[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] The "Great Trek of 1732-34"

[PnSWork at aol.com]

Hi Robin,

> I have been researching my ancestors from the Wirsitz area
> of West Prussia.  In a book of the history of the village of
> Kaiserdorf (Mlotkowo), it says that the Wallner family forefathers
> were from Salzburg, but that "Willi Wallner did not know if they
> belonged to the great "trek" from 1732-34, or if they came later
> and got stuck in Kaiserdorf."

> Can anyone refer me to a book and/or website where I can learn
> more about this "great trek?"  This was the first time I have
> heard of it.

    The "Great Trek" referred to is one part of a larger series of
events more commonly known as "The Salzburg Transaction".  To
make a long story short, between 1731 and 1732, "the Archbishop
of Salzburg (a Catholic) expelled some 20,000 Protestant farmers
from the alpine districts above the city and, upon invitation from
King Frederick William I, they were resettled as colonists in a
distant corner of East Prussia" (from the front flap of the book
cover for "The Salzburg Transaction" by Mack Walker).  "The
episode provoked a sharp confessional confrontation that threatened
to destroy the delicate political equilibrium of the Holy Roman
Empire, but today it is remembered, if at all, as an anachronistic
outburst of obscurantism and intolerance unbecoming to the century
of Enlightenment, a source of Protestant pride and Catholic
discomfort."

    The farmers and their families traveled from the area around
Salzburg all the way to East Prussia, which was quite a distance in
those days.  King Frederick gave them some support and assistance
along the way, but they still had to get underway with their own
meager resources, leaving almost everything behind.

    The Archbishops of Salzburg had expelled Protestants regularly
throughout the 1600's, but this expulsion was the largest by far and
raised the biggest ruckus in Germany.  You should be able to find
more information on this event in any good library or the best
encyclopedias.  Good luck!

    -Paul