For This Land

Albert Fischer needed to do one more thing to take control of his inheritance. He needed to get married. In the Volynian-German community where he lived a son was not a man until he married. Albert desperately wanted to be counted as a man. On the other hand Alwine Frey just wanted to escape. She was only months away from her 19th birthday when young girls can consider themselves as unmarriagable and become old maids. She also wanted to escape her responsibilities as the oldest daughter; an honor that seemed full of work and totally devoid of any privileges. She needed to marry to escape.

Marriage however, was not a simple affair for these Germans living in the remote Polish province of Volhynia. There was family to consider, tradition, land and the demands of the Russian and Polish governments. Over a period of a hundred years their ancestors had moved to Volhynia at the invitation of the Russian government. Now after all this time when they could finally see some progress their way of life began to crumble as persecutions stirred up by jealousy and political expediency began tear at them. Fighting against betrayal and exile they finally turned for help to a new power rising in Germany. Promises of rescue and redemption quickly turned into more betrayal and the final end of their 150 years in the Russian province of Volhynia.. With the end of WWII they found themselves surrounded by enemies seeking revenge.