[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] germans from russia from ukraine and so on

[Sig Matt]

German-Russians, German-Ukrainians 

To all the participants of this interesting and wide ranging discussion.

I strongly agree with Beth who first raised the question of making this a topic 
for a convention session.
As all of us, beginners, amateurs and experts at some point in our search 
come to realize that the more we understand about the subject, the more we 
realize how much more there is to be learned to understand the whole picture.    


The area is vast, from to days German-Polish border to the Volga, (even into 
Siberia).
>From St. Petersburg to Bessarabia and the Caucasus.

The time frame 800 years or more and the politics ever evolving.That makes 
it an enormous project. 
One typical example: One family Ancestor, born in what could be called 'Central 
Poland' at the beginning of the 20th Century, states 'that in School we spoke 
Russian, in the Village we spoke Polish and at home we spoke German'.

One suggestion to tackle such a project could be for our experts to get together 

and divide the time frame into segments for each to work on and flesh out the 
subject matter in a common language for easy retention by the average 
researcher. 
These individual segments could then be compiled into one comprehensive 
document covering the whole time period. What a wonderful priceless 
achievement that would be. Still it would be a formidable undertaking. 
How many volunteers are there out there?

The phrase of an aspiring Presidential candidate comes to mind:
 "If not now, when? If not us, who?"
But, can you think of a better legacy to leave your Grandchildren? 
Time is ticking away. Fewer and fewer participants will be available in the 
future.
Let's give it some serious thought.

Sig Matt
sigmatt at sbcglobal.net


PS:
By the way Gabriele Goldstone, who first raised the question about 
German-Ukrainians, wrote the book "The Kulak's Daughter", based on
a true story. 
Gabriele did an exceptional job of chronicling the events through the 
eyes of a pre-teen 'Kulak's Daughter' (her mother) who faces survival of 
an orphaned group of siblings in a hostile world.    
I highly recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in what 
life was like in different time periods.  

Growing up in Eastprussia, in the late 1930's to 1947, we knew the 
'Kulak's Daughter' and her sisters. They lived at their Uncle's place in our 
neighborhood. They were in a higher age group than my siblings and I. 
We children understood that they were orphans but no Adult ever spoke 
to us about their background circumstances. 
At a later period, beginning in 1945, for 3 years my siblings and I would 
experience a similar orphan survival episode.  

Sig Matt



----- Original Message ----
From: Beth Burke <mackzie at earthlink.net>
To: Dave Obee <daveobee at shaw.ca>; ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Sent: Fri, February 11, 2011 5:29:29 AM
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] germans from russia from ukraine and so on

Would this be a good topic for a convention session?  It seems to have
caught the attention of quite a few people online, so maybe it's something
worth covering by one of SGGEE's experts.

Just a thought....


Beth Burke
Verona, WI