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A village in the course of time.

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A village in the course of time.

A short introduction.


When I visited the village for the first time together with my family in the early nineties, the first impression we had was not very positive nor was it inviting: The streets as well as the houses were in a lamentable condition. The old church formerly belonging to the feudal estate had become a ruin - the roof had collapsed, the glass windows were smashed or stolen (only one of them is said to be safeguarded in a museeum.) debris, rubble and roof beams covered the floor of its nave. The little churchyard surrounding it was entirely overgrown and in a state of total neglect, most of the tombs were knocked down and some of the graves were even covered with rubble.

The houses gave the impression of lack of perspective for both, their occupants as well as for the village itself. And this lack of perspectives seemed to be the reason why the people were not interested in taking care of their residential area or even in trying to make it a bit more cosy.

As the village did not look very inviting, I took only a few pictures. Three of them will convey a rough idea of what I am talking about.






For more information ang larger picture click here.

This was the situation when the idea was born to create this homepage. And it is one of the reasons why I mainly described the historical aspects of name and village Stavenow, rather than talk about the village today.

This situation changed dramatically, when I received a phone call from Mrs. Beate Kopf a journalist much engageded in that area works for the "Märkische Allgemeine", a newspaper in Brandenburg. Based on our telephone conversation she wrote an article which lead to the remark, that things had changed in Stavenow since I first visited it and that the photos in the homepage had lost their relevance in the meantime.

I am really very much obliged to her for this information as it lead me to understand that the outdated presentation in my homepage did nither do justice to the people in Stavenow and their will to change things the better nor to the efforts during the last yaers and to the results already reached.

As a consequence, my nephew and I decided, to travel to Stavenow right away. The following chapters are the attempt, to present the changes we found in Stavenow to all people interested in learning more about the roots of the name Stavenow and thus to learn more about the village. This project, dealing with the village itself was clearly initiated by Mrs. Kopf.

The most important change in my opinion can be seen and felt while walking through the village looking at all the work done at buildings and streets and while talking to the people: Perspectives, the sence of a new era, commitment, diligence and creative activities make you feel that someting has changed there in the heads and the hearts of the people. For this feeling I would like to thank first of all the people there in Stavenow, but also the official services of the community who have declared the preservation of the village and its historical values as an important aim and task.






These 3 photographs were offered to me by Mrs. Okka De Wall, Stavenow Castle. Many thanks !

These pictures are a documentation of the fact, that there are people living in that village feeling at home there. In order to point the way to the future, they started a collection and bought a star, which was brought to the church by many of the inhabitants of the village and finally attached in one of the windows. In the future, it will always be alight in the time around Christmas and shine from the church through the night. From all my heart I wish the people in Stavenow that this will be the " Lucky Star " shining for their goals and wishes: the preservation of the historical Stavenow.