Читать книгу The Women of Janowka - Helmut Exner - Страница 7

Where is Volhynia?

A couple of years ago, when I started to delve into my past, I found myself asking this question. It is a region with a poignant history in the northwest corner of Ukraine. Above all, its history was poignant for the people who once had lived there. Several generations of my forefathers were born there, got married, had children and were buried in Volhynian soil. Everything changed, however, with the generation of my grandparents. If I tried to establish contact with my relatives now, I wouldn’t have to travel to Volhynia, because there’s nobody left whom I’d know. The people who once lived there are scattered about the continents, and have started new lives. The descendants of the former German Volhynians, to whom I also belong, can be found everywhere but in Volhynia. Today, those who once considered themselves Volhynians, are Germans, Poles, Americans, Canadians, Australians, Brazilians, Argentinians...

Nevertheless, something has remained which, unconsciously, has been spreading itself from generation to generation. The values of the multicultural and multireligious Volhynian society. These values include trust in God, tolerance and multi-lingualism. Astonishingly, even after a hundred years, common things like eating habits and an attachment to the rural life are found amongst the descendants.

My story begins in Volhynia. To be honest, it’s only a minor part of my story, but, above all, it’s the story of four outstanding women, namely my great-grandmother Christine, my grandmother Serafine and my great-aunts Mathilde (Katlika) and Martha. These women were the ones who took our family’s destiny in their hands and showed them the way into a new life. Without their courage and their energy, this family would no longer exist.