[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] GRs in Mexico

Fri Apr 28 08:51:51 PDT 2006

In addition to the Mennonites, I have heard of some Lutheran Volhynian Germans who migrated to Mexico.  Unfortunately I know little about them or their migration.

Would like to hear more about them from anyone who has any info.

Jerry Frank

----- Original Message -----
From: Ed Sonnenburg <esonnenburg at sympatico.ca>
Date: Friday, April 28, 2006 8:58 am
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] GRs in Mexico

> The following web pages give you some history as to how the 
> Mennonites ended
> up in Mexico.
> Since they first came to Canada there would not be ships 
> mentioned.  It
> would be interesting
> to find out how 6,000 people went from Canada to Mexico without cars.
> Pictures anyone?
> 
> When I visited northern Mexico in 1979 everything was very 
> primitive.  Even
> though the people
> lived very simple lives they were still better off than the native 
> Mexicans.The GRs were always
> friendly, not to provoke anger or jealousy from the Mexicans.
> 
> One thing about the Mexicans was they bred like jack rabbits.  
> Families had
> between 10 - 15
> children.  They nominated a person that wasn't too bright to be 
> the teacher
> for the children.
> They only got taught enough so they could do the farming.  What 
> the elder
> said was followed.
> When the German Church of God did some evangelizing the elders 
> tried to stop
> it.  They
> sure didn't want anyone taking away theiir people.  A school was 
> built in
> Cuahctemoc and
> about 200 children have been attending every year.
> 
> There are hundreds of GR villages in the northern plains, south of 
> Chihuhua.It was very
> picturesque to drive down the only road from north to south and 
> see the
> mountains when
> you looked either east or west.  Every few miles there was a dirt 
> road that
> went to
> the villages.  Each village had a number but also a German name like
> Gruenthal etc.
> 
> Now the area has been built up more since industries have come to 
> Mexicofrom Canada
> and the USA so there's more money and work for everyone.
> 
> 
> http://www.mcc.org/themes/mennonites/
> 
> In 1922, approximately 6,000 Mennonites left Manitoba and 
> Saskatchewan,destined for Mexico. They left in response to gradual 
> erosion of the
> educational freedoms they had been promised by the federal 
> government when
> they first immigrated to Canada from Eastern Europe.
> 
> 
> http://collections.ic.gc.ca/humboldt/journal/setl303a.htm
> 
> http://collections.ic.gc.ca/prairie/ethchpt5.htm
> 
> http://grebel.uwaterloo.ca/mao/Oral%20History/Hist.Mss.22.3.htm
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- 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 4:11 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.
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Ger-Poland-Volhynia Mailing List hosted by
> > > Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe 
> http://www.sggee.org> > Mailing list info at 
> http://www.sggee.org/listserv> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ger-Poland-Volhynia Mailing List hosted by
> Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe http://www.sggee.org
> Mailing list info at http://www.sggee.org/listserv
> 