[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Did Russians recruit German boys from Plockarea?

[Heinz Rode]

Hi Mara,

My Dad (*11 Jul,1897, Dt Grabien, Gabin) told me he and some of his cousins
fled the then Poland to escape consripton to the Polish Army. Apperently the rekruts were 
treated badly by the officers because of their German  background.They were issued new 
papers in Germany on their arrival.

One cousin went to Edmonton and another to Cleveland. His younger brother Ferdinand 
followed a little later to Berlin

My fathers mother and siblings ( girls) remained in Poland; Father visited them a couple 
of times over the years, they met at an little used border town where there was no 
borderguard at night! Real daring, what if he got caught?

Ta, Ta    Heinz Rode ********************************>


> Since we're on this topic...
>
> I am wondering if anyone has input on how the Russian military (or even German 
> military?) was involved along the Vistula river near Gostynin, Nowa Wies and Plock 
> around 1914-1921?  Specifically, were all the young boys in the German settlements in 
> Congress Poland forced to put on a uniform and leave their families?  I had read 
> somewhere that the boys were made to dig foxholes and almost be like "assistants" to the 
> older soldiers, but I can't recall if they were given a name or even a ranking.
>
> My grandfather, Edmund Johann Manke b. 1900 in Karolewo near Gostynin, was in the 
> Russian (German?) army as a young teenager, but to my knowledge, never fought in WWI. 
> He left for the USA in 1921 so that he "wouldn't have to go into a different level or 
> division of the army" (my father Elliott recalls his dad Edmund saying this many years 
> ago.)  Interestingly enough, Edmund had always claimed he was born in 1901, but when I 
> got his birth certificate translated, it read 1900.  Could he have changed his birth 
> year to appear younger than he actually was?
>
> Which ever army this was, did they give these young boys a division name or a ranking? 
> What would determine when they could go up to a different division or rank?  Age? 
> Experience?
>
> Any thoughts or knowledge would be greatly appreciated!
>
> Kindest regards,
> Mara Manke
> Cleveland, Ohio
> USA
>