Final Destination A New Homeland

By: Beca Sue

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Germans migrated to Russia in the 1700’s and early 1800’s with the promise of good farmland. They formed colonies and were allowed to speak their native language, establish their own schools, and build their own churches. At the end of the Great War, Russia dropped an “iron curtain” around their border which trapped many Germans inside those boundaries. The German language was forbidden, the schools taken over by the new Russian government, and churches were shut down. The Germans were forced into a life of poverty, as the Communist demanded they share more and more of their crops, leaving them to starve. The Grieb and Wallentine families were fortunate to be living in Bessarabia, Romania at the end of the Great War. The “iron curtain” fell just to the East. They continued to prosper and live their lives as they had before the war, until the fall of 1939. Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia in September 1939, and shortly after, the two countries invaded Poland from the East and West, meeting in Warsaw. This caused fear for all those living in territories that had been part of Russia before the Great War. Would the Red Army invade and take back every piece of ground that had been lost at the end of the Great War? The peaceful, prosperous life the Grieb and Wallentine families had always enjoyed now hung in the balance.