Volhynia -- Wolhynien

Volhynia

In the Eastern European time zone:

Today's weather

Lutzk

Rowno

Novograd-
Volynsk

Zhitomir

Live radio
from Zhytomyr:

Radio Lux

The region of Volhynia -- in German, Wolhynien -- is in the northwest corner of Ukraine, west of Kyiv. It borders Poland to the west and Belarus to the north. Volhynia was the name of an administrative district, called a gubernia, before the Russian Revolution. Major cities include Zhitomir, Rowno and Lutsk.

In the mid-1800s many Germans settled in Volhynia. This site will help you to research their ancestry.

The map above is from an atlas published in London in 1908 by the Harmsworth company.

Old train station in Zhitomir, torn down many years ago

Societies dealing with Volhynia:

Society for German Genealogy in East Europe

SGGEE mailing list

Foundation for East European Family History Studies

American Historical Society of Germans from Russia

East European Genealogical Society

Germans from Russia Heritage Society

Mennonite Historical Society of B.C.

Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, NDSU

ODESSA online library

Websites in German:

Begegnung mit Wolhynien (Encounter with Volhynia)

Wolhynien (Volhynia)

Reise nach Wolhynien (Travel in Volhynia -- Youtube video)

Umsiedlermuseum-Wolhynien (Resettlement Museum Volhynia)

Destination Canada

A Genealogical Guide to Immigration Records, by Dave Obee. This 160-page book is the most comprehensive guide ever written about resources for Canadian immigration research. It covers passenger lists and many other sources, including naturalization records and newspapers. This could be the most important book on Canadian genealogy this year. It includes six maps, 60 illustrations, more than 100 Internet links, and a comprehensive bibliography. Available directly from Dave Obee. C$30.00

Volhynia.com is a personal project of Dave Obee, Victoria, B.C., Canada. It has been online since January 2006, although some of the material was on Dave's other sites in 1997.

Dave has collected extensive information on the German Baptist colonies in the Neudorf area of Volhynia, in the Ukraine. His personal family tree includes names such as Weiss, Scheffler, Adam, Tiedtke, Reschke, Tiede, Menzel, Hartmann, Schindler, Kaufmann, and Boehnert. Villages include Iwanowitsch, Solodyri, Pulin, Neudorf, Florowka, Skolobow, Rogowka, and Wjasowitz; all are near Zhytomyr.

Dave's Volhynian ancestors went there in the 1860s. Before that, they lived in Albrechtsdorf, Pr. Eylau, in East Prussia (Ostpreussen); Nakel and Aniela in Posen; and Dabie and Drzewce, northwest of Lodz; and the Sadoles area northeast of Warsaw.

Send an to Dave