Treffen Tuesday
February 24 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
They Returned to the Homeland: Finding Germans from Russia in the U.S. Passport Application Files
Presented by Allyn Brosz
For Germans from the Russian Empire, the transatlantic journey was not always a one-way trip. Some immigrants to the U.S. returned to their ancestral villages as naturalized American citizens, crossing the Atlantic more than once. Their stories are found in the United States passport application files. This presentation examines the application files, discussing their availability and offering search techniques. Some of those who traveled and their stories will be highlighted. The odyssey of a Volga German family spanning more than two decades is a case study.
Allyn’s Bio
Allyn Brosz is a South Dakota native with German-Russian ancestry in Bessarabia and the Black Sea Lutheran Glueckstal District colonies of the Tsarist Empire. Allyn holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees and studied in Germany on a Fulbright grant. He retired from a civilian position at the U.S. Department of Defense in 2021. Allyn is a life member of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia (AHSGR), the Germans from Russia Heritage Society (GRHS), and the Palatines to America Society, and serves on the steering committee of the Glueckstal Colonies Research. He served on the AHSGR Board of Directors in the 1990s.
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