After intense family-historical researches I decided in summer 1999 to spend my vacation on the southern, Czech side of the Giant Mountains. In Germany I had no other possibility to complete my family tree research, because the corresponding books had neither been microfilmed in the central office for genealogy in Leipzig, nor from the Mormons. Also one says "ad fontes ". Besides I wanted to use the possibility to look at the homecountry of my ancestors.

On my first journey to the Giant Mountains in summer 1990 we had lived on the northern, Polish side of the Schneekoppe (Snieska Peak) in Barberhäuser (Borowice). At that time one could only enter with a a visa to Poland and this would have gotten invalid when crossing the border to Czechoslovakia. So we stood after an hours-long ascent on the peak of the Sniezka exactly on the Polish / Czech border, had a fantastic view over the southern Giant Mountains but, however, where not allowed to visit it. Directly on the boundary line armed border guards stood in short distances.

However, this time everything should be different. In the country now named Czech Republic one can enter without problems with a German ID card and border crossings to the nearby Poland are uncomplicated.

So we decided to stay in the place from where the earliest proof of my ancestors came: Friedrichsthal (Bedrichov) near Spindlermühle (Spindleruv Mlýn), County Hohenelbe (Vrchlabi). This was useful, too, because Spindlermühle is since several centuries and also to this day a known popular place for outings in the Giant Mountains with corresponding infrastructure.

After a surprisingly short journey we reached, accompanied with radiant sunshine, our accommodation in Spindlermühle. We had booked the best hotel available, the 4-stars-hotel "Harmony" which lies a little bit apart the city centre near the mountains. However, the externally not particularly beautiful 70s years building surprised with cultivated rooms and very friendly, generally German-speaking staff.

In the city centre of Spindlermühle there were many people in spite of the pre-season (end of May). Remarkably were the innumerable, mostly elderly bus tourists from the German new federal states (former East Germany). Therefore we were glad that our hotel was a little bit off the bustle, although we had at first difficulties with the ascent to the hotel.

We used the beginning of our vacation immediately for the visit of the home town of my grandfather, Jungbuch (Mladé Buky), district of Trautenau (Trutnov). The way of Spindlermühle to Jungbuch leads along the Giant's Mountains in eastern direction on streets on which overtaking is practically impossible. Shortly before reaching Jungbuch the assemblage of houses named Hartmannsdorf (Hertvíkovice) lay next to the main street. I knew my Great-grandmother was from here. The small, absolutely cultivated huts next to the street aroused the impression, as if the time has stopped here. However, Jungbuch surprised us. In the stories of my grandfather it had always sounded like a small village, however, we found an absolutely bigger place which was build along an old main street and in itself even a factory. The houses still existing came apparently to the far predominant part still from German time, however, remarkably were some brand-new houses to which one could give almost the attribute "swankily". However, the old houses made no particularly cultivated impression.

On the way back to Spindlermühle we held at the churchyard of Jungbuch, directly lain at the road to Hartmanndorf. In the church next to the yard, obviously just renovated, my grandfather was christened in 1894! Unfortunately, the building was closed. Our first impression of the churchyard was very positive. After our shaking experiences on formerly German churchyards in current Poland during our visit in 1990 we were taken on the most terrible. Here was the exact contrary: even on the crossover of both path centerlines one had left a monument with German inscription. There had been no attempt to level the German graves and to use the gravestones as components like usually in Poland. Instead, a door had been made through the churchyard wall and a new churchyard had been put on for the Czech deads. The German graves were maintained apparently by lawn edges and raising the fallen down gravestones. We even found two graves with the surname of my ancestors from Hartmannsdorf...

Back in Spindlermühle we visited in Hohenelbe the Giant Mountains-museum which gives an outstanding look at the incredibly hard life of the farmers of the "Riesengebirgsbauden" (Mountain farms) (counterpart to the alpine pastures in the Alps).

For the genealogy of inestimable value is the visit of the museum in the Augustinian's monastery also present in Hohenelbe, because here numerous historic maps from the region are shown. At last on one of these maps I could locate an indication of place which I had found in the genealogical register of my grandfather: his great-grandfather came namely from Spaltebauden. My surprise was enormous, when I had to find out that Spaltebauden was the old name of Spindlermühle!

After this fabulous discovery I could not expect at all the 26th of May, the day on which I had agreed on a visit appointment in the state archive Zamek (Zámrsk). The trip of Spindlermühle to Zamek was adventurously and lasted 2,5 hours, because one must go from the Giant Mountains to Trautenau, passing Königsgrätz (Hradec Kralové) and Hohenmauth (Vysoké Myto).

We were already expected in the archive and were led on, showing the ID card, in the already fully occupied public library. At our workplace were layed out the parish books which had been ordered in advance. The superintending staff was very helpful and reacted because of lacking German knowledge very positively to our pair piece Czech. The supplementory order of parish books ran completely problem-free and very quickly. The inventory of parish books is incredible. Within a few hours I had pursued on account of the book stocks my family history till the 17th century. Another search was not possible because in earlier times no church registers were put on.

By chance we got some days after our return from Zamek in the Touristinforamtion of Spindlermühle a pamphlet, in which a longer article on the history of the city was found. There was to be gleaned, that the place - at that time just still named Spaltebauden - had been created by immigrated miners from the neighboring place St. Peter in the 18th century. I could not take it to read there the names of my ancestors, which how I had found out in the archive, came originally from St. Peter. In other words: my ancestors belong to the founders of Spindlermühle!

Therefore my more than successful researches on Czech side had come to a conclusion and I wanted to turn to the Polish side.

To get from Spindlermühle by car to Poland, one must accept on account of the position of the place on the edge of the Giant's Mountains long detours. For my ancestors and their contemporaries there was the straight way over the comb of the Giant's Mountains which formed at that time the border between Bohemia (Austria) and Silesia (Prussia). From this reason it was, how in my family, not uncommonly that close connections of individual however also economic sort existed between both countries. One connecting element was the common German language.

As first we visited with our trip to Poland the home town of my grandmother, Petersdorf (Piechowiecze), Kreis Hirschberg (Jelenia Góra). We knew the region in the northern border of the Giant's Mountains still from our visit 9 years before. In the places we drove through, a lot had changed in the time, streets were renewed, pavements been put on. Many houses had been renovated. Petersdorf had also developed very much into the positive. But the different reaction of the population struck us immediately. While we could look round in the Czech Republic unhindered, we excited in Poland attention. Completely apparently the fear sits with the population that Germans could demand back old possessions.

Because I knew that in Petersdorf no more parish registers existed as well as also the German churchyards were destroyed, we went to Krummhübel (Karpacz), "the" place for outings on the northern page of the Giant's Mountains since centuries. In 1990 we had found out after intense search that a part of the protestant church registers from the region were stored in their famous Norwegian wooden church Wang. At that time the priest had granted to us generously look at his "archive". Because of lacking preparations we had not come with our researches, however, very far.

This time we had luck again, on the one hand was the priest who speaks an outstanding German, present, on the other he still had the church registers, also the ones form Petersdorf, in his house. Against a donation he was willingly to grant look at the books to us. I could trace back a line my family up to 1710.

Next we were to visit Breslau (Wroclaw) where I was announced in the diocesan's archive. During a glow-hot day directly before a church holiday we started very early in the morning. Quickly appeared that we had completely misjudged the distance. It already lasted hours, since we had reached the Czech / Polish border crossing at Liebau (Lubawka). From out there only small, winding streets led in direction of the main thoroughfare to Breslau. Altogether we needed for ridiculous 170 kilometers 4 hours!

The city greeted us with a brand-new ring of stores which could also have been in every German city. However, the way farther to the archive was adventurously: a chaotic traffic crowded about completely ailing basalt plaster with enormous potholes. Luckily, we found immediately the archive and nearby a guarded car-park. But the time had progressed so far that we only had two hours left for research in the archive for the archive is open exclusively only in the morning.

In the archive we were received by nice nuns who understood, however, no word of German. There I used a pair piece Polish and they thought I would speak Polish and talked excited to me (what I did not understand). Luckily, I had pocketed my letter of invitation, so that the reason of my visit was clear. I could choose from a luckily bilingual inventory book the church registers relevant to me. To my big surprise I found out that I had held the book already once in Germany in hands. Now I saw that the nuns had supplemented the book by hand, with placenames relevant for me. A great discovery!

Loaded with a big pile of church registers we found our way to a small reading space in which already two Germans were. Here for the first time during our journey we did not get further with our researches: the progenitor of the Ullrichs, passed away 1866 in Liebau, does not come apparently from the city. Unusually neither his parents are put down in none of the completely existing books nor his home town. Only the age at the time of death is noted, therefore he must be born approx. 1820 or 21. Therefore it is impossible to find out, where he comes from originally. The leader of the archive, Dr. Pater also confirmed us in it. He pointed out the difficult situation in the Silesia of the 18th and 19th century. Carl Ullrich can come therefore possibly from Saxony where there were some Ullrichs at the time, from Silesia or possibly from Bohemia. Interestingly enough we saw namely in the Giant Mountain Museum in Hohenelbe a clock produced in 1820 by an "Ullrich"....

Deeply disappointed we left the archive, not without thanking all for the friendly admission. Before we proceeded again back towards the Czech Republic, we used the time for a visit of the nearby cathedral. The look of the pilings on the city is simply fantastic. However, for another city tour it was simply too hot with temperatures over 30° C °.

Because we passed on our way back to the hotel again Liebau, I wanted to use the opportunity to look at the city again after 9 years. In 1990 we had the luck to get to know an old Silesian woman which had married a Polish man after the war and knew the way in the place extremely well as well as served us as an interpreter. At that time we found out with her help that there are any German parish book in Liebau neither in the church nor in the office of mayor. With her help we could also reconstruct the old German street names and find the house in which my grandfather had graduated an upholsterer and upholsterer apprenticeship with his uncle.

Just as in Petersdorf something had been done during the last years, although the city still made a rather dreary impression. Particularly positively struck that Schwarzbach (black creek) flowing through the city was clarified now apparently completely. In 1990, when it was as hot like by our current visit, the sewer stench in the whole city and the sight of the brook was indescribably. Unfortunately, the situation on the churchyard was unchanged: only in the churchyard wall remnants of German gravestones were found; the open broken graves had been abused in the meantime even to the unloading by garbage. Instinctively I had to think of the story which had told us in 1990 our Silesian acquaintance: after the war the German gravestones had broken off and had been applied to the building of a new public swimming pool. After immediately somebody drowned in the new bath, one believed in a bad spirit and tore all stones again out....

After my family-historical researches were concluded, we could devote ourselves more to the tourist part of our vacation. Beautifully was a visit on the Spindlerbaude on the comb of the Giant's Mountains above Spindlermühle. The driveway took place by a shuttle bus and the partly extremely steep descent on foot. With the descent in the river Elbe valley we could understand well, what an incredibly hard life the farmers on the Bauden have led! However, the fantastic landscape compensated us for these thoughts. Later visits also took us to Johannisbad where we experienced Sunday afternoon a Spa concert under radiant blue sky as well as to Trautenau, the big capital. In Harrachsdorf (Harrachov) we visited the glasswork where we had the incredible luck to be led by the master. After I had reported to him that my grandmother came from the nearby Petersdorf and was by occupation a glass grinder, we really received a guidance of the quite special sort. We might try not only in the blowing of glass but go even under (!) the smelting furnace - but thuis was with approx. 60°C no pleasure.

Unfortunately, our 14 days stay in the Giant Mountains had come to an end. It was certainly not the last time that we have gone there...