[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] conscription age

Mon Jun 25 00:51:33 PDT 2007

Richard,

I have no first hand knowledge of the stories that I have heard concerning 
my grandfather.  He was "repatriated" to the Soviet Union following WWII. 
The stories I hear are from my Onkel Waldemar who is the defacto family 
historian.  He told me that he was told by his father that during the early 
stages of WWI, the opposing troops would cease fire on their own and then 
meet in the middle of the lines.  There the Germans would bring sausages and 
bread and the Russians would bring schnapps.  Sounds stereotypical but he 
swears it's true.

They would get together and "break bread".  According to my Uncle, many 
Russian Germans defected on the spot.  The only reason my grandfather didn't 
go was that he had just met my grandmother at the time and he wanted to go 
back to the village in Volhynia and marry her.  Once the Russian generals 
learned of the desertions of so many ethnic Germans, they transferred them 
to the Turkish front.  During one of these battles, my grandfather was shot 
in the foot and returned home.  He married my grandmother (nee Tucholke) and 
had five boys.  The oldest served in the Red Army during WWII and the three 
middle ones were in the German army.  My father being the youngest didn't 
serve.  All five survived the war with the four youngest coming to North 
America in the 1950s.

Also, my grandmother's father shows up on the expulsion lists of 1915 in 
Rogowka.

Ray

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Benert" <benovich at imt.net>
To: "SGGEE Mail List" <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 1:28 AM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia]  conscription age

> Ray has brought up a subject that interests me greatly by mentioning
> that "so many Russian German soldiers were defecting" in World War
> I, that they were transferred to the Turkish front where their
> suspected unwillingness to fight against their German "brothers"
> wouldn't interfere with the war's success.
>
> After the war, German writers were unanimous in claiming the
> injustice done to the colonist soldiers by this transfer.  They
> insisted that these troops had been totally loyal and willing to die
> for the Tsar, and their transfer was purely the result of anti-German
> meanness.
> This version of events has basically come down to
> us as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  But the sources
> I've been reading are giving me increasing reason to wonder about
> this, for there can be no denying that many Russian Germans, when
> called to the colors in 1914, were extremely conflicted over the
> idea of fighting against other Germans.  Many of them may also have
> been reluctant to fight FOR a country that didn't always appreciate
> them, and who could blame them for this?
>
> I'd like to ask, Ray, if your grandfather related any more about
> this than you've mentioned, and I'd like to ask in general if other
> people can offer from their family histories or other reading any
> evidence one way or the other.  Did the Russian German soldiers
> fight bravely for the Tsar or didn't they?  No doubt many, if not
> most, of the 250,000 did.  But I'd not be surprised if some, if not
> many, did not.  I've gotten into trouble asking this question
> before, so I hasten to point out that I don't think this in any way
> calls the soldiers' character into question.  That war was stupid to
> begin with, and it takes quite a stretch to claim that either side
> was worth laying down one's life for.  I respect the belief that
> loyalty to country is a high virtue, even though I don't always agree with
> it.
>
> So no flaming, please.  In the interest of historical truth, I'd
> just like to see evidence either for loyalty to Russia or for lack
> of it in W.W. I.
>
> Dick Benert
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Bloch" <rbloch at columbus.rr.com>
>>>To: "Donna Schultz" <dschultz120 at gmail.com>;
>>><ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
>>>Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 9:51 AM
>>>Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] conscription age
>>>
>>>
>>>>My father remembers watching the Volksturm marching down the road to
>>>>Berlin
>>>>and as they passed, the kids joked, "Da gehen die alten Affen mit die
>>>>neuen
>>>>Waffen."
>>>>
>>>>Loosely translated as "There go the old apes with the new weapons." 
>>>>It's
>>>>a
>>>>funny rhyme but the truth is that these soldiers had very little in the
>>>>way
>>>>of armaments.
>>>>
>>>>Later my father found out that his father had been conscripted into the
>>>>Volksturm and captured and returned to the Soviet Union.  My grandfather
>>>>fought in the Russian Army against the Turks in  WWI in the Caucuses. 
>>>>He
>>>>originally was assigned to the front against the Germans but so many
>>>>Russian
>>>>German soldiers were defecting that the Russian generals moved many of
>>>>them
>>>>to the Turkish front.
>>>>
>>>>Ray Bloch
>>>>
>>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>>From: "Donna Schultz" <dschultz120 at gmail.com>
>>>>To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
>>>>Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 9:55 AM
>>>>Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] conscription age
>>>>
>>>>>Greetings:
>>>>>
>>>>>I have a source that states the upper age limit for conscription into
>>>>>the
>>>>>German Army during WWII was age 54. I have a relative who lived there
>>>>>during
>>>>>the war years and believes that men as old as 65 were conscripted.
>>>>>
>>>>>Comments?
>>>>>
>>>>>Thanks.
>>>>>
>>>>>Donna
>>>>>Michigan
>>>>>
>>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>>Ger-Poland-Volhynia Mailing List hosted by
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>>>>>Mailing list info at http://www.sggee.org/listserv
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>Ger-Poland-Volhynia Mailing List hosted by
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>--
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>>>
>>
>> Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
>> FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca
>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
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>
>
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