[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] German Migration to Volhynia

Thu Apr 22 15:59:20 PDT 2010

Just when we think we've got it nailed down, maybe we haven't.  I'm looking 
at Mychail Kostiuk's Die deutschen Kolonien in Wolhynien, published recently 
and (somewhat bewilderingly) translated from Ukrainian into German.  On p. 
32 he seems to say that the legal basis for "Russian colonization politics" 
was the Manifesto of July 22, 1763 of Catherine II, and he implies that it 
was still in force.  Later it was added to by the Manifesto of Alex. I (Feb. 
20, 1804), as if it, too, were still in effect.  Mind you, he does argue 
that German migration into Volhynia was not carried out by the Russian 
state, but does imply that the provisions of those Manifestos guided the 
legalities of settlement.  However, he offers no evidence to support this, 
so I'm wondering if I'm reading it correctly.  This is not what most of us 
have assumed.  If anyone has access to this book, I'd appreciate another 
opinion on what it says on this page.

Kostiuk mentions a Ukas of Paul I in Sept., 1800, granting privileges to 
Mennonites coming to Volhynia.  Then he mentions additional privileges 
granted them by individual landowners.
On pp. 28-9, he mentions the Polish rebellions of 1831 and 1863, and the 
influx of Germans into Volhynia that resulted from both.  He says that the 
Russian government, to reward the Germans for their non-participation, "paid 
them back for their loyalty, guaranteed them privileges, helped at the start 
with financial gifts and privileges, the so-called "skasky"."  What these 
"skasky" were he does not say.  He only cites an archival source, plus a 
brochure published in 1910 by a group of Germans opposed to the restrictive 
land bill then before the Duma, "Concerning the German Settlers in the 
Government of Volhynia."  (If anyone has access to this brochure, and reads 
Russian, it would be very nice to discover what "skasky" were).  Kostiuk 
then mentions that lands confiscated from rebellious Polish nobles were 
sometimes made available to German settlers, as in 1831 when colonists in 
Antoniwka and Waldheim received 260 dessiatines.

Kostiuk also cites a decree of 1868, which required settlers to register 
with local authorities and took away any tax privileges they may have had, 
although still leaving them with freedom from military service.  Then he 
adds that it allowed these settlers any rights they had in the place they 
had come from (Herkunftsland).  This decree applied to Germans coming from 
"the Vistula area of the German Reich."  The Ministry of the Interior in 
1872 extended these same "decisions" to Germans coming from Poland.  His 
point here is that to some extent one's status in Volhynia depended on where 
one had come from.  But the implication that freedom from military service 
and from taxation had been granted (by someone)  to at least some Germans is 
clear.  (I think.  Again, if a good reader of German can help with this, 
please do.  And in any case, freedom from military service was ended in 
1874.)  He then goes on to say that, by this decree, registering with the 
local authorities made German settlers eligible for any other "advantages" 
(Vorteile) that the authorities would care to give on their own.

Then Kostiuk jumps back to 1856, when the tsar allowed the Governor General 
of Kiev, Podolia and Volhynia to help needy foreigners coming from Austria 
to the tune of no more than 5 Taler (this has little relevance to our folks 
from Poland and Germany, of course).

There is more in Kostiuk than I  can convey here, but it is rather 
haphazardly laid out and I have difficulty figuring out just what he's 
trying to say.  He implies that the government did help settlers in 
Volhynia, but exactly how is not evident.  He has a habit of bringing things 
up and dropping them immediately, without fully explaining them.  Again, if 
anyone who reads German well can help with this, we'd all benefit.

Dick B.
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Jerry Frank" <FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 11:42 PM
To: "George Shoning" <shoning at q.com>
Cc: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] German Migration to Volhynia

> The statement is correct for those colonists who came to Russia under the 
> promises of Catherine II and Alexander I.  Their manifestos and decrees 
> were very specific about who they applied to - not just Germans but all 
> Europeans who entered Russia under those conditions.  However, none of the 
> Volhynian Germans (not even the Mennonites) came into Volhynia under the 
> regulations and promises of these two monarchs.  They were not protected 
> by the royal promises that were made.
>
> Browsing through Chapter XII, Broken Promises Spark Emigration, of your 
> referenced quote, you will see that the concept of broken promises is 
> specifically directed only to Volga and Black Sea Germans.  Volhynia 
> Germans are only mentioned in passing as part of the migration to North 
> America.
>
> Also, quoting the same source, "The settlement here [Volhynia] arose not 
> as a result of the initiative of the Russian government but due to the 
> Polish landlords in the region.  These invited in German peasants from 
> time to time and leased to them parts of their extensive undeveloped lands 
> to be brought under cultivation.  The settlers here received no help from 
> the crown and were free from the supervision imposed on German settlers 
> elsewhere in Russia.  They came at their own expense, obtained long-term 
> leases on land, cleared it, drained it, and made it productive."
>
> Jerry
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: George Shoning <shoning at q.com>
> Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 9:44 pm
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] German Migration to Volhynia
> To: lloydfriedrick at telus.net, ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
>
>>
>> >From Adam Giesinger's from Catherine to Khrushchev:
>>
>>
>>
>> "For the German coloists, however, the law of 1874 represented a
>> breach of faith, a unilateral repudiation of a solemn promise
>> made to them in the manifesto of Catherine II and confirmed by
>> Alexander I in his decrees of 1804 and 1813.  They were now
>> subject to military service like all other Russian citizens and
>> they were very unhappy about it." - P.227
>>
>>
>>
>> George Shoning
>>
>> > From: lloydfriedrick at telus.net
>> > To: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
>> > Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:16:17 -0700
>> > Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] German Migration to Volhynia
>> >
>> > This latest discussion of the German Migration to Volhynia has
>> been very informative to me. I enjoy it.
>> >
>> > There is another line of myths that have been mentioned at
>> various times, I would appreciate commentary.
>> >
>> > This is the story that many of these new immigrants had been
>> promised that they could retain their culture and religious
>> affiliation.> Also, that they were not subject to serve in the
>> Russian military.
>> >
>> > I suspect that these promises were not an official policy but
>> misconceptions handed down to us by our forbearers as hearsay.
>> >
>> > I await
>> >
>> > lloyd friedrick on Vancouver Island
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>>
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