[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] an overlooked book

[Richard Benert]

I recently, quite by accident, discovered a book which conveniently covers the subject of German migrations since the Middle Ages in only 55 pages, plus 20 pages of (418) footnotes.  It is "Migrations and Cultures" by Thomas Sowell (Harper Collins, Basic Books, 1996).  The book also treats migration patterns of other cultures--Japanese, Chinese, Italians, Jews and Indians--so it necessarily has to skim over the top of things, but it seems to me to be an excellent introduction for newcomers to the subject in general, or for many of us who are familiar with GR migration to North America but are largely ignorant about GRs in Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Mexico and Australia.  Of course he begins with German migration into eastern Europe and Russia.  Perhaps everyone but me has been aware of this book all along, but I've found it referred to only once (March 24, 2001) in the GR-Heritage archives, by Timothy Kloberdanz, so I don't think I'm alone in my ignorance.  

Sowell is an economist/sociologist of a basically libertarian stripe (Wikipedia has an article on his life and writings), and his account deals chiefly with economic matters.  He doesn't hesitate to give German migrants credit for their prowess in this regard.  The enterprising spirit of migratory Germans (and others) lends support to his laissez-faire attitude to public policy.   The presence of this book in over 1600 libraries in the U.S. attests to Sowell's popularity, at least in the U.S.

While I think the book is a good introduction as an overview of the subject, it has its limitations.  For two people (he and his one assistant) to cover such a vast subject along with pursuing other interests means a certain degree of superficiality.  Errors are not entirely absent, as when he states that Germans in the U.S. during World War Two encountered "no such hostility" as they had during the First World War.  In other instances, he commits sins of omission.  It is inconceivable that an economist would fail to mention the expropriation of German-owned land in Russia in 1915-16.  He refers to it only obliquely by saying that the Volga Germans were "banished" in 1917.  He mentions the deportation of Germans to the Volga, Central Asia and Siberia in 1915 from "one of the Ukrainian provinces," failing to mention the name of that province (Volhynia) as well as the fact that thousands of Germans in Russian Poland were also deported.  Sowell bases  his story on some of our favorite historians (Adam Giesinger, Fred Koch, Hattie Plum Williams, Richard Sallet, plus a few articles by Fleischhauer, Kloberdanz, and others).  But he amazingly failed to consult James W. Long, "From Privileged to Dispossessed," on the Volga Germans, and Joseph Height and Dietmar Neutatz on the Black Sea and Volhynian Germans.  Fleischhauer's "Die Deutschen im Zarenreich" is not mentioned.  He seems only vaguely aware of the Volhynian Germans as a separate group in that "Ukrainian province."

My own ignorance of the literature on Germans in South America and Australia prevents me from commenting on those portions of his treatment.  Nevertheless I think that for anyone new to the pursuit of GR ancestors and their history, this book is a good place to begin.   His footnotes provide a wide selection of books and articles for further reading, even if some major sources are overlooked.  Chances are good that the book is in a local library near you, and there are several copies for sale online.