Ten years ago today, 11 February 2016, the Germans from Russia Settlement Locations project began with 103 German villages on a Google MyMap. While I do not call this out every year, I would be remiss if I skipped this anniversary.
There is a German proverb that goes “Anfangen ist leicht. Beharren eine Kunst.” It translates to “Starting is easy. Perseverance (or persistance) is an art.”
Yes, I concur.
Fueled by curiosity and coffee, I continue to go where the data takes me when life affords me time to do research. The map has filled out quite nicely, with many locations still in the queue. After a short winter break, data and blog posts will resume. After 10 years, it is nice to see the emergence of the answer to the question of where exactly Germans settled in Russia. I finally see what the end of this project looks like.
One data point I have never shared before is the number of map views the project has garnered. There is not just one map but several. Google automatically keeps track of how many views maps have had. This is not something I set up. A “view” is the same as a session. No matter how long you stay on the map or search it, it counts as one view until the page is refreshed or closed. Cumulatively from all the maps in the project, as of yesterday afternoon there have been 4,491,724 views. Not bad.
There are also now 360 posts on this blog. The early ones show how little I knew, while the later ones show much I had learned. Also, not bad.
This project is still and will always be free. Information is useless if it is held hostage behind a digital paywall, or in a tome collecting dust on a shelf. I am not financially supported by advertisements, or by any for-profit or non-profit organization. This affords me full freedom in both the direction of my research and the words I choose to describe my findings. I like this model and have no intention of changing it. Any presentation stipends I receive or donations made to me personally are forwarded at the end of the year to research organizations of my choice.
If you have found this project useful and want to support it, consider paying it forward in some manner to organizations in our Germans from Russia community worldwide. If you are reading this, you are very likely a part of that community and know best where and how to contribute so that the stories of our ancestors and where they happened are not lost.
Mappy Birthday to this little project. Onward.
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