Family History in Poland

Shortly after learning we would be movng to Germany back at the beginning of 2014, one of the first places my husband knew he wanted to go was Szubin, Poland. Szubin is a small town in the central north western part of Poland and is home to fewer than 10,000 people. There's no great tourist attraction there or anywhere nearby, for that matter, but it is home to something very important to my husband.

In WWII, Szubin was occupied by Nazi Germany and was home to what was probably the only German POW camp exclusively for U.S. Army officers. The POW camp was built around what was originally a boys' school, and from 1940 until 1943 it held Polish soldiers, French & British officers, and Soviet officers. In June of 1943, the camp was renamed Oflag 64 and became an American officers' camp with the arrival of around 150 officers who had been captured in North Africa. My husband's grandfather was one of those men.

The main building of the camp, which was probably the original boys' school, is still standing, and we had the opportunity to go see it.

We weren't able to go inside the building, but to even see the outside was pretty incredible because we have a picture of Don's grandfather standing in front of it. He is the gentleman in the front center of the photograph.

I'm sure he never imagined that one of his grandchildren would stand in that exact spot some 70+ years later.

There are no markings or plaques on the building to indicate its history, but there were markers toward the front of the property.

It was such a special thing for Don to be able to not only see where his grandfather was held prisoner, but to share that experience with our children. It's a day none of us will forget.

After we finished at the camp location, we drove around Szubin for a little bit and quickly realized there was not much there to keep us occupied for the remainder of the weekend. We decided to check into our hotel early and find a larger city to go to. On the way to our hotel, we passed this little gem! That's right, Poland's own little piece of the wild, wild west. We couldn't resist stopping and taking a couple of pictures. It was just too funny!

Eventually we made our way to the city of Poznan, one of the oldest cities in Poland and a former capital of the country. The city had a really nice center square with a great museum.

I'm not completely sure what was up with these two characters, but they definitely caught our attention!

After a walk around their center market, we set out to find what we'd really come for...food! There were countless restaurants to choose from, and I couldn't tell you the name of the place we settled on, but it was fantastic! It was a quaint little restaurant that served authentic Polish food which we were so excited to try, and it was honestly one of the best meals we've had in Europe.

Fried broccoli with a cheesy dip! You're alright in our book if you deep fry anything! 

This was my goulash with a side of potato pancakes.

Laurel had an amazing bread bowl filled with a creamy soup. It was delicious, but there was an unexpected surprise inside...a boiled egg! Needless to say it was not exactly what she was expecting!

I don't remember what Don & Austin's meals were exactly, but I know they thoroughly enjoyed them.

The best part of this meal, and actually just travel to Poland in general, was the exchange rate. We had an appetizer, 4 drinks, 4 entrees, and 2 desserts for the equivalent of about $40! It was a great way to top off our trip to Poland!