[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Migrations of people--Germans to Wohlynia

[Jerry Frank]

At 12:53 PM 16/04/2006, rlyster at telusplanet.net wrote:
>Hi Jerry,
>   You seem well informed of many historical things.  And you made reference
>that Catherine the Great was not responsible for German immigration to Russia
>except for Volga Germans.  Do you then know another reason?  I am very
>interested in understanding this.  Can you recommend some reading?
>   Also have you any more information about resettlement issues due 
> to WWII and
>why these things happened?
>   I am trying to understand the movement of relatives from Wohlynia 
> to Siberia
>to Warthegau and finally to Germany and then to Canada.  Also what was the
>impulse that had these folks also come to "America" in the early 1900's (my
>grandfather Ritz came for a couple of years and then went back).
>   I would be very greatful for any information or links to information that
>you could supply.



A couple of days ago, in responding to your question, Richard 
Schienke wrote, "Self interest-Everyone desires to improve their lot 
in life . . ."  I fully agree with that statement.  Of course the 
full answer is always more complex than that but it applies even to 
those who headed to Russia under Catherine's Manifesto.  Land was 
available at reasonable cost and they wanted to take advantage of it.

As John Marsch has already pointed out, most of the answers to your 
questions can be found in back issues of the SGGEE Journals.  He 
already mentioned the two part article I wrote about the general 
migration of Germans to the east.  There is another article by Albert 
Breyer, translated from German, that details the migration of Germans 
from the Gostynin Parish of Russian Poland to Volhynia.  While 
specific to that area, the general principals outlined in it apply to 
other areas as well.  There are articles and stories (in particular 
one by Richard Benert) about the enforced migrations to Siberia and 
the return.  While one can never know the specific reasons for each 
family's decision to move, the articles provide some generic answers 
to these questions in quite detailed form.

The migration into Russian Poland was a little different.  As Richard 
Schienke pointed out, one significant factor was the development of 
the cloth making industry, especially around Lodz but in other 
regions as well.  Thousands of Germans flooded into the area of what 
was then known as South Prussia.  When this region was later taken 
over by Russia, many stayed while others continued on further to the 
east and south.  Other Germans continued to migrate into the area 
even after the Russian take over, working for Polish and German 
nobility to develop their farm lands.  There was a mix of reasons but 
the underlying answer remains - economic improvement.

For the benefit of those who may choose not to become SGGEE members, 
I am providing here an excerpt from my two part article.  It is a 
translated portion of text from the book, "Die Deutschen in Polen 
seit der Reformation" (The Germans in Poland since the Reformation) 
by Oskar Kossmann.  It will give you a feel for the migration that 
took place from Russian Poland to Volhynia.

----------------------------------------

"In the years 1863 - 1867 the roads from Warsaw through Brest, Kowel, 
Luck, Rowno, Zhitomir to Kiev (and also Warsaw through Lublin, Chelm, 
Kowel and to Kiev) were strewn with German covered wagons, pulling to 
the east.  Promotional agents frequently encouraged the colonists to 
leave Congress Poland.  Others waited on the streets to escort them 
and their goods to their new settlements.  The agents without 
exception hunted down the settlers, overburdening them with their promises.

Pastor Hermann Steinberg, serving the absent minded people of the 
congregations in Congress Poland which were scattered widely in that 
area, had this concise comment about the emigration:  "Then the devil 
filled the people with a pulling spirit that placed the beloved 
Volhynia ahead of the heavenly kingdom.  They were attracted to 
Volhynia by various methods - naturally to the benefit of the 
landlords.  For example, we have the following colonists Song of Lies:
                         'There is a place on earth,
                         There everything will be full of happiness,
                         Only the path is a little crooked.
                         This is a very good land,
                         Man cannot find any sandy ground,
                         Because the farmer with gladness harvests 
his fields twice,
                         And can shear his sheep twice.
                         Peas, lentils, sweet peas and beans grow big 
as melons
                         even on the worst of the land . . .'."

The migration to Volhynia continued each year and through the 
decade.  Pastor Rosenberg of the Gostynin parish wrote about this in 
1875:  . . . "There is a second factor (besides the conversion to 
sects) that caused the people to be overcome with the fury of 
emigration to Volhynia.  Here the people made a good living from 
difficult ground and they were always well off.  The value of the 
land went up every year, and the Pole now finds himself in possession 
of this abandoned place . . .  I believe that not ten years will pass 
before there are no more dead to bury.  The remaining will, from year 
to year, decide to take up their walking sticks for the pilgrimage to 
Volhynia, abandoning the dead and their graves to their destiny.  In 
villages where their used to be 30 evangelical families, there are 
now only two.  As they move out into the wide world, it is inevitable 
that the Pole will apply his ploughshare to the consecrated places 
and church yards (cemeteries) and they will just be a memory."

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Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca