Born in 1967 in Angerburg/ Węgorzewo in Masuria, Agata Kern grew up in Steinort/ Sztynort and Rastenburg/ Kętrzyn. She studied law in Warsaw and Cologne as well as Slavic studies and Eastern European history. Since 2008, she has been working as a consultant for cultural affairs at the East Prussian Regional Museum in Lüneburg.
The project "Steinorter/Sztynorter Migrationsgeschichten" is her brainchild. She has researched, organized and translated for it –  as well as contributing her own family history and that of her former kindergarten.
Biography

Marek Makowski and Piotr Wagner

Harbor, village and palace – a tangible vision
Two passionate sailors, raised in Giżycko, not far from Sztynort. Marek Makowski (b.1984) and Piotr Wagner (b.1986) left at a young age, took advantage of the opportunities on offer in a united Europe and later returned to the world they grew up in. Marek, an entrepreneur and owner of a sailing...
Podcast

Wenzel

A Poet’s homage to Heinrich and Gottliebe von Lehndorff
Hans-Eckardt Wenzel, or "Wenzel" as he calls himself, is a poet and singer with Bohemian roots, born in Wittenberg in 1955. In GDR times, he studied farewell letters of young communists who lost their lives in the resistance against Hitler. Through his friendship with Antje Vollmer, he became...
Podcast

Hanna Schygulla

My friend Gottliebe Lehndorff
The actor Hanna Schygulla was 30 years old when she first met Gottliebe von Lehndorff in 1973. The scene of the encounter: the artists' colony in the old Peterskirchen vicarage, east of Munich. They lived there for thirteen years, their apartments backing onto each other. Despite their age...
Background article

Antje Vollmer

“Double Life” – following the footsteps of Heinrich and Gottliebe von Lehndorff
She is known as a Green Party politician and for her longstanding role as Vice President of the German Bundestag. After retiring in 2005, she became a freelance author. Her first book project “Doppelleben” (Double Life) tells the story of Heinrich von Lehndorff, one of the conspirators of the...
Biography

Verus von Plotho

A grandson discovers his grandparents – and Masuria
"There was no culture of remembrance in my family," says Verus von Plotho. He grew up in a cosmopolitan world. He was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1969 and grew up in Munich. His mother is Gabriele Freifrau von Plotho, the third daughter of Heinrich and Gottliebe von Lehndorff. There was hardly any...
Biography

Maria Zarębska

Family roots in Sztynort
When Maria Zarębska was born, in July 1948, the village of Sztynort was still scarred by war. A few Masurian families had remained living there, but most of the inhabitants – like Maria's parents – were newcomers. Everyone was struggling to survive, to get along with each other, to find their...
Introduction

Steinort/Sztynort Migration Stories

Steinort Palace in northern Masuria was the seat of the noble Lehndorff family until 1945. The last Count, Heinrich von Lehndorff, was one of the conspirators of July 20, 1944. These stories tell of the fate of the East Prussian noble family and follow the lives of people who lived in the village,...
Biography

The Four Lehndorff Daughters

A lost childhood and new worlds
"I lost my home," Vera von Lehndorff once said, "but lost childhood is a better description." When her father was executed on September 4, 1944, she was five years old. Her sister Eleonore, "Nona," was six and a half, and Gabriele was two. Catharina was only 19 days old; she was born in the Torgau...
Biography

Stefan Tymiec Junior

A childhood home in Steinort and the long road to the West
Stefan Tymiec was born in Sztynort in July 1950. “I had a happy childhood”, he says. He hardly felt anything of the tragedies that his parents had lived through. His mother was German and remained in her homeland in 1945. His father was Ukrainian, one of many people who had been forcibly...
Background article

Agata, Dorota, Iwona, Jolanta

The kindergarten in the Pałac – memories of a little paradise
"What luck that we had this kindergarten!" All four say. That was in the early 1970s. Agata and Jolanta now live in Germany, Dorota and Iwona have stayed in Masuria. Lehndorff Castle, the "Pałac", was a place they all felt happy. In those stately rooms they had a feeling of security and comfort,...
Biography

Eva Anna Therese Puschke

The last of a dynasty of teachers
As far back as the 19th century, the Puschke family worked as teachers in Steinort and in the neighboring church village of Rosengarten. They played an important role in village life and had close ties to the noble Lehndorff family. The last teacher of the dynasty was Eva Puschke, a "lay teacher" in...
Biography

Bettina Bouresh

New life for Steinort Palace and an unexpected homecoming
"I’m a typical post-war child," says Bettina Bouresh. Born in 1950, she grew up burdened with German guilt and the traumas of her mother's family, who had lived in Allenstein until 1945. She herself felt homeless for a long time. Until one day she found her place: in Masuria. Here she found a home...
Biography

Wolfram Jäger

A professor in overalls. The Steinort Palace construction site
One day, Wolfram Jäger heard on the radio about the catastrophic condition of Lehndorff Palace. The well-known specialist in the restoration of historic buildings had recently completed a major project for UNESCO in Barcelona and immediately made his way to Masuria. In the spring of 2011, he made a...
Biography

Hannah Wadle

Social anthropologist and cultural activist. Telling the story of Steinort together – an experiment
In 2009, Hannah Wadle settled in Sztynort to do research for her doctoral thesis – and stayed for a whole year. Gradually, her cautious explorations turned into familiarity and what began as a purely academic interest became a dedicated personal commitment to the town and its people. She learned...
Object story

The Odyssey of a Rococo dresser

What became of the interior of Steinort Palace
For more than 150 years, the Rococo dresser stood on the upper floor of the Steinort castle, in the so-called "Simson room". It bears witness to the lifestyle of an East Prussian noble family. Behind it lies an adventurous journey that began after the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July...
Object story

The linen dresser

and other everyday objects that survived
A simple chest of drawers, which came from the Steinort manor house, probably from the servants' quarters. In 1945 it was still quite new, made of pine, unpainted. Ten years ago, an old gentleman donated it to the Museum of Folklore in Węgorzewo, formerly Angerburg, along with other things he had...
Background article

The Lehndorff Hunting Lodge

A place of German-Polish friendship
This charming wooden building was once the hunting lodge of the Lehndorff counts. Here they would gather after the great hunts to feast and celebrate together. Later, the building was leased to an innkeeper. After 1945 it was used as a storehouse, and for a while it served as a village store. It...