Tamsel is a rich, beautifully situated village, about
an hour's drive east of the old fortress of Küstrin.
Forest hills, the winding lines of which presumably
the old bed of the Warta, enclose the village
the village from the north, while to the south
the landscape is open to the south and the arms of the river
the river arms wind their way through the quarry land.
The people of Küstrin are very fond of Tamsel,
and as often as they mention his name, a smile
smile over their faces, not unlike the quiet cheerfulness
with which Berliners pronounce the name "Charlottenburg".
pronounce the name "Charlottenburg". Here, as there, there is no
pride about historical memories in this smile;
It is rather the expression of a suddenly revitalised
revitalised pleasure, a friendly reminiscence
of park and palace, of water parties
and fireworks, of a long series of cheerful landscapes,
which, at the mere mention of the name
quietly pass before the inner eye. [...]
The terrain on which Tamsel lies has much in common
with the beautiful Oderbruch parcels of land between
Falkenberg and Freienwalde. In the back a mountain wall,
more or less steep, broken here and there by a ravine
here and there and everywhere covered with deciduous and coniferous wood
at the foot of this mountain face a village
and at the foot of the village a meadow bottom, often flooded
and always crossed by arms of the river. So
is the Freienwald terrain; so is the landscape around Tamsel.
around Tamsel.