[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Russian

[Bronwyn Klimach]

Lloyd,
I am not familiar with a coronet - what type of instrument is it please?
Thanks for sharing the experience of your family.
Bronwyn.

On Sat, Feb 4, 2012 at 7:26 PM, Lloyd Friedrick <lloydfriedrick at telus.net>wrote:

> Hello John
>
> Yup, you are right. Here is my family story. My family lived very near
> Rosysszcze in the heart of old Volhynia.
> My Uncle Gottleib was drafted into the Russian Army in 1904, he told us
> that
> the first few years as a young recruit was a terrible experience. Young
> draftees were subjected to considerable and hard hazing. He did manage to
> move into the bridge and building section of the military and had a much
> easier time.
>
> My Uncle Karl was drafted in 1906, also at the age of 18. Under the advice
> of his older brother, he strived and managed to learn to play a coronet and
> got into the Military band. He was able to desert later and told us the
> story of walking all the way to Germany. He emigrated to Canada sometime
> later but always lived in fear that someone from the Russian military would
> come and get him.
>
> My father, Ferdinand was almost 18 in April , 1914 when the family heard
> that the village schultz was instructed to produce 50 recruits for the
> Russians.
> The family panicked as they realized that it was going to be a terrible
> war.
> They arranged his passage to Canada with the assistance of a local Jewish
> merchant, which could be described as an early travel agent. He was
> smuggled
> over the border to Poland in a load of hay and then onward by train and
> steamship.
> All details were arranged, including a few Canadian dollars sewn into the
> lining of his coat and letters of introduction all the way to a Jewish
> boarding house in Winnipeg. His 18th birthday occurred while he was in the
> mid Atlantic. He too, always feared that the Russians would come some day
> to
> get him to serve in their military.
>
> lloyd friedrick in Victoria, BC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gpvjem
> Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 5:16 AM
> To: Marg Driechel ; ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Russian
>
>     My Grandfather Emil Marsch, returned to Poland from Volhynia to serve
> in
> the Russian Army from 1879 to 1884.  In a short account of this he
> described
> it as "necessary to fulfill his military duty" , i.e. drafted.  There was
> no
> war at that time. It appears the Russian army in Poland was really an
> occupation army.
>
> John Marsch
>
> ----------------------------------------
>
>