[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Journey to Canada via Liepaja, Latvia, then Liverpool, England, and finally Montreal, Canada

[Kyle Sattler]

Hi Wilma,

My great-grandfather, Bernhard Zietz, made a similar journey from the
province of Ekaterinoslav, Ukraine. He recorded it in his autobiography
of which I have recorded an excerpt below:

"So, I turned to my cousin Martin Gerlinsky, who lived in Canada and
asked him to help us emigrate. Right away he started getting us
immigration permits and boat tickets. In the spring of 1923, I received
notice from the Canadian Pacific Company that my entry permits, plus the
paid boat tickets for my family were waiting for us at their office in
Moscow.

Our joy was great to be finally released from misery and I started work
right away on our emigration papers. Since the Communist regime was new
and the newly hired staff didn’t know the laws, I had many difficulties.
I had started in February 1923 and in May, the papers were ready for as
far as Bachmut, the county seat. There I had to present the papers and
receive our passports. In the meantime, the laws had been changed, and I
had to start all over again. I would have been unable to shoulder all
the expenses for this if it hadn’t been for two other families from our
village who had received their immigration permits for Canada too. They
were Nicolaus Gerlinsky and Bernard Forlowsky. We shared the expenses
among ourselves and my dear cousin (from Canada) had sent me $150.
Luckily I was able to exchange this money into American dollars which
was my deliverance, because I had to start from scratch to get our
papers and was sent from one place to the next.

Finally in November we had all the necessary papers in hand and we left
on December 2, 1923 by train and arrived December 4 in Moscow. (The
Sietz family was one of the last families allowed out of the country.)
We could have continued on our journey the next day, but we encountered
difficulties with our daughter Aloysia. She had turned 10 in the
meantime and that meant that her photo had to be in the passport too.
This didn’t take long because I met a photographer on the street and the
picture was done in 5 minutes. But that was not enough for the
government officials who said I had to wait 4 days for them to give the
okay stamp for my passport. The question was: Why? The Canadian Pacific
officials went with me to the Russian office to help me, but were told
it was none of their business. So, we and Nick Gerlinsky, with his
family had to stay at a hotel until we received our stamps in the
passports.

On the 5th day, we could finally leave Moscow and traveled to the border
station of Sebesk where we had to go into the stationhouse where they
combed through all our belongings. Had they found any forbidden items,
we would have been sent back, where to, we can only imagine. (Before the
family left, they had torn up all their family photos because the men
would have been dressed in military uniforms and identified as the elite
and therefore targets.)

We were very glad to board the train again and instead of Russian
personnel we were greeted by Latvian officials. They too asked if we had
anything to declare, but we were not searched and were treated like
human beings. After that we arrived at the city of Riga, and from there
we went to Libawa (present-day Liepaja, Latvia), where we boarded a
small steamship which took us through the Wilhelm Channel to Germany,
and after 4 days on the North Sea to London, England. From there, we
went to Liverpool where we arrived on Christmas Eve. We were given nice,
warm quarters, and in the dining room a real Christmas dinner and
presents for the children. This was the first Christmas in many years
for us.

On December 28, 1923 we boarded the 19 thousand ton steamship Montcalm
and were on the Atlantic Ocean with high seas until January 6, 1924,
when we landed in St. John’s Newfoundland. We were examined by a doctor,
and continued our journey to Montreal and from there to Winnipeg, then
on a flyer (train) to our destination Cavell, Saskatchewan where we were
picked up by Martin Gerlinsky in his model T.

It is really quite interesting to see the troubles that the family had
to go through to immigrate. This is all I have for proof of immigration.
I have not yet found immigration records as their is a gap in the
Canadian ones during the period which they immigrated.

Greetings,

Kyle Sattler


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Hi all, I was wondering if you could give me some direction with the following. 

I guess I have had the following information for years, tucked away in some old typed documents about my Stege family's journey to Canada, but only just today, did I read it in detail, only to realize that my Stege family, did not journey through Hamburg, but rather left a port in Liepaja, Latvia, for Liverpool, England, and then on to Montreal Canada in 1899. They originated from Tomaszow, near Anielweka, Vohlynia, Russia. Was this commonly done? to travel from this port? Does anyone have any idea if I can find ship records? leaving Liepaja?
Thanks for your help.
Wilma.

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