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My German Lineage ...
Our family consider themselves as Poles ... mine and my sibling's generation being born and raised in eastern Poland, prior to World War II, and before the partitioning of Poland (the region of our birth is now in western Ukraine.) However, my heritage is in actuality German (on the maternal side) - Austro Hungarian (on the paternal side.) It was only throught my systematic research into the family's ancestry that the full Germanic side of my family blossomed and revealed itself as a decisive and critical component of my heritage. This total Germanic discovery is best left for immediate family's consumption and is available only to those privileged to have access to our Genealogy pages.
However, one aspect of my Germanic ancestry that will de detailed here is the discovery that a certain small village called MUZHYLOVYCHI (initially called MÜNCHENTHAL in German then MUZYLOWICE in Polish), not far from present day L'viv (Ukraine), holds a special meaning to me. For in this village, I can trace my ancestry to the time period of the 1750s, when my great-great-grandfather settled in this hamlet when it became a German Catholic Colony (among others nearby - see MAP.) From that early time up until approximately 1895, the maternal side of my family lived, worked, died, and were buried (for the most part) in the nearby Roman Catholic cemetery. Therefore, the intent of this page is to honor the memory of the LAUTSCH ancestors that are traced back to this village
Visitation of Our Blessed Mary Church...
 I must reveal that I have traveled four times (since 2001) to this village. I have walked the paths to the village's abandoned and derelict (and in ruin) Roman Catholic church (shown on left) and the nearby, but equally abandoned and overgrown, cemetery. Although still sanctified (as I believe), these two relics of the past German Catholic Colony, long forgotten, appeared as if there was some hope in restoring each to its past glory ... or at least a semblance of respectability.
 That very first year (2001) of my visit to Muzhylovychi, my path crossed an individual with a equal sense of interest in seeing these two relics restored ... Brian Lenius of Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada. Together we (as principals) formed an informal partnership and devised ways to address these two items ... restore the Visitation of our Blessed Mary church and do something about the cemetery. In the end, we had the way but not the means to do anything about the church ... it was too far gone in its ruined state and beyond hope of salvaging any restoration, or even halting its further decay. That project was placed on hold (actually cancelled) for lack of funds. That project's plan may be read here ... Church Restoration.
A historical synopsis of the village of Muzhylovychi and the church may be read here ... History of Muzhylovychi (extracted from the project plan mentioned above.)
Before we leave the topic of the MUZHYLOVYCHI (or MÜNCHENTHAL / MUZYLOWICE) church, the reader may be interested in viewing this church in its various in-situ stages during our four previous visits. The church images will clearly demonstrate our interest in its restoration and the eventual reason for cancelling the project.
Visitation of our Blessed Mary Church - Year 2001
( All images in this gallery by author ) |
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| Visitation of our Blessed Mary Church - Year 2002 |
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| The two men in above-right image are from the Western Ukrainian Project and Restoration Institute - Ivan R. Mohytych (r) and his engineer. The partnership contracted the Institute for a detailed study on methods, ways, and means for church restoration. Study was received by partnership.
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| Visitation of our Blessed Mary Church - Year 2004 |
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| Visitation of our Blessed Mary Church - Year 2007 |
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| As is visible in the above-rightmost image, the west wall is practically on the verge of collapse. It is only a matter of time before the harsh weather conditions prevail, and the entire edifice is nothing more than a pile of bricks. Dangerous situation for the locals and visitors.
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HINT: If video starts/stops often, PAUSE the playback for 45-60 seconds to allow the video buffer memory to fill. To resume playback press PLAY.
Münchenthal German Catholic Cemetery Memorial Project ...
However, the other project ... MÜNCHENTHAL GERMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY MEMORIAL PROJECT ... a project to memorialize all the departed German Colonists who are buried in this cemetery ... inspired us to undertake its formation, define its objectives, formulate a plan of action, establish design principles, solicit participants on two continents, and initiate fund raising to cover project costs.
From the onset, we (the two principals) strategized on the best approach to start this project. Because of the distances between Ukraine and North America, we needed a local (Ukrainian) business representative (handling our finances) and a local (Ukrainian) coordinator (handling all aspect of construction) for the memorial. We were fortunate in securing the services of two individuals that assisted us in the past in our L'viv genealogical efforts. These individuals were:
 Olesya Boyko
(as our business representative)
 Slavko Fot
(as our technical coordinator)
Because there are many elements to this project, only the key segments necessary to explain our efforts, our progress, and our achievemnts will be detailed here.
The Design ...
As principlas, we knew basically what we were looking for in a memorial design ... both of us explored (in person) the famous L'viv Lychiaky Cemetery looking at memorial designs and determining the best type of stone for the memorial. For the design itself, we asked Slavko Fot to submit for our consideration a proposal that best defines a monument typical for Eastern Europe (i.e., Ukraine.) At the same time, we asked Mr. Fot to outline the methods, procedures, estimated costs and a timetable for sculpting such a memorial, once a sculptor and the type of stone was selected.
Mr. Fot came back with a basic design proposal that met our initial perceived objectives. Shown below left is the monument itself ... below right, the construction configuration.
 
Using the sketches submitted, we wrote a PROJECT SUMMARY, which formed the basis for project management.
Before continuing with the project progress discussion, it is necessary to identify the project participants, besides the two principals, that made the project a success that it is today. Over a period of several months we sent out, to a select group of people, a solicitation letter and managed to secure adequate funding to initiate serious work. The following individuals came forth and financially supported this memorial project. Although the amounts donated to this project will not be noted here, every one of these individuals' contribution was deeply appreciated. Each of these project partners became an acknowledged owner of this memorial:(if any participant is not listed, we apologize for that omission.)
Canada |
East Germany |
United States |
Kielman,Jerry
Lenius, Allan
Lenius, Anne
Lenius, Brian
Lenius, John
Lenius, Victor
Paish, Valerie
Proweciat, Leo
Tereshyn, Andy
Yost, Bill |
Mr. Folta
Kraus, Werner
Mr. Massinger
Sept. Meeting (Halle)
( Explanation ) |
Rozylowicz, Edward
Wilbanks, Carol
Yost, Erich |
Creating the Memorial ...
This segment of the project was difficult to manage efficiently ... communications between our coordinator, our representative, and the sculptor was at times erratic and subject to many language interpretation errors. Initial proposed costs were constantly changing ... agreement as to timetable for completion was subject to the health of the sculptor, the availability of our coordinator, and the type of stone that we selected; all ongoing problems. Mr. Lenius, on a subsequent visit to Ukraine, resolved the stone issue, but the cost factor was still in dispute. Additionally, the principal sculptor died before serious work started ... fortunately, the sculptor's son agreed to continue with the work. Over a protracted time period all technical issues and escalating cost were mutually agreed upon and the creative process commenced ... at least on the actual stone monument itself.
Phase 1 ... quarring and sculpting
 Mr. Fot, our technical coordinator, in concert with the sculptor visited several quarries to select the two types of stones to be used on the memorial ... the basic "white" stone for the memorial proper and a "black" stone to be used for the engraved plaques (to be discussed shortly.) The only way by which the results and the sculpting process may be described is by viewing images of this entire process. To that end, the gallery below should serve that purpose:
Memorial Stone Components and Sculpting
( All images in this gallery by Slavko Fot ) |
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Phase 2 ... cemetery cleanup and preparation
The cemetery grounds are completely overgrown ... trees, saplings, weeds and general vegetation clutters the grounds. Before the finished memorial may be located and placed within the grounds, the entire cemetery must be cleared of the overgrowth. To indicate the condition of the original cemetery grounds prior to our project, one only has to view the images below:
Cemetery grounds - year 2002
( All images in this gallery by author ) |
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While the memorial was being sculpted, the partnership contracted the Village of Muzhylovychi to undertake the laborious task of clearing the cemetery grounds of all undesired vegetation. This effort took several weeks. The progress on this work can best be demonstrated by viewing images showing what was found in terms of grave marker remnants, the cleanup work in progress (spring) and when completed (autums):
Cemetery cleanup 2004 - grave markers uncovered
( All images in this gallery by author ) |
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Cemetery cleanup 2004 - Spring
( All images in this gallery by author ) |
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Cemetery cleanup 2004 - Autumn
( All images in this gallery by Brian Lenius ) |
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Phase 3 ... site preparation
Over the wintertime (2006-2007) the monument components were finished ... the sculpting was successful and it was time to erect the monument itself. First, the cemetery spot where the monument was to be placed had to be prepared with an access road ... then a foundation pit had to be excavated and a concrete pad poured. See images below.
Monument foundation preparation
( All images in this gallery by Brian Lenius ) |
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| The man in the above-left image is Olexi ... a local man. Olexi dug the foundation pit by hand. Olexi is the de facto custodian this partnership relies on to maintain the cemetery on a contractual basis.
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Phase 4 ... monument panels and engraving of names
A monument is purposeless unless it is associated with a specific message. Our purpose and intent of this monument was to recognize and honor the many people interred in this German Roman Catholic cemetery ... men, women, and children that for far too long have been forgotten. Now that the cemetery grounds have been restored to a semblence of order (partially at least in a cosmetic way) it was time to garner the names of the buried, compose a message of remembrance, and engrave the panels.
It was left up to Brian Lenius to research (his expertise) the archived death records for this German Colony cemetery and determine, as best as practical, the names (and frequency of occurrence) of the buried. That was not an easy task and took an immense effort. In the end a list was compiled that included a total of 1,539 total names, encompassing 188 unique family surnames. Because the name panels on the monument are of finite size, and only three name panels are to be engraved, the task of winnowing the entire list to the most frequent family burials was troubling. What names to include and what names to exclude. The concensus was that the most frequent burials were to be included PLUS  names of families that still held a profound interest in this cemetery, either by support or visitation to the cemetery. The process was not perfect but the only logical one at hand. A sampling of the top surname occurrences (greater than 1% of all burials) on the death records is shown at left. The surnames of LAUTSCH and MASSINGER, predominant in our ancestral link to this village, are near the top. Surname LENIUS, the co-principal on this project, is likewise near the top.
A complete MÜNCHENTHAL CATHOLIC CEMETERY BURIALS (1787-1905) is available here ... Burial List.
Now on to the business of designing the panel layouts, both for the surnames and the "message". The selected surnames were not laid out alphabetically (for placement optimization), were split over the three panels and in a font and font size for ease of readability. This was a crucial decision as to allow as many names as practical but still be readable when a visitor is standing within a nominal distance from the mmonument.  The "message" engraved was a composite of many differing opinions among the people involved in this creative process. Eventually when a concensus was reached, it was decided that the "message" would be in three languages ... German (obvious), English (universal), and Ukrainian (host country.) The font and font size for the "message" was left to the discretion of the engraver so that the full text body fit within the borders of the actual panel. Lastly, a shorter "epitaph" panel (left) was conceived that dedicates this monument.
Describing the panels is pointless when a image of that panel is available. The gallery below shows all six panels ... white on black to indicate how the panel would look like when engraved on black stone. Please note, that the Ukrainian panel includes an etching of the church as it looked like in an old archival photograph.
Phase 5 ... erecting the monument
 The culmination of many years of effort is the assembly of the monument in situ. When the spring weather cooperated and the ground was dry to support heavy equipment, the sculptor and his crew, with the support of the project coordinator, commenced with the assembly. Images below tell the entire story (unfortunately, only a few images were submitted by our coordinator.)
Monument Assembly
( All images in this gallery by Slavko Fot ) |
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| Monument Coating with Preservative |
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| We were advised that the preservative coating is mainly to prevent dirt buildup, necessating follow up frequent cleanup. The stone is durable enough to last for generations.
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 In 2007, the author made a visit to Muzhylovychi for a first-hand look at the final monument (less panels, which were in the process of being engraved.) The gallery below shows the monument after a "one year aging".
Olexi, the contracted custodian, kept the cemetery grounds trimmed of vegetation.
Monument 2007
( All images in this gallery by author ) |
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| Placing wreaths and candles |
| In memory of his ancestors, and even before the monument was consecrated, the author placed votive candles and wreaths on the monument, in the event that he may not get another chance to return.
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HINT: If video starts/stops often, PAUSE the playback for 45-60 seconds to allow the video buffer memory to fill. To resume playback press PLAY.
Phase 6 ... finishing the monument with the panels
 Through late-2008 and early-2009, the sculptor worked on the panel engravings. During the course of this work, our project coordinator kept us apprised. Again, he sent us a few images of the completed panels ... just to let us know that the quality of the engravings was as expected and that they would be mounted on the monument as soon as weather permits ... sometime in mid-spring.
 Among one of our concerns was ... "will the engraved text be highly readable, considering the depth of engraving." As seen on the left, the verbiage is very discernible, highly readable. The partnership is pleased with the results. The balance of the panels ... surnames and "messages" are shown in the gallery below.
The plaque placement may be viewed here ... Placement.
Monument Surname Plaques
( All images in this gallery by Slavko Fot ) |
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Monument "Message" Plaques
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Mounting the Plaques
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NOTE: The final appearance of the memorial monument should be stunning when viewed in sunny weather and after the surrounding grounds around the monument are cleaned up, reseeded, and made ready for visitation. There is that faint hope that the base of the monument may be bricked over and rest benches provided for meditation.
At the time this page was published, there was no plan to provide a formal entrance to the cemetery grounds except by means of a nearby adjacent dirt farm road. Directional signs to the cemetery were in the discussion stage, but as yet nothing transpired. Ongoing cemetery maintenance (controlling weeds and saplings) is of concern as this partnership has no funds in which to contract long-term care or any upgrades. There was a previous discusion of having local school-age children assume this task (as a class project) but this idea was not pursued seriously. This maintenance option seeks a solution.
It is the intention of the author to post more decent, and more current, images of this memorial monument IF and WHEN he manages to make a return trip to Ukraine and his ancestral village.
To those visitors to this page that have ancestral links to this village, we trust that this successful project instills in them a desire to visit this lonely cemetery.
January 2, 2010 ... the project having achieved its goal of creating this memorial under difficult conditions and economic hardships, and with communication among its various participants ended, this partnership is essentially dissolved. This multi-national partnership has devoted countless hours, energies, funds and motivation to make this dream possible. The work was challenging, demanding, but satisfying. Now a new partnership must be formed to carry this noble achievement forward with long-term care and upgrades.
Dedication ...
The author dedicates this effort to his LAUTSCH ancestors.
Their memory is cherished.
LAUTSCH Family, 1909 (left to right):
Gizela Carolina Lautsch (1899-1950)
Margaritha (nee Jahnsohn) Lautsch (1870-1943)
Julia Lautsch (1897-1991)
Rosalia Lautsch (1903-1990)
THANK YOU for visiting.
Feedback ...
The author encourages, and welcomes, any feedback, comments, or critique of any manner regarding this particular web page and its cemetery restoration project. One does not necessarily have to have a direct link to the Münchenthal German Colony. All comments will be posted here. Please use our contact page or the e-mail link below (whichever works for you.)
Additional comments welcomed ...
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Lech S.
Opole, Poland
April 28, 2010
Reasonable English translation ... HERE
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| Doing web search for German cemeteries I came across your site by sheer luck. I never imagined that there was such a thing as a German Colony that far east, and in place called Galicia, which I never heard of. Today, I learned a little bit of German history. The partnership should be commended on a beautiful memorial.
Günter W.
Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
January 12, 2010
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| Lots of time, effort, and expense involved, but the final result is outstanding. Considering the time, distance, and the language, the final memorial should be appreciated by all of the families involved. You and the partnership can feel very good about the commemoration of the Lautsch and the other families resting there.
Neel M.
Tucson, AZ, USA
January 8, 2010
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Tomasz R.
Kozuchow, Poland
January 3, 2010
Reasonable English translation ... HERE
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I must reveal that I have traveled four times (since 2001) to this village. I have walked the paths to the village's abandoned and derelict (and in ruin) Roman Catholic church (shown on left) and the nearby, but equally abandoned and overgrown, cemetery. Although still sanctified (as I believe), these two relics of the past German Catholic Colony, long forgotten, appeared as if there was some hope in restoring each to its past glory ... or at least a semblance of respectability.
)
That very first year (2001) of my visit to Muzhylovychi, my path crossed an individual with a equal sense of interest in seeing these two relics restored ... Brian Lenius of Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada. Together we (as principals) formed an informal partnership and devised ways to address these two items ... restore the Visitation of our Blessed Mary church and do something about the cemetery. In the end, we had the way but not the means to do anything about the church ... it was too far gone in its ruined state and beyond hope of salvaging any restoration, or even halting its further decay. That project was placed on hold (actually cancelled) for lack of funds. That project's plan may be read here ... Church Restoration.
A historical synopsis of the village of Muzhylovychi and the church may be read here ... History of Muzhylovychi (extracted from the project plan mentioned above.)
Before we leave the topic of the MUZHYLOVYCHI (or MÜNCHENTHAL / MUZYLOWICE) church, the reader may be interested in viewing this church in its various in-situ stages during our four previous visits. The church images will clearly demonstrate our interest in its restoration and the eventual reason for cancelling the project.
)
Olesya Boyko)
Slavko Fot)
)
)
Mr. Fot, our technical coordinator, in concert with the sculptor visited several quarries to select the two types of stones to be used on the memorial ... the basic "white" stone for the memorial proper and a "black" stone to be used for the engraved plaques (to be discussed shortly.) The only way by which the results and the sculpting process may be described is by viewing images of this entire process. To that end, the gallery below should serve that purpose:
)
names of families that still held a profound interest in this cemetery, either by support or visitation to the cemetery. The process was not perfect but the only logical one at hand. A sampling of the top surname occurrences (greater than 1% of all burials) on the death records is shown at left. The surnames of LAUTSCH and MASSINGER, predominant in our ancestral link to this village, are near the top. Surname LENIUS, the co-principal on this project, is likewise near the top.
A complete MÜNCHENTHAL CATHOLIC CEMETERY BURIALS (1787-1905) is available here ... Burial List.
Now on to the business of designing the panel layouts, both for the surnames and the "message". The selected surnames were not laid out alphabetically (for placement optimization), were split over the three panels and in a font and font size for ease of readability. This was a crucial decision as to allow as many names as practical but still be readable when a visitor is standing within a nominal distance from the mmonument. )
The "message" engraved was a composite of many differing opinions among the people involved in this creative process. Eventually when a concensus was reached, it was decided that the "message" would be in three languages ... German (obvious), English (universal), and Ukrainian (host country.) The font and font size for the "message" was left to the discretion of the engraver so that the full text body fit within the borders of the actual panel. Lastly, a shorter "epitaph" panel (left) was conceived that dedicates this monument.
Describing the panels is pointless when a image of that panel is available. The gallery below shows all six panels ... white on black to indicate how the panel would look like when engraved on black stone. Please note, that the Ukrainian panel includes an etching of the church as it looked like in an old archival photograph.
)
The culmination of many years of effort is the assembly of the monument in situ. When the spring weather cooperated and the ground was dry to support heavy equipment, the sculptor and his crew, with the support of the project coordinator, commenced with the assembly. Images below tell the entire story (unfortunately, only a few images were submitted by our coordinator.)
)
In 2007, the author made a visit to Muzhylovychi for a first-hand look at the final monument (less panels, which were in the process of being engraved.) The gallery below shows the monument after a "one year aging".
Olexi, the contracted custodian, kept the cemetery grounds trimmed of vegetation.
)
Through late-2008 and early-2009, the sculptor worked on the panel engravings. During the course of this work, our project coordinator kept us apprised. Again, he sent us a few images of the completed panels ... just to let us know that the quality of the engravings was as expected and that they would be mounted on the monument as soon as weather permits ... sometime in mid-spring.
)
Among one of our concerns was ... "will the engraved text be highly readable, considering the depth of engraving." As seen on the left, the verbiage is very discernible, highly readable. The partnership is pleased with the results. The balance of the panels ... surnames and "messages" are shown in the gallery below.
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