[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Volhynia

[DANWWAGNER at aol.com]

Art,
 
    I can't really answer your question, except to  share some family 
history.  My grandfather and his family left  Volhynia through Germany to Chicago 
in 1910-1912.  My grandfather and  a cousin came first, and they stayed 
permanently (except for my  grandfather's trip back to Elsenau, Germany, to 
bring over his finance  in 1914).  Then, in an example of chain migration, my  
grandfather assisted three brothers and their father to join  him.  Since 
two brothers and the father had families back in Volhynia, they  returned home 
after some months or a year or so of work.  (PS, I would love  to find 
records of their return to Volhynia.  Passenger lists I've seen  only record 
their coming to America.)  The other brother died in  Chicago in an accident.  
Back in Volhynia, the whole family got caught  up in WWI, with the two 
brothers drafted into the German and Russian armies  respectively, followed by 
the Bolshevik revolution and continued fighting  between the Ukrainians and 
Russians.  My grandfather's brothers were  not able to leave again until they 
emigrated to Canada in the late  1920's.
 
    I believe they began leaving Volhynia in 1910  mainly because the 
Russians were reneging on the promises made to get  Germans to settle there over 
the preceding 150 years.  Importantly, Russia  began conscripting ethnic 
Germans into the growing army as the world headed  toward world war.  Of 
course, the New World also promised jobs,  cheap land, and a better life.  
 
        Dan Wagner 
 
 
 
In a message dated 9/13/2011 4:52:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
schrota at shaw.ca writes:

Good  afternoon



Is anyone familiar with the exodus of German  Volhynians from the region
between 1910 and 1917. I have a note in an  archive (by Bernhart Forbau) 
that
my grandparents escaped to Germany  through the Middle East. I cannot find
any historical data to support  this.



My relatives would include the Schrot, Betke, Brenner and  perhaps Forbau 
who
were living near Mitzk, Volhynia in the early part of  1900. My father and
uncle were born in Germany

In 1917 and 1920 in  the Pasewalk area. My father remembers being in the
Greifswald  forest.



Any help would be much appreciated.  Thanks



Art  Schrot

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