[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] German Migration to Volhynia

[Jack Milner]

Here is my two cents worth to summarize the discussion:

German Migration to Volhynia

Catherine the Great died in 1796 after the third partition of Poland. 
Though there were a few Germans scattered about in Volhynia at that 
time, there was no organized migration until c.1816. In the early 1830s, 
another migration took place as a result of a Polish rebellion in 
Russian Poland when large numbers of German cloth makers arrived.

By 1860, there were only about 5,000 Germans in 35 small villages. Then, 
with the abolition of serfdom by Tsar Alexander II in 1861 and the 
failed Polish Insurrection of 1863, Germans began to flood into this 
area because more land became available to them. It was the shortage of 
land in their old homes that drove most of the Germans into this region. 
Since the landlords in Volhynia no longer had serfs bound to the land, 
they were looking for qualified farmers to develop and farm their 
properties. By selling and leasing land to the German farmers, they 
profited and many new German villages were developed. The only 
priveliges extended to these new colonists were those which could be 
provided by the local nobility.

The story of Catherine the Great and her invitation applies only to what 
are known as Volga River Germans who settled much further to the east in 
Russia. The migration into Volhynia occurred about sixty five to seventy 
years after Catherine's death and these Germans migrated there, without 
extended privileges, primarily due to the availability of land for farming.

By 1871, there were over 28,000 Germans living in Volhynia and by the 
turn of the century, over 200,000. Most of them had come from Poland 
with a minority from Wuerttemberg, Pomerania, East Prussia, Silesia, and 
Galicia. Neither Catherine nor her successors had created any special 
rules, invitations, or other incentives for Germans moving to Volhynia

Yours truly.

Jack M
St. Albert, AB