“Ostpreussen…Reisewege Nach Cranz an die Ostsee”….Vintage travel advertising for routes to the popular German Baltic Sea resort at Cranz.
This 1930’s advertising poster shows the various routes to the seaside resort at Cranz… by train, car, sea or by air… with emphasis on routes from Berlin and Breslau. Of particular interest to historians is how this map shows the Korridor, the infamous “Polish Corridor” created by the Versailles Treaty after WWI . The loss of German territory, complete with German citizens who were then ruled by foreign countries, was one of the most onerous features of the Versailles treaty. The routes by air, train and sea …indicated by a line of squares,red lines and white lines…were free of tolls and visa permission. The rail service however was subject to long delays due to Polish security checkpoints where every passenger was inspected for identification. The black lines are auto highways which were subject to tolls and required a Visa plus an international drivers license.
The special travel conditions that were imposed upon travelers from one part of Germany to another can be clearly visualized in this travel advertisement. This is just one of the many Versailles Treaty dictates that led to the continuation of World War I in 1939.
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My mother grew up in Cranz. My grandfather worked for the Reichsbahn. My great aunts and uncles were fishermen, the men caught flounder and the women prepared them for smoking and mended nets.
Mom was born in 1924 and fled Ostpreussen to escape the Russians.
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My mother born 1934 was the oldest of 5 children. Her father was sent off to war. Mother talks about crossing the frozen seas to Berlin with soldiers sounding the ice for safe crossing. They left their small village home by night to avoid Russians. They ended up in Berlin but were told to repopulate, to hold the German land from the Russians. My grandfather looking for them in Berlin had to retrace steps to homeland and take his family out again. Does any of this sound familiar to you?
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