Tips & Tricks to Tracking Your German Russia Ancestors...Tip # 8 TRAVEL HAS ITS OWN UNIQUE REWARDS..Continued

Travel is so powerful, it requires at least three posts to try to cover the bare basics. Last update I promised details on the second trip to Argentina. My quest to find relatives included connecting with Black Sea Germans from Russia. My second travel group was a small one made up of Tim Geiger, Carmen Gill and Lori Gill. We explored Buenos Aires, La Pampa and Mendoza during the visit.  I connected with Lutheran Germans from Russia in Buenos Aires and attended a lecture by Prof. Dr. René Krüger and learned more about how my Lutheran relatives lives in Argentina. (By the way, if you have not already registered for the 50th International Convention of AHSGR Our Golden Jubilee, you need to do so today.  My Argentine friends, Germán  Sack and Fabian Schlutheis, will be there).

Tim Geiger, Kevin Schultheis, Germán Sack, Fabian Schultheis, Anna Bartkowski, Lori Gill, Carmen Gill

We were welcomed to La Pampa by Elio Krank and Roxana Appelhanz, a couple who met at the Congreso I attended during the first visit!  We also saw the Gareis house in La Pampa, and created more connections along the way.  

Elio Krank, Roxana Appelhanz, Carmen Gill, Tim Geiger, Lori Gill, Anna Bartkowski

My most recent trip was the closest direct connection to my family.  After a 115 year separation, the descendants of Nikolaus Herrmann were re-united in Germany. Herrmann, an original settler of Mariental, was from Stadtbredimus near Remich in present day Luxembourg. 

When my grandmother left Mariental in 1913, she knew she would not see her parents again.  Her siblings?  Well, she wrote letters to her sister, Klara, but a reunion never occurred. I researched the family but did not discover that the Herrmann line survived World War II, Siberia, and all of their moves since 1941.

Not until my cousin Wladimir Herrman contacted me, did I realize the extent of their survival.  And, the Herrmanns welcomed me and my sister and brother-in-law with open arms, their hospitality, warmth and home-cooked meals went well beyond any reunion I could have imagined.

I could go on and go on, but I would like to make two key points which are further evidence that travel has its own unique rewards. 

First, Wladimir was the ultimate host, driving us to our ancestral villages as we looked for more clues about our ancestors. 

There is nothing to compare with the feeling than standing with your cousin at the church tower in Stadtbredimus where your ancestors attended services and were married so many, many years ago. 

Second, in addition to the new family connections, you never know what you will find, including a gold mine of new family information.  In my case, Wladimir compiled everything he researched into a book written in German and Russian, with every bit of historical evidence of our family.  The pictures, the people and the information are irreplaceable.  

While the books and pictures are invaluable, the memories of meeting  my family, safe in Germany, is priceless.  Isn't it time you considered making travel a part of your family research?