploaded it, i’d never know what mine little village looked like in 90s

[@66DX7]

Can you send me an email. I would like to share some images. [e-mail]

[@MarcoJust]

Das ist ein sehr schöner Rückblick in eine so wundervolle Landschaft, die ich selbst zwar nicht kennengelernt habe (außer Nikolaiken), aber auch die Heimat meiner Großeltern ist ja nicht sehr weit entfernt, und sie ist ebenso schön. Es erinnert mich auch an meinen ersten Besuch in Masuren im Jahr 1999, da war auch noch alles sehr ursprünglich, und man hat sich weit in die alte Zeit zurückversetzt gefühlt. Es ist sehr erstaunlich, wie sehr sich Nikolaiken in den letzten 20-25 Jahren verändert hat.

[@66DX7]

Please comment if you have any memories from this village to share.