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Letter to the Editor: German-Polish Connection

Reading your article about Hedwig Peil [“Hedwig Peil: The ‘Mail-Order Bride’ Who Took Door County by Storm” by Patty Williamson, volume 22, issue 38] reminded me of some strong-willed and intelligent Polish women I have known. Hedwig is a Germanic version of Jadwiga, who was queen of Poland in the 1400s, and who was canonized a saint in 1997 by Pope John Paul II. A Google search on Gros Wierau, the home of Hedwig’s grandparents, indicates that this town is now known as Wiry, and is located in the vicinity of Poznan, Poland. Back in the 1700s Russia, Prussia, and Austria took over Poland (kind of like Russia and Crimea), so immigration documents for immigrants from Poland in the 1800s typically say Germany, Russia or Austria. Western Poland in the area of Poznan was German.

 

Mark Polczynski

Baileys Harbor, Wis.

 

 

 

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