We drove a few more hours and stayed overnight in a very modern hotel in the city of Legnica.  Marian says the communist party built these large, ultra-modern hotels, primarily for their party members.  But now they sit mostly empty because so few Polish people can afford to stay there.  An absolutely scrumptious breakfast buffet was included for just a slightly higher room rate.  The bill for the whole thing was about $75.00 per night in U.S. dollars.  Wow … what a treat.  The meal was so good we decided to stay there another night (on our way back to Germany) after visiting the Silesian (southwest) area of Poland throughout the day on Saturday, March 23, 2002.

Legnica is a beautiful, old city with large churches and other buildings (that obviously were not the targets of World War II bomb runs by the Allied Forces).  But our destination, the village of Komprachcice near Opole, beckoned us … so we left our luggage in our hotel room and drove further to the southeast past the city of Wroclaw (the Silesian Capitol) and on to the Opole area.  The main roads were in good shape, mostly four-lane tar or old cement.

As we neared Komprachcice we were greeted by a March, spring snowstorm.  When we pulled over to take a photo, we got stuck in the wet, soft shoulder of the road and I had to sit on the front right fender (over the wheel) to give it a little extra front-wheel drive traction!  It worked … and we were immediately on our way.

Komprachcice was a quaint little village with mostly small, old farm homes.  The Catholic Church was beautiful and obviously the center and pride of this Polish community.  A bulletin board of photos in the foyer of the church showed the recent construction of a small chapel in the cemetery.  Judging from the pictures, many volunteers helped build the chapel.  Marian said the cemetery chapels are used for several things.  Some families choose to have the wake prior to a funeral at this building instead of at their home in the living room (there is an oxymoron!).  In the small villages there are no funeral homes.  So the chapel serves the same purpose … and it’s not heated like a private home so the body decays less quickly.  Many funerals are held on a Saturday or Sunday so people who know the deceased do not have to skip work in order to attend and pay their last respects.

While Marian and I were visiting Komprachcice a funeral took place.  All the friends and family walked in a procession from the home of the deceased to the church.  They were led by a priest in traditional black garb with a monsignor-type hat and a priest-in-training (a deacon) and, of course, alter boys.  This procession of family and friends followed an old black hearse, which carried the casket.

We met a man named Ignatz Baron in the church just before the funeral procession arrived and we asked him about any Sakrys that he knew.  He was a good friend of Jacob Sakry, son of Jan (pronounced ”Yahn”) Sakry.  We later found Jan Sakry’s grave in the Komprachcice cemetery.  Ignatz said he would show us where Jacob lived before he moved to Bonn, Germany.  Apparently, Jacob, now 82 or 83 years old and living in Bonn, was the last Sakry to live in (and leave!) Komprachcice.

Jan*, Jacob’s father, was a brother to Joseph Sakry (Marian’s Grandfather.)  Marian’s father is also named Joseph, but is spelled ”Josef.”  In fact, there were three generations of Joseph Sakrys.  Marian’s father, grandfather and great grandfather were all named Joseph.  The connection of that original Joseph to my great, great grandfather, Thomas Sakry of Komprachcice (or his father, also named Thomas) is not yet confirmed.  Marian believes that his great great grandfather Rochus (born in 1817, the son of Thomas Sakry and Elizabeth Wrzod Sakry) was a brother to my great great grandfather Thomas Sakry, who was born in 1815 and married Maria Kubis.

- See Sakry Family Tree – Addendum 1 to this journal. -

*Note: The name Jan is short for Johannes or Johann in German but it is a complete, stand-alone name in Poland, Scandinavia and the Netherlands (today it is also used as a stand-alone name in Germany)..

Ignatz Baron is a distinguished looking German gentleman with a full head of white hair (see photos) who walks with a cane.  He didn’t want to attend the burial at the cemetery so he invited Marian and me to his house, which is located not far from the church and just across the alley from his old friend Jacob Sakry’s former house.  I took some pictures of the old Jacob Sakry place, which is rather small with a shed (or small barn) in the back toward the field, a small plot of land which Jacob apparently owned but now belongs to the new owner.  We didn’t see or meet whoever lives there now.  Marian said many of the Polish villages are laid out just as Komprachcice, with a small barn connected to the house, the house facing a street or alley, and a small plot of land for a garden behind the barn (or shed) which houses the family’s animals.

Ignatz was a very gracious man who spoke in German to Marian.  He quickly offered us a shot of Vodka or Cognac (a special treat from two bottles he said he receives each Christmas from his son.)  I took some wonderful pictures of this gentle man and his kitchen.  The kitchen was no more than a 12 by 8 foot room, heated by a wood-burning cook stove.  Just like American homes, people like to gather in the kitchen area.  Marian informed me that in Poland and Germany there is a very practical, utilitarian reason for this.  You see, in the kitchen the stove or oven is kept burning and that room tends to be the warmest one in the house!  Sure you may light a fire in the fireplace in the living room for the evening … but it is the kitchen that serves as the warm gathering place throughout a cold winter day!

I don’t know much German, but the little I do know I put to good use!  Since I can sing the song Silent Night (the most famous of all songs in the world) in German, I figured Ignatz Baron would enjoy singing along.  This was probably the most delightful, colorful and memorable moment of my visit to the old country!  Ignatz and me singing harmony to Stille Nacht in the kitchen of his home in March in Komprachcice, Poland!  Fortunately, I have it all preserved on a short mpeg recording on my new digital camera!  The Old World meets the new … and what a ”moment magnificent” it was, as Cliff Sakry would say.

Soon, after another Vodka or two, it was time to move on.  Ignatz didn’t want to miss the free funeral dinner that was taking place in the equivalent of the ”Komprachcice Legion Club”… a small community hall where the funeral group had gone after the burial.

Ignatz’s little dog ”Ami” (named after the American GI’s Ignatz met in France) barked his final good-bye as Cousin Marian and I headed out for the cemetery located in another small, nearby village named Polska Nowa Wies (New Polish Village).  Marian had promised another contact in America that he would attempt to find some graves of distant relatives of theirs as well.  We never found the Gaida family’s exact remains that the American folks had in mind, but, like the Sakry graves, we found there were some definite family connections … and a few more pieces of the genealogical puzzle were falling into place!  However, the afternoon was nearly gone and we needed to start working our way northwest, back to our hotel in Legnica.  The weather cleared up and we were able to get some great sunset photos over the farm fields and small villages of Polish Silesia.

We took some back roads back to the autobahn freeway and along the way drove through several small villages west and northwest of Komprachcice.  We had a fancy, Palm Sunday Eve dinner at the exquisite Wroclaw Hotel in the old Silesian Capital of Wroclaw (known as Breslau during German occupation.)  This university town is rich in Polish history and one of the great seats of Polish nationalism and pride.  Wroclaw is also famous for its poetry and important Polish literature.  Our meal was roast turkey served with a dramatic presentation and Old World charm!

We reached our hotel destination in Legnica around 11 p.m. or so.  Much of the next day, Palm Sunday, March 24, 2002, was spent on the autobahn driving back across Poland and Germany to Marian’s and his parents’ home in Bad Driburg, near Paderborn, Germany.