[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Germans from Poland, Volhynia, Russia, and everywhere

[Otto]

I've enjoyed the historical discussions.(read the article) Tales not  
aired daily on a history channel.
A proper theme for the history of all our forefather colonists would  
be, "Living between a rock and a hard place."

Reading the ongoing correspondence regarding the accounts of  
political upheaval disrupting the lives of Germanic settler families  
in Eastern Europe can be disheartening. So many untold stories remain  
to be written. Authors, with their heads in the clouds and their feet  
in the soil, tend to favor their own. They extend identification and  
recognition to their own.  I think though, we are all 'hard-wired' in  
the same manner.

Death cut my father off from me at ten years of age, forcing the  
melancholy of lack of identity and recognition upon me as a young  
boy. Never again to ask him, "Pop, who are we? How am I doing? Are  
you proud of me?"  Though now an old man, the young boy still lives  
with his memories.

There was enough time in those few years to leave me with insight to  
his Eastern European adventures.
(along with a fistful of German proverbs-may I exercise one now)

Pop's explanation of external identity.

"In der Kürze liegt die Würze."

In Poland, 'Niemiec'. (yet longer lineage on Polish soil than most)
In Russia, 'Fritz'. (yet a Russian citizen)
In Germany, 'wander Vogel'. (yet never wandered out or in)
In America, 'DP'.  (wasn't displaced-entered free will 3 times-An  
American citizen)
Spoke a foreign language. (which one of his languages was foreign?)

In conclusion Pop would state, "I am myself."
We are all what we choose to be.
Our forefathers had the courage to make choices.
Identity is from within. Let it out.

. . .   Otto

                      " The Zen moment..." wk. of September 3, 2006-
                          ________________________________
                          "Born to learn. . . from our own experiences."