I visited Brandenburg, a short drive from Berlin, on October 1, 2024 as a segment of my Circling Poland itinerary. Brandenburg is a principal city located in the former Prussia province and also the current name of the region surrounding the city.
My reason for visiting: Brandenburg is the birthplace of one of my ancestors – John F. Wolbert (1816-1875), who came to the United States in the 1840’s with his wife (she being born in Hanover, Germany). He is 5 generations behind me. Unfortunately, our family does not possess enough historical information on John F. to determine who his parents were or where his actual residence in Brandenburg was. And I did not have time to check out the town hall’s records – which likely would involve digging for the tiny ancestry “needle” in a German “haystack” of ancient records – assuming they even exist.
The photos in this small album are from my walking tour of the city after discovering a secure free parking spot – not an easy space to find. This initial collection emphasizes street photography, capturing images of old buildings off the main streets.
One site of major interest was the Brandenburg Bibliotheken, the local library (no photos included), which possessed a wonderful selection of LP albums for lending to the local library patrons. It might be one of the last libraries in the world loaning out vinyl records in this modern age where even compact disc players may soon be technology of the past.
