Thanks a lot everyone for the replies and thank you especially mrrabbit for the helpful wheel dish explanation.
@cycle_maven
I think I don't know the theory behind mounting the front wheel; on my old fork there was but one way to put the axle in the fork, either it was in or it was not. On the surly troll fork I have quite some room to move (maybe 1 cm or more) the axle -vertically - in the dropouts. When I installed front wheel I pushed the hub axle as far UP as I could and then secured the quick release. English is not my first language but I'm pretty sure "bottoming out" is the exact opposite of what I did. Should I install the axle lower if possible? I tried setting it a little lower and the wheel offset seems to have been reduced (from 1 cm to about half a cm - the distance measured is between the v-brake mounts and the rim). Was I installing the wheel incorrectly? Do I really need to install the axle as low as can be beared? Why is this?

I've bought the fork form an online shop in Germany but I live a few countries away, so that's why I'm reluctant to send the fork back (it will take a lot of time for a new one to come back, if there's a problem that is). I think I can live with with 0.5 cm error if there's no danger in using it as it's now (it is my understanding that there's no problem, is that right?).

Best regards,
Stefan