[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] how many of us were there?

[Karl Krueger]

Regarding the question of how many Germans were in Volhynia at the start of WW II we can probably get the best sense through EWZ. EWZ52 which covers Polish territory just prior to WW II is comprised mainly of eastern Poland (from about Warsaw going east), Galicia, present day Belarus, and Polish Volhynia. There are about 100,000 applications in EWZ52. From the amount of time I have spent in EWZ52 I would give an estimate that 30-40% of these are from Volhynia. Only people at least 15 years old were processed so children are not included in these numbers, so this number could easily be double that (30,000 x 2 = 70,000).
   
  EWZ50 covers Soviet territory prior to WW II comprised mainly of Russian Volhynia, Bessarabia, the Crimea and other places in southern Ukraine. (Note EWZ50 does not extend past the Volga River because the German armies never got that far.) EWZ50 has about 110,000 applications. I have had less experience with EWZ50 since I don't have any relatives here but at a minimum I would say 30% of these are from Volhynia. I also noticed in doing research for others that very many applications seem to be missing from EWZ50 as these applications were completed later in the war when more pressure was on the Germans and it appears many of these records got lost. From requests I received from other researchers, I seem to find at least 70% or more of the people from Polish Volhynia, whereas, I find less than 30% (probably more like 10-15%) of those requests from Russian Volhynia.
   
  In summary, it seems safe to say the numbers of Germans in Polish and Volhynia at the start of WW II was easily 150,000 and likely more. Don't forget about how many were removed or sent to Siberia under the Stalin regime. From Russian Volhynia, for practically every family in their applications it is indicated a number of family members  were "verschleppt" prior to being safe under German occupation.

Jerry Frank <FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca> wrote:
  At 09:18 PM 20/04/2006, Vera-Lynne Benson wrote:
>Does anybody know how many Germans lived in Volhynia
>during the 1700's?
>
>And by WWII -- how many German's lived in that region?
>What was the percentage of German's in the Rowno area?
>
> - vl


There were very few Germans of consequence in Volhynia prior to 
1800. They were primarily doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, some 
soldiers, and other upper class people. Farmers did not begin moving 
in until about 1816. There were only about 5000 Germans scattered 
throughout Volhynia prior to 1860. Best estimates for around 1900 
are 200,000. That number went down prior to WW I due to emigration 
and expulsions. I don't know if there are any WW II era 
estimates. Don't forget that after WW I, Volhynia was split between 
Poland and Russia.




Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca 



_______________________________________________
Ger-Poland-Volhynia Mailing List hosted by
Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe http://www.sggee.org
Mailing list info at http://www.sggee.org/listserv


		
---------------------------------
New Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Call regular phones from your PC and save big.