Patricia, Festenberg was located in the administrative district (in German:
Kreis) of
Gross Wrtenberg in what was until 1945 the Prussian province of Silesia, the capital of which was the city of Breslau.
I'll tell you just a little bit about Silesia:
SILESIA (in German: SCHLESIEN) was until the 1740s a province of AUSTRIA. Following Austria's defeat by
Prussia in the Silesian Wars, Silesia became a province of
Prussia and remained a Prussian province for 200 years, until 1945. As mentioned, Silesia's capital was the city of BRESLAU.
Following World War II, almost all of Germany lying east of the
Oder and Neisse
Rivers was given to Poland (with the exception of the northern half of the Prussian province of East
Prussia, which was taken by the Soviet Union). The 12 million inhabitants of eastern Germany were thereupon expelled from their homes under horrific conditions. They had to leave everything behind. Many did not survive the ordeal. It was hell on earth. The Polish authorities then moved Poles in to repopulate these territories.
Only one tiny piece of Silesia lying west of the Neisse River remained part of Germany -- the city of Görlitz and environs.
FESTENBERG had a population of about 3800 people in 1939. The city of
Gross WARTENBERG had a population of about 3000 people in 1939.
Festenberg is about 30 miles northeast of Breslau, and about 12 miles northwest of
Gross WARTENBERG.
Following the expulsion of the original
German inhabitants in 1945/46 and the resettling of these territories with Poles, all the cities and villages were of course given new Polish names:
Silesia's capital, Breslau, is now known by the Polish name WROCLAW. Festenberg is known by the Polish name TWARDOGORA. Gross
WARTENBERG is now known by the Polish name SYCOW.
As I'm sure you know, Patricia, the Polish people are
Roman Catholic. So no, there is no longer a Lutheran church in Festenberg. Most of the Lutheran churches in Germany's eastern territories that now belong to Poland were converted into Catholic churches following the expulsion of the original
German inhabitants and the resettling of the cities and towns with Poles. There are a few exceptions, because a very small minority of Poles are Protestant, but Protestant churches in Germany's former eastern territories are few and far between today.
I will refer you to three maps:
Map 1 shows Germany as it was from its unification under Bismarck in 1871 until 1918. You will see Germany's states, including
Prussia, Germany's largest state by far, and its provinces. In the east, you will see the Prussian province of Silesia. Breslau,
Gross WARTENBERG and Festenberg were located pretty much in the middle of the province, around the second "s" in the word "Silesia". You will also note how vast
Prussia was. It extended from East
Prussia in the northeast all the way to and including the Rhineland in the west. That's a distance of more than 800 miles! Berlin was the capital of
Prussia, and from 1871, of Germany as well.
Map 2 shows Germany's territorial losses following World War I. Silesia was divided into two provinces in 1919 -- Lower Silesia, with Breslau as its capital, and
Upper Silesia, with the city of Oppeln as its capital. Germany was forced to relinquish a portion of
Upper Silesia to the reestablished independent Poland at this time.
Map 3 shows Germany and its states today. Everything east of the
Oder and Neisse
Rivers is lost. Very tragic. Very sad. (In 1947, two years after the end of World War II, the
Allies declared the state of
Prussia officially abolished.)
Map 1:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wggerman/map/germanempire.htmMap 2:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wggerman/map/germany1920.htmMap 3:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wggerman/state.htmHope this is of some help to you.
Robert