My name is Hans-Friedrich Tamke. My wife, Nadine Joyce (née Earl), and I live in beautiful Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. My father's parents were German Canadians (Volhynian Germans / Volynian Germans; Ukraine Germans / Germans from Ukraine / Ukrainian Germans; Russia Germans / Germans from Russia / Russian Germans; Soviet Germans) who were born in Ukraine, then a component part of the Russian Empire. They immigrated to Canada from the Soviet Union in 1927. They both grew up in two (originally) German Lutheran villages in the former guberniya (governorate, province) of Volhynia / Volynia (existing today from east to west as the Zhytomyr Oblast, Rivne Oblast, and Volyn Oblast), then located in northwestern Ukraine. My grandfather’s birthplace was: de: Lindenthal / Lindental, ru: Липовка (Lípovka), uk: Липівка (Lýpivka); my grandmother’s birthplace was: de: Heimthal / Heimtal, ru: Геймталь (Géjmtalʹ) / Старая Буда (Stáraja Búda) / Ясеновка (Jasenóvka), uk: Геймталь (Héjmtalʹ) / Стара Буда (Stará Búda) / Ясенівка (Jasenívka). Their first language was an East Central German dialect (Volhynian German / Volynian German). My mother's parents were Norwegian Americans (her father’s ancestors originated from Aust-Agder and her mother’s ancestors were from Telemark) who were both born in southwestern Minnesota (my grandfather’s birthplace was: Clarkfield, Yellow Medicine County; my grandmother’s birthplace was: Louisburg, Lac qui Parle County) and later immigrated to Saskatchewan. I have a B.A. (Hons) degree in French and Linguistics from the University of Saskatchewan.
