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Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia Journal Of the American Historical Society of Germans From Russia Vol. 7, No. 3 Fall 1984 TABLE OF CONTENTS REDACTIONS: THE EDITOR'S PAGE ....................................………………………………….......... i THE RETURN Timothy J. Kloberdanz ................................................…………………………………………..... ii LAST GLIMPSES OF HOME: A TRIP TO THE FORMER VOLGA GERMAN VILLAGE Rosalinda A. Kloberdam .......................................……………………………………………............... 1 THE FATE OF THE VOLGA GERMANS IN BRAZIL Matthias Hagin, translated by Adam Giesinger ........................……………………………........... 9 A WALL PLAQUE WITH A HISTORY Esther Hiebert Ebel ...............................................………………………………………….......... 14 FOLKLORE FORUM: MENNONITE TRADITIONS FROM KANSAS: MEDICAL AND DENTAL SERVICES; COURTING AND WEDDINGS Solomon L. Loewen .................................................…………………………………………........ 15 WE SING OUR HISTORY Lawrence A. Weigel .................................................………………………………………………....... 24 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF PETER SINNER Translated by Adam Giesinger .................................…………………………………………............. 26 IN THE WAKE OF THE GERMAN ARMY ON THE EASTERN FRONT 1941-1942 Reports by Karl Stumpp, translated by Adam Giesinger .......……………………………................. 33 BOOK REVIEW: ABRAM J. LOEWEN, . IMMER WEITER NACH OSTEN Reviewed by Harry Loewen .............................……………………………………………................... 38 On the cover: Catholic churchgoers emerging from their meeting-house in Frank, Volga region, after a religious service in July 1983. (Photo courtesy of Frau Theresia Daehn of Hofgeismar, West Germany, obtained for AHSGR by Timothy and Rosalinda Kloberdanz). Published by American Historical Society of Germans form Russia 631 D Street • Lincoln, Nebraska 68502-1199 Editor: Adam Giesinger © Copyright 1984 by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. All rights reserved. REDACTIONS: THE EDITOR'S PAGE Those of our readers who attended the AHSGR convention in Regina this summer will remember the very interesting slide presentation given by Rosalinda Kloberdanz during the program of Ancestral Village Night. It described a 1983 visit to the Volga region, after a 52-year absence, by Frau Theresia Daehn, a former resident of the Catholic village of Rothammel now living in Germany. Frau Daehn visited the former German villages of Frank, Rothammel and Hussenbach, and found many Germans again living there, among them some of her own relatives. She took many pictures, some of which we are publishing in this issue, with an introduction by Mrs. Kloberdanz. The complete set, in slide form, is available for chapter use from AHSGR headquarters. Another Volga German living in Germany, Dr. Matthias Hagin, a native of Dehler on the Wiesenseite, known to many of us through his visits among us, travelled to Brazil last year to visit the old Volga German settlements founded there in the 1870s. Unlike most of the other Volga German immigrants who came to the Americas, those who went to Brazil did not prosper. Dr. Hagin describes the present condition of their old settlements in "The Fate of the Volga Germans in Brazil". Peter Sinner, in the last part of his "Autobiography", which appears in this issue, describes his life as a University student and then as a teacher in St. Petersburg (now Leningrad) from 1906 to 1919. His experiences during the war and the revolution are especially interesting. Drafted into the Red army in 1919 he had himself transferred to the Volga army, fighting against Denikin, and brought his family to Saratov, away from the famine-wracked capital city. Discharged from the army in 1920, he settled down to teaching and newspaper writing in Saratov, where he remained till 1927, when he returned to Leningrad. He had some harrowing personal experiences during the Volga famine of 1921, while working in an official capacity in the relief efforts. Throughout the period 1906 to 1927, in spite of all obstacles, he did much historical research and wrote many articles for newspapers and periodicals in Russia, Germany and the United States. His own list of these is given following his autobiography. Some of them are available to us in our AHSGR library and elsewhere. Dr. Stumpp's reports in this issue deal with his visit in September-October 1941 to the Kronau and Zagradovka colonies on the Inguletz river and to the Beresan, Liebental, Kutschurgan and Gluckstal colonies in the province of Odessa. There is much interesting information about the situation in these villages as it was immediately after the German occupation of this part of Russia. An old friend of ours, Solomon Loewen of Hillsboro, Kansas, takes us back to the 1870s and 1880s, the early years of the Mennonites in Kansas, and describes two interesting aspects of their pioneer life: their folk medicine and their wedding customs. In an era when trained physicians were few and far between, the Mennonites relied on practitioners of folk medicine, who had little or no medical training but possessed surprising natural skills and an extensive knowledge of traditional practices in the healing arts. The careers of some of these, including Solomon's own father, are described in some detail. In a second article, on wedding customs, Mr. Loewen describes events connected with the weddings of his parents and siblings. A number of other, briefer items fill out this issue of the Journal. [signed] Adam Giesinger i THE RETURN Timothy J, Kloberdanz The old ones bom in Russia called Theresia a dreamer for vowing she would visit her Volga Heimatdorf. Even if she could stand upon the colony's black soil again they claimed there would be only the sky and steppe to see. Yet what if Theresia spotted a curled shoe amid the ruins, might so simple a thing evoke the boxcars rumbling east? And what if she heard singing where once the church had been, would she be frightened or say it was just the way of the wind? In late summer a letter came saying Theresia had returned! The old ones pondered it and fell silent as they read. "Da stehen nur nock drei Haeuser, sonst ist alles kaputt, Es wachst nur nock Unkraut ueberall. Es ist sehr traurig aber wahr." (Only three houses still stand, everything else is gone. Weeds are growing everywhere. It is very sad but true.) Was it fate or coincidence that of the three structures remaining in the village one was Theresia's own? At the boarded-up house that was her place of birth, the visitor blinked hard and kissed the weathered wood. Flanked by kerchiefed women, she lingered there at length. Theresia, who dreamt of home, had found the Wailing Wall. ii "LAST GLIMPSES OF HOME": A TRIP TO THE FORMER VOLGA GERMAN VILLAGES, 1983* Rosalinda A. Kloberdanz In July, 1983, the dream of a lifetime came true for one Volga German woman. After fifty-two years, she was able to return briefly to her birthplace in Russia, to visit relatives and old friends, and even to set eyes upon the home in which she had been born. Frau Theresia Appelhans Daehn was born in the Volga German Catholic colony of Rothammel, Russia. In 1930, she and her family were deported to Siberia. Eventually, she went to Minsk, Russia, and presently lives in Hofgeismar, West Germany, with her second husband (her first husband died) and family. While living in Germany, Frau Daehn dreamt many times that she had returned to her home on the Volga. Then she awoke and found that it wasn't true. So she decided to make her dream a reality. In March of 1983, she sent the necessary information to relatives who were living in the Volga area of Russia. They took steps to obtain a visa for Frau Daehn and her husband and son. Despite much red tape and many difficulties, the Daehns finally received their visas on June 30, 1983. On July 3rd they departed for their trip to the Volga Bergseite region where she took many slides and photographs. Until only recently, this region of the Soviet Union was closed to all outsiders and, thus, the Daehns were among the first West German citizens to be permitted to make this particular trip into Russia. In all cases, it is necessary for relatives living in the Volga region of Russia to obtain the visa to travel; people from the West cannot obtain a visa on their own. Also, the travel to this region is very expensive and time-consuming. The Daehns spent a total of 150 hours in travel time alone making this arduous journey. The accompanying pictures are only a few from a set of 55 slides which have been documented and reproduced by AHSGR. Although these slides may not be representative of all of the former German colonies on the Volga, they are extremely valuable in that they give us some idea of what remains in this little-known region of the U.S.S.R. Included are pictures of the three former Volga German colonies that the Daehns visited: Rothammel, Frank, and Hussenbach, Russia. Photographs of relatives, houses, and the countryside were taken. Highlighting the journey was Frau Daehn's return to the home of her birth, which is still standing, although it is no longer occupied. It is one of only three of the original 350 houses that remain in her native village of Rothammel. Frau Daehn wrote: I had always hoped to return once more to the place where my cradle stood. Now when I think of my home, my heart gets heavy. I hadn't imagined it would be this way. My aunt from Siberia went back to this same area twelve years ago. Then there were many more houses standing in the village. However, the people who were brought to the Volga and put into these homes had no fuel with which to heat. Thus, they started using wood from the very homes in which they were living in order to stay warm. As they began to dismantle the last room, they would simply leave and go to another home and do the same there. Literally, the houses were burned away from under their feet.
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