[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Germans in Northern Ukraine Exhibition in Zhitomyr

[Jerry Frank]

Received the following by way of Michael Miller.  Note that the date of the 
publication is November 19 of last year so I do not know if the show is 
still running or not.



********************************************************************
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 22:20:10 -0500
From: ArtUkraine.com <ArtUkraine.com at starpower.net>
To: Michael Miller <Michael.Miller at ndsu.nodak.edu>
Subject: Germans In Northern Ukraine Exhibition in Zhytomyr

Michael..just found this very interesting story for you....Morgan

ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
January 9, 2003
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   THE GERMANS IN NORTHERN UKRAINE: VOLYN AND KYIV
                     Major Exhibition Opens in Zhytomyr, Ukraine

By Valery Kostiukevych
The Day Weekly Digest
Ukrainian News in English
Kyiv, Ukraine
November 19, 2002

The exhibition, The Germans in Northern Ukraine - Volyn and Kyiv, that
opened the Friday before last in the scientific library of Zhytomyr oblast
has become a political event in the cultural life of the city.

Its twenty stands contain a number of pictures, detailed text notes giving
an idea of the time when Kyiv and the Great Volyn lands (being now the
territory of Volyn, Rivne, and Zhytomyr oblasts) were peopled with
Germans, of the main historical stages of the process and the Germans'
way of life, as well as considerable contribution to the culture, economy,
and other spheres of Ukrainian social life.

A little-known fact is mentioned, in particular, that as early as 1007
Prince Volodymyr the Saint was visited in Kyiv by the envoy of German
Emperor Otto III, his court priest Bruno. The latter also spent five months
among the Pechenegs, promoting their reconciliation with Volodymyr.
During the next two centuries more and more natives of German lands
settled in Kyivan Rus'.

The main stream of the Germans' resettlement into the Northern Ukraine
fell on the last third of the nineteenth century, predominantly colonist
peasants attracted by the lure of cheap land.

At the close of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth,
German entrepreneurs, engineers, and architects erected many industrial
plants, dwellings, and other public buildings in Kyiv. Most of them still
remain, their photographs being presented at the exhibition.

However, as the Second World War began, at Hitler's will almost all
Germans were resettled back to the Reich (pictures of that exodus have
remained - they show German peasants wearing Ukrainian sheepskin
coats).

As the war was approaching its completion, the German settlers families
from Eastern Volyn that had been able to survive Stalin's deportations
left for Germany too.

By the estimate of Valdemar Danis, director of the Bavarian House
Odesa charity fund, that he has expressed in the conversation with The
Day, 80,000 to 100,000 Germans are currently living in different regions
of Ukraine doing their share for the development of various social life
spheres.

According to Volodymyr Hrenkovsky, head of the Zhytomyr oblast
Vidrodzhennia German Union, about 3,000 representatives of this nation
are currently living and working in Zhytomyr oblast.

It remains only to add that it is Nickolaus Arndt, former Volyn native,
well known German historian, researcher, and publisher and one of
the leaders of the Volyn Historical Society who has contributed greatly
to the mentioned exhibition's organization. The society functions in
Germany and is primarily responsible for putting on the exposition.

Apart from already mentioned social institutions, it has also been put
thanks to the Tovarystvo Rozvytku Fund and the Association of the
Germans in Ukraine.

The Day is going to give more details about the historical fate of the
Germans in Volyn, in particular, in Zhytomyr region, in the coming
issues. (END)
================================================
The Day Weekly Digest, Kyiv, Ukraine, November 19, 2002
http://www.day.kiev.ua/DIGEST/2002/36/issue.htm
================================================
ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
Kyiv, Ukraine and Washington, D.C.
ArtUkraine.com at starpower.net
http://www.ArtUkraine.com
================================================


Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
jkfrank at shaw.ca