[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] German migration to Poland?

[PnSWork at aol.com]

Jerry's article is a very good high-level overview of the different  
migrations which took place.
 
With respect to the German settlement in Poland, I can add a little  more 
detail.
 
The majority of the German settlement of Poland took place in two phases,  
each following one of the Polish Partitions that Jerry refers  to.
 
After the first Polish partition, Frederick the Great also instituted an  
immigration program to enhance the economy and some say to "germanify" the 
new  territory.  The Prussian authorities sent recruiters throughout the 
German  regions, encouraging people to emigrate.  The Prussian program was  
generous, giving free land, building materials, a per diem for every man, woman  
and child (varying amounts for each), and a travel allowance that was based 
on  how far they had to travel.  You could say that the Prussian recruiters  
were in competition with the ones that Catherine the Great sent out.  This  
first migration started around 1779 and peaked around 1782.  The settlement 
 area was largely the area around Poznan (German: Posen), Pomerania and 
West  Prussia.
 
The second major migration occurred between 1795 (the year of the third  
Polish Partition) and 1806.  The son of Frederick the Great re-opened the  
emigration programs of his father in order to found colonies in the new  
territories further East.  After Napoleon defeated the Prussians in 1806,  he set 
up a short-lived Duchy of Warsaw under Polish control.  This lasted  until 
1815 when the Russians assumed control over most of the area.
 
Some migration continued after 1806, but it was greatly reduced from the  
earlier levels.  The Polish authorities allowed immigration, but  did not 
offer all the incentives that the Prussian program had.
 
The Prussian archives in Berlin still have many of the original documents  
from these two migrations, and the Polish archives in Warsaw have many 
original  documents from the founding of the settlements.  I have copies of some  
documents showing how much my ancestors were paid for their travel to 
Poland,  and other documents showing how much land they were given when they  
arrived.
 
Good luck in your research!
 
    -Paul
 
 
In a message dated 4/22/2010 10:21:05 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
wjmilner at shaw.ca writes:


>  Stacy,
>
> Jerry Frank wrote an article on this subject which was  reproduced with 
> his permission at:
>
>  http://www.galiziengermandescendants.org/Data/History2.pdf
>
>  Enjoy!
>
> Yours truly,
>
> Jack Milner
>  --------------------------------
> Stacy Flatt  wrote:
>
>> I've been reading the posts about the German  migration with great
>> interest.  Thank you for this  information!  Jack mentioned that many
>> German settlers in  Volhynia came from Poland.  Why did the Germans
>> settle in  Poland  in the first place?
>>
>> And continued thank  yous for the information about my family (Flatts
>> and Matschenskis  and many more of course) and tips on where else to
>> search.  I  can see that the SGGEE will benefit me and I will be
>>  joining.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>  Stacy
>>
>>   
>>
>
>


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