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" Antonia's Local Chronicle"  

In 1781 Frederick II, a Prussian King, issued a decree for the village of Antonia to be founded as a wood lumbering colony for the supply of the Malapane foundry. Antonia is located in the vicinity of the Reservoir Turawa (Jezioro Turawskie) which has since been built, within the district of Oppeln in Upper Silesia. The author was born in Antonia.

It is believed that the village has been named after the pretty Maria Antonia Walburgis (1724-1780), a princess from Bavaria-Austria.

The chronicle starts off with historical dates concerning events in Upper Silesia, the listing of the Nobel Prize winners as well as famous poets whose roots were in Upper Silesia.

Extensive researches conducted in Germany and abroad resulted in past historical links being revealed; at the same time most important and interesting findings have come to light, some of which extend to the present time.

This book contains documents which have hardly ever been published, as for instance a detailed documentary which appeared in the "New York Times" covering the Upper Silesian ballot in 1921, as well as the official address book published in 1926 detailing the names of all inhabitants of Antonia, Schodnia including the areas of Beatenhof, Niwa, Alt-Schodnia, Neu-Schodnia and Pustkow, Hüttendorf, Gut Malapane including Jedlitze and Hüttenwerk, Sczedrzik and the areas of Krzyschline, Ledwigsmühle, Podborze, Pustkow, Pytelmühle and Zamosczie, Krascheow including the regions of Adametzmühle, Mischline, Quintay and Zamoscie.

The book contains numerous illustrations, historical maps and colour photographs which reflect the overall picture of this charming village.

In 1939 Antonia (in 1945 it was given the Polish name: Antoniów) was incorporated into Malapane (Ozimek) and to this day, you will still find the cast iron chain-suspension bridge which spans the Malapane river which in turn flows into the Oder river. The bridge was built in 1827 and is the oldest of its kind on the European continent. The statics of this bridge along with that of the long-span wire suspension bridge in Langenargen (Lake Constance) which was built in 1897 were relied on and referred to when planning the structural design of the world's largest suspension bridge, the 'Golden Gate Bridge' in San Francisco (USA).

(An annex deals with a brief history of the villages Unterrohrbach and Eggenfelden in Lower Bavaria.)


selected entries from the guestbook:

Eine hervorragend recherchierte Chronik, die mit einer Reihe unerwarteter Details aufwarten kann.
Karlheinz Marx

Beim 2.Versuch gelang der Einstieg!Vielen Dank für den wertvollen Hinweis.Als Ihr ehem. MilPfr bei SHAPE freue ich mich sehr über dieses gelungene Werk und verbleibe mit den besten Wünschen und Grüßen
Msgr. Heinrich Wachter, Prälat

Dear Mr. Schwierz. I was very honored and happy to see your wonderful informative book and especially the opportunity to meet you and continue to meet you. As an Israeli, I am very impressed that you took the time to research also some of the history of Jewish families and went to reach out for them and interview them. In your book one can find a piece of the history of the Jewish people which would have probably never been known. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this. I appreciate your efforts to bring this book into light and your skillful talent to write it in 3 languages. I wish you always success in whatever you are doing. With best regards
Alisa Barkatt

Bonjour, Avant de prendre ma retraite fin Mai 2003, je viens de trouver la page sur l'histoire locale d'Antonia. Je vous félicite pour ce beau travail, et dès que je serai en Allemagne j'essaierai de trouver ce livre. J'aimerais que quelqu'un prenne la même initiative pour parler de mon village Wundichow/Poméranie. Nous avions cette chance de travailler quelques années au SHAPE - en temps de paix. Bonne continuation Une ancienne collègue de SHAPE restée en France.
Sieglinde Sauvage-von der Marwitz

Auch ich als waschechter Niederbayer habe Dein Buch mit großem Interesse gelesen. Es war spannend und brachte mir die Geschichte Deiner Heimat,Dein Flüchtlingsschicksal und das vieler Ostdeutscher näher. Deshalb habe ich es als trauriges, aber sehr notwendiges Buch empfunden. Herzlichen Glückwunsch dazu. Dein Schulfreund Ludwig.
Ludwig Urlberger

Hallo Herr Schwierz, hätte mich schon längst eingetragen, aber habe von Ihrer Homepage erst kürzlich erfahren - bin in letzter Zeit ein wenig rumgekommen. Als echter Antonianer kann ich die Ortschronik jedem wirklich wärmstens empfehlen - sehr informativ und gut geschrieben. Obwohl ich selbst 18 Jahre in Antonia gelebt habe, habe ich viele Details und die Geschichte meines Dorfes erst in Ihrem Buch kennen gelernt. Jeder, der sich für diese Thematik interessiert, wird Ihnen sicherlich sehr dankbar sein, für die Mühe und jahrelange Arbeit und Recherche, die Sie in dieses Werk investiert haben... Viele Grüße,
Tomasz Gonsior


In order to cover the whole spectrum, some documents have been translated into English and Polish; the article "Jews in Upper Silesia, in Antonia" has been translated into Hebrew.

A3 sized hardback, fabric bound with gilt lettering.
EUR 30 / $ 25
ISBN 3-87595-309-6
The book is presently out of print, however, it is available at various libraries in Germany and abroad.

Contact:

NORBERT SCHWIERZ
Josef-Ponten-Str. 19
40595 Duesseldorf - Germany
Tel.: +49 / 211 / 70 35 71
Fax: +49 / 211 / 700 894 02
http://www.norbert-schwierz.de
e-mail: info[ät]norbert-schwierz.de

 

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