Treffen Tuesday Rewatch: What They Carried

Many thanks to AHSGR for hosting Treffen Tuesday and making the recordings available for rewatch. Below is my presentation from this past Tuesday.

Enjoy!

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Last updated 1 May 2025

Map Update — Southwest Krai

Overdue on a few additions to the provinces of the former Southwest Krai, I decided to do some clean up at the same time. 

The Southwest Krai was a part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until Poland was partitioned in the late 1700s. Today the former region crosses the Ukrainian oblasts of Cherkasy, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Volyn, Zhytomyr with a small number in Odesa and Mykolaiv and in Transnistria, Moldova.

One update is returning to the historical spelling of “Kiev” for the ancestral province. That was the spelling then. The current is “Kyiv” and is used in the current name of the city and of the oblast in Ukraine. The content of this project is being presented as historical documentation to aid in the understanding of the history of German from Russia when they lived in Russia. This means using historical place names and spellings. 

The other update that accounts for so many colonies being touched this time is shortening the Ukrainian and Russian Wikipedia URLs. 

For details on what colonies have been added or updated, see the Change Log. The Sources have also been updated with the addition of the very interesting “Polish Tactical Map of Western Ukraine 1924-1939” from EtoMesto. I will need to spend more time with it when I have a moment. 

The following maps have been updated: 

Kiev Province

Podolia Province

Volhynia Province

Southwest Krai

Germans from Russia Settlement Locations (big map)

Map updates will be on hold for a couple of months as I get ready for convention season this summer. I will be presenting virtually at AHSGR and FEEFHS. 

More to come. 

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Last updated 21 April 2025

Treffen Tuesday: Storytelling Through Objects

I am presenting at the next Treffen Tuesday on April 29th.

This presentation will explore storytelling through the “eyes” of the treasured objects our Germans from Russia ancestors brought with them and left behind for their descendants. Part show-and-tell. Part how-to. Part what-if.

Treffen Tuesday is a free Zoom event hosted by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia the last Tuesday of every month. Register here to join in.

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Last updated 8 April 2025

AHSGR 2025 Convention

The American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR) has posted its 2025 convention program and registration link.

“Preserving Our Heritage” is the theme. Instead of concurrent speakers for each time slot to pick and choose from, attendees will attend panels of speakers on the subjects of Germany, Russia, or America, followed by a roundtable discussion among the attendees and speakers. 

I will be presenting as a part of the Russia panel. This will be my fourth time presenting at the AHSGR convention. 

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Last updated 2 April 2025

Mapping German Migrations to Siberia

Given that I have fielded several questions in the last few weeks about Germans in Siberia, particularly about those around Omsk and in Northern Kazakhstan, I thought I would share two maps that might help understand the path they took during those voluntary migrations.

I have written about railway maps before, including a timeline between 1835 and 1904, when the Trans-Siberian line was completed. This particular line facilitated migration or resettlement east by Germans when land in Western Siberia was opened. The Trans-Sib stretched from Moscow to Vladivostok, connecting European Russia to the Russian Far East. Moscow, being a rail hub, connected to western Russia, again making it easy for migration. The Trans-Sib reached Omsk, part of the Akmola province at the time, in the late 1890s. It was around Omsk that heavy settlement occurred. 

This map section shows the stops on the “Great Siberian Railway” c. 1903. 
Source: Library of Congress
Podrobnai︠a︡ karta Velikago Sibirskago zheli︠e︡zno-dorozhnago puti ot Varshavy do Vladivostoka, Khabarobska i Port-Artura : s oboznachenīem vsi︠e︡kh stant︠s︡īĭ, razstoi︠a︡nīi︠a︡ mezhdu nimi i okrestnosteĭ do 200 verst : sostavleno po ofit︠s︡ialʹnym dannym. 
[Detailed map of the Great Siberian Railway from Warsaw to Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Port Arthur: with designation of all stations, distances between them and their surroundings up to 200 miles: compiled according to official data]

This map shows the same are with pins on the known German settlements in the area. Omsk in under the pile of pins circled in red.  

The Great Siberian Railway above map from 1903 is extremely long and narrow map. It includes railway lines from Warsaw to Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Port Arthur in the Russian Far East. It includes the area surrounding the rail lines up to 200 miles, so it is kind of interesting to see what cropped up along the railway. Like in the U.S. and Canada, being alongside or close to a railway stop meant being able to move goods and people easily. 

Railway lines continued to expand through WWII, so it is important to use a period map when trying to trace the probable route of an ancestor’s migration in the late 1800s into the early 1900s. You may have to use multiple maps, especially if your ancestors were migrating from South Russia to Siberia. Those in the Volga region simply had to find their way to Samara to catch the train to Omsk. You can find several maps in the collection Maps: Russian Railroads (1867-1950) that you may find helpful. 

The map below was recently added to the Russian Railroads map collection. It details the railway and other communication routes of Asiatic Russia and was published in 1901. It is particularly useful for Volga Germans as the northwest corner (far upper left) contains the cities of Saratov and Samara and also Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea. 

Karta puteĭ soobshchenīi︠a︡ Azīatskoĭ Rossīi 
[Map of Communications Routes of Asian Russia]
Source: Library of Congress

This map has a lot of information on it. It includes railway lines open to traffic, junctions (stops), distances between stops, postal roads, major trade roads, telegraph lines, passenger steamship routes, locks, canals, ports, mountains, swamps and sand. Below are the map keys with translations.

Railways

Waterways

Roads and Borders

If you have something specific that you are looking with regards to railway migrations, feel free to contact me. 

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Related Posts and Sources:

1. Detailed map of the Great Siberian Railway from Warsaw to Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Port Arthur: with designation of all stations, distances between them and their surroundings up to 200 miles: compiled according to official data [Podrobnai︠a︡ karta Velikago Sibirskago zheli︠e︡zno-dorozhnago puti ot Varshavy do Vladivostoka, Khabarobska i Port-Artura : s oboznachenīem vsi︠e︡kh stant︠s︡īĭ, razstoi︠a︡nīi︠a︡ mezhdu nimi i okrestnosteĭ do 200 verst : sostavleno po ofit︠s︡ialʹnym dannym]. Library of Congress
2. Farewell Forever Kleinliebental (posted 15 October 2023)
3. Map of Communications Routes of Asian Russia [Karta puteĭ soobshchenīi︠a︡ Azīatskoĭ Rossīi]. Library of Congress
4. Maps: Russian Railroads (1867-1950) (created 8 November 2019)
5. Russian Railroad Maps 1877-1912 (posted 14 March 2021)

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Last updated 5 March 2025