Visit to the Village of Fichthorst (Polish name: Jeglownik)
The village of Fichthorst holds special significance because it is the village in which David's maternal great, great, great, grandfather, Samuel Kusch, was born prior to 1800. Apparently the village was originally settled by Mennonites from Holland and Germany. It is not known whether the large Catholic Church was originally built by the Mennonites but its architecture would suggest that to be the case.
Little evidence remains about the presence of Germans except that several graves with German inscriptions on the headstones were discovered along with a large monument with many German Mennonite names inscribed. As you can see, the large monument lists the names of individuals under the village name from which they came. This monument seems to be a memorial to individuals who served the German Army during the WW I, 1914-1918.
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| City sign. | Streets in Jeglownik. | Entrance to church yard. | What appears to be formerly a Mennonite church is a Catholic church today. | |||||
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| Inside was a beautiful pipe organ and decorative pulpit. A balcony wrapped around the back and sides of the church. | Among the Polish graves was one German grave and a gravestone of Paul & Elisabeth Kliewer. | |||||||
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| As we entered the churchyard we found this large monument with dozens of German Mennonite names on it indicating the village with which they were associated. | ||||||||
Note: To view a large image of the monument, click on the small picture, then place the cursor on the larger picture and an enlargement icon should appear in the lower right corner. Then click on the icon to see a very large size picture.