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Presenter: Alex Denysenko

The General government of Volynia was one of the largest administrative units in the Pale of Settlement of the Russian empire After World War I, the territory of Volynia was divided between USSR and Poland; then after the Second World War the territory was divided between Volynska, Rivnenska, Zhytomyrska, Ternopilska and Brestka provinces of Ukraine and Belarus. Thus the documents of the former General government of Volynia appeared in mamy different archives. Often metrical books of one town are kept in 2 or even 3 different archives, which makes tracing of a family genealogy and history quite a challenge. It will be shown in this lecture how documents related to several specific towns and families were traced and collected and what exciting stories they reveal; controversial and often illogical approaches in the process of locating the relevant sources and documents. .