[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] -GRs in Mexico

[Del & Kathy Sperling]

Dear Gloria and list, 
      A book I have about a third cousin tells about their leaving Alexanderthal, South Russia in 1925-26.  They left to find security in Canada as it did not seem conditions would improve in Russia.  The family left their home in August of 1926 and traveled to Berdjansk with horses where they took the train to Moscow.  There they found out all would be able to get visas into Canada except one member because of trachoma.  So they decided to join a group of five other families traveling to Mexico.   The family left Moscow for Holland by train going through Germany.  At Rotterdam they boarded a freight the "S S Rotterdam" which took them to Mexico with a stopover in Spain.  They also docked in Havana, Cuba.  They arrived in Mexico City in October 1926.  Six other Mennonite families traveled with them.  The Funks rented a house and stayed their four months.  Then they traveled by train to Manitoba going by way of Kansas where my g-grandfather hosted them.  [they were related]  They took the train on to Gretna and then Plum Coulee was the final stop.  
    Hope this helps with the story of a trip of one family.  As I recall from my research several other families did this also.  It was the fastest/most available way to get out of Russia at the time.    Kathy Penner Sperling
    --information taken from Prairie Roots and Branches by Arnie Neufeld.  

Researching  Jost, Regehr, Loewen, Leppke, Penner, Gaede, Funk, Janzen, Duerksen/Dirksen, Fenske
Sperling, Ewy, Harms, Thiessen, Born, Albert, Feierherrn/Frierhelm and others.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <gloriah4 at juno.com>
To: <esonnenburg at sympatico.ca>
Cc: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 2:11 AM
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] -Political "Standardized" Language-


> Ed,
> 
> Your mention of "GRs from Mexico" really perked my interest. Do you have
> other information about them in addition to "language"?  
> 
> I ask because my husband's family immigrated into the U. S. via Mexico
> and yet we can locate nothing that links them back to the Ukraine. Their
> passports show that they left the Ukraine by way of LeHavre and the next
> (and last) stamp shows their disembarking in Vera Cruz Mexico. This was
> in 1926.
> 
> One of our main research questions is, how did they get from the Ukraine
> (and from where in the Ukraine) to LeHavre? Also, we have been unable to
> locate a ship manifest since we have been unable to find that their ship
> ever sailed to Mexico. It did indeed sail from LeHavre that year but only
> landing in New York it seems.
> 
> Were there many GRs in Mexico? Somehow I've always pictured our family as
> being exceptions and we can't figure why they went to Mexico of all
> places. 
> 
> Any scrap of help is appreciated.  Thanks.
> 
> Gloria Hoppe (wife of Al HOPPE)
> East Texas, USA
> Researching: HOPPE, TOBER, SAWATZKI, Neudorf Volhynia, Novograd Walinsk
> 
> 
> On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:16:53 -0400 "Ed  Sonnenburg"
> <esonnenburg at sympatico.ca> writes:
>> When translating old letters I always found it a challenge when the 
>> writer
>> threw in words or phrases from another language.  When people live
>> in a certain place for a generation or two they pick up local 
>> words.
>> My GR relatives and friends would flawlessly speak German but
>> then curse in either Russian or Polish.  
>> 
>> I always found it a challenge to understand the low German
>> but when the GRs from Mexico spoke low German and
>> threw in Spanish words it was almost impossible to understand.
>> 
>> It is pretty hard for me to speak German today without throwing
>> in an English word -  Ich geh und leere aus den Garbage.
>> I'm going to empty the garbage can.  It was too hard
>> to say Muell Eimer.
>> 
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> 
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