photography
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Apr 2013, ¯u³awy region, ¯u³awy Ksi¹¿êce village. Ben van de Westeringh implemented potato's cultivation in ¯u³awy. Polish farmers reckoned the soil to heavy for potatos. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, Żuławy region, Żuławy Książęce village. Ben van de Westeringh was the first to start cultivating potatoes in Żuławy; Polish farmers reckoned the soil to heavy for potatoes. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, ¯u³awy region, ¯u³awy Ksi¹¿êce village. The daily early morning meeting of Ben van de Westeringh's workers. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, Żuławy region, Żuławy Książęce village. The daily early morning meeting of Ben van de Westeringh's workers. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, ¯u³awy region, ¯u³awy Ksi¹¿êce village. Ben van de Westeringh and his Polish manager El¿bieta Grimus check the field after heavy rain. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, Żuławy region, Żuławy Książęce village. Ben van de Westeringh and his Polish manager Elżbieta Grimus check the field after heavy rain. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, ¯u³awy region, ¯u³awy Ksi¹¿êce village. A grandson of Ben van de Westeringh came from Holland to learn how to run a big farmstead. He will be a Ben's successor. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, Żuławy region, Żuławy Książęce village. A grandson of Ben van de Westeringh came from Holland to learn how to run a big farmstead. He will inherit the farm in the future. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, ¯u³awy region, ¯u³awy Ksi¹¿êce village. Ben van de Westeringh inspects his field. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, Żuławy region, Żuławy Książęce village. Ben van de Westeringh inspects his field. In 1996 he bought 700 hectares of land belonging to state-owned farmstead. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, ¯u³awy region, ¯u³awy Ksi¹¿êce village. Ben van de Westeringh and his Polish workers plant potatos. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, Żuławy region, Żuławy Książęce village. Ben van de Westeringh and his Polish workers plant potatoes. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Holendrzy na pomorzu; The Dutch on Pomerania; Gerrit van Ommerren and Diana Vennik - Ompol; milk company; milk farm; gospodarstwo mleczarskie;
Apr 2013, Leśnice, Middle Pomerania. Gerrit van Ommeren and Diana Vennik’s home. They have three children Lisa, Esther and Bram. They run a dairy farm Ompol in Leśnice near Lębork. Photo: Sławomir Rompski
Holendrzy na pomorzu; The Dutch on Pomerania; Gerrit van Ommerren and Diana Vennik - Ompol; milk company; milk farm; gospodarstwo mleczarskie;
Apr 2013, Leśnice, Middle Pomerania. Gerrit van Ommeren talks to his wife Diana Vennik. Gerrit’s visits to Poland were part of his job in a fertilizer company. He noticed great possibilities for starting a business and decided to settle here 17 years ago. Diana joined him 13 years ago. Photo: Sławomir Rompski
Holendrzy na pomorzu; The Dutch on Pomerania; Gerrit van Ommerren and Diana Vennik - Ompol; milk company; milk farm; gospodarstwo mleczarskie;
Apr 2013, Leśnice, Middle Pomerania. Lisa on a Dutch scale used to weigh fodder. Photo: Sławomir Rompski
Holendrzy na pomorzu; The Dutch on Pomerania; Gerrit van Ommerren and Diana Vennik - Ompol; milk company; milk farm; gospodarstwo mleczarskie;
Apr 2013, Leśnice, Middle Pomerania. Making a round of the farm. The 230 hectar farm is very modern. There are 700 dairy cows. They produce about 8.5 thousand litres of milk a day. There are 15 employees working on the farm. Photo: Sławomir Rompski
Apr 2013, ¯u³awy region, Trzcinisko village. Bas van der Burg and his son Jonasz in a brand new and modern potato's warehouse. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, Żuławy region, Trzcinisko village. Bas van der Burg and his son Jonasz in a brand new and modern potato warehouse. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, ¯u³awy region, Trzcinisko village. Bas van der Burg and his family live modestly in a house built from containers. They had more important investments then a new house e.g. the potato's warehouse. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, Żuławy region, Trzcinisko village. Bas van der Burg and his family live modestly in a house built from containers. They had more important investments then a new house — like the potato warehouse. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, ¯u³awy region, Trzcinisko village. Bas van der Burg and his neighbor Andrzej drinking coffee. Bas doesn't employ workers. Instead he and his Polish neighbors help each other. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, Żuławy region, Trzcinisko village. Bas van der Burg and his neighbor Andrzej drinking coffee. Bas doesn't employ workers. Instead he and his Polish neighbors help each other. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, Gdañsk. Robert Stoop visits his customers in a flower's market. He sells flower's bulbs. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
April 2013, Gdańsk. Robert Stoop visits his customers in a flower market where he sells flower bulbs. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, Przejazdowo, ¯u³awy region. Robert Stoop visits Mrs. Wies³awa Gdaniec, his regular customer. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
April 2013, Przejazdowo, Żuławy region. Robert Stoop visits Mrs. Wiesława Gdaniec, his regular customer. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, Gdañsk. Robert Stoop has a lunch in the bar Neptun where he prefers to eat rather then in expensive restaurants. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
April 2013, Gdańsk. Robert Stoop takes his lunch from Neptun — a bar where he prefers to eat — rather than in expensive restaurants. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
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April 2013, Przejazdowo, Żuławy region. Mrs. Wiesława Gdaniec has been buying flower's bulbs from Robert Stoop for seventeen years. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
Apr 2013, the Lower Vistula Valley. Jan van Gijlswijk runs the Holland Hotel in Zdrojewo and organize tours through the Mennonites trail for Dutch tourists. Photo: Przemys³aw Koz³owski
Apr 2013, the Lower Vistula Valley. Jan van Gijlswijk has been runing the Holland Hotel in Zdrojewo for 20 years. He also organizes tours through the Mennonites trails for Dutch tourists. Photo: Przemysław Kozłowski
The first Dutch settlers came to Northern Poland about 450 years ago. They were Mennonites, Anabaptists looking for a secure life somewhere in Europe. Poland was, at that time, a good direction -...
The first Dutch settlers came to Northern Poland about 450 years ago. They were Mennonites, Anabaptists looking for a secure life somewhere in Europe. Poland was, at that time, a good direction - liberal and open for religious minorities.
The Mennonites started to settle down in the Żuławy region and the Lower Vistula Valley, areas that were threatened with flood. They were experienced in reclamation of wetland and had helped to built a necessary infrastructure for farming on polders.
Today, there are no more Mennonite descendants in Poland, but as soon as the Communism collapsed in Easter Europe, a new wave of Dutch migrants started to settle in the area where their ancestors had first broken ground so long ago.
The area of Holland is approximately seven times smaller then Poland and its population is just two times smaller, so the Dutch search in Poland for more land to farm and bread animals. They also look for the opportunity to do business in a country with a growing economy.
Photographs by Przemysław Kozłowski and Sławomir Rompski
