Germans and the Cloth Making Industry in Russian Poland and Volhynia or Flax and You Bill Remus Thanks to Martin Scholp of Weyburn SK for getting me started on this...

These slides at at After September 1…. Use a high speed internet connection because it is a big file.

1. Flax

This presentation will focus on flax and rye farming 250 years ago and why that led our ancestors to Poland and Russia.

German Farming 1750 Three field system (crop rotation of rye, flax and fallow fields if sandy soil) Composting and natural fertilization Big Prussian Plows when possible “Rye Rent” payments

German Clothmaking 1750 Flax grows on well drained (sandy) soil Seeds were used for cereal, oil, fodder, and flour Stalks were soaked in mud for many days Coating breaks down and fibers are extracted Fibers are spun into thread Thread is woven into linen cloth Involved the whole family throughout the winter Sold for money or traded for goods

Linen Industry 1750 Basically a cottage based industry with specialists like Saxon weavers and specialists who did needle work.

2. Conditions in Wurttemberg and Poland in 1750

Wurttemberg

Conditions in Wurttemberg 1750 War and more War Over populated High taxes Many small uneconomical farms Sandy, rugged soil Flax was an important crop Spendthrift King

Conditions in Poland 1750 “Democracy of Nobles” Election of Kings (with little power) Conflict Among the Nobles Interference from neighboring countries Ineffective Rule by Local Nobility Very Small Standing Army Lutheran Church Banned since 1714 Economy based on the Nobility’s Manorial Farms in good farming areas

Poland 1750

Collapse of Poland in the late 1700’s Legislative Gridlock Civil Unrest Uprisings Ultimately Poland was partitioned between Prussia, Russia, and Austria in three stages , 1794, and 1795

3. Partitioning Poland

Partition of Poland 1795

Problem: Securing Prussian Poland Bring in German Settlers. Arrange land for them. Make the Economics work. Settle throughout the newly acquired area. Hundreds of villages were established between 1798 and 1803 and over 100,000 people moved.

German Recruitment After 1772, the Prussian government was successful in recruiting farmers/cloth makers from areas like Wurttemberg. This was done through agents, travel money, and promises like good land and building materials when they arrived. Napoleon's victory in 1806 ended this.

Settlement Problems The best land was gone and sandy soil remained which could be used for flax and cloth production. Many Polish Nobles made life difficult. Germans were settled in Colonies. Land could only be leased. Lutheran church was slow in expanding into Poland.

4. Napoleon gets involved Napoleon defeated the Prussians and rearranged the borders …

Napoleanic Poland 1810

Problems in Napoleonic Poland German settlers no longer had Prussian protection. Germans were stuck behind the Duchy of Warsaw borders. Germans were still farming sandy soil and raising flax – for French Army Uniforms. Germans still had few Lutheran churches.

5. Napoleon met his Waterloo….

Treaty of Vienna 1815 Poland

1815 to 1833 Germans who in 1807 were living in Prussian Poland found themselves living in Russian Poland in Russian Poland was not only poor but also poorly administered for everyone. Clay houses and barns with flax in the sandy fields.

6. The First Wave to Volhynia

Problems in 1833 The Polish Revolt of 1833 involved attacks on Russians and Germans. Germans were seen by the Poles as Russian collaborators. Russians brutally put down the revolt. Russians punished Poles in many ways including putting up tariff barriers.

Economic Conditions in Poland 1833 Linen cloth made in Russian Poland could not be sold in Russian Poland’s former markets, Russia and France. Spinning and weaving was mechanized in UK and becoming so in Lodz in Russian Poland. Germans did not feel safe. The soil was still sandy.

Economic Conditions in the Volhynia in 1833 Linen cloth shortage in Russia. Linen production was not mechanized. Turks had been thrown out. Good land was available by contract. Nobility wanted to build a cloth industry. Volhynia was inside Russian tariff barriers.

So Wave One traveled for economic reasons and largely had cloth making skills. That is, they raised flax, processed it, and produced linen yarn and cloth.

7. Wave Two of Migration to Volhynia

Economic Conditions in the Ukraine in 1866 The serfs were freed. The nobility had land but no workers. The nobility began to sell good land. Germans were ready to leave sandy Poland and buy land in the Ukraine. Political conditions in the Ukraine were stable unlike post-1866 uprising in Poland (including a major battle near many German settlements).

So where did the Germans come from? Russian Poland where they had been farming since the start of the 1800’s. Prior to that most came from the sandy soil of Wurttemberg and elsewhere in southern of Germany. also Northern Poland (Pommern and West Prussia) which had sandy soil and a land shortage.

Post-1866 Farming in Volhynia Germans began to do general farming rather than cloth making. Good land gave better yields with other crops. Russia was mechanizing its cloth industry. Across Europe there was a switch from flax to imported cotton. Homespun clothes were still linen.

8. Why did many sell their land and leave for North and South America as well as Australia in the 1890’s if farming was so good?

Answer: Politics were bad … The Russification Program required all to Learn Russian Go to the Russian Orthodox Church And serve in the Russian Army This was required to own land and have other citizenship rights… Germans left, Poles left, Jews left, and even Ukrainians left.

So that is why we are here today …