Tracing Ethnic German History
Subject: Tracing Ethnic German History
TRACING ETHNIC GERMAN HISTORY IN EASTERN EUROPE
by John W. Heisey of York, Pennsylvania, a professional
genealogist, a columnist for "Antique Week", a lecturer,
and a translator of German. Reprinted in "Der Blumenbaum,
SGGS" Nov/Dec 1995 -
One of the buzzwords bandied about, stressed -insisted upon- by
Hitler and Nazi Germany was "Volksdeutsche." While it may sound
unduly imposing and mysterious, it translates simply as
"ethnic German." Even translated, the term may cause some confusion
but it shouldn't. If you come right down to it, most people of any
nation who descend from German forebears could be termed ethnic German;
thus Hitler's insistence on that term. He meant it to be "once
a German, always a German." Stretched to its utmost, is also meant
that anyone living in a foreign country and having German
ancestry was supposed to owe allegiance to Germany above any
loyalty to the nation in which that person was living.
Now all that is half a century in the past and just history, we
hope. However, we genealogists can make use of that old nationalistic/
ethnic tie in various ways. Want to try it?
First, let's go back to history again and look at a peculiar
problem caused by people of one ethnic group (in this instance, Germans)
moving into other countries, especially Eastern European
nations. Germans who had been living in that area for several
hundred years prior to World War II became citizens of those eastern nations
but often retained their German language, culture and
sometimes their native identity. Thus, they became ethnic
Germans in the true sense of the term.
When Russian troops began overrunning Eastern European regions
during WW II, many Germans and ethnic Germans began the flight westward
to Germany and relative safety. Once the war was over, thousands more Germans,
ethnic and otherwise (later settlers sent in by Hitler),
also fled to the West or were forcibly expelled. Most of these
people found refuge in the Federal Republic of Germany (that land which
until 1990 was known as West Germany). Just to get an idea of the total
number of people we're talking about, in the 10-year period between 1818
and 1828, around 250,000 Germans migrated into various parts of what was the
Soviet Union. Most of these settlement areas were in the
western part of that nation. Furthermore, beginning in the mid-18th century,
many other Germans began migrating to Russia and to other Eastern European countries.
The same thing happened in the late 19th century. By the end of that century,
for example, over 1.75 million Germans were living whithin the Russian
Empire. What's amazing is that as late as 1960, there were still over a million
and a half Germans in Russia (not counting prisoners of war). Now to get all this
into perspective for genealogical research, let's look at where those ethnic
German settlement areas were in Eastern Europe and a bit about what available
records might be useful and where those are located.
Throughout, you will find references to AGoFF, which stands for
"Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ostdeutscher Familienforscher e.V.", which is translated
as Work Association of Eastern German Family Researchers. (Note: This might
be likened to the Society of Genealogists in England, which has regional or
country branches. The guide for this organization of all pre-world War II
genealogical groups for eastern Germany was published in 1984,
and the headquarteres address is c/o Detlef Kuehn, Chairman, Fuhrweg 29,
53229 Bonn/Germany, or AGoFF, Richardstrasse 48A, 40231 Duesseldorf/Germany.
Costs for research assistance may vary. Perhaps contact with the headquarters
-either address- would help in this regard as well as for confirming any
change of address for the area AGoFF you wish to contact.)
Let's begin with northern Eastern Europe and work south, adding a little history
to the information in each area. Perhaps this will be helpful in your research for
families of those areas. Don't forget that many Germans had migrated to that part of
Europe over the last two or three centuries. Furthermore, in the 19th century,
especially during the mass emigration period of the 1880s to the 1910s,
many Germans came to America. Since some of those emigrants came from
Eastern Europe, you might find a forebear who had lived in one of the regions
covered here.
THE BALTIC AREA: This region incluses the countries of Estonia
and Latvia, especially the Latvian areas of Courland and part of Livonia.
For church and other records, contact the Forschungsstelle Baltikum der AGoFF,
Winno von Loewenstein Parkstrasse 45, Frankenforst, 51427 Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.
Also check the Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg, Friedrichsplatz 14, 35037 Marburg/Lahn,
Germany, about data they may have on Baltic Germans.
LITHUANIA: With this area should be included the ethnic
Germans of the Memel district, formerly the northernmost tip of East Prussia.
In 1924 this strip of coastland was made a part of Lithuania, and it remained as such
until 1939, when it again became German. For records of this area, contact the
Forschungsstelle Baltikum (as above).
EAST PRUSSIA: Formerly part of Germany, this territory was divided into two parts
in 1945, with the northern part under Soviet control and the southern part
under Polish rule. You can get information about Germans from this area from
the Verein fuer Familienforschung Ost- und Westpreussen e.V. Sitz Hamburg,
Forstgrund 4, 21149 Hamburg, Germany. Data from church and other records may be
available from Dr. Wolf Konietzke, Eichstrasse 6, 25336 Elmshorn, Germany.
DANZIG: Situated on the Baltic seacoast of West Prussia, Danzig was a free city
from the end of WW I until Germany took it back in 1939. Since 1945 the city
has been part of Poland. For information about people or records of this area,
contact the Forschungsstelle Westpreussen der AGoFF, Walter Kapahnke,
An der Hellruesche 24, 32105 Bad Salzuflen, Germany.
WEST PRUSSIA: Like Danzig, this region was taken over by
Poland at the end of WW II. Data on records of ethnic German families from this
area can be gotten from the Forschungsstelle Westpreussen mentioned just above.
POMERANIA: Formerly all German, this region was divided at the
end of WW II. The part of the province known as Eastern Pomerania was given
to Poland, while the western part went to the German Democratic Republic
(the former East Germany), and is now an integral part of the
present day United or Unified Germany. For data on available
records of Pomerania, contact the Director, Forschungsstelle Pommern der AGoFF,
Elmar Bruhn, Lohkamp 3, 22117, Germany.
EAST BRANDENBURG: This region lies just east of the Oder-Neisse Line (the dividing
line between Germany and Poland since the end of WW II). It includes the old
regions of the Neumark and Lower Lusatia, as well as part of the Wartheland,
and is now officially part of Poland. For information about records of Germans
formerly of this region, contact the Director, Forschungsstelle Ostbrandenburg-Neumark
der AGoFF, Dipl.Ing. Alfred Bley, Leutzelsachsen, Im Langwann 65, 69469 Weinheim, Germany.
SILESIA: Lying between Poland and the Czech Republic, almost all of this district
known as Lower Silesia was joined to Poland at the end of WWII , while a
tiny portion in the western part (known as Upper Lusatia in former times)
remains German. The district of Upper Silesia lying just to the southeast
of Lower Silesia is also part of Poland today. Information on ethnic Germans
who had lived in these two districts may be gotten by writing
the Director, Forschungsstelle Schlesien der AGoFF, Kraft Neithard von Stein,
Suedweg 137, 31707 Bad Eilsen, Germany.
SUDETENLAND: Possibly the largest area of Eastern Europe in
which ethnic Germans had lived were the districts along the northeastern,
northwestern and southwestern border areas of Czechoslovakia. For genealogical
purposes, the regions of Bohemia and Moravia (both in the new Czech Republic)
are included here. All of these regions are part of the Czech Republic as
we generally know it today, and if you are looking for ethnic Germans who had
lived in these areas, there are several places you can contact. For example,
there is the Forschungsstelle Sudetenland der AGoFF, Juttastrasse 20,
90480 Nuernberg, Germany, which is where the Vereinigung Sudetendeutscher
Familienforscher (Association of Sudeten German Family Researchers) is also located.
Then there is the "Sudetendeutsches Genealogisches Archiv " (Sudeten German
Genealogical Archives, Lore Schrezenmayr, Erikaweg 58, 93053 Regensburg, GERMANY.
CARPATHIA: This region comprises part of the former Czechoslovakia, but was
formerly a part of Austria, and included Slovakia and part o the Ukraine.
You'll find information on former German residents from this area in the
Forschungsstelle Suedosteuropa, Am Roemerbrunnen 2, 79189 Bad Krozingen, Germany.
(By the way, data on Germans from other parts of southern Europe: Hungary, the former
Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia, etc. Can also be obtained from this last-named
organization.) Also for the Carpathian Germans, Gymnasial Professor a.D. Erich
Sirchich, Dammer-Stockstrasse II, 76199 Karlsruhe, Germany, heads a research group.
BUKOVINA: This region was divided after WW II with the southern part going
to Rumania and the northern part to the Ukranian Soviet Socialist Republic (now
the Republic of the Ukraine). See the first organization listed above under
Carpathia for information on former German residents of this region.
BESSARABIA: Located between Russia and Rumania, most of this
long, narrow district currently is part of the Moldavian Republic,
while the Republic of the Ukraine controls the rest. For data on
records about ethnic Germans from this area, contact the organizations
shown for Carpathia.
DOBROGEA: Situated along the Black Sea between Rumania and
Bulgaria, this territory today is divided between those two nations.
Data on Germans who had lived there should be available from the organizations
listed for Carpathia.
BANAT: This is an area lying between the Tiza and Danube rivers and the
Carpathian mountains and extends into Hungary, Rumania and the former Yugoslavia.
The Germans who lived there are usually included in the group known as the
Danube Swabians because the original settlers had immigrated from Swabia
in southwestern Germany. Information about these Germans can be obtained from
the Forschungsstelle Donauschwaben der AGoFF, Tunibergstrasse 12, 79238 Ehrenkirchen,
Germany. Information about old church registers for the Banat Germans is
currently available from the Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Auslandsbeziehungen
(Library of the Institute for Foreign Relations), Charlottenplatz 17, 70173
Stuttgart, Germany.
TRANSYLVANIA: The northern part of this region now belongs to
Hungary (since 1945) but previously the entire province was part of Rumania;
thus the Germans who settled there were in both nations. Among the many groups
of these ethnic Germans were the Siebenburgen Sachsen or Seven Fortresses Saxons
who had lived in the area since the early Middle Ages. Like the Banat Germans,
data on Transylvania Germans should be sought from the Forschunggstelle
Donauschwaben der AGoFF in Ehrenkirchen, as shown above.
HUNGARY: Germans in this nation were mostly concentrated in
the northwestern part (Burgenland or "Castle Country"), the south (North Batschka),
and the southwest (Swabian Turkey). As above, contact the Forschungsstelle Donauschwaben
der AGoFF in Ehrenkirchen, Germany, for information on former German residents of Hungary.
YUGOSLAVIA: Until the end of WWII, ethnic Germans in this country were concentrated
mostly in Bosnia, Batschka, Croatia, Krain, and Slovenia. For information on
German families from these areas, contact the Forschungsstelle Suedosteuropa der AGoFF,
Appartment 3, Am Roemerbrunnen 2, 79189 Bad Krozingen, Germany.
RUSSIA: Considering the dissolution of the Soviet Union, we'll just call the
settlement areas of ethnic Germans in that country "Russia.: That will cover
settlements along the Volga, the Black Sea, in the Crimea, and in Volhynia
(along the southeast Polish border). There were other smaller German settlements
in the Ukraine, the Caucasus and other parts of western and southern Russia as well.
For information about Germans living in any of the above areas, contact the
Forschungsstelle Russlanddeutsche der AGoFF, Bischof-Fischer-Strasse 114, 73430 Aalen,
Germany.
Contributed by Brigitte Lloyd
on October 29, 1995
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