[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Leaving Volhynia

Sun Apr 30 13:32:34 PDT 2006

Immigration into Canada and the States was curtailed dramatically 
c.1929 and later because of the Great Depression.  This is why the 
German (Mennonite and Lutheran) refugees who escaped from eastern 
Russia over the Amur River to Harbin, China were denied entry.  They 
were forced to go to South America.

Jerry Frank

At 01:44 PM 30/04/2006, Dave Obee wrote:
>Emigration records at the Zhitomir archives have plenty of entries in 1927
>and 1928.
>
>Furthermore, people from that area are found as immigrants in Canadian
>passenger lists until about the end of 1928.
>
>My grandparents and my mother are shown in the emigration records in the
>late spring, and arriving in Halifax in December. That lines up with what my
>grandmother said about having to wait in Holland for a few months until the
>Canadian authorities decided to let them in.
>
>Very few Volhynians appear after in Canadian passenger lists after the start
>of 1929, and most of them had stopped for a spell in Germany, so they were
>not travelling directly here in any event.
>
>Dave Obee
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Nelson Itterman" <colnels at telus.net>
>To: "'richard benert'" <benovich at imt.net>; "'Jerry Frank'"
><FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca>; "'Christopher Menke'" <menke5616 at sbcglobal.net>;
>"'SGGEE'" <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
>Sent: Saturday, April 29, 2006 9:45 AM
>Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Leaving Volhynia
>
>
> > Hello Richard:
> > I've been told that shortly after my family left Volhynia in December 1926
> > that the curtain came down for any further emigration. Do you know when
>that
> > took place?
> > Nelson
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org
> > [mailto:ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org] On Behalf Of
>richard
> > benert
> > Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 12:35 PM
> > To: Jerry Frank; Christopher Menke; SGGEE
> > Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Leaving Volhynia
> >
> > Jerry's answer to Chris's first question is basically correct.  Some
> > Googling and a trip to the MSU library have netted me precious little hard
> > information about Russian emigration policy, but I'll divulge what little
> > I've found.  Apparently this has not been a subject of much interest to
> > scholars, except for the question of emigration policy for Jews in Russia.
> >
> > An article in Slavic Review by one Ann Healy, "Tsarist Anti-Semitism and
> > Russian-American Relations" states that "Until the end of the tsarist
> > regime, emigration without special permission, which was hard to obtain,
>was
> >
> > illegal".  The Russian government held to the doctrine of "indefeasible
> > allegiance".  Once a Russian, always a Russian.  A passport, if obtained,
> > allowed one to be abroad for only 5 years.  Getting naturalized abroad
> > subjected one to criminal penalties--a fee or being arrested on return for
> > draft evasion.  Or the fee could be charged to relatives still in Russia.
> > Once naturalized abroad, you couldn't return to Russia to settle property
> > matters.
> >
> > Another source I saw merely stated that emigration laws, such as they
>were,
> > were arbitrarily enforced, depending on the local official in charge of
> > granting the permission.
> >
> > I was hopeful that another article I've long wanted to see would be of
>great
> >
> > help.  This is "The Legal Foundations of the Immigration and Emigration
> > Policy of the USSR, 1917-1927" by Yuri Felshtinsky in Soviet Studies,
>1982.
> > His only reference to pre-Revolutionary Russia states that "While Soviet
> > policy followed traditional tsarist Russia policy of prohibiting
>emigration,
> >
> > it was incomparably more effective and systematic."   The Soviets simply
>had
> >
> > to pay more attention to emigration law because of all the boundary
>changes
> > that accompanied the settlement of WW I and the subsequent Civil War.  One
> > basic problem for them was the fear that anyone seeking to emigrate might
> > soon join up with forces trying to overthrow their regime.  Nevertheless,
> > due to the chaos of the Civil War, emigration was more possible then than
> > later.  Felshtinsky thinks that the major reason why emigration became
>more
> > difficult was the development of a better border guard during the 1920s.
> > Aside from illegal emigration, which of course always involved risk but
> > could be accomplished, there were a few legal means of emigrating, chief
>of
> > which was to obtain foreign citizenship   "The only way to emigrate", he
> > says, "was to opt for the citizenship of another state, either through
> > genuine claims or the pretence of a legal right".  (And, indeed, my own
> > uncle was able to get out of Russia as late as 1931 because he had applied
> > for German citizenship several years earlier).  The Bolsheviks apparently
> > also left another tiny loophole for emigration. In 1923 they allowed
>anyone
> > who had suffered "natural calamities" to emigrate and join relatives
> > abroad---the reason, Felshtinsky suspects, being that otherwise the
> > government would have owed these people some kind of financial relief!
> > Finally, of course, emigration was made all but impossible after 1927.
> >
> > If anyone can find more recent treatments of Russian emigration policies,
> > I'm sure there are many of us who would be interested.  But it seems
> > fruitless to expect any precise answers, because the tsarist government
> > itself was fairly immune to precision.
> >
> > Dick Benert
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Jerry Frank" <FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca>
> > To: "Christopher Menke" <menke5616 at sbcglobal.net>; "SGGEE"
> > <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 7:04 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Leaving Volhynia
> >
> >
> > > At 12:33 PM 26/04/2006, Christopher Menke wrote:
> > >>I posted this yesterday, hopefully will get a response today.
> > >>   1) Was it prohibited by the Russians to emigrate from Volhynia
> > >> (leave Russia) in 1900?
> > >>   2) Was the port of Libau controlled by the Russians in 1900?
> > >>   Thanks alot,
> > >>   Chris Menke
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I am not aware of any prohibition against migration out of Russia
> > > prior to WW I.  There may have been issues, paperwork, and other
> > > things that made it very difficult.  For example, some people might
> > > have had to sneak out of the country because the could not get the
> > > appropriate travel documents.
> > >
> > > Yes, Libau was in Russia c.1900.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
> > > FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
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>
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Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca  