My granddad was too young to serve in WWI but that was basically what he fled on the horizon in 1912. He came in to Detroit by way of Canada. He sailed from Antwerp on the SS Mount Temple which was sunk by the Germans a few years later. (The Mount temple had a short but eventful service life that can be found online. In fact its at the bottom of the atlantic full of dinosaur bones.)
When prohibition rolled around he worked for the Purple gang in Detroit as a diver. They would strap barrels of whiskey on the hulls of boats and he went under and brought them to the surface. During the winter they drove across or dragged it on sleds behind horses.
His “refusal” to speak german was one of the clues my great aunt gave me. She said that it wasn’t till she was an adult that she realized he couldn’t speak german but he would speak Polish on occasion to poles who didn’t speak english yet.
Buchovina (Bukovina) was one of those constant conflict areas where someone was always being chased around or wiped out.
I’ll just bet Bukovina is a beautiful place however blood soaked.
Just read a book about German dam builders. Thought I’d be bored but there are vast areas of Eastern Europe that after thousands of years have never been fully settled. Half of this book was about the Pripet Marsh region in eastern Poland. The American Wild West has nothing on this place.
My wife doesn’t understand why I’m reluctant to travel now that we’re retired (both military). My saying “Why should we travel? We’re already here!” won’t cut it.
Must be my immigrant background.