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Genealogy

Many people are interested in finding their origin now. The former Soviet Union is a place a lot of people fled from over the last 100 years. It started with the revolution of 1917, continued during the civil war of 1918-1921, then there was a famine in the 1930s, the Second World War and finally the fall of the Iron Curtain in the 1990s. As a result there are a lot of ethnical Ukrainians living in Europe and Americas, mostly in the USA and Canada.

Apart from Ukrainians it is also Germans who come here. In the 19th century a lot of Germans fled to Ukraine, especially to the south, the region where Odessa, Herson and Nikolayev now are. However, during the war most of them were deported both by the Commies and the Nazis. The latter did so when retreating as Hitler’s order was for the civilians to retreat with the army, and even though they had not been German citizens before the war, they were ethnical Germans and this determined their destiny.

I often have customers who wish to see where their grandparents lived. Sometimes it involves traveling around the entire country. I particularly remember a trip across Ukraine. We started in Odessa, drove to a small town in the eastern part, then to another one in the western part. This was because the grandparents of the couple had come from different parts of Ukraine. Sometimes it is limited to the Odessa region, usually when it is Germans.

So, what I offer is search for the town or village where your ancestors come from based on your information. I can also research state archives if they were born before 1950 (this is when the archives become public and anyone can access them; for later dates it may only be relatives). When you arrive I can drive you to your locations.