“Appreciating the dashes that were the lives of the former residents of Gembitz Hauland”
Weeks before the birth of Queen Victoria, Anna Christina Schmidt was born to a German farmer on the estate of the Radomski family in Polajewo Hauland Posen. Unlike the Queen, the only remaining visible proof of her life is a depression in the grass behind a moss covered tombstone.
This is the true story of one of the thousands of forgotten mothers who repeatedly stood at their door watching a child disappear on their way to America never expecting to see them again. Many also like Anna, had to decide, when their last child bought the tickets to join their siblings, if they were going to stay and die where they were born or rebuild their family in the new world.
Standing at the Grave is not only Anna’s story but also the journey of her children from the plains of Wielkopolska to the prairies of North Dakota. This generation’s combination of values and initiative, for which they were extolled in their obituaries, was taught to them on their parents’ small farm in a forgotten community called Gembitz Hauland.
What others are saying
“This extraordinary book by Gary Heyn is a tribute to his forgotten ancestors. 250 years ago, they settled near Posen, in a region where Polish and German influences had overlapped for centuries. Since then, they had led a simple farming life there. Due to the difficult living conditions in the barren and infertile land, many German families decided to look for a new place on earth, setting out for the “New World”— America. From the remaining documents and family stories, Gary created this fascinating portrait of several generations of German Protestant settlers in Gembitz Hauland and then in Minnesota and North Dakota, which also allows us to immerse ourselves in this recreated world of 150 years ago.“
Dr. Lukaz Bielecki, Founder of the Poznan Project
“In a masterful blend of historical documentation and fictional embellishment, Gary Heyn has created the believable, often breathtaking story of one family-his own-spanning 150 years, beginning in an impoverished farming village in what was then Posen (now Poznan, Poland) and ending on the farms and in the cities of the American Midwest. Rarely do authors succeed in breathing such moving, gripping life into the dry names, dates, and places of historical records as Gary Heyn has done. He has truly managed to portray the life hidden behind the hyphen between the dates of birth and death on gravestones in astonishing detail, from the finest emotions to life-threatening catastrophes. An unforgettable reading experience.”
Das Grab in der Ferne 2025