Much of the focus of this year’s 150th anniversary of the wave of Germans-from-Russia immigrants is on their arrival in Dakota Territory that began in 1874.

But the story of that migration goes back to Europe and southern Russia prior to the exodus of thousands of German-speaking people who had lived there for more than a century.

In the first of a three-part series, Heritage Hall Museum & Archives in Freeman will take a look at life in the area known today as Ukraine. Scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 2 at the historical Bethel Church on the HHM&A grounds, the program will explore the impetus for people moving to that region starting in the 1700s. It will take a look at what life was like there, and what prompted them to leave starting in the 1870s.

A four-member panel – Dan Flyger, Marnette (Ortman) Hofer, Norman Hofer and S. Roy Kaufman – will look at various aspects of this story. That includes the history and perspectives of Hutterite, Lutheran, Low German Mennonite, Reformed, and Swiss Amish who all settled primarily in Hutchinson and Turner counties in southeastern Dakota Territory in the 1870s.

Museum admission that day will include the program. Admission for only the program will be charged at the door; that includes a discount for HHM&A members.

HHM&A is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and other times by appointment, during the summer months.