. . . also . . .

[ritaxis]

My mother was right. VIlna (Vilnius to you) was in fact in Poland at the time that my grandparents emigrated. Which means that it was officially Wilnow. Historical atlases put it in Russia.  I realize that both could be true, but if my mother was right about that, maybe she was right about the story of my grandmother and the Cossacks?

Comments

[shana]

I found out by checking the Columbia Gazetteer of the World that the village my grandmother came from, which was then in Austria-Hungary, is now located in the Ukraine.

[ritaxis]

Yes, in the nice fellow's family that happened too. The family thought that they were Germans from Hungary, but the village is in Serbia now.

[kate_schaefer]

But, but, but -- no matter whether Poland or Russia was the conqueror-in-residence at the time, Vilna/Vilnius/Wilnow would still be in Lithuania.

Which has no bearing on the story about your grandmother and the Cossacks.

[ritaxis]

It depends on who's talking. Lithuania, even as a concept, has grown and shrunk over the centuries. I don't actually know if Vilna(etc) is in the core territory that was the earliest Lithuania. I should look it up sometime when I should be doing something else.

[madwriter]

With Poland it's hard to tell. So much of the country was ruled by Russia so often--or at least was recognized as Russian by Western powers of the time, true in practice or not--that it could practically all be true simultaneously.

[ritaxis]

Yes, that's what I think. Historical atlases have a hard time expressing that, though.