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

[Karl Krueger]

Germans probably experienced different things depending where they were after the war just like you can in the US or Canada today. My family did not experience any sort of prejudice in West Germany. The problem was there was little room to make a living and support your family with the conditions at that time with so many other refugees that were there. Since my family always kept their German tradition and culture despite being in Poland since at least 1800, they still felt at home in Germany.

  Another huge factor was that Germany was not home. I was a 
little girl when we left but I remember a mom hauling her kid away from 
me in a playground sandbox, saying " Mit Polacken spielen wir 
nicht"(We don't play with Polacks). Neighbors also pointed and talked 
because mom was pregnant with her third child. There was much 
predjudice against Fluechtlinge (refugees) even in church. Many 
Germans felt that refugees were to blame for lack of housing and they 
should just have stayed where they were. This sentiment was of course 
not shared by all or even most Germans, but it's hard to live where 
even a minority feels this way. The alternative was to go to Canada 
and be with friends and family many of whom had also come from 
Wolhynian at some time. Many were sponsered by an agreement with the 
NAB churches to bring in families for farm work. The culture was 
familiar---German Baptist in a foreign country. You could travel to 
many other communities in several provinces and states and find a 
familiar culture and familiar names and faces.
Doris Chalifoux


		
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