Nearly a third of the German villages that have been mapped across Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia are defunct. And they are haunting beautiful.
A defunct village is one that no longer exists for any of a variety of reasons.
- It may have been abandoned by its original German settlers due to poor farming or living conditions.
- It may have been resettled intentionally by the Russian government.
- It may have been attacked by nearby tribes causing settlers leave.
- It may have been evacuated prior to advancing armies.
- It may have been destroyed during or after military invasions.
Nothing remains but empty fields, scarred earth, the bones of structures that once stood...and the stories we still tell of our German ancestors who lived there.
Below is a short video with images of the 44 defunct villages in Bessarabia.
# # #
