1906 – A historic postcard shows the village of Karby in Germany. Scan © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com/Photo: H. Marten
The story behind the image
A few years ago I purchased this historic postcard which shows the center of Karby, a village in the north of Germany. The postcard was sent in 1906 and shows the church and several houses. Situated between Eckernförde and Kappeln, it is not noteworthy by any means and will be passed by most tourists.
However, to me this village means a lot because several of my ancesters have been to this church to get baptized, confirmed, married, and buried:
- Jess Hinrich Scharck (1842-1916), my great-great-grandfather, got baptized and confirmed here (as well as all his brothers and sisters.)
- Hinrich Friedrich Scharck (1812-1882), Jess’ father, got baptized, confirmed, married, and buried, here.
- Elisabeth Christina Paulsen (1813-1901), Jess’ mother, also got baptized, confirmed, married, and buried, here.
- Hieronymus Friedrich Schark (1790-1855), Jess’ grandfather, got baptized, confirmed, married (twice!), and buried, here.
- and many, many more.
It seems that this line of my tree is deeply rooted in this area. The oldest record I could is the marriage record of Hartwig Schark (1718-1798) and Thrin Marie Traulsen (1714-1765). They got married on 24th February 1743. This is just ten years after the formal church records were started in Karby. It seems that the past of the Scharcks in Karby – i.e., the time before 1733 – will remain in the dark forever.
The church itself, by the way, was built in the 13th century, which makes it an attractive stopover should you be in the area.
The postcard shows the church as well as other buildings. The one in front of the church (blocking portions of the church) is gone today. The build on the left is still present today, and has survived almost unchanged. Just the main entrance has been moved from the left side to the right.
I was surprised to discover train tracks crossing the main road. These are gone today without a trace. I found out that there had been a line between Eckernförde and Kappeln which also had a halt in Karby. It was opened in 1889 and provided scheduled services to Kappeln until 31st May 1958. Then the tracks were removed along the line. As always, find more information at Wikipedia (in German.)
Finally, the publisher of the postcard, Heinrich Marten (1869-1950), was a busy merchant in Karby. At some point in time he owned the local restaurant and pub, and over the years he published several postcards promoting the village, including this one.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | 1906 |
| Publisher | H. Marten, Karby |
| Location | Karby, Germany |
| Image Source | 13.8 x 9 cm postcard |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 6496 x 4227 Pixels |
| Copyright | Scan © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
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