“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?”
Psalm 2:1
Central Poland has been cursed with more than its share of the ‘rage of the nations.’ A series of “partitions” in the late 1700’s had carved up Poland’s land between Prussia, Russia, and Austria. In the early 1800’s, just two centuries ago, Napoleon, taking on all three plotters, or “partitioners,” passed through, humbled Prussia, subdued Austria, and headed for Moscow. Not laboring with righteous indignation at Poland’s fate, the undersized man of outsized ambition brought his own agenda. Ruling all of Europe was a start, and Russia the final prize.
Marching on Moscow he captured the nearly deserted city with little resistance. Victory and success seemed so close. But he had not counted on the Russian winter as an enemy. Again Psalm 2: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”
After a decade of Napoleon being the scourge of Europe, God provided the Russian winter, and perhaps His wrath, forcing Napoleon to make a round-trip back to France. Humbled, but not broken, he persisted even when exiled. Two years later his frequent flyer miles ran out near a small town in Belgium. Waterloo acquired a new meaning and a significant place in history.
The peace that ensued redrew borders. Prussian Germany, unchanged in the north, now bordered on Russia. The actual border was right where Johann and I were standing, near Mławka. However, there was still no Poland.
A century later in 1914 Russia massed nearly 200,000 men just south of this border a month before the start of World War I, anticipating the opportunity to invade German territory. The forests we drove through were filled in those frightful days with Russia’s Second Army. Allenstein the second largest city in East Prussia lay 50 miles up the road. The home of my great-grandfather Gustav, my grandfather Leo, and the youngest son Nikolaus who died in combat 104 years ago today, was on the route into town. Within days after the outbreak of the war, Allenstein was invaded. Miraculously, two days later the invaders were driven out, defeated, and the town was spared in a story worthy of a movie. Gustav Reitzug and his family did not fare quite as well. More on both of those stories in subsequent blogs.
The peace after World War I once again redrew boundaries. East Prussia found itself truncated and separated from the rest of Germany. Poland had been recreated after an absence of 125 years and now surrounded East Prussia. Russia’s borders had been pushed back. The seeds for the next rage had been sown. Like Napoleon, Hitler was lured by Moscow. Like Napoleon he had to make a round-trip. The consequences were even more lethal this time.
Return to blog: https://fadingechoes.com/2018/11/18/a-grief-remembered/
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