In Touch with Prairie Living March 2018 By Michael M. Miller Germans from Russia Heritage Collection North Dakota State University Libraries, Fargo

For this column, I would like to and the life of the villages, wedding the Germans from Russia, “Wheat raising share with you six books recommended customs, games and entertainment, was the object of their lives.” Rev. George for introductory German-Russian songs and agriculture. Included are the Rath was born in 1891 in Nesselrode near research. I am often asked, “What books names of the original settlers for the Birsula, Province of Odessa. He served would you suggest for background villages. In the final chapter, Height in the Russian Army from 1916 to 1918. information and research about the tells the dissolution of the colonies In 1922, Rath came to the United States. Germans from Russia?” under communism. An ordained minister, he served the From Catherine to Khruschev Memories of the Black Sea Evangelical Synod of North America. by Dr. Adam Giesinger. Edna Germans: Highlights of Their History Bessarabia: German Colonists on the Boardman, writes in her review, “This and Heritage, also by Joseph Height is Black Sea by Dr. Ute Schmidt, translated is the most thoroughly researched, a fascinating collection of primary and German to English by James T. Gessele, most professionally written, of the cultural material. The book will answer was published by the GRHC. In a review, popular books on the Germans from questions many German-Russians have Allyn Brosz writes, “The book is without Russia, yet it is very interesting and assumed have no answers. Height question, the authoritative history of absorbing to read. Giesinger traces includes the report about colonization the Germans in Bessarabia.” Dr. Elvire the flow of German-Russian history written by J.G. Kohl in 1838. Kohl Necker-Eberhardt, who was born in from their arrival in Russia, through reports of hard-working people, and Bessarabia, shares, “The author follows the Czars that succeeded Catherine, the gardens in which watermelon was the Bessarabian Germans from their through emigration to the United States, king, though they also grow onions, origin, the beginning and development Canada and South America, to the cucumbers, pumpkins, potatoes and in Bessarabia, to their tragic scattering takeover of Russia by the communists, fruits. in 1940 and beyond. The different points and the deportation of the remaining Dr. Joseph S. Height, a son of are not only reported and documented but people to scattered parts of Russia.” German immigrants who came to also aptly illustrated with many unique Dr. Adam Giesinger’s children donated Canada in 1900 from the Black Sea pictures, maps and graphs.” his extensive private library to establish colonies of Mannheim and Strassburg, Dr. Ute Schmidt, Berlin, Germany, the Dr. Adam Giesinger Collection at was born in 1909 at Tramping Lake, has been a university lecturer at the Free the GRHC. Saskatchewan. For many years he taught University of Berlin. She has traveled Dr. Joseph Height authored Paradise German at Franklin College, IN. He extensively since 1989 to Moldova and on the Steppe: A Cultural History of the worked closely with Dr. Karl Stumpp of southern Ukraine. In 2012, Dr. Schmidt Kutschurgan, Beresan and Liebental Germany providing the English version visited south central North Dakota towns Colonies, 1804-1972. This book focuses of the historical sections of the major where many families emigrated from on the Catholic colonies of South Russia work, The Emigration from Germany Bessarabia. James Gessele, Minneapolis, by the Black Sea today near Odessa, to Russia 1773-1865. In May 2013, MN, a native of Mercer, ND, continues Ukraine. Height follows the settlers on his daughter, Margaret Height, joined to provide important translation work for the often disastrous journey to Russia the Journey to the Homeland Tour to the GRHC. and through the difficult years when visit the former German colonies of If you would like more information colonists first tilled the iron-hard soil. Mannheim and Strassburg near Odessa, about these books, the 23rd Journey to the Height writes about festivals, songs, Ukraine. Homeland Tour to Germany and Ukraine sayings, languages, letters home, and The Black Sea Germans in the (May 2019); becoming a Friend of the photographs. There are town plats of Dakotas by George Rath, begins GRHC, or would like donate (family Beresan, Liebental and Kutschurgan with a look at the original Black Sea histories and photographs), contact villages. settlements of the colony groups. Rath Michael M. Miller, NDSU Libraries, Homesteaders on the Steppe: traces their emigration to the Dakotas PO Box 6050, Dept. 2080, Fargo, ND Cultural History of the Evangelical- and identifies where they settled. 58108-6050. (Tel: 701-231-8416); Email: Lutheran Colonies in the Region of Additional chapters focus on the role [email protected]; website: Odessa, 1804-1945, by Height covers and scope of the major Protestant www.ndsu.edu/grhc. the Lutheran villages. Height describes denominations to which German- March column for North Dakota and the journey down the Danube River Russians were attracted. He writes of South Dakota weekly newspapers.