[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Deportations

[Jerry Frank]

The oppression of the Germans in particular, but other ethnic groups as 
well, began in the late 1880s when Russian was declared the official 
language to be used in the schools.  This also applied to church records 
which now had to be written in Russian Cyrillic.  Or at least that applied 
to the official ones that were sent to St. Petersburg.  Those after about 
1890 were apparently written in Russian Cyrillic.  There were also changes 
in the way land ownership was handled resulting in land being expropriated 
from some Germans and the inability for Germans to increase their land 
holdings as would be needed with the increases in population.

I also think there was a minor deportation situation in 1905 but I am not 
sure about the details.  Most of my ancestors left Russia before 1900 so I 
haven't paid a lot of attention to the more recent history.



At 11:41 AM 09/07/2004 -0600, Delores Stevens wrote:
>I have been following  this topic with interest and see that it only refers
>to the deportations that took place prior to the first world war.  Were
>there things taking place that would have indicated conflict prior to that.
>My great grandmother came to Canada in 1896, but when talking with one of
>her grandchildren she always made reference to the "dirty bolshevics".  That
>is not in reference to anyone's nationality or to offend anyone.  I just
>wonder what would  be taking place in Volhynia in that time frame that would
>cause her to have such an opinion.

Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca