[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re Vohlynian deportations

[E Sonnenburg]

Edmund Krebs in his book tells of German agents approaching Germans
that were returning to Volhynia in 1917.  These agents were looking for
Germans to work in Germany.   The Germans that were accepted were able
to go westward with the German soldiers.  When others from the trains
also wanted to go back to Germany they were beaten back with the rifle butts
of German soldiers.   Seems kind of ironic that Germans wanting to go to
Germany were not allowed by other Germans.

I found out that Edmund Krebs rewrote his book in German.  It
is now smaller and cheaper - about $15 CDN.

Ed

----- Original Message -----
From: "Karl Krueger" <dabookk54 at yahoo.com>
To: "Leo Gitzel" <lgitzel at telusplanet.net>;
<ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2004 7:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Re Vohlynian deportations


> Yes, Thank you Leo for sharing that with us. What I find amazing is that
your grandmother and aunt made it to Germany. There were some Germans that
seemed to end up in Germany at this time so I wonder how they managed that.
>From a story I have from another contact, I realize my grandfather's brother
knew the German armies were advancing so he took his family westward to meet
them and be "saved' by them. In EWZ I found a cousin to my grandfather who
lived near Vladimir Volhynsk and he also ended up in Germany somehow with
his family. But the vast majority of Germans did get deported as I have seen
in EWZ.
>
>
> Leo Gitzel <lgitzel at telusplanet.net> wrote:The following is an excerpt
from a letter written by my grandfather to my
> father in Canada in April of 1915
>
> " Jetzt lieber Sohn benachrichtge ich dir vie es jetzt bei uns ist, der
Kreig
> geht immer noch mit der gansen macht,man sagt, es werden jetzt grvsere
> schlachten vie je geschlagen ,aber vie es geht das vissen vir nicht.
> Bie uns hat man schon alles aufgeschreiben die Deutschen, das Land wieveil
sie
> haben wieveil dei gebeiden wehrt sind, auch hat man getreide und mehl
> aufgeschrieben, man weis aber nicht warum. Man spricht das die Regierung
uns
> wird raus schicken nach Russland oder Siberien, aus Polen hat man die
> Duetschen Leute alle raus geschickt, zuvor die Menner nachher die Frauen
und
> Kinder es ist mit uns nicht sehr freulich, wir wissen nicht was es noch
mit
> uns werden wirt"
> Translation----
>
> "Now dear son I will bring you up to date as to how it is with us. The war
> goes on in full force. One hears that the coming slaughter will be greater
> than ever but we have no idea as to how the war is going. All assets of
the
> Germans have been inventoried, how much land we have, the value of the
> buildings also the amount of grain and flour has been listed. One doesn't
know
> why but it has been rumored that the government will send us to Russia or
> Siberia. Poland has already expelled the Germans first the men and then
later
> the women and children. It's not a happy situation for us, we don't know
what
> will become of us."
>
> My grandfather was living in Marcelowka which, I was told, was about ten
> miles from Vladimir Volynsk. Unfortunately my dad didn't speak much about
> what eventually happened to his parents and to my greatest regret I didn't
> have the good sense to ask when I had the chance. As near as I can
determine
> my grandfather died shortly after this letter was written. My grandmother
and
> an aunt were taken to Germany were my grandmother died. The aunt
eventually
> returned to Marcelowka and lived there until she died.
>
> Leo Gitzel
>
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