Hello dear visitor!

Was it pure coincidence that lead you to this homepage? Maybe you put you name inside of a search-engine (probably Google ;-) without any expectations, and this website-URL popped up.
Just the way like I did a few years ago...

Hey, am I bad-mannered?! First of all I have to introduce myself:
My name is Soenke Trzaska. I am 32 years old and I live in the northern part of Germany. I work as a paramedic engineer.

It was around Christmas 2002. While searching for an email-address I put my surname inside of a search engine (I`m sure it wasn’t Google!) and the result was rather amazing for me: Dozens of Trzaska`s from all over the world.
Just a simple Christmas-greeting to all those anonymous people followed and the response was staggering: Many reply’s from all over the world. Many people astonished like I was, finding so many “relatives” out there with such a unique name.

And so the story took its course: Lots of mailing, sending and receiving news and images and a huge search through the internet for further information’s began. So, why not making these valuable informations available for everyone, who’s interested in his own history?

I believe there is something special about this website. Although I know it`s not much I can present you, and I`m aware of the fact that I build a lot of unnecessary stuff around it. But if you riffle through these following sites, I’m quiet sure you will find some answers to your questions.

You will find obvious statements about origin and sense of the surname “Trzaska” and a clear description of its crest, given to our family and the other bearers about thousand years ago. And you can believe me: this is rather unusual for family-genealogy!

So once again: welcome! Just take a look around and feel free to make use of these following informations you might be looking for a long time.
 
A very special "thank you" to Grzegorz "Greg" Trzaska from Massachusetts.
Greg, thank you for keeping this thing started. Without your precious informations this website surely would not exist!
Yours sincerely

23.07.04 joanna.trzaska@sejm.gov.pl
Hi, I' m Joanna Trzaska-Wieczorek, I've never been interested in genealogy till today's afternoon.I was looking for some scientific articles of my uncle &cousin (and some www doc of my own papers) when I saw this page... It's great, con gratulations!!!
Joanna

28.12.03 arnulf-norkus@t-online.de
Sehr geehrter Herr Trzaska,
zwar führe ich nicht den Namen Trzaska, jedoch bin ich dem Namen Trzaska verbunden, denn meine Großmutter mütterlicherseits war eine geborene Trzaska, die wohl aus Ihrer Familie stammt, denn in meinen Unterlagen zur Familiengeschichte führt ihre Familie das gleiche Wappen wie Ihre Familie.
Mein Großmutter hieß Sidonie Louise, wurde am 10.01.1873 geboren und starb am 02.01.1915. Sie hatte am 31.05.1893 meinen Großvater Adam Artur William Robert Norkus geheiratet. Sie hatte nach meinen Unterlagen 4 Geschwister: Max, verheiratet mit Auguste Kuschmann, Eugen verheiratet mit Marie Preugschat, Marie verheiratet mit Otto Rasch und Louise. Ihr Vater war Rudolf Trzaska (*13.7.1828, + 20.12.1885, oo 6.7.1858 mit Auguste Nathalie Riehl (oder Riel), der Sohn des Schmiedemeisters Martin Trzaska war, von dem mir allerdings alle weiteren Daten fehlen. Ich setze mich gerne mit Ihnen in nähere Verbindung um weitere Informationen auszutauschen. Vielleicht sind wir mit einander verwandt?
Ich würde mich freuen.
Ihr Arnulf Norkus

25.12.03 eitel@eitel-web.de
Frohe Weihnachten, unbekannter aber wohl verwandter Sönke!
Ich heisse Helga Trzaska-Eitel, bin eine geborene Trz. aus Hamburg.  Als ich neulich meinen Mann bat, doch mal zu versuchen herauszufinden, was "Trzaska" eigentlich im Wortsinn bedeutet, geriet er im Internet auf die Trzaska.org Seiten.  (Ich hatte nämlich in der F.A.Z. eine Todesanzeige eines Christoph Trzaskalik gelesen und dachte, auch das "lik" müsse eine Bedeutung haben, aber das ist momentan sekundär). Inzwischen habe ich durch die Trzaska.org Seiten viel über die mittlerweile in alle Welt zerstreuten Trzaska-Familie erfahren.
Vielleicht interessiert es Dich zu hören, was ich noch über den Hamburger Familien-Ableger weiss? Mein Grossvater Julius Trzaska ging als einer von 11 (oder 13?) Geschwistern als junger Mann von einem kleinen Ort in Masuren  ( nahe bei "Ortelsburg" klingt mir irgendwie im Ohr) nach Hamburg und trat dort in den Polizeidienst ein, heiratete und 1896 kam mein Vater Max in Hamburg zur Welt, d.h. mein Grossvater müsste um 1870 geboren sein. Mein Vater  war Einzelkind, und bis nach dem Krieg waren wir unseres Wissens die einzigen Trzaskas im Westen. Ich bin die älteste von 5 Geschwistern, Jahrgang 1935. Von meinen 4 Brüdern sind leider zwei schon gestorben (Helmut und Harald), der älteste, Gerhard, wohnt in Pinneberg und der andere, Jürgen, in Norderstedt bei Hamburg. Ich weiss, dass nach dem Krieg alle Trzaskas, bis auf eine alte Tante meines Vaters, Ostpreussen verlassen haben. Mit der Tante, deren Namen ich leider nicht erinnere, korrespondierte mein Vater noch nach dem Krieg; ihre Briefe waren, das erinnere ich noch, erschütternd und mein Vater versuchte nach der Währungsreform durch Pakete zu helfen. Ich glaube, sie musste für die polnische Staatsangehörigkeit optieren, um Bleiben zu können. ELin paar Mal nach dem Krieg besuchte uns auch ein Cousin meines Vaters, der irgendwo im Ruhrpott gelandet war und, wie ich glaube, Erich hiess. Aber nach dem Krieg lebten wir selbst unter sehr ärmlichen Verhältnissen. Die englische Besatzungsmacht hatte uns aus dem (gepachteten) Haus meines Grossvaters, der 1947 starb, in Hamburg auf die Straße gesetzt. Wir wurden zu siebt in 2-1/2 Zimmer ohne Küche in eine grosse Altbau-Wohnung in Eppendorf zu einer anderen Familie eingewiesen, und hatten Glück, dass wir nicht in den Nissen-Hütten am Flughafen gelandet waren.
Und dann habe ich - auch aus dem Internet, aber schon vor Jahren - eine Liste mit Namen und Adressen von ca. 150 Trzaskas bundesweit. Die beinhaltet natürlich auch sämtliche angeheiratete und eventuell geschiedene Frauen mit dem Namen.
Vielleicht runden meine Erinnerungen das Familien-Puzzle etwas ab.
Mit freundlichem Gruss.
Helga

19.12.03
Thanking you for all you've done for the Trzaskas all over the world!
fantastic job indeed.
Stanislaw

17.11.03
Hello Sonke,
Thank you for starting this wonderful gift of insight into our common name/history. By reaching out and touching others with a common connection you've started something that I'm sure will develop into a friendly exchange of common interest, namely, where did we come from and who's in our past.. I never thought much about my name or ancestry, (an american trait), but now, with a simple christmas greeting, you have me wondering if I can find some of my past. Trzaska is a very unique name for America. My parents were polish. I'm not sure from where in Poland. I never took too much notice of my name till I met a Polish man who asked me my name.... I said my name was "Joe" Trzaska. He then proceeded to tell me that my name was "Josep Trzaskowski" and that I should be very proud of it and never let any one call me Joe. I was a pole and I should let everyone know my name was a good polish name... with a lot of character!
Since that day I always make sure that people call me Joseph, never Joe.
Anyway, tell me about what Trzaska means in Germany. Does anyone else have any insight into our name? Perhaps we all could start a mail group about our name. Who knows, we might find some long lost relatives out there.
Best wishes,
Joseph

17.11.03
My husband was looking up his family history and found this
Katie

17.11.03
Great site. Just giving you a hard time about the frames.
Patrick

15.11.03 ann-marie.trzaskowska@angliarailways.co.uk
Hi there!
My name is Ann-Marie Elizabeth Trzaskowska.  I live in Norwich, England.  I am 28 years old.  My surname originates from my Polish father Jerzy Alexander Trzaskowski, who died 11 years ago on the 27th November. I also have a brother - Mark Christopher Trzaskowski, also living in Norwich, England.  Mark is 26 years old.
Both of us were born in England, but were brought up by our parents to speak Polish, so we speak quite well.
My mother married my father in America.  She is also of Polish origin from the surname Glab.  Her name is Danuta Maria Trzaskowska.
My father came to England during the 2nd World War and was in the Polish Airforce here.
I hope this helps your records.  If I can give you any further information, please email me.
Best Regards
Ann-Marie

14.11.03
Sorry, no negative criticism!  I am VERY impressed with this site!  I would love to somehow get nice pictures of the coat of arms to frame for my dad and grandma.
Sheryl

22.10.03
The site looks nice and there is a lot of historical information with links (for me it's very important). I also appreciate the humor of Soenke.  I miss genealogical tables and trees.
Gleb

22.10.03 zapalsky@mail.ru
Hello, Soenke!
I m Gleb Zapalski from Obninsk, Russia. I m a post-graduate student of Moscow State University (historical faculty). Though my surname isn t Trzaska my great-great-grandmother belonged to this family. And her destiny is rather interesting.
Maria Stanislavovna Zapalskaya (born Trzaska) was born in 1875 in Russian Poland. Maybe her first husband was Kowalski or Prziebylski. At the end of the XIXth century she made some crime and was departed to the Sakhalin island for the penal servitude. There she met Stanislav Zapalski (also Pole) and married him. After that she was arrested again in 1937 during massive repression in USSR. She died in Sakhalin in 1951.
Unfortunately I don t know much about Maria s life in Poland. What kind of crime did she make? When did she come to Sakhalin? Who were her relatives?
I would like to find answers to these questions. Maybe you can help me, give some advises. I would be very grateful. Thank you.
Gleb

27.09.03
I don't know if it's me or just the way tings are layed out but I am having problems understanding some things. I do think this is a really good site and who am I to criticize when I don't think I could do any better. I think you have done a great job.
Sandi

17.09.03
Hello my name is Stefan Henyik Stanley Kleczkowski. I am the son of Stefan Kleczkowski of (Kleczkova), not sure of the spelling, Poland. North of Warsaw near to the Russian boarder. My father escaped from Poland in the early part of the second world war, to Paris. Here he was recruited by the RAF to fly for Britain as a spitfire pilot in 302 Squadron. I have included pictures of our family sheild and documents as I thought this would interest you. I f you would like further information or have any to share, please contact me at my hotmail address.
Stefan

21.07.03
seems good - too soon to really say - I need to explore it more... prehaps you could ad an up-front synopsis under "history" or "about us", so a new-comer like me doesn't have to search around your site so much... so far, that's my only criticism:) I'll hunt around the site for more info, but again, you could ad more standard info to help save a readers time.
Dorothy

27.06.03
Hi Soenke,
My name is Cynthia Trzaska and I live near Buffalo, New York.  I was very pleased to see your website.  I found it very interesting.  I haven't done much research on my last name but do know that my great grandparents came here from Poland in the early 1900's.  That info I found on the Ellis Island website.
Hope to hear from you.
Cindy

19.06.03
My name is Clint Trzaska and I just wondered on to this cool website. I know that my grandfather is second generation from Poland. Are we related? My dad's name is Felix Mike Trzaska. Hope to here from you soon,
Clint

05.05.03
very good and interesting, its pretty exciting that my last name has its own website.
Josephine

09.07.03 Diszcz1@aol.com
Hallo Sönke,
sehe gerade die Datei der andersnamigen Ehepartner durch und finde etliche Träger des Familiennamens Trzaska; denn es gab mindestens eine zweite Heirat Trzaska - Szczepanski.
Erscheinen Familiennamen Szczepanski bzw. abgewandelte Schreibweisen auch in Eurem Trzaska-Archiv? Wenn Interesse besteht, will ich die hier vorhandenen Trzaska-
Funde gerne zusammenstellen und Dir als E-Mail-Anhang zuschicken
Alfons

26.04.03
Hello Soenke,
It had to be back around Christmas two years ago that your email popped up. You and Greg & I passed a few emails. Sadly, I didn't keep in touch. Now I see how this wonderful website with all this rich history about our name has grown. I never knew my family as I was an orphan, so I feel a touch of pride that somehow I'm connected, if in name only, to such a person as yourself who can present such a rich family history as an aside to the rest of your life. I once met a polish man who asked me my name. I told him, "Joe Trzaska".
He repremanded me and explained that my name was Joseph, not Joe, and then explained the heritage of my polish name. From that night on, I wouldn't allow anyone to call me Joe.
Now I have the second and more immportant part of my name. I still have the Coat of Arms pin that you sent me. Thanks for giving me the pleasure of being very proud of my name, something I lacked growing up. Good luck with your project and may you be rewarded for gathering a group of people together in this world that so needs your kind of effort.
Sincerely, Part of your name family,
Joseph

15.04.03
Hi Soenke!!
My name is Malwina Trzaska and I'm from Poland from Ketrzyn.I want to be in ICQ on your page Trzaska.org and thanks for that super page about people who names Trzaska.
Thanks yours
Malwina

29.03.03
My husband's last name at birth was Michael W. (but was changed when a stepfather changed it through adoption)We've recently become interested in geneology because we enjoy going to Renaissance festivals and being the seamtress for costumes, I've been trying to get ideas on what "could've been" if we lived in another era!  The real Count was born with the same name as my husband and he was nice enough to let me know about this site...how great this site is!!
Barb

17.02.03
Soenke
I was moved by all the glorious history of the Trzaska coat of arms. I was a American platoon leader of an armoured cavalry squadron in Vietnam over 30 years ago.  My  radio call sign was Dragoon 2 Fox. The armoured warrior depicted in the Trzaska coat of arms would be called a dragoon (armour clad warrior) in England. Interesting!
Regards, Ryszard S., Formerly from Millbury, Massachusetts, now Glassy Falls, Travelers Rest, South Carolina 

12.02.03 tmink@navegalia.com
Hallo Soenke
Ich habe soeben deine Seite Trzaska.org entdeckt. Natürlich habe ich mich sofort eingeschrieben.
Interessant die viele Information die ihr gesammelt habt.
Der Nachname "von Trzaska" gehörte meiner Grossmutter. Leider weiss ich zu wenig über ihre / meine Familiengeschichte. Wie es normalerweise so passiert, fingen meine Schwestern und ich kurz nach ihrem Tod Infos über unsere Vorfahren zu suchen. Leider konnten wir damals nur wenig erfahren. Ich erinnere mich noch den Familienwappen in der Hand gehabt   zu haben (zwei Schwerter und Halbmond) aber der ist auch wieder verschwunden. Ich hoffe das ich jetzt zusammen mit meinen Schwestern und deiner Web Seite es schaffe mehr über unsere Familie zu erfahren.
Vielleicht als Angabe: der Name meiner Grossmutter war Hela (oder Helena, aber vielleicht wurde sie nur in Spanien so genannt) von Trzaska und meine Urgrossmutter wanderte nach Australien aus. Vielleicht kann man mit so wenigen Daten schon etwas anfangen. Ich
erinnere mich leider a zu wenig, aber es kann sein das mit gezielten Fragen an meine Familie man sehr viel vorankommt. Ich warte auf deine Hilfe.
Vielen Dank und viele Grüsse,
Thomas

28.01.03
It is OK. I like everythink and it is hard to improove this page. All the best to you!!!!!!!
Henryk

24.01.03 lcenergy@msn.com
Hello Soenke
I thoroughly enjoyed your site (http://www.trzaska.org)and the rich history of the Trzaska family name.  My mother told me that her grandfather was Marcely Trzaska, and that he travelled back and forth from Poland to the USA in the early 1900's.  If you have anything more on this family, it would be appreciated.  If not, congratulations on your fine efforts to date. 
Ryszard, Glassy Falls, South Carolina, USA

14.01.03 roses@chello.nl
Hello "Cousin" Soenke,
I'm your next door neighbor. My name is Rosemary TRZASKUS-SLEVEN.
Although I was born  in Chicago IL, I married a Dutchman and I now have
the Dutch nationality. I've been doing the TRZASKUS genealogy for about 5 years. The History Center is of Matous TRZASKUS who died in Jazwiny (Austria) Poland in 1790 at the age of 70 years. Over the years I have found my "cousin" Jean in France whose
ancestors are also from Jazwiny. As yet, we haven't found "the" connecting ancestor. There are still TRZASKUS family in Jazwiny but the Polish language is a problem so I haven't had any communication with them. My latest find is the name TRZASKUS/TRZASKOS in Brazil! Unfortunately, my Portugese is just as bad as my Polish (and my French, as I use a translator to write to Jean).
I think your site is very informative although I haven't finished looking through it all yet. I would like to join your TRZASKA organization, if I may. I heard of you and your site from my "cousin" Barbara TRZASKOS who recently found your site.
I miss my "missing links" for my family tree. I hope everyone in the world whose name starts with "TRZASK" joins your organization
Yours Truly
Rosemary

02.01.03
This is a very cool page. I was searching for something like this for a while.
Victor

20.12.02
My name is Rosi. First my name was Trzaska but now in german its Traska. I was happy to read that here is a side from our name. Maybe we are related?
Rosi

18.11.02
It is very interesting to me. No complains.
Jozef

09.11.02
I really like your homepage!! Everyone can see you worked a lot with it and you have had a lot of research. You can be proud of this site!!!
Victoria

05.11.02
This is my first visit so I don`t  have a fully-formed opinion yet. But I will. So far, it directs me clearly.
Carole

02.11.02
Hello,
I was very happy to find your web site. My name is Tomasz Rojecki and I am very interested in family charts and signs. If it is possible please send me by e-mail family sign of Trzaska. (…) I want to thank you for your help. Finally I've got it. It is on my wall now. Thiscoat of arm is very nice. I like it very much. I was wondering what does this semi moon mean. Looks like long long ago our ancestors battled with turkey soldiers. Maybe you have heard any story about it?
Wishing all the best
Tomek

08.10.02
I like the history and the Coat of Arms pages
Francis

20.09.02
My Hobbies are Thai-Boxen and Webdesign. I'm very interessted in the history about the name Trzaska 'cause it's my name too.
Jan Trzaska

04.09.02
Hi, I know you are from Germany but Trzaska it's not germany's
name. I live in Poland and there'a a lot of Trzaska...
Love,
Anette

12.08.02 chrismlot@juno.com
I am son to Leokadia Trzaska Mlot-Fijalkowski.  She is sister to Halina Trzaska Sowa and Dr. Alfred Trzaska, each of whom have one child.
Chris

30.07.02
Hello Sönke!
Congratulations for making an interesting website. Time permiting I'll try to provide you some more information about the coat of arms etc.
Best regards
Wladek

21.03.02
Thank You for the pleasure of havin' such a lovely mail domain name :)
Agata.

01.03.02
I'm still reeling over the fact that this website even exists.  When I recover I'll be happy to add some info.
Christopher Trzaska

20.12.00
Thank you very much Sonke for the good wishes. And I thought I was the
only Trzaska out here!
Best wishes to all of you out there with such a unique name!.... or is
it??
From Joseph in
Dix Hills
Long Island,
New York,
USA,
World,
Solar system...
Universe....
Cosmos....
...a thought in Gods mind?