Michael M. Miller, director and bibliographer of the NDSU Libraries' Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, will lead the 19th annual Journey to the Homeland Tour group to Ukraine and Germany, scheduled for May 16-26. The tour will include stops at Odessa, Ukraine; the former Bessarabian and Black Sea German villages; Stuttgart, Germany; and Alsace, France.
“With the first Homeland Tour in May of 1996, this has truly been an enriching and rewarding experience to travel with persons from the U.S. and Canada to visit their ancestral homeland villages near Odessa,” Miller said.
More than 30 people have signed up for the tour. Each of them has a personal connection to the planned stops.
For example, Mike and Debra Mehrer, Scotland, S.D., wrote, "We are taking with us our sons, Andrew and Greg, on this trip so they can appreciate and learn more about the Germans from Russia. We want to keep the family research alive and we hope this trip will inspire both of them to do so for years to come. We want to walk on the same soil that our families did."
Loretta Roningen, Bismarck, N.D., formerly of Elgin, N.D., wrote, "I am anxious to see the dorfs where my ancestors lived and farmed for a least 100 years before coming to this country. I want to see the type of land they farmed and the type of buildings they lived in."
Adolf Volk, Regina, Saskatchewan, was born in Odessa, Ukraine. “I will walk down to the shore of the Black Sea where my mother would take my brother and me to swim,” he wrote. “This journey will help me to understand from where I came and who my people are.”
While in Stuttgart, Germany, the tour group will visit the Germans from Russia museums and libraries. Following the tour, Miller will stay additional days in Germany to meet with colleagues for research on future German-Russian projects.
The 20th Journey to the Homeland Tour is scheduled for May 15-25, 2014. For more information, contact Miller at 701-231-8416 or michael.miller@ndsu.edu, or visit www.ndsu.edu/grhc.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.
