Two German-Baltic noblemen and a Polish coachman fleeing from Wartheland to Hesse, early 1945

Irmela von Manteuffel and Adline von Campenhausen belonged to the German-speaking nobility in the Baltic States. In 1939/40, in the course of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, the families were resettled from the Baltic States to the German Reich, namely to . Irmela von Manteuffel worked there as an administrator on the estate of the von Campenhausen family. At the beginning of 1945, von Manteuffel and von Campenhausen, together with the Polish coachman Johann [Janek] Borowczyk, fled Wartheland via Mark Brandenburg and Thüringen to Hesse.

The lives of the two women, Irmela von Manteuffel and Adline von Campenhausen, as well as the Polish coachman Johann [Janek] Borowczyk, condenses several episodes of forced migration in the middle of the 20th century. The two noblemen had to leave the Baltic States with their families in 1939/40 in the course of the Hitler-Stalin Pact. This was because the pact stipulated, among other things, that Germans from the Soviet Union's sphere of influence be resettled 'home to the Reich.' The National Socialists resettled the Baltic Germans in those areas which the German Reich had conquered from Poland since September 1939. The sources available here do not provide any further information about Johann Borowczyk. It is likely that he had been brought to the Campenhausens' farm as a Polish forced laborer. When the Soviet Army advanced ever closer to the Wartheland in early 1945, he escaped with the two noblewomen and drove the horse-drawn carriage for long distances as a coachman.
 
Part of the von Campenhausen family estate is preserved in the document collection of the Herder Institute. This includes a 19-page typewritten account of the escape. Irmela von Manteuffel provides information in the report about its creation: based on handwritten notes, she wrote the report in early March 1945, when they had arrived in Hesse (cf. entry about the period from March 1 to March 9, 1945). Since the original notes have not survived, it is not possible to say with certainty whether Irmela von Manteuffel may have subsequently intervened in the content of the report. In addition, numerous letters and postcards from Adline von Campenhausen and her relatives have survived, which were sent before, during and after the escape.

At the end of 1944, the Red Army advanced on Wartheland and unrest grew among the German population: leave or stay, and if the latter, how was one to maintain the operation of the estate economy and at the same time deal with the threat of conquest? On January 2, 1945, Adline von Campenhausen wrote to cousin Hennerijette [Henriette] von Campenhausen: „But I cannot imagine that I will be able to keep our house free of billeting during the spring. Not to mention Balthasar a[nd] Remb[.]t. Susi, by the way, has been silent in all ways since her alarm letter [fol. 18r]. Like many before her. I am already reckoning with this resettlement panic. | I was in Schachau on the 30th/31st [December?]: Baron Rapp [?] thinks everything is not so bad and actually thinks that the [financial] trust must be good for us. I should only determine the benefit [?] a[nd] the withdrawal of money as a precaution. In doing so, I am also thinking of you being bombed out.“3

Tumultuous scenes occurred in mid-January 1945. After years of anti-Soviet propaganda and brutal German warfare in the East, the fear of the Red Army was great. Hastily, many Germans set out for the West. Irmela von Manteuffel describes in her „diary account,“ written after the fact, how she set out together with Adline von Campenhausen and the Polish coachman Janek [Johann] Borowczyk von Moorfelde in Wartheland.

„Saturday, January 20, 1945, [...] There was already a mood of departure everywhere. [...] 'Everything is leaving'! With this news M[is]s v[on] C[ampenhausen] will come from Mühlheim at half past one in the afternoon. Ungerns [the pastor's family] are still not afloat with their 4 sm[all] children. Black Sea German women come and ask[,] to be taken along. 4 Berlin children without a mother (who is once again in Berlin) stand in despair in the office. The farmer's wife, with whom they are quartered, does not want to take them. [...] Some people have come to say goodbye – we shake hands with them – goodbye? Then off – it is half past five in the evening, 15 degrees below zero and little snow. The moon shines brightly, the carriage drives through the gate with a creaking sound. Small piles of Poles are standing on the road, but they don't say a word. [...] Then we come to costs. Now from all directions come carriages. People stand in the street and ask to be taken along. But our wagon is full. [...] And now we are really on the big journey. It is without beginning and without end. – Carriages packed full, mostly without tarpaulins, lots of children. Sometimes there is jostling, one passes, others overtake us, always there is shouting and beating of the horses. Many horses fall. From the front wagon you can only see the horses' legs, which are slipping in all directions. Then a wagon starts to slide in front – off over the embankment, any moment it must overturn, it wobbles precariously, but then it stands still. There are only women on the wagon, they can't get back up on their own. We send Janek to help.“4  

From Moorfelde in Wartheland they drove westward, partly in a convoy, partly alone. In the afternoon, they had to find suitable quarters for the night. On January 22, 1945, they reached the village of Köbnitz. Even though the German Reich had annexed the Wartheland after the invasion of Poland, the former Reich border, which ran near Köbnitz until 1939, obviously played a role as a landmark for the author:

„After 20 km we are in Köbnitz. A large estate is on the left of the road. [...] 2 children come towards me, but they shake their heads, do not understand, a girl comes, but she also says: 'Do not understand'. An old man shows me the right house without being asked, off to the side the children and the girl stand and grin cheekily. (The first time that Poles were unpleasant) [...] Originally we wanted to cross the former German/Polish border at Bomst, that would have been the next route, but the road is closed. We have to make a detour via Bentschen/Neu-Bentschen. The others have great desire to stay overnight with the nice Mr. Bock and to continue only the next day. There are still military there. But I imagine that we have to cross the border as soon as possible. The troops and Mr. Bock will be gone soon and we can move quickly by car, but we drive 30 km a day and who knows [p. 4] how close the Russians are to us already.“5

At Frankfurt an der Oder, they hope to get across the river. But the main roads and bridge crossings are controlled by the military to keep supply routes and retreat routes clear for the German military.

„January 26, 1945 [...] we want to try[,] to get across the Oder Bridge in Frankfurt today. At 2:30 p.m. we are already in Kunersdorf (30 km), from where it is only 5 km to Frankfurt. The roads are full of military, which is heading westward. [...] we drive into Kunersdorf. [...] We are told that the Oder bridge in Frankfurt is closed, the convoy will be directed via Küstrin. This means almost 60 km detour for us, with the snowstorm and [horse] 'Nora's' unfortunately bad condition, quite impossible for us. [...] the Russians seem to be getting closer. Wherever you look, they are packing.“

„January 27, 1945 [...] Will the Oder Bridge be free???? [...] M[is]s v[on] C[ampenhausen] gets up and [p. 7] explores the situation. She soon returns with the news: 'the Oder bridge is free!!!' [...] The military vehicles have disappeared. The road is strangely empty, hardly a car to be seen. [...] There – police and military posts! – Some carriages from the convoy are already standing there. We have to stop. I jump out, now it's time. But there is no fight. The Oder bridge is free. [...] our carriage is now moving forward. Before, the military had checked our carriage for men[.] 'Man-smuggling' as the guard said. But Janek is Polish.“

Under the influence of the approaching Red Army, the German authorities had assigned the refugees a district in the central parts of the Reich to receive them, depending on their place of origin. For the refugees from the district of Schrimm/Wartheland, the district of Jüterbog/Luckenwalde [today a part of the district of Teltow-Fläming] in the Mark Brandenburg was designated as the destination of the convoys. Von Manteuffel, von Campenhausen and Borowczyk therefore move on from Frankfurt/Oder in a southwesterly direction.

„February 3, 1945 [...] It is still 15 km from here to Luckenwalde. Shortly before L[uckenwalde] there is an alarm. We stop at a very threadbare grove and watch the silvery squadrons flying in the sun. New ones keep coming; in the distance we hear the detonations. Major attack on Berlin. [...] we decide that I will go ahead and get our refugee papers [...] that we are refugees and not vagabonds, if we continue to travel through the country with our carriage like this. [...] [p. 10] In Zinna Monastery only Frau v[on] Ö[ttingen] with her sick children shall get a room. For all the others there is only a mass camp. The horses will be sheltered on the estate. We had to hit the mass camp one day; until now we've always been lucky. But while we were still unloading Ö, a woman asked me: 'Do you already have quarters?' 'No,' I said, 'then come with me! [...] Miss v. C. and I are taken into our own room. It is wonderfully warm there and wonderfully stuffy with a red plush sofa and glass chandelier. [...] Mrs. G[unkel] is a soul of a person! As she hears our names, she is blissful: she has 2 ladies with 'von'!“6

In addition to the resettlement report and letters, the estate also contains a map. On it was apparently subsequently noted „on 20 January [19]45 torn out of the atlas for the journey (I think [...] 61)“. It is a physical layout map. No traffic routes are marked. The course of the escape nevertheless gives a hint why such a general map may have been useful, namely to be able to estimate where the convoy can move through flat country and where hilly stretches or even low mountain ranges begin. However, the map did not protect von Manteuffel, von Campenhausen and Borowczyk from being bitterly surprised by the route:

February 5, 1945: „We leave at 11 o'clock [...]. Before entering J[üterbog] there is a mountain with cobblestone pavement, quite steep and winding. Our heavy wagon without brakes rolls and rolls, Janek can't hold the horses anymore (he doesn't know mountains) [...] our left front wheel flies off, the wagon continues on the axle without turning over! That brakes [...].“7 

Near the scene of the accident, probably in the suburb of Zinna, they seek help from a blacksmith. Since the blacksmith's master and journeymen have been drafted for war service, it is a French forced laborer who finally repairs the carriage so that the journey can continue. Since the district of Jüterbog is the assigned reception district for refugees from the Schrimm district, they meet people in the city whom they know from home: „At the police criminal investigation department, which has the best map, I write down the route, then go over to the district headquarters. There I meet all the familiar faces of the Schrimmer farming district. It seems quite strange to me.“

After repairing the wagon in Jüterbog and installing a brake, the three move on, crossing the Elbe near Wittenberg.

„February 6, 1945, [...] There are a lot of carriages in front of the town [Wittenberg]. Just as we reach the first houses, the all-clear is given. Now we are crossing the Elbe. It's really so unreal, which stretches of Germany we drive through so slowly. Sometimes you think you just have to wake up from a bad dream and you're back in Moorfelde. | After another 20 km we are in Radis.“8

In Radis (between Wittenberg and Halle), the three are billeted on the estate of Bodenhausen and Wutenau. From there, Adline writes to her cousin Henriette („Henner") in Hesse on February 8, 1945: „Incidentally, the catastrophe is so great that it is impossibly interesting which of us will reach West Elbian Germany. You can imagine that I had little desire to come out. [...] [fol. 5r] Too gruesome to read the names in the A[rmed] F[orces] Report, where we had just been received hospitably (albeit makeshift) [...] How can everyone leave and where to? I think it was a mistake to let us resettle. What will become of the rest of the country that we are now flooding and sucking dry and demoralizing? [When and how will peace break out?? Or is the war still stamping through the whole of Germany? [...] I no longer wanted to come upon you as a miserable (physically, property-wise, mentally) refugee, but it could not be avoided.“9

From Radis they set out again on February 9, 1945, and after numerous further sections and billeting they finally arrive in Wehrda (near Fulda in Hesse) on March 1, 1945, at Adline's cousin Hennriette [Henner]. Here, von Manteuffel also inserts a brief reference to the context in which her „resettlement report“ was written:

„March 1 – March 9 [1945] At 8:30 a.m. I leave alone with Janek for Wehrda [near Fulda/Hesse]. We drive through Bebra, which is quite broken [...]. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon we arrive in Wehrda (37 km). It is drizzling lightly. The horses come into the stable set up for them. The wagon is unloaded. – We have arrived! - - - we have traveled 805 km! - - - I get a room together with 2 others. The house is packed as well. I counted 27 people together, 19 of them children. In Miss Jahnentz' warm comfortable room I sit and write this report from my notes.“

In the years after 1945, the focus is on rebuilding an existence in post-war Germany. Many refugees and displaced persons from the district of Schrimm (Wartheland) found a new home in the district of Jüterbog/Luckenwalde, which had been assigned to them as part of the evacuation in early 1945. Others, such as Irmela von Manteuffel and Adline von Campenhausen, who had relatives in other parts of Germany, sought a new start there. The different basic parameters for the integration of refugees in the Western occupation zones (from 1949 Federal Republic of Germany) and in the Soviet occupation zone (from 1949 German Democratic Republic) have now been intensively researched.10

DSHI 100 Campenhausen
Map material from the Herder Institute

English translation: Coady Buckley 
Selection of sources and analysis: Christian Lotz
Map montages: Laura Gockert

This article is part of the series: „Forced migration: people and their escape routes“