[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Germans drafted in Russian army

[Bloch, Ray]

My grandfather was inducted into the Russian army in 1914 and was in the
front lines fighting against the Germans.  The story related to me by my
uncle was that during lulls in the battles the opposing sides would meet
under a flag of truce.  During these truces, the Germans would try to
entice the Russian Germans to defect and in many instances, this
occurred.  My grandfather didn't cross over because he had met my
grandmother and was engaged to be married.  After this occurred numerous
times, the Russian command took the Russian Germans and sent them to the
Caucuses where my grandfather was then fighting the Turks.  He was
wounded and returned to the Ukraine where he married my grandmother.

In WWII my oldest uncle was inducted into the Red Army in 1940.  When
war broke out they took the ethnic Germans and moved them to logging
camps in Siberia.  He was a metalsmith by trade so his skills were not
needed there and they moved him to the coal mines of the southern Urals
and his family remains there to this day.  The fact that he had a trade
saved his life.

Ray 

-----Original Message-----
From: ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org
[mailto:ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org] On Behalf Of
Susie Lewis
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 12:50 AM
To: wilke013 at umn.edu; ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Germans drafted in Russian army
[bayes]


Yes, apparently Germans born in Russia were subject to the draft.  I
know of a family of three brothers who where ethnic Germans born in
German colonies in Poland which at the time was part of the Russian
Empire.  For years I had been under the impression that they had been in
the German army but to my surprise, I discovered that all three of them
had actually been drafted into the Russian army in World War 1.  

> From: wilke013 at umn.edu
> To: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
> Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 22:07:37 -0500
> Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Germans drafted in Russian army
> 
> My great grandfather emigrated from Volhynia in about 1896, taking a  
> ship in May of that year.  I'm not 100% sure where he was living but  
> my grandmother was born in the village of Michailoska in Kreiz  
> Zhitomir in 1894.  According to family stories, he was about to be  
> drafted into an army and so left for America to escape this draft.   
> I'm curious if Germans were subject to a draft (and what army?) while

> living in Volhynia around that time.  Anyone know?
> 
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