Ukraine: DZIUNKA

[Jinxy]

Hi
My step dad  Michajlo (AKA Michael) left the Ukraine when he was 16 ( around 1940).He never went back.   Lockerby (spelling) was one  place he mentioned.
How do I go about finding out where he first came to and other places he stayed at?
I would like to piece together a few 'Whys'  and 'Wherefores' for my brother in the main but also out of interest to myself.

[Berlin-Bob]

Hi Jinxy,


Keep checking out this site:
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Ukraine

it's a new FamilySearch which is still being worked on.

the Ukraine page is mainly a skeleton of how it will be one day,
but there is at least a page with various Ukraine links.
https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Ukraine_Websites

Is Michael naturalised ??
If so, you may find his papers at the National Archives in Kew.
see Topic: RootsChat Topics - Naturalisation and Internment
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,157691.0.html

Good luck,
Bob

[Jinxy]

Hi Bob
Thanks for info will have a look.
Yes I think he was naturalised.
He was a very quiet man and it was always hard to pry info out of him.

Interestingly, i went on Cindyslist and infoukes and found that he would have been about 8 or 9 at the time of Stalins enforced famine on the people of the Ukraine. Michaels father was a farmer, so one can only guess at the trauma.
one other piece of info which I cant verify was that when I asked him what he did during the war, he said he was in Andersons Army.....wouldn't expand. But the info I found on Anderson's Army' didn't seem to fit with dads dates...

[GreySquirrel]

You mean Anders not Anderson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Army

[toni*]

oh so glad i am not the only person searching in Ukraine!

[Jinxy]

You mean Anders not Anderson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Army

Thank you for the link Grey Squirrel. This makes much more sense.
It also fills in one of the many blanks.
Being born in 1924 in Ukraine he would have been 15/16 at the start of the war and this was the age he said he was when he left home never to return.
Many thanks again
Jinxy

[GreySquirrel]

Where are you both looking in Ukraine?

"Lockerby" does not look possible in Ukrainian. Do you know roughly where in Ukraine? One key point is whether the place of origin was in that part of today's Ukraine which was in Poland (known as Galicia or Halychyna) between the two world wars, or that part to the east of this.

It's also useful to know the religion -- was the family Greek Catholic (Uniate) or Russian Orthodox?

[Jinxy]

Hi Grey Squirrel

LOL...( Lockerby- Scotland, was one of the places he came to first when in the UK.)

As for Ukraine dad was from the Galitia region... Rava Ruska I seem to recall.
Dad was Russian Orthodox (non-practising).
Any use?

[toni*]

Jinxy, my grandfather was Greek Orothdox religion, during the war it was 'illegal' for him to practise it in the Ukraine and then when he was 'dispatched' other here he simply took on our way of living etc.

Grey Squirrel my grandfather was from Kyiv (Kiev) any ideas for me ?