Rawa (Rawa Mazowiecka)
(Click the map to blow it up)
Rawa was an area that had a large number of German settlements. Rawa was the central administrative point for these settlements and provided the parish headquarters for both the Catholic and Lutheran churches.
The Hoffman family history says that my ancestor Christian Hoffmann lived in
Stanislowow Studzinski (Stanislowow near a well) "near Piotrkow" and he did indeed as confirmed in records at the local archives. Christian's parish church was this one in Czerniewiec. His marriage to Rosina Hahn and christening of his first children was at this church. Czerniewiec is a village is southwest of Rawa and on the E67 road to Piotrkow. The Spitzer family was also in the area. In their later marriage records in Volhynia, the Spitzer children state that they were confirmed in the Lutheran faith in Rawa. So the reason the Hoffmanns and Spitzers traveled together to Volhynia was probably that they had met here in the Rawa area.Rawa centers on a market plaza with Lutheran and Catholic Churches nearby. It was originally fortified with a castle some of whose walls remain. All this is pictured below:
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October 1, 2007