During my 2007 Germany trip, I took an overnight trip from Berlin to Pila, Poland. Among my ancestors on the Gensicke side was Friedrich Ottomar Kruger, who came to the U.S. from this town. Only then it was Schneidemuhl, Posen, part of Prussia. The town had changed hands between Poland and Germany a handful of times over the years, ending up in Poland for good after WWII. (Schneidemuhl means 'saw mill' in German; Pila means 'saw' in Polish.)

I had some limited hope of finding possible relatives in the two old German ... (more)