Kreis Belgard

The documentation was developed as part of the project initiated by Pomeranian linguist, Dr Robert Holsten (1862-1954), with the aim to collect and compile contemporary folk and archive names of natural and anthropogenic physiographic objects, as well as inhabited and uninhabited places of the pre-war province of Pomerania (from Rügen to Lębork), with the help of teachers and local scientists. The collected set of archive materials – indices and maps with locations of objects – Flurnamen Sammlung – covers the intangible onomastic cultural heritage of the region. Documentation of names of physiographic objects from the area of former Kreis Belgard (Polish: Białogard; after territorial changes: Białogard District, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland) from selected towns and villages was developed on the basis of queries by teachers from local schools listed n the index, with support of other local scientists, such as the forester from the forester's lodge in Głuszyna (German: Forsthaus Dowenheide), administrator of a distillery in Rzeczenica (German: Reinfeld) and the mayor of the municipality of Rzęsna (German: Vorbruch). The compilation does not feature a title sheet with the author’s name and date. Based on the queries, it can be assumed that the documentation was developed in the 1930s. The original documentation was drafted in German (including the Lower German dialect), with Slavic, Polish and Kashubian vocabulary. The documentation comprises 184 sheets, some of them double-sided, comprising a typed index (160 sheets), a handwritten index (2 sheets) and handwritten documents (22 sheets). The vast majority of the topographic maps with locations of physiographic objects and their names also survived in the documentation.

Andrzej Chludziński