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The Jankowski Family – Ruhr Poles in Herne

The story of the Jankowski family from Herne surely typifies the “classic” fortunes of some of the Poles who immigrated to the Ruhr area at the end of the 19th century. Having left what was Studzianna in Powiat śremski in the Western Prussian province of Poznań (today Śrem in Poznań in Poland) and arriving in Herne around 1890 in search of a better life, the Jankowskis still live in the same town today in their new homeland.

In 1939, Johann Jankowski, the father of the family, was arrested because of his membership of the Union of Poles in Germany (Związek Polaków w Niemczech spod znaku Rodła) and taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp where he died “of physical weakness”.

The Jankowski, parents with children, 1936 in Herne, from left to right, top: Luzie (later Ikemann), Irene, Władysława (née Hałas), Johann, Marian; bottom, from left to right: Alfons and Josef. Photographer unknown.

Porta Polonica 2018

Hardly any documents or photos of the Jankowski family have been preserved. One exception is a photo of the family from 1936, which still hangs in Luzie Ikemann’s apartment in Herne today.

The Jankowski parents with their five children can be seen in the photo (from left to right. top):

Luzie Ikemann (née Jankowski), born in Herne on 24/5/1922
Irene Jankowski (was a Franciscan nun in Olpe), born on 26/20/1913, died on 15/10/1954
Władysława Jankowski (née Hałas), born on 18/12/1890, died on 14/2/1978 (married Johann Jankowski in Herne on 27/9/1910)
Johann Jankowski, born on 16/12/1895, died on 13/1/1940
Marian Jankowski (was a doctor in Bochum), born on 14/9/1919, died on 17/10/2009

bottom (from left to right):

Alfons Jankowski (worked as a chemist in Liechtenstein and in Essen), born on 26/4/1931, lived in Witten-Herdecke
Josef Jankowski (worked for the diocese of Paderborn as an advisor for adult education), born on 16/2/1928, died 2015

It is astonishing that today nobody from the Ruhr-Polish Jankowski family speaks Polish. Luzie Ikemann recalls the Polish lessons from the 1930s that were held at weekends around the St. Boniface Church in Herne. School lessons were held exclusively in German. During the period between 1945 and 1955, there were numerous encounters with Bishop Hengsbach in St. Boniface Church, who looked after the Poles and people of Polish descent in Northern Germany within the framework of the pastoral care provided by the German Bishops’ Conference.

Jacek Barski, March 2018

All information is based on two conversations with Luzie Ikemann (née Jankowski on 24/5/1922 in Herne) on 19/9/2017 and 28/2/2018 in Herne and on information from the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation / Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum.