[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Volhynian vanished villages ?!?

[Jerry Frank]

The online Berkeley maps are at 1:100,000 scale which means they are more 
detailed than what you purchased.  I suppose, however, that they both 
contain much of the same information.

I think there are several reasons why villages disappear from maps, 
especially the German ones in Volhynia.

1.  Some are simply too small to be shown on many maps.  There are many 
forms of topographical maps that are used for many purposes.  The map maker 
can decide what to show and what not to show.  I have for example seen less 
detailed 1:300,000 scale maps which show villages that do not appear on the 
more detailed ones.

2.  Collectivization in Soviet areas eliminated many villages.

3.  Though local people often took over farms of the Germans when they were 
forced from the homes in WW I, others remained abandoned, including whole 
villages.

4.  Some of the villages were so small with perhaps only 6 families, that 
the government considered them farms and removed village status.

5.  Land was confiscated for military use and the villages destroyed.

6.  Mapping of former Soviet areas is still a new process as far as 
accuracy is concerned.  Many maps of the Soviet era contained intentional 
errors in order to "fool the enemy".   Modern maps are often based on these 
older ones and contain the same errors.

7.  Sometimes villages were joined together to form one large unit.  One of 
the 2 names therefore disappeared.

I'm sure there are other reasons but these give you some idea of what could 
happen.



At 08:26 AM 24/02/2003 +0100, Hugo Benne wrote:
>Last week I asked a question about the village of Sadombrowa / Zadombrowa.
>Because I want to know more about this particular village I ordered a map of
>Volhynia from a specialized map-shop nearby. This map (scale 1:200.000,
>cyrilic script) does not show the village at all and neither are the
>neighbouring villages  Olszanow / Olschanow and Dombrowa / Dabrova. This is
>probably a newbie question so allow me to ask it: what happen to those
>villages?
>
>And another question: in which place the archives can be find of Zadombrowa,
>Olszanow and Dombrova?
>
>Kindly regards,
>
>Hugo
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Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
jkfrank at shaw.ca