[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Leaving Volhynia

Mon Jan 2 10:58:02 PST 2017

My GG Grandfather emigrated from Pomern in the early 1800s to a small
village called Wanda Bachus located between Lublin and  Chelm in south
eastern Russian Poland.
My Grandfathers family including the whole village, was forced at a days
notice to retreat with the Russian army in 1915-16 ? to Russia. Homes were
burned.
The family ended up in the Caucasus region on the Black Sea. The Grandmother
died on the way of a bacterial infection.
They returned to Wand Bachus in 1920 just in time to get involved in the
Polish war with Russia.
My uncle and many others were conscripted into the Polish army to fight the
Russians.
Poland was victorious and the area became Poland.
After Poland was defeated in 1939, The German Government decided to resettle
ethnic Germans closer to Germany.
In 1941, the whole village being German farmers, was exchanged with a Polish
village near Posen. 
Personal belongings were moved via trains to the new location.
Buildings, land and livestock were left behind. I was 3 years old at the
time.
With the Russian army approaching at Christmas 1944, my father being fearful
of the Russians, hitched up two horses to a wagon and we joined the slow
trek westward.
We did not get too far and after about 5 days were overrun by the Russian
army who told us to go back.
The previous day, we had stopped at a relative's farm and so we returned
there and stayed until the end of the war.
In July 1945 we were informed that all Germans had to leave.
We were allowed to take only what we could carry or pull.
We joined the trek and travelled this way for about 5 days until we arrived
in what was now East Germany.
On the 2nd day out, my father was shot and killed by a young Polish soldier.
My mother decided it would be safer in West Germany and in November 1945 we
were allowed to leave East Germany by train.
In West Germany we were refugees (Fluchtlinge).
There was nothing there for us.
Fortunately one of my fathers brother, my uncle , had come to Canada in
1925.
He sponsored us and we came to Canada in 1951.
I am sure many of you have similar or worse experiences.
We are very happy now to be in this great country of Canada.
Bruno Schulz

-----Original Message-----
From: Ger-Poland-Volhynia [mailto:ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at sggee.org] On
Behalf Of Richard J Flanagan
Sent: January 1, 2017 10:09 PM
To: 'Mauricio Norenberg' <mauricio.norenberg at gmail.com>; 'Richard Benert'
<benovich at live.com>
Cc: ger-poland-volhynia at sggee.org
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Leaving Volhynia

Dick,

	I have the same experience in our family group.  My wife's
great-grandfather, his eldest and youngest sons and all the unmarried girls
went to Prussia while all the other sons (four of them) came to Canada to
homestead - all in 1905 from Volhynia.   I have always assumed that the
Russo-Japanese War had something to do with it.  It was in full swing in
1905.  I have the impression that because they were tenant farmers and not
landowners they were more susceptible to conscription.  I have seen plenty
of printed posters in Russian from the Canadian Government of the time
offering land for homesteading in Canada but I have never heard of Germany
inviting Volhynian settlers back to Prussia.  

	My wife's great-grandfather did well in Prussia and he and his son
both owned farms near Graduenz (now Grudziądz) - all of which was lost in
1945.  Half the family survived the trek back to Germany in 1945 and then
came to Canada as refugees.  The others simply disappeared and we continue
to look for them and their descendants. 

	Richard

-----Original Message-----
From: Ger-Poland-Volhynia [mailto:ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at sggee.org] On
Behalf Of Mauricio Norenberg
Sent: 21 December, 2016 3:13 PM
To: Richard Benert <benovich at live.com>
Cc: ger-poland-volhynia at sggee.org
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Leaving Volhynia

I have the same theory with my ancestors. They "disappeared" from Volhynia
from 1905 to 1908 (the year they left Europe) Much later in 1914 I found
another family branch exiting Europe declaring Pommern as their residence.

Are there any records or sources of research for these invitations from the
German government?

Thanks

On 22 December 2016 at 07:47, Richard Benert <benovich at live.com> wrote:

> Eduardo,
>
> What is that "short period" in which they appeared in West Prussia?  
> If it was in or around 1906-07, they probably had responded to the 
> invitation sent out by the German government to acquire land in that 
> area in hopes of increasing its percentage of German population.
>
> Dick Benert
>
>
> On 12/21/2016 10:14 AM, Eduardo Kommers wrote:
> > Dear friends,
> >
> > What is known until now in terms of period/range and exit routes 
> > related
> to
> > Germans when they left Volhynia?
> >
> > I'm asking it for a better understanding about what happened to my
> ancetors
> > when they left Europe. After they lived for almost 30 years in 
> > Volhynia (Zhitomir region) they appeared for a short period in the 
> > West Prussia (Strasburg), now Poland, and than 6 months later they 
> > left Europe through Marseille, France to go to Brazil.
> >
> > Thanks for sharing your experience or anyother information.
> >
> > Eduardo Kommers
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ger-Poland-Volhynia site list
> > Ger-Poland-Volhynia at sggee.org
> > https://www.sggee.org/mailman/listinfo/ger-poland-volhynia
> > .
> >
>
>
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