[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: Re: Deportation of Germans to Siberia

[Gilda J. Patterson]

Thank you. I came across this website: http://www.lhm.org/LID/lidhist.htm ,
which relays some history and dilemma on the Volga Germans in Russia...may
be of interest to some on this list. It opens up more insight on this topic
for me., as it speaks of the German colonists.

Also, correction, Sarepta is actually in the South-Eastern part of Russia,
South of the city Volgograd  (which was first called Tsaritsyn ->
Stalingrad -> present day Volgograd). And Sarepta was colonized by Germans.
http://www.master-rallye.com/MR2002/ENG/course/cour_don.shtml

Gilda, Sarepta is not identical to Volgograd but some 20 km south of its
city.
Since the Stalin aera it is just west of the Volga mouth of the
Volga-Don channel. Of the military topographic maps "Russian Caucasus" (
www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/x-ussr/M38.html ) you find it on sheet M-38-126.
Guenther, Hilden, Germany

Thank you for that map Guenther. Still have to read this better.

The reason I say Sarepta, is because this is where my uncle was born as
noted on his Canadian Landing Records...(the first son to my grandparents
who were deported from their home). So this is a true fact...the place. All
the other children born in Europe, before and after him, were from the same
place, Rydzyno, Kingdom of Poland, Russia.

Unfortunately, all of these relatives have passed on, and many of their
stories with them...inclusive of my eldest aunt who bore the scar on her
forehead from the kicked pee pot. I would love to dig for more passed on
from them...but unfortunately, I have to rely on much of what has already
been passed on to me & then confirming the facts with my own research. I
can't believe how far I've gotten on my research. And I am in the process of
writing my own book, but will share with others like Dick Benert, since he's
is interested.

This email list has also helped me so much. Everyone has been most generous
with their information.

One more interesting story (gory) my grandfather relayed to me was that at
one point as a young man, he & a friend decided a way to stay out of the
war, and each laid their three trigger fingers on the railroad tracks and
each backed a train over them to slice them off...so that they would not
have to go into the war (which war, which side, not sure - Polish I think),
but they were conscripted anyways, and had to learn to shoot guns with their
left hand. I remember seeing my grandfather's fingers - stumps, with a bit
of nails trying to still grow through. This insight tells me it was a war
they did not want to be a part of (esp. if they were Germans), and they were
near railroad tracks.

My grandfather was a head of much land. Not sure of his title. But at one
point the Cossaks grabbed him, thinking him to be a spy, and were ready to
hang him from a tree, but thought they heard the other army coming, and left
grandfather there, seated on a horse, with a noose around his neck.

And when he was in the prison in Russia, after the deportation, an official
came by and asked why this man was in this prison, and said that he was to
be released at once. That's how my grandfather was released.

He was multi-lingual in four or five languages, so he was fluent in Russian,
German, and Polish for sure. So I suspect that he was looked on as a spy
from all directions, and they weren't sure who he was.

Much love & peace this Easter Season...

Gilda Patterson
Calgary, AB, CANADA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <ger-poland-volhynia-request at eclipse.sggee.org>
To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 1:01 PM
Subject: Ger-Poland-Volhynia Digest, Vol 22, Issue 21


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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Re: Re: Deportation of Germans to Siberia (Karl Krueger)
>    2. Re: Re: Deportation of Germans to Siberia (Richard A. Stein)
>    3. Re: Re: Deportation of Germans to Siberia (Ed S)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 05:41:05 -0800 (PST)
> From: Karl Krueger <dabookk54 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: Deportation of Germans to
> Siberia
> To: "Gilda J. Patterson" <gilda.patterson at shaw.ca>,
> ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
> Message-ID: <20050324134105.76413.qmail at web40423.mail.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Gilda - It seems virtually all we know about the deportation of WW I is
from stories collected from those who experienced it as your grandparents
passed this down to you. I have tried to feed Dick Benert any info and
stories as he seems to have become our unofficial deportation expert in this
field. My grandmother told my aunt similar stories. You can just imagine the
frustration and despair your grandmother felt as they were forced from their
farm months before the harvest could be made.
>
> By way of clarification, I should say that if your family lived in present
day Poland their farm may have simply been destroyed by the war. My father
remembers as a boy returning after the war and having to completely rebuild
the farm. He said literally nothing was left standing in this region near
Lublin.
>
> The lists you heard about on this thread were further east near Zhitomir.
That was likely something compiled in this region and not generally applied
to all regions where Germans were deported. I find it interesting that your
grandmother was by Stalingrad as I have not seen that location yet among the
many reported in EWZ records. Generally it seems most Germans were
transported along a train route further north passing through Samara and
Saratov and going further east towards northern Kazakhstan.
>
> "Gilda J. Patterson" <gilda.patterson at shaw.ca> wrote:
> I find this discussion of the deportation of Germans to Siberia very
> interesting as I have my own questions regarding my grandparents's
> experience. They were deported from their home (Rydzyno), Kingdom of
Poland,
> Russia around 1914, my grandmother might've been pregnant with her first
son
> (already had one daughter aged 1 1/2), the son was subsequently born Nov
20,
> 1915 in Sarepta (changed to Stalingrad, currently Volgogrod), Russia; and
my
> grandfather was imprisoned for a time. They do not appear on the list.
>
> The Story: My grandparents were removed from their home, had 24-hours to
> take simple belongings, travelled by train, (my grandmother was so angry
she
> kicked a pee bucket that was in the middle of the train & it hit my eldest
> aunt in the forhead accidently, whereby she had a slight forehead scar and
> had to wear bangs). Grandmother gave birth to her first son there, then
they
> had one more child, a daughter born there, who died of small pox at age 10
> months, buried in Sarepta. Grandfather's conditions in the prison were so
> poor, that he said he had to eat soup with worms in it. (I believe that
this
> was due to the meat). He was eventually released, and when they returned
to
> their home, all their land and possessions were gone (expropriated I
think)
> & grandfather wanted to do away with himself. Thank goodness he didn't,
and
> my mother was born there. They immigrated to Canada in 1927 (word is
because
> of the pogroms). I know there were quite a few various pogroms taking
places
> from various factions, but not sure what these were.
>
> Is anyone aware of this area Sarepta - Stalingrad - Volgogrod? And the
> deportations that took place to that area?
>
> It is so exciting to research these possibilities. But I love facts, and
> find them hard to obtain without a lot of effort. Thank you for your
input.
>
> Gilda Patterson
> Calgary, Alberta, CANADA
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
>  Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:55:33 -0700
> From: "Richard A. Stein" <ra_stein at telus.net>
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: Deportation of Germans to
> Siberia
> To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
> Message-ID: <000401c53092$4b38cfa0$26d7ba89 at ab.hsia.telus.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> I have information about deportation of three different families.
> 1. My great aunt, Emma born Schmidtke, and her family lived in Gotowka, a
> few km northeast of Chelm, Poland.  They were sent by train to Kustenai,
now
> in the northwest corner of Kazahkstan.  Along with two other families, the
> Schmidtkes were dropped into a small Russian village.  The villagers gave
> them some aid but had little to offer.  Emma's older sisters were able to
> find some work in the town of Troitsk.  They returned ot Poland in 1918 to
> find their farmyard destroyed.  Emma's father had been forced to transport
> materials by horse and wagon for the Russian army.  His health was broken
> from having to sleep outdoors and he died soon after returning to Gotowka.
> Emma is still alive at 98 and talks of the horrible filth and crowding on
> the trains and the many people who died on the way.
> 2.  My great grandparents Stein lived in Antonowka, midway between
> Wladimir-Wolynski and Lutsk in Volhynia.  I discovered from the EWZ
document
> of a daughter's family that they had been sent to Omsk where two of her
> children were born in 1919 and 1921.  The third child was born back in
> Antonowka in 1923, indicating that they had been unable to return until
> about 1922.  Great grandfather and his youngest child both died during the
> deporation.  There were some German settlements in the Omsk area and I
> wonder whether the Stein family was able to connect with any of those
> people.
> 3.  The Ludwig Boelter family was sent from Pawlow (near Torczyn,
northwest
> of Lutsk, Volhynia) to Charkow in Eastern Ukraine.  Reportedly, people
sent
> to Charkow and other places in Ukraine were luckier than those sent to
> Siberia.  Ludwig died in Charkow in December 1915, but the family was able
> to return to Pawlow about 1918.  This information is also from EWZ
records.
>
> Dick Stein
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Karl Krueger" <dabookk54 at yahoo.com>
> To: "Gilda J. Patterson" <gilda.patterson at shaw.ca>;
> <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 6:41 AM
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: Deportation of Germans to Siberia
>
>
> > Gilda - It seems virtually all we know about the deportation of WW I is
> from stories collected from those who experienced it as your grandparents
> passed this down to you. I have tried to feed Dick Benert any info and
> stories as he seems to have become our unofficial deportation expert in
this
> field. My grandmother told my aunt similar stories. You can just imagine
the
> frustration and despair your grandmother felt as they were forced from
their
> farm months before the harvest could be made.
> >
> > By way of clarification, I should say that if your family lived in
present
> day Poland their farm may have simply been destroyed by the war. My father
> remembers as a boy returning after the war and having to completely
rebuild
> the farm. He said literally nothing was left standing in this region near
> Lublin.
> >
> > The lists you heard about on this thread were further east near
Zhitomir.
> That was likely something compiled in this region and not generally
applied
> to all regions where Germans were deported. I find it interesting that
your
> grandmother was by Stalingrad as I have not seen that location yet among
the
> many reported in EWZ records. Generally it seems most Germans were
> transported along a train route further north passing through Samara and
> Saratov and going further east towards northern Kazakhstan.
> >
> > "Gilda J. Patterson" <gilda.patterson at shaw.ca> wrote:
> > I find this discussion of the deportation of Germans to Siberia very
> > interesting as I have my own questions regarding my grandparents's
> > experience. They were deported from their home (Rydzyno), Kingdom of
> Poland,
> > Russia around 1914, my grandmother might've been pregnant with her first
> son
> > (already had one daughter aged 1 1/2), the son was subsequently born Nov
> 20,
> > 1915 in Sarepta (changed to Stalingrad, currently Volgogrod), Russia;
and
> my
> > grandfather was imprisoned for a time. They do not appear on the list.
> >
> > The Story: My grandparents were removed from their home, had 24-hours to
> > take simple belongings, travelled by train, (my grandmother was so angry
> she
> > kicked a pee bucket that was in the middle of the train & it hit my
eldest
> > aunt in the forhead accidently, whereby she had a slight forehead scar
and
> > had to wear bangs). Grandmother gave birth to her first son there, then
> they
> > had one more child, a daughter born there, who died of small pox at age
10
> > months, buried in Sarepta. Grandfather's conditions in the prison were
so
> > poor, that he said he had to eat soup with worms in it. (I believe that
> this
> > was due to the meat). He was eventually released, and when they returned
> to
> > their home, all their land and possessions were gone (expropriated I
> think)
> > & grandfather wanted to do away with himself. Thank goodness he didn't,
> and
> > my mother was born there. They immigrated to Canada in 1927 (word is
> because
> > of the pogroms). I know there were quite a few various pogroms taking
> places
> > from various factions, but not sure what these were.
> >
> > Is anyone aware of this area Sarepta - Stalingrad - Volgogrod? And the
> > deportations that took place to that area?
> >
> > It is so exciting to research these possibilities. But I love facts, and
> > find them hard to obtain without a lot of effort. Thank you for your
> input.
> >
> > Gilda Patterson
> > Calgary, Alberta, CANADA
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> >  Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site!
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ger-Poland-Volhynia Mailing List hosted by
> > Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe http://www.sggee.org
> > Mailing list info at http://www.sggee.org/listserv
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 24 Mar 2005 13:38:40 -0800
> From: "Ed S" <esonnenburg at porchlight.ca>
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re: Deportation of Germans to
> Siberia
> To: "VolhyniaList" <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
> Message-ID: <000b01c530b9$f7004440$2f22bb40 at home>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> The Ulmer family was in Karlswalde.   When the command came
> that all Germans had to leave Volhynia they had to put on their wagons
what
> they needed.
> Since the Russians wanted to have everybody moved it was done in July so
it
> wouldn't
> happen in winter. In some villages if people weren't moving fast enough to
> get ready for
> the trip to Siberia some boys and men were rounded up and threatened to be
> shot if the
> Germans didn't get ready.  Early one morning they followed a Russian
> policeman on a horse.
> When he stopped everybody stopped.   If someone died during the day they
had
> to wait
> until they stopped to bury them.   Many were buried beside roads along the
> way.  For
> 2 weeks they travelled this way until they got to the trains.  Then people
> could only take what
> they could carry.  Wagons etc were sold if possible for peanuts.  If it
> wasn't sold they had
> to just leave it behind.
> When the Germans arrived at their destination they found work and places
to
> live.  My grandmother
> was 7 at the time and since one of her brothers was very sick they went to
> some Russians
> and were taken in.   They were encouraged to stay in the rooms provided by
> the Russians
> at not go further which was allowed.
> After the Czar and his family were killed the feelings towards the Germans
> changed and
> they were allowed to return starting 1917.  The first to arrive had
trouble
> because while they
> were gone Galacian refugees had moved into their homes and many wouldn't
> leave.
> When the Germans finally did get their properties back many found they had
> to rebuild from
> scratch.   The Galacian people didn't do anything on the land or
buildings.
> When firewood
> was needed they just tore up wooden floors or took beams from barns etc.
My
> grandmother's
> family decided to stay until 1918 until they returned.  The only bad part
> about that was the
> train stopped many times and the two week trip turned into 6 weeks.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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