Elsass

The village of Elsass (now Scherbanka) was a primary goal of our trip to the Ukraine. That village was the home of the Merck family prior to their emigration to the Americas in the early 1900s. With the aid of a 1944 map of the village, we walked on the ground of several homesites of Merck families who had remained in Elsass. We found the villagers to be very friendly. The director of the school gave our group a tour of the school building which soon will house a small museum devoted to the early days of the village. In greeting the family, the village administrator presented an invitation to us to return in 2008 to celebrate the founding of the village 200 years ago. A small group of photos of our visit to Elsass is now online.