Just a Reminder!
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In 1941, the Germans invaded the southern portion of the Soviet Union. At that time, German authorities immediately took the role of ensuring the well-being of the ethnic Germans who were residing in that area.
Ethnic Germans residing in the city of Odessa were registered in a project known as “The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle – Sonderkonando”, which means Germans Under Special Command. Although additional research has not been conducted, commands like this one appear to have been in effect for other larger cities in the area as well.
In late 1943, the German Army was retreating from areas of the Soviet Union; as they were leaving the Black Sea are, the ethnic Germans were ordered to evacuate and move to Western Poland. Not all ethnic Germans resettled in Western Poland; many for personal reasons stayed in their original villages and cities.
The end result after the war for Black Sea ethnic German’s who remained in their original villages and cites as the same as the others who fled the area and were later captured; they were gathered by Soviet authorities and sent to places such as Siberia and Kazakhstan. Very few stayed in the shadows and remained invisible for any length of time, they would have been an exception. While there may be other cases, I’m only aware of one case where an ethnic German was able to openly remain in the Kutschurgan area. She is one of my relatives and her life story is in my book, The Sander Family History.
The following is a partial list of ethnic Germans who were living in the city of Odessa during the years 1941 – 1944. The same applies here as with other lists I have posted; there are several supporting documents relating to individuals on this list.