[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: the lost guard

[JUSTIN L DINGMAN]

JENNIFER:

Both the sizes of pictures you sent look much better on the screen than
they print out.  The 8 x 10 printed out better than the smaller one, but
the scanning level of 200 apparently was not enough to get rid of the
pixel
points, even with some adjustments made by our software and on the
printer.
Of course, it takes longer and requires more memory to send an 8 x
10--takes longer to download at my end as well.   The picture itself
would have been better if it had not been tinted, as the faces of the men
have faded, and if I attempt to brighten the contrast for the faces, the
tinted areas become much too dark.

In regard to the text, I vaguely remember hearing that Germans were
invited in to farm Polish territory after Napoleon was defeated
(particularly in the area that had been under Prussian control, a process
referred to as the 'Germanization of Poland'), when Russia assumed
control of what was called "The Kingdom of Poland."  I am not sure why
Germans would have come, however, as they were not friendly to Russia at
that time.  The Poles rebelled on several occasions, but any successes
against the Russians were temporary.  I had never heard that Germans were
invited into Russia itself,
but I suppose anything is possible.  I am not sure what the motivation
was, but in Poland it was something to the effect that bringing in German
farmers would make the Poles less nationalistic.  However, the section in
which grandfather's family was living had been part of the Prussian
territory before Napoleon and probably had a great many Germans living
there already.  (Napoleon had promised the Poles that he would
reestablish their country and so Poles fought in Napoleon's army--no
wonder the Russians dealt with them harshly after the defeat of
Napoleon).  I am not sure when our Freiheits settled on those farms, but
I had the feeling that they had been there a while as Fred's father
supposedly was in possession of three farms.  Ruth was telling me that
one of their cousins was married to a woman whose family was also of the
German settlers in Poland under Russian control.  Their family had been
expelled during WWI and then returned to reclaim their property (further
north than our family site and definitely within territory formerly
controlled by Prussia).  They were given a choice of remaining and
changing their name to something Polish, or continuing their journey to
German soil.  The father of the family chose to remain and change his
name.  He wanted to stay on land where his forefathers had been for over
a hundred years--remnants of the family are
still there.  They run a "bed and breakfast" where Ruth and her party
stayed on their trip.

Other historic items: Because of the split territories generated during
the
partitioning process, ethnic Poles were conscripted into different armies
during WWI, and Poles fought against Poles. There is probably a reason
too why the Czar felt safer with German bodyguards--he probably did not
trust the Russians.  If our Karl Lipke had been hired out to the Russian
nobility, it would be during the reign of Nicholas I, but I do not have
any knowledge of this.

The royal families in Russia had a problem with security over many years
from what my texts tell me.  Just going back to Catherine the Great, a
German princess (daughter of a minor German prince) and wife of Peter III
of Russia.  She was part of the plot (Imperial guard led by her Russian
lover) that overthrew him (murdered) and started her own reign as Empress
(1762-1796).  It was during her reign that there was much unrest in
Eastern Europe, and  Poland was divided up into three parts.  It was also
during her reign that the Cossacks and the serfs rebelled violently, but
in the end, not very successful.  She died suddenly of a stroke, but was
succeeded by her son Paul I, who was murdered by the nobles (they did not
like his politics).  He was succeeded by his eldest son Alexander I
(1801-1825).  He gained popularity because of the defeat of Napoleon and
other successes.  He died a natural death, but the nobles/military were
jealous and tried to prevent his son from ascending the throne as
Nicholas I, causing civil unrest.  Nicholas I (1825-1855) managed to keep
his head, but had trouble keeping parts of his territory together,
including a Polish rebellion in Warsaw and a defeat in the Crimean War.
His successor Alexander II (1855-1881) attempted bring about reforms
including the abolishment of serfdom, but some radicals did not think it
was enough, and he was murdered.  He was followed by a repressive reign
of Alexander III (1881-1894), during which time there was a
Russianification of the multiethnic empire--all education was in the
Russian language, books printed in Russian, etc., with constraints on
non-Russian languages and cultures--this included the section of Russian
Poland as well.  You can see this in the documents from that church in
Plock--written in German up to a certain date, and then written in
Russian.  Nicholas II (1894-1917) inherited a country filled with civil
unrest.  He was married to a German princess, whose mother was the
daughter of Queen Victoria.  Maybe this was why, among other reasons,
that they employed German guards.  Alexandra was
from Hesse-Darmstadt and was said to be quite British in her "personality
and values."  Apparently the German guards were of insufficient
protection.

This was passed onto me by my cousin Laurel Dearborn and I thought I
would share with this list.  Comments are welcome.  Thank you.

Respectfully,

Justin L Dingman

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