World War I
War Cards (Kriegs- Karten)
Germans from Russia - Exhibit 2 (Part 2 of 3)
Exhibit created by Lani Day
Curated by Sebastian Carreras & Minerva Bloom
Original Photos by F.J. Marik, Smichow, 1916.
Wolhynische: external name for a geographical place, group of people, or language/dialect: a common name used only outside the place, group or linguistic community in question, usually for historical reasons.
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. It has changed hands numerous times throughout history and been divided among competing powers. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been part of the independent nation of Ukraine.