[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Convention success story

[Jerry Frank]

At 07:44 PM 01/09/2006, E. Adam wrote:

>Also at the convention, I had the opportunity to speak to an 
>official for the group that sponsors the Bundestreffen and other 
>German from Russia activities.
>
>He told me that this group would have no records of the G-R who 
>managed to stay in Germany after the war because they basically were 
>in hiding. Most of those who did get to Germany were sent back to 
>the Soviet Union under agreement with  Stalin.
>
>He also told me that if I want to find Volhynians in Germany, I need 
>to get in touch with the Volhynian groups there or go to the 
>reunions. He said Volhynians largely do not consider themselves 
>Germans from Russia because they were relocated before the Germans 
>attacked the Soviet Union. They think of themselves as "German" due to this.
>
>  If any of our German readers can provide information about 
> meetings of Volhynians in 2007, I would like to see if I can get 
> there next year.



Glad you had such a successful trip Edie.

Further to Dave's comment explaining why the Volhynians might not 
consider themselves as being from Russia, there are at least 2 other 
factors that can explain some of this separateness.

1.  The Volhynian Germans arrived in Russia under greatly different 
circumstances than those in other regions.  Coming to work for Polish 
landlords there, they did not receive the same privileges and perks 
as those in other parts of Russia.  While they shared a common ethnic 
origin, their culture and history was different.

2.  The Volhynian Germans were ignored, or at best marginalized, by 
German researchers such as Stumpp, Liebrandt, and others who were 
instrumental in the early origins of the Russia German groups in 
Germany.  Their books contain very little information about the 
Volhynian Germans or their history.  I don't know if this was 
intentional, a result of ignorance about them, or what.  It did 
however contribute to a lack of a sense of belonging and therefore 
low participation of the Volhynia Germans with the other GR groups in Germany.


If you plan to go to Germany, you will need some practice with 
German.  :-)   Here then is the website for the Volhynian Museum in 
Linstow, Germany where they meet every September (in fact they are 
meeting this very weekend).  If you use the contact info and write to 
them, I'm sure they will fill you in on details for 2007 
events.   http://umsiedlermuseum.wolhynien.de/




Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca