About Dave
Dave Obee is a journalist and genealogical researcher who has written a dozen books and given more than 600 presentations at conferences and seminars in Canada, the United States and Australia since 1997. He is one of the founding members of SGGEE, and spoke at the first gathering, in Calgary in 1998.
He is Editor and Publisher of the Times Colonist newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia. He has worked as a journalist in British Columbia and Alberta since 1972.
He was a member of the services consultation committee at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa for four years. He is also a former member of the board of Canada's History Society. Dave is a regular columnist for Internet Genealogy magazine and Your Genealogy Today magazine, formerly Family Chronicle.
In 2012, Dave published Counting Canada: A Genealogical Guide to the Canadian Census. Dave is also the author of Destination Canada: A Genealogical Guide to Immigration Records, published in 2010. Dave is also the co-author (with Sherry Irvine) of Finding Your Canadian Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide, published by Ancestry in 2007.
Dave runs Volhynia.com as well as CanGenealogy, a Canadian link site that is selective and sorted for ease of use
In 2012 Dave was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by the University of Victoria for his work as a historian, genealogist and journalist. In 2017 Dave was awarded the annual Bill Good award, which recognizes a B.C. journalist, leader or educator who has made a significant impact in journalism and in the community at large.
Dave has visited 17 countries in Europe, and has done genealogical research in most of them. He has a keen interest in world war battle areas in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. He served as president of the Foundation for East European Family History Studies from 2004 through 2007.
About his presentation: Destruction, Departure and Deportation: The Zhitomir district under Nazi rule
In July 1941, a few days after Germany declared war on the Soviet Union, the Wehrmacht arrived in the Zhitomir area. The ethnic Germans in the colonies northwest of Zhitomir greeted the German army with open arms, believing that their presence would bring better times. That was true for some people, but not for long. Within 28 months the German colonists were forced to flee with little more than the clothes on their backs.
The great trek in November 1943 marked the end of about 15 years of misery for the colonists, as well as the end of the dream of a peaceful life in Ukraine. They had witnessed the forced collectivization of farms, the famine inflicted by the Soviet government, and show trials and mass killings that had been designed to please the Communist leaders. It was no wonder that the ethnic Germans welcomed the invasion.
The German soldiers brought Nazi philosophy to Ukraine, which resulted in the sudden disappearance of the Jewish families that had been found in many villages. Colonists known to have been friends with Jews were questioned. Beyond that, the colonists were considered to be just barely acceptable compared to the Aryan ideal. They were often treated with contempt by the German authorities.
This presentation provides context that will help explain the events that led to the end of the German settlements. Drawing from records created by the German administration, including the work of Karl Stumpp’s village reports, as well as the EWZ (Einwandererzentralstelle) immigration records and academic analyses, this presentation will tell of the final months of the German colonies.
