American Historical Society

Of Germans From Russia

Kongregational Gemeinden von Amerika 61. Jahrgang Yankton, S. Dak. 14. January 1943 Nr. 11

Work Paper No. 6 May 1971

(front cover of WP6)

TABLE OF CONTENTS President's Letter…………………………………………………………………….1 From the Editor's Desk…………………………………………………..3 Report From Germany ..Emma S. Haynes……………………………...4 Russia Revisited ...Cornelius Krahn………………………………….15 Comments on Frank ..Fred Grosskopf ……………………………….24 St. Joseph's Colonie, Balgonie .. A. Becker…………………………...25 Migration of the First Russian-Germans to The United States ..Friedrich Mutschelnaus Edited and Translated by Sen. Theodore Wenzlaff ……………………43 Inland Empire Russia Germans ..Harm H. Schlomer…………………..53 Genealogy Section ..Gerda Walker………………………………61

About the Cover: This photograph of the Church at Frank was donated by Mrs. Rachel Amen. It appeared in a publication of the Evangelical Congregational Conference. A comment on the picture is found on page 24.

AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF GERMANS FROM RUSSIA

POST OFFICE BOX 1424

GREELEY. COLORADO 80631

(inside front cover of WP6) American Historical Society of Germans from Russia 1004A NINTH AVENUE - P.O. BOX 1424 TELEPHONE; 352-9467 GREEL.EY. COLORADO 00631 April 27, 1971 OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS: H. J. Amen, President Emeritus 601 D Street Lincoln, Nebraska 68502 PRESIDENT'S LETTER Dr. Karl Stumpp, Chairman Emeritus 74 Tuebingen Autenrieth Strasse 16 West Germany David J. Miller, President Dear Members of AHSGR: P.O. Box 1424 Greeley, Colorado 80631 John H. Werner, Vice-President 522 Tucson The progress we have made in membership and in Aurora, Colorado 80010 contributions to our cause is proof of the basic need and W. F. Urbach. Vice-President 9320 East Center Avenue demand for AHSGR. Nevertheless, we can only exist Apt, 2A, Windsor Gardens Denver, Colorado 80231 only if we continue to grow. Individual membership so Col. T. C. Wenzlaff, USA-Ret., Vice-President P.O. Box 26 far has been the sole source of our funds. Except for Sutton, Nebraska 68979 Mrs. Emma S. Haynes, Vice-President postage and stenographic services all services have been Hq. V Corps SJA Section APO New York 09079 donated. The time will soon come when we must have a Miss Ruth M. Amen, Vice-President full-time executive secretary with a good stenographer. 601 D Street Lincoln, Nebraska 68503 Each of us is on the membership committee. I urge you Chester G. Krieger, Secretary Major U.S.A.F., Ret. to do whatever you can. 3380 Moore Court. Wheat Ridge, Colorado 80033 John L. Long, Jr., Treasurer 1908 12th Street Greeley, Colorado 80631 Mrs. Harvey L. Weber, Asst. Treasurer 2137 21st Avenue Before AHSGR was founded there were many attempts Greeley, Colorado 80631 Mrs. Rachel Amen to form such an organization. I hope sometime one of Route 1, Box 209 Loveland, Colorado 80537 our members will research past efforts and write a paper Arthur E. Flegel 189S Oakdell Drive Menlo Park, California 94025 on it for the Work Paper. Judge Ray R. Friederich District Court Rugby, North Dakota 58368 Two existing organizations were founded in part with Prof. Adam Giesinger 645 Oxford Street Winnipeg, 9, Manitoba, Canada objectives similar to ours. An organization was started Mrs. Marie Gilbert 1410 Chester Street in Chicago by Jacob Klein, 536 Oakdale, Chicago, Aurora, Colorado 80010 Prof. Joseph S. Height Illinois, in 1926 or 1927, which published Das Wolga 1221 East Adams Drive Franklin, Indiana 46131 Journal. The organization was the United Order of Mrs. Theodore E. Heinz 1913 15th Avenue Greeley, Colorado 80631 Wolga Germans of the U.S.A., Verein der Wolga- Dr. J. Robert Lebsack 4500 19th Street Apt. 280 Deutschen von den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. Boulder, Colorado 80302 Jerry Lehr The organization has become what is now the American 2850 Hudson Denver, Colorado 80207 Victor C. Leiker Fraternal Insurance Society which still exists. Another 126 Ocean Boulevard Atlantic Highlands, organization of Germans from Russia is the very active New Jersey 07716 John E. Pfeiffer Welfare Society of Lincoln, Nebraska. Many of our 215 North Kline Aberdeen, South Dakota 57401 present members of the Lincoln Chapter are members of Paul E. Reeb Route 2 St. Francis, Kansas 67756 the Welfare Society of Lincoln. Henry Schwebel, one of Victor A. Reisig 2238 Lake Shore Drive our present members in Chicago and a personal friend of St. Joseph, Michigan 49085 Edward Schwartzkopf Dr. Stumpp was once an officer of the Chicago 2020 Park Avenue Lincoln, Nebraska 68502 Harold Stoll organization. There was also a Volga-German Society in P.O. Box. 68 Monte Vista, Colorado 81144 Berlin. There may have been other societies. Mrs. Theodosia Urbach 9320 East Center Avenue Apt. 2A, Windsor Gardens Denver, Colorado 80231 I wish to give you a thumb-nail sketch of how AHSGR Mrs. Gerda S. Walker 1840 So. Utica came about. By accident in 1966 I learned Denver, Colorado 80219 Mrs. Albert W. Wardin 807 S. W. Troy Street Portland, Oregon 97219

(WP6, p.1) of the opportunity of going to Russia with the Citizens Exchange Corps of New York City. Mrs. Miller and I spent three weeks in the USSR, attended thirteen half-day seminars and visited Moscow, Sochi and Leningrad. We were not permitted to go to the areas of the origin of our people. We took many pictures on the trip and showed them at St. Paul's Congregational Church at Greeley, Colorado. There we met Mr. and Mrs. John H. Werner, John has worked on the history of Germans from Russia since the early 1930's. He learned of Bill Urbach’s book, "Our Parents Were Russian-Germans" (on which he was assisted by his wife, Theodosia), by finding a copy of it on a business trip in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. John and I met with the Urbachs. Bill Urbach, a retired YMCA executive, lived in Windsor Gardens. We all agreed to form a society. Bill Urbach prodded us to have a meeting at the Urbach apartment. As I remember it, the first meeting included the Werners, the Urbachs, my wife Lydia’s sister, Katie Dietz, and her husband, Henry, and ourselves. We set up an Adhoc Committee which included Col. Wenzlaff. Through my office, we mimeographed some material and mailed it to friends. I wrote Professor Joseph S. Height, the translator of Dr. Karl Stumpp’s book on Germans from Russia. He sent me a list of prospects. That list was circulated. I believe we had a second meeting at which Chester Krieger and his wife attended. Finally, the Adhoc Committee, consisting of Werners, Urbachs, Millers, Dietzes and the Kriegers set up the Windsor Gardens, Denver, Colorado, meeting of September 8, 1968. At the Greeley, Colorado, meeting October 6, 1968, the general membership voted to incorporate and named the organization. The certificate of incorporation was issued by the Secretary of State, State of Colorado, on December 20, 1968.

PLEASE SEND IN YOUR CONVENTION REGISTRATION. Our Convention Chairman, Ruth M. Amen, needs your convention registration badly. Even though you have relatives in Lincoln with whom you are going to stay, Ruth must have your convention registration fee and the registration for the Stumpp dinner. The capacity of the dining room at the Villager Inn is 300. If we run over 300, we must move the dinner to the Corn Husker. The move must be by May 15, 1971. Send in your convention registration direct to Miss Ruth M. Amen, 601 D Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68502. Send in your motel, hotel reservations direct to the hotel, but be sure to use AHSGR registration blanks. Otherwise, you will be charged the increased rate. The quoted rate holds only for AHSGR members.

WORK SHOP VOLUNTEERS. Send in your names and your work shop requests. Don’t miss the Lincoln Convention. I shall look forward to seeing you there.

Cordially yours,

(signed)

.2. David J.Miller, President

(WP6, p.2) From the editor’s desk ……..

This issue of the Work Paper has a distinct Canadian emphasis, with two articles taken from publications of the area, and the back cover map, prepared by Dr. Karl Stumpp. The Society, being International, would like to bring our members closer together, by reporting the experiences of our group in their settlements in all parts of the Americas.

The feature article is a pictorial report of a trip to Russia, with the kindness of the editors of Mennonite Life. The trip was made through their travel service. Such a trip is an unforgettable experience. Any of the members of our Society who have made such a trip are invited to share their experiences with us, and those planning such a trip should contact the Mennonite travel planners for assistance.

Work Paper #3 carried the first of the articles taken from Die Deutschen Kolonien in Cherson und Bessabien, Georg Leibbrandt, published by Ausland und Heimat Verslags- Aktiengesellschaft, 1926, Stuttgart.

This first article was on Glueckstal, and was taken from page 52 on, while the second article, appearing in Work Paper #4, on Lichtenstal, began on page 131. Others in the series will be printed as space permits. We hope someday to be able to offer translations for all of the villages in the book.

Dr. Leibbrandt has also called our attention to three books of interest to Society members:

German Rule in Russia 1941-1945, by Alexander Dallin, London, MacMillan, and Co. 1957, 695 pages Deutsche Herrsshaft in Russland, von Alexander Dallin, Dusseldorf, Droste Verlag 1957, 695 pages. So Hat Es Sich Zugetragen, von Otto Brautigam, Wurzburg, Holner Verlag. This is no longer on the market, but a letter to Dr. Leibbrandt at 53 Bonn-Ippendorf, Birkenweg 16, Germany, will enlist his aid in securing a copy for a cost of about 25 DM or $7.00.

We would like to include materials about the colonies in South American countries, but there is little available. Readers are encouraged to send information concerning articles, letters, or pictures of South American settlements that are usable for future Work Papers.

(WP6, p.3) REPORT FROM GERMANY APRIL, 1971 Emma Schwabenland Haynes

My previous "Report from Germany" ended with a description of the biennial meeting of the "Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland" in Wiesbaden, Germany. This one discusses a four-day Conference of Volga Germans which was held October 8-11, in a romantic hilltop castle at Beilstein, north of Stuttgart. It would have been difficult to find a more charming spot for the meeting. The hill on which the castle is located was covered with vineyards, and in the shining October sunshine, trees and shrubs were beginning to change into fall colors.

Of the fifty-four people who attended the conference, fifteen were "Landsmannschaft" officials, guests, and German-born wives of those participating. The remaining thirty-nine had all been born and brought up along the Volga. Their native colonies were: Anton, Balzer, Frank, Hussenbach, Norka, Rothammel, Schilling, Seminowka and Volmar on the "Bergseite", and Alt Weimar, Bangert, Basel, Blumenfeld, Brunnenthal, Dehler, Enders, Herzog, Katharinenstadt, Krasnojar, Laub, Neu Laub, Marienberg, Nieder-monjou, Orlowskaja, Reinhardt, Remmler, Schwed, Seelmann, Stahl, Straub, Warenburg, Wiesenmuller, and Zurich on the "Wiesenseite." Most of the Volga Germans present were men about fifty-five years of age. They had been taken prisoner by the Germans in World War II and given false identity papers saying that they had been born in Germany. In this way, they managed to avoid forcible repatriation to the Soviet Union in 1945.

On the night of October 8th, a welcoming speech was given by Dr. Matthias Hagin of Berlin, who had been instrumental in helping to organize the meeting. He was followed by Herr Rudolf Gerhardt of Dortmund-Hoerde who gave an address on "The motivating Factors of the 18th century Emigration of Germans to the Volga". In his lecture Herr Gerhardt mentioned the widespread misery which the Seven Years' War had brought to Germany and he compared these years with conditions in Germany after World War II. He then pointed out that if in 1945-47 any outside government had offered German citizens the same privileges that Catherine II had granted in 1763, an equally large number of people would have emigrated.

Herr Gerhardt could speak from personal experience about the hardships caused by war and revolution. Before World War I his father had been an extremely wealthy grain merchant from the colony of Straub. At that time the Gerhardt family owned warehouses and mills extending along the Volga all the way to Stalingrad (which was known then as Tsaritsyn and today as Volgograd). Herr Gerhardt and his brother Paul managed to work their way to Germany in the closing days of World War I, but their father died in prison after repeated arrests, and the other members of the family simply "disappeared."

(WP6, p.4) In 1906 the Gerhardt mill in Stalingrad had been rebuilt with iron girders and blocks of concrete which were so thick that they withstood German bombardment at the battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-45. For that reason the mill was used by the Russian General Staff as Command Headquarters. At the conclusion of World War II the building became a museum commemorating Russian victory. As such it has been visited by hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens and foreign tourists. It is surely one of the ironies of history that this building, which has become the symbol of Soviet velour in World War II, should have been built by a Volga German grain merchant who died in a communist prison.

On the following day, Frau Irmgard Stoldt, who is in charge of religious and refugee affairs, and also the representative of women’s' activities, addressed the group. Her theme was "Religious Conditions in the Soviet Union Today". She began by describing how practically all German churches in Russia were closed between the years 1928-54, and how most of the German priests and ministers were either shot or deported.

During World War II Stalin relaxed his anti-religious campaign as a sop to his western allies, but as soon as the war ended, persecution of Christians began again. From 1945 to 1969 not a single Roman Catholic priest was given permission to conduct religious services anywhere in Siberia or Soviet Asia. In the case of the German Lutherans, a certain Rev. Eugen Bachmann from the Black Sea area was allowed to organize a church in Zelinograd, Siberia, in 1955. Two years ago conditions again relaxed slightly. On May 5, 1969 a Catholic priest in Frunze, not far from the borders of China, was granted permission to conduct church services, and the Lutherans were able to organize churches in such places as Alma Ata, Omsk, Karaganda, Novosibirsk, and Sysran on the Volga. However, in practically all other places, German Lutherans and Catholics are forced to meet surreptitiously in private homes. Furthermore, when one of Pastor Bachmann’s assistants recently asked for permission to study theology in the Baltic provinces, he was immediately arrested and sent to a labor camp.

On Friday night an especially enjoyable surprise had been prepared for the participants of the conference. Dr. Johannes Kuenzig and Frau Dr. Waltraut Werner of the "Institute fuer Ostdeutsche Volkskunde" in Freiburg Germany, had been invited to give informal talks about their efforts to establish an archive of folksongs from the East European countries in which German colonists live. They pointed out that the Volga Germans, because of their long separation from the western world, had been able to preserve many ancient songs which have disappeared in Germany and other countries of Europe. As an example, they played a tape re- cording of a medieval religious song telling how Queen Helen, the mother of the emperor Constantine, had been able to find the wood of the true cross of Christ. This song is mentioned in many ancient chronicles, but the melody had been long forgotten in

(WP6, p.5) western Europe. Finally in 1955, Dr. Kuenzig met a Volga German woman named Maria Wohn from the Catholic village of Rothammel who was able to sing it for him. With Maria Wohn's help, Drs. Kuenzig and Werner have now made tape recordings of over two hundred secular and religious songs from the Volga.

Dr. Werner played for us additional songs such as "Morgenrot, Morgenrot" and "Madam, Madam, nach Hause sollst du kommen." It was Interesting to note that practically all of the Volga Germans present seemed to be completely familiar with the words, and usually sang lustily along.

For the benefit of those Americans who are interested in this subject, I might mention that a ten-inch record of Catholic religious songs entitled "Legendenlieder aus Ostdeutcher Ueberlieferung" can be purchased for $4.40 from: Dr. Johannes Kuenzig Institut fuer Ostdeutsche Kunde Im Oberfeld 10 Freiburg-Littenweiler Germany. It is possible, however, that for an American who does not understand German the record might prove disappointing. The people singing are quite elderly, and their voices often have a quaver- ing quality. Dr. Kuenzig mentioned this in his talk, but he explained that he had refused to make any technical improvements because he wanted to preserve the original rendition. The record contains seven songs, four of which come from the Dobruja and Banat areas. The three from the Volga are entitled "Der Kaiser und der Koenig (Die heilige Katharina)", "Der goldene Rosenkranz", and "Lazarus in der Wueste lag und schlief". On Saturday morning it was my turn to stand at the speakers’ podium. My paper was, entitled "Volga Germans in the United States of America". Information for the talk was based partly upon my own experiences as the daughter of a Congregational minister who had served Volga German churches in Washington, Oregon,, California and. Colorado. Additional material came from Richard Sallet’s "Russlanddeutsche Siedlungen in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika". For information on the Volga German Catholics I relied upon "German-Russian settlements in Ellis County, Kansas" by Father Francis Laing and "Conquering the Wind" by Amy Brungardt Toepfer and Agnes Dreiling..

On Saturday afternoon Dr. Matthias Hagin gave a talk on "The Economic and Cultural Condition of the Russian-Germans, especially the Volga Germans". For the past seven years Dr. Hagin has kept a file on this subject, taking his material primarily from the German-language newspaper "Neues Leben" which is published in Moscow. Dr. Hagin pointed out that in world and national news the paper follows the communist party line, unswervingly, but that anyone who reads it carefully can unearth a mass of information about the present-day lives of the Soviet Germans. He stated that he is often amazed at the sharpness of criticism in "Letters to the

(WP6, p.6) editor“ over such topics as inefficiency in the management of collective farms and the lack of sufficient German-language textbooks in the public schools. In a recent issue he found statistics on the size of vegetable gardens and the number of privately-owned farm animals that a single family is allowed to possess. And in 1969, "Neues Leben" printed a comparative study of Germans and Ukrainians of Siberia with respect to ownership of radios, television sets, washing machines, bicycles and motorcycles. It was interesting to note that in the ownership of all five items, the Germans surpassed the Ukrainians.

Dr. Hagin’s files also list the names of approximately sixty Soviet German authors such as Victor Klein, Sepp Oesterreicher, Dominik Holmann, Alexander Reimgen, etc. Under each name he places any biographical material which he is able to glean from the pages of "Neues Leben". Although all of these authors must write with extreme care if they wish to be published, they sometimes do express personal feelings. As an example Dr. Hagin read to us a very charming poem by Victor Klein from the August 19, 1970 issue, in which the author describes to his four- year-old grandson his own life as a boy. The poem begins with these four lines:

"Der Junge denkt in meiner Sprache Und spricht in meinem Mutterlaut. Wie lange schmerzlich ich entbehrte Das Deutsch, von Kindermund gehaucht."

(The boy thinks in my language and speaks with my mother tongue. With what pain did I forego, for so long, the sound of German from the mouth of a child.) With these veiled words Victor Klein undoubtedly refers to the years 1941-1955 when the Soviet. Germans were treated as criminal outcasts and were afraid to use their own language.

That evening after a very pleasant meal in the castle dining room, a man named Johannes Kuehl from the colony of Zurich showed colored slides of his two trips to visit relatives in the Kulunda area of Siberia. Herr Kuehl had managed to come to Germany in 1918 along with the two Gerhardt brothers. From 1941 until 1959 he had no idea where his Volga German relatives were living, or even if any of them were still alive. However, written communication was eventually resumed, and in 1964, after the rehabilitation of the Volga Germans, he decided to ask for permission to visit the Soviet Union. In my "Report from Germany" in Work Paper IV, I made the comment that it was "almost impossible" to visit the collective farms and small towns in which most Soviet Germans live. Herr Kuehl is evidently the exception that proves the rule. In 1964 he went to the Soviet Embassy in Bonn to fill out various forms requesting permission to spend three months in Siberia with his family. In spite of periodic visits to the embassy no action was taken. The next year he had to fill out a second group of forms, because the first ones were no longer valid. Eventually in 1966, he was given permission to make the trip.

(WP6, p.7) Herr Kuehl knew that there was a shortage of textiles and clothing in the Soviet Union, and, during the winter clearance sales in Germany, he visited department stores in which he bought dozens of shirts, slacks, blouses and dresses. He laughingly explained that he never worried about sizes: he had so many relatives, that what didn’t fit one person would fit another. Finally, on April 25, 1966, loaded down with three large suitcases, he boarded a German train bound for Moscow.

When he reached the borders of the Soviet Union, a Russian customs official said to him sternly, "You're travelling alone and you're-bringing all of that luggage?" Herr Kuehl had expected this question and was ready with his answer. Several months previously eighty of his Siberian relatives had come together to celebrate the marriage of one of his nieces. On this occasion a family picture had been taken and sent to Germany. Herr Kuehl now handed the picture to the official with the comment, "Everyone on this picture is related to me. I haven't seen my relatives for forty-eight years, and all I want to do is bring each of them a small gift from Germany." A wide grin slowly spread across the face of the Russian, and, as he returned the picture, he politely replied "choroscho" (the Russian equivalent of "OK") and left the compartment.

During the three months that Herr Kuehl lived with his relatives, he had abundant opportunity to take pictures, not only of them, but also of the interior and exterior of their houses. We were shown lovely flower gardens in front of the homes, and pictures of the bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms etc. Herr Kuehl also accompanied the men out to the fields of the collective farms and photographed the type of machinery being used, as well as the barns, horses, and village streets. Even the Russian mayor of the town (who happened to be a woman) was photographed. The last pictures showed a long table, placed out-of-doors, and covered with food for the farewell dinner before his departure.

In 1967 Herr Kuehl returned to Siberia for a second visit, and at that time he took additional pictures. Consequently, he possesses an extraordinary set of slides on the present-day life of the Volga Germans. Most of the people at the Beilstein Conference were pleasantly surprised to see how much progress had been made since those desperate days in 1941 when Herr Kuehl’s relatives arrived in Siberia with nothing except the clothing they wore and a bundle of bedding.

After a brief religious service on Sunday morning, the final paper of the conference was read by Herr Matthias Trausch, a teacher of English in the Pforzheim Public Schools. Herr Trausch was born in the Catholic village of Dehler on the Volga, and in the years immediately before the outbreak of World War II had become a teacher in the Volga colonies. He was then drafted into the Russian army and taken prisoner by the Germans. Eventually he was able to enroll in a college here in Germany and to obtain his Teachers' Certificate. For the past five years he has been compiling information on "The Volga German School System, 1764-1941" for a book which he hopes to publish. His lecture at Beilstein consisted of excerpts from this book.

(WP6, p.8) According to Herr Trausch, a surprising number of well-educated people had participated in the 18th century migration to the Volga, and at first there was no lack of good teachers for the parochial schools, however, after the first generation of pioneers died, interest in education diminished, and it became customary to give the job of schoolteacher to the person who put in a bid for the lowest salary. (This was the method by which swineherds and cowherds were also chosen.) Some of these "teachers" were themselves barely able to read and write, and in the larger colonies hundreds of children were taught by one man.

Conditions improved somewhat with the establishment of "Zentralschulen" in Grimm and Katharinenstadt, and of a Catholic Seminary in Saratov in 1857. It should also be pointed out that the wealthier families often banded together and hired private instructors for their children, but on the whole, educational standards remained quite low. Herr Trausch reported that in 1862 an educational survey, based upon a control group of 56,051 people, was made in the Volga colonies. This survey revealed the following statistics: Ability to read printed German 74% Ability to read written German 12% Unable to read at all 14% Ability to write German 7% Ability to write one's name 55% Unable to write at all 40%

In 1871 the well-known Russification Policy began. German boys were now expected to serve in the Russian army, and the Russian language was to be used in the schools. As the years went on, more and more Russian was introduced into the educational system. An apogee was reached in World War I when no German whatever was allowed.

Ironic as it may seem, it was the outbreak of the Communist Revolution that brought this policy to an end. In order to win the support of such minority groups as the Volga Germans, separate "Republics" were established in which the language of the area was legally allowed for governmental and educational purposes. In the Volga German schools, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and political history (which was actually a communist indoctrination course) were now taught in German. However, each child also received instruction in the Russian language. This system continued until the deportation of the Volga Germans in 1941. At the present time, Soviet German children in Siberia and other parts of Asia attend schools in which Russian is the basic language, and German merely taught as an optional foreign language.

All of the speeches to which I listened at the conference were extremely interesting, but personal conversations proved to be equally rewarding. I was amazed at the number of people who had relatives in the United States. One man named Weckesser asked if I had ever heard of a Dr. H.P. Weckesser of Lincoln, Nebraska, whose father had been a brother of his own grandfather.

(WP6, p.9) I was happy to answer that I most certainly did know about Dr. Weckesser and of his outstanding role in raising money for Volga German famine sufferers. Another man told that he was related to Pastor Staerkel who had been active for many years in Norka. In this case I was able to reply that my own mother had been baptized in 1882 by Rev. Starkel, and that in the early 1950’s people named Starkel (Sterkel) had been members of my father’s church in Berthoud, Colorado, however, the most exciting conversation of all was with a man from the colony of Enders who reported that in 1950 a cousin of his from Chicago, Illinois had returned to Enders on a visit and had taken moving pictures of several Volga colonies. I immediately asked for the address of this cousin, and have had several letters from him. He writes that he does in fact have 1,200 feet of film, but that he would like to point out: it is over forty years old; he is not a professional photographer; and, the film gives a rather choppy impression because about half of it had been removed by Russian censors in Moscow. I hope to see this gentleman next June in Chicago, and will bring further information to Lincoln, Nebraska. He indicated that he would be willing to donate the film to the archives of AHSGR some day.

At the Beilstein Conference there were several people who would like to establish contact with relatives in the United States. A man named Alexander Eckhardt is most anxious to get in touch with the family of his uncle George Eckhardt who came to America from Krasnojar around 1915. A man named Johannes Kreich would like to locate relatives named Mr. and Mrs. Henry Schneider who came to Lincoln, Nebraska, from Balzer after World War I. (The wife’s maiden name was Schwabauer and her father had the nickname "Lapse Hannes".) A certain Hans Krammer is looking for relatives named Mr. and Mrs. David Wagner who left the colony of Urbach after World War I; and Adolf Reinfeld, born in Schwed, would like to find a Chicago relative named Mrs. Emilie Kroll. Anyone who is able to throw light on the present whereabouts of these people is asked to write to me in care of our society.

After the organization of AHSGR in 1968, I learned that some Americans of Volga German descent believed that all Volga German villages had been burned to the ground in 1941. The question of what actually did happen during those deportation days, so intrigued me that for the last eighteen months I have made it a policy to ask every Volga German whom I meet, if he can tell me something about the present-day condition of the colonies. I continued this survey in Beilstein.

In answer to my question whether the villages had been destroyed, one man replied, "But if that had happened, Stalin would have been defeating his own purposes." The man went on to explain that there were actually three motives for the deportation of the Volga Germans:

1. To remove them from any possible contact with the German army, 2. To use them as a captive labor force for work in the mines, forests and virgin territories of Siberia and Asia, and

(WP6, p.10) 3. To turn their empty villages over to Russian citizens who were fleeing eastward in advance of the German army.

A second man who was listening to our conversation reported that when some Germans refused to leave their homes, the threat was made that unless they did so, their houses would be burned down over their heads. However, he was unable to give the name of any colony in which this actually happened. It was just something that he had heard.

Four people told that brothers or fathers had recently returned to their native villages on visits. In three places: Zurich, Orlowskaja and Remmler, the family homes were still standing. On the other hand, a man who went back to Frank discovered that his father’s house had collapsed and was being used as a pig pen by the Russian people across the street. When I asked for an estimate of how many houses in the German colonies are inhabited, answers ranged from 25% to 75%. Katharinenstadt is evidently an exception. It has become something of an industrial center and is said to be much larger now than before World War II. Needless to say, everyone at Beilstein was merely repeating what he had heard from Soviet relatives. Nobody had personally visited the Volga area.

It cannot be emphasized too often that what happened, in one village is not necessarily true of what happened in another. After all, there were 104 "Mother Colonies" and even more "Daughter Colonies". However, one possible explanation for the report that the Volga colonies were totally destroyed, may lie in the following story. It was Herr Kuehl who told that his brother had returned to Zurich and had even slept in the family home. (A female relative, married to a Russian, has lived there since 1941.) Shortly thereafter Herr Kuehl used the phrase, "Alles ist vernichtet." I immediately asked how he could say that the village of Zurich had been "vernichtet" (destroyed) if his brother had slept there. The answer was that he didn’t mean the houses; he meant the former Volga German civilization. It is easy to understand that if Volga Germans in the United States or Germany receive letters from relatives in the Soviet Union saying that everything has been "vernichtet", they could thereupon conclude that the colonies had been physically destroyed.

------On the weekend of December 4-6, 1970, I was invited to attend a reunion of people from the Black Sea colony of Hoffnungstal. We met in the little village of Hedemuenden which lies near Goettingen, very close to the border of East Germany. Many individuals who had planned to come were unable to do so, and consequently there were only nine people in our group.

Instead of listening to formal lectures, our time was devoted to conversation on the history of Hoffnungstal from its founding

(WP6, p.11) in 1819 "by pietistic brethren from Wuerttemberg, to the present whereabouts of its scattered citizens. Mention was made of the cessation of church services by communist decree in 1950 and of how the steeple of the church was removed, in 1955, and the building turned into a theatre. We also discussed the communist educational system. In this connection one of the women present, whose maiden name had been Erna Zweygerdt, related with what cruelty she had been told by her elementary teacher that although she deserved a prize for her high grades, it was impossible to give such an award to the daughter of a "kulak". Other subjects discussed were the organization of the collective farms, the events of World War II and the flight of many Black Sea colonists to western Germany in the winter of 1944-45.

Our weekend reunion also included a visit to the Friedland Refugee Camp through which more than 2,500,000 Germans have passed in the last twenty-five years. The camp came into being on September 20, 1945, when the British Army of Occupation donated ten tents in which very ill refugees were allowed to rest after being driven from their homes in such provinces as East Prussia and Silesia. These people usually arrived on foot, pulling hand carts, pushing baby buggies, or carrying suitcases and knapsacks in which their few possessions had been hurriedly packed. As time went on, the British tents were replaced by Nissen Huts, and eventually wooden barracks were constructed. Throughout the first post-war year, as many as three thousand refugees were often registered at Friedland in one day. In addition, approximately 400,000 German prisoners of war from the Soviet Union returned to their homes by way of Friedland between 1945 and 1965.

At the present time the camp is used primarily as a place of registration and shelter for the so-called "Heimkehrer" or "returnees" from Poland, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union who receive permission to join their German relatives in the west. Their number is, however, relatively small. In contrast to the 600,000 refugees who passed through Friedland in 1946, there were only 14,000 "heimkehrer" in 1969 and 10,000 in 1970, most of whom came from Poland. In recent years there have seldom been more than 500 "heimkehrer" from the Soviet Union. However, the camp is prepared to handle one thousand individuals per day and is often called upon to provide shelter for several hundred people on just a few hours’ notice.

The members of my group were particularly interested in knowing the names of persons who had recently arrived in Germany from the Soviet Union. Rev. Thorns, the Protestant chaplain in whose office we were sitting, thereupon showed us the November, 1970 register which contained twenty-four names. Included among them was a Rosa Maier, born in 1912 and Catholic in religion. Her last .place of residence in the Soviet Union had been Novosibirsk in Si- beria. A second entry was that of Erna Hecht from a small village near Zelinograd in Siberia. She had been born in 1925 and was

(WP6, p.12) Protestant. There was a man named Gottfried Horbas, a Catholic, who had come from the Ukraine with four children. To our disappointment, none of the entries showed the original home of the "returnees" along the Volga or the Black Sea.

Rev. Thorns was a young, warm-hearted man who revealed with every word he uttered his intense sympathy for the refugees with whom he worked. He described the many emotional reunions which he had witnessed between parents and children, or husbands and wives who had not seen each other for twenty-five years or more. He related that usually the married couples fell into each other's arms with tears of joy, and then went off holding hands as though they were still young lovers. Unfortunately, there had also been cases where the husband's face registered shocked surprise, when his slender bride of 1940 now came to him as a shapeless, middle-aged woman whose careworn face showed the privations which, she had endured during the intervening years. There was one husband, for example, who almost immediately informed his wife that their continued marriage was impossible and that he wanted a divorce. The poor woman was so distraught that her first impulse was to commit suicide. Fortunately, some German people in the apartment house in which her husband lived helped her find a job in a nursing home, and she is now reported to be quite content with her life in the west.

Rev. Thorns then took us on a tour of the camp. We saw the "Freedom Bell" which is always rung whenever a bus arrives bringing "returnees" from the east; the Red Cross Community Hall and Snack bar, the communal dining room, the Protestant chapel, within the camp, and the stately Catholic church across from the main entrance. All of the living quarters had bunk beds, but everything was immaculately clean, and the entire area restful and attractive. We were also told that on the very first day of their arrival, everybody receives a complete set of clothing including underwear and shoes. Much of this clothing has been donated by German factories or churches, and everyone is allowed to pick out for himself a suit, coat, dress, sweater etc. from racks on which the articles hang.

One of the first questions, we had asked Rev. Thorns was whether anyone from the Soviet Union was in the camp on that particular day. He answered that nobody had come directly from Russia, but that he would take us to the quarters of a Mennonite family named Wiebe who were of Russian-German descent. In our resulting conversation, Mr. Wiebe explained that he had been a thirteen-year-old boy when his family left the Ukraine for Germany during the closing days of World War II. Along with many other Mennonite refugees, his parents had emigrated to the Chaco area of Paraguay in South America. It was here that he reached maturity and was married. However, economic conditions in Paraguay remained very bad and Mr. Wiebe saw no future in the country. Consequently, he sold whatever he could of his personal possessions and had now come to

(WP6, p.13) Germany with his wife and four small children hoping to make a new start in life. Technically, this family should not have been accepted, in Friedland, but with the assistance of Rev. Thorns, they had been temporarily admitted.

Before leaving the camp we heard that an increased influx of "Heimkehrer" was expected in 1971 as a result of Willy Brand’s "Ostpolitik" by which better relations are expected between West Germany and the communist countries of the east. Judging from recent stories in German newspapers, this influx has already begun. Some papers report that as many as 200,000 Germans may leave Poland in the next few years. Nobody expects a comparable exodus from the Soviet Union, but it is interesting to note that during one week in February, one hundred Soviet Germans did arrive, and most surprising of all, the group included two young men of military age. One cannot help but wonder if the worldwide publicity recently given to the plight of Soviet Jews, has induced a temporary leniency, or if a permanent change of policy can be expected. In any event, this will be an interesting phenomenon to watch.

It seems that no "Report from Germany" ever ends without mention of Dr. Karl Stumpp and his generosity to AHSGR. His most recent donation to our archives includes twenty volumes of the "Besserabischer Heimatkalender" for the years 1950 through 1970. (The 1955 book is missing.) These "Kalender" not only contain historical articles and pictures of the former colonies, but also a great deal of material on the present-day lives of Bessarabian Germans in western Europe and North America. The 1970 "Kalender" even carries the picture of one of our own members -- Mrs. Herman Wildermuth of Yucca Valley, California.

Two other books donated by Dr. Stumpp are All Things Common, the Hutterian Way of Life by Victor Peters, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1965, and Die Niemandsleute vom Ingulez by Luisa Gross, Stuttgart, 1965. The latter is a fascinating novel telling how World War II affected the lives of various Black Sea German families. In contrast to many other books dealing with this period, atrocities committed by both the Nazis and the Communists are presented in impartial fashion.

A further contribution to our society -- this time by Dekan August Schwab of Kassel -- is the 1971 Yearbook of the Gustav-Adolf-Werk entitled Die evangelische Diaspora. It contains two very fine articles on the former religious life of Germans in Russia. Our society was also given a commemorative book entitled. Zwanzig Jahre Friedland, 1965. The eleven pages of pictures at the end of the book illustrate most movingly many of the dramatic, poignant, and emotional scenes which have taken place within the confines of the camp. Two additional books, Heimkehr aua Wolhynien by Kva Schauwecker and Abenteuer um Saratow by Erika Muller- Hennig, were purchased recently by our society.

(WP6, p.14) MENNONITE

October 1970 Volume XXV .Number 4 L I F E

Russia Revisited

By Cornelius Krahn Moscow—Dream or Reality? IT WAS LIKE a dream—was I really in Moscow? Were my eyes seeing imaginary things from the ninth floor of the largest Intourist hotel of Russia? What I seemed to see was the Moscow River flowing gently past the Kremlin wall to the right and a church with five golden onion-shaped towers to the left. Gradually, it became an established fact that I had returned to my homeland and that I was now in Moscow, the capital of Russia. It began to seem as though the years since the time I left Russia had just been a few short weeks. Doubts and questions about the place where I was were now scattered by listening to the conversation of the passers-by or reading the inscriptions and signs. There was no doubt that it was the Russian language that we heard and read. Soon my fellow travelers and I joined in the use of this language. Words which seemed to have been The Moscow River flows gently past the Kremlin Wall. submerged in the subconscious reappeared bright and ready to be used at thus unusual moment. Russian is a melodious language. Thus, who would not want to hear it and use it as often as possible? The golden onion-shaped towers of the church next to the hotel. What had not all happened since I had left. Across the Moscow River from our hotel we saw an out-dated

The hotel "Rossiya" next to the Moscow River and Kremlin.

OCTOBER 1970 147

(WP6, p.15) an Aeroflot plane late in the evening and flew straight southeast some 3000 miles to Alma-Ata, the capital of the Kazakh SSR. As our plane descended through the clouds, we suddenly faced the rising sun over the Thien Shan Mountain peaks, some of which were snow-covered. They were magnificent and awe-inspiring. On the other side were nations such as China and Mongolia. This was indeed a very far away and a very strange country. The map tells us that there is a cluster of S. S. Republics of which the native population is Turkic or Mongolian. Some of them were observing their 2500th anniversary. Here one finds cities that are as old as the oldest centers of civilization, shrines of religion and castles of rulers either in perfect condition or in ruins—both telling a tale of ancient history. Some ruins date back to the times of Alexander the Great when he came for a visit. Here Mohammedan Arabs established themselves in the Middle Ages, creating an Arab-Mongolian culture. I was aware of it and yet surprised when I heard that at places about 10 percent of the population are Jews, who had joined Under the smokestacks is a neon-lit slogan about the Arabs in their migration to Central Asia. Thus the tale "the electrification of the whole country". ascribed to Roger Williams that Russia is of such magnitude and has such a checkerboard population that the ten "lost neon-lit slogan, "Communism is the realization of tribes" of Israel have likely been in Russia all the time and Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole never lost at all. Genghis Khan and later Tamerlane made this a stronghold of their empire. country." Why out-dated? Because that task has The visit of the old cities and capitals, Alma-Ata, most definitely and fully been completed. The Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara, will remain electrification of the country is today taken for unforgettable. The Soviet government and the local republic granted as are the sun and moon in the sky. This governments are in the process of rebuilding and preserving could be said about many other promises and hundreds of mosques, castles, tombs, minarets, and expectations of Marxian socialism in Russia. madrashas, in addition to modernizing the cities, the agriculture, and the economy of these ancient countries. The Blooming Desert Here lived the famous scientist Ulugh Bek This Canadian-USA friendship tour consisting of some 40 travelers, spent one day in Moscow to get the feel of the capital of the country and then proceeded to other cities. We left Moscow airport on

Minaret and mosque—-typical for Central- Asian structures. Mosque Bibi-Khanym in Samarkand under reconstruction.

(WP6, p.16) Some mosques, tombs, and cemeteries in Central Asia date back over a thousand years.

Sea, let me relate an experience we had in Alma-Ata. When we arrived at the Alma-Ata airport, we noticed some visitors who had spent the night there in order to greet their

Typical sidewalk "tea house" in Central Asia. On the relatives among our travelers. That was an extremely touching scene. Relatives met for the first time in decades wide benches the Kazakhs sit for hours sipping their tea.

after many hardships. The In-tourist bus took us from the airport to the hotel. How overwhelming was the sight before who, among many other achievements, discovered the us! Some 50 to 60 people were standing at the curb with length of the solar year in the thirteenth century to within flowers in their hands. Some had come from far away areas one minute and two seconds of today's measurements. The to meet relatives. They had not seen each other for decades. performance of Swan Lake in Tashkent proved that the When the bus stopped they burst wholeheartedly into the appreciation of Western culture goes hand-in-hand with song, "Nun danket alle Gott" (Now thank we all our God). the ancient. There was hardly a dry eye among the people in the bus nor those standing at the curb. I had immediately recognized Before we proceed from this area located adjacent to two of my cousins with their children. Barely was the door China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, beyond the Caspian opened and everyone located his relatives or friends. Only one more incident in this strange land.

OCTOBER 1970 149

(WP6, p.17)

Some of the fifty to sixty people who had come from far away places to meet their relatives at Alma-Ata.

Intourist had arranged for the tourists and relatives to have a picnic in the mountains on the shores of the Lake Issik Kul. The next day the bus took first the tour members and then returned to bring their guests. Thus, the group settled down to visit along a swiftly Tashkent has a modern city interspersed with the flowing stream in a beautifully wooded area. ancient city. We visited one of the many kindergartens and a number of bazaars (open Here we were in seclusion and "among markets), where watermelons were the most ourselves" using High German, Low common produce. German, Russian, and occasionally English. In addition to the picnic lunch, some bought Shashlik, here known as Shishkebab, from a near-by "hamburger stand". It was most touching when a group started singing the old hymns which had been a comfort to those who were some 3000 miles away from their former Ukranian home. After they had exhausted their supply of hymns, they sang some of the old German folksongs they had learned in elementary and secondary schools. When they sang the song, "Wenn ich den Wanderer frage, wo gehst du hin," which was followed by the sad answer, "Hab' keine Heimat mehr," it touched all very deeply and made all long for that which they had lost or which they sought. After our visit in Central Asia, the group departed via Aeroflot to Simferopol on the Crimean peninsula for a two-day visit of this beautiful semi-tropical place on the Black Sea. From here a train took us to Zaporozhe, the former Alexandrovsk, a center of the former Chortitza Mennonite settlement. 150

(WP6, p.18) Zaporozhe this source of electricity and its use. In a matter-of-fact Soon we reached the large Lenin Lake created in fashion, he related his story and then took us to a memorial the Dnieper River by raising the water level to cover at the dam. A simple marker showed the grave of an the rapids by the erection of a huge dam and a large unknown hero. We were told that when the Germans were electric power station. The trip along the lake was an leaving Zaporozhe in 1943, they made all efforts to destroy unusual event. As in the olden days, the passengers the electricity-producing dam. After the retreat of the were offered melons, fruit, and vegetables at the de- Germans, a young Russian was found dead near the dam. In pots. After we had quenched our thirst, we were dis- his hand was a sharp instrument which he had used to cut couraged to drink water. Cases of cholera had been the cable through which the Germans had intended to blow detected not far away. up the dam during their retreat. They killed him when they After the arrival in Zaporozhe, we found ourselves saw what he had done. Standing around the marker of the in a modern city of over a half a million population unknown man, we listened to the sermonette of the which was celebrating its 200th anniversary. The engineer after which he invited us to bow our heads in original name of the city was Alexandrovsk. Among silence. Was this a religious, national, patriotic or com- the founding fathers were some Mennonites who had munist service? established factories here. We had an opportunity to visit this industrial center in which the first Russian combines were built in 1938. Two Mennonite engineers received the high distinction of having Moscow representatives pin the Lenin Order on their coat lapels. The next day we took a boat trip around the Chortitza Island on the shores of which Mennonites established the first settlement in 1789. We also saw the Dneproges electric power station which is one of many on the Dnieper, Volga, and other rivers. The chief engineer spent an hour telling the story of The collective farm visited by the group had just built a new village and a paved street. The delegate Jacob Hoeppner was buried on his farm on Chortitza Island, where later generations erected a monument to his memory. The tombstone and the monument were visited by the Mennonite group, summer 1970. A Collective Farm A very informative visit was a drive from the former Chortitza Mennonite village to a collective farm near Sofievka, not far from the former Molotschna Mennonite settlement. The land area of the farm was nearly 20,000 acres. It was started in 1929 and had undergone several mergers. The farm owns 40 tractors, 13 combines, 920 cows, and several thousand sheep, pigs, and poultry. There were 1721 people belonging to the collective farm of whom 680 are working, 640 are pensioned, and the rest are children. The workers are pensioned at the age of 55 (women) and 60. Education, medical care, and hospitalization are free. Each family owns its own house, has a garden, and possibly a cow or sheep, pigs, and chickens. The collective farm chairman and four of his specialists in agriculture gave us some basic information about the collective farms in Russia. The arrangement between the farm and the government is based on a five-year contract. The government buys from the farm a certain amount of grain (winter wheat primarily), milk, silk, sunflower seed, meat, etc., etc. If the collective farm has produced more than the contract provides

OCTOBER 1970 151

(WP6, p.19) The milkers of the collective farm were ready for the evening milking.

for, the government buys the surplus for a double price or it may be sold at open markets. One could see how the mouth of the Canadian farmers started watering. After this introduction, the group proceeded to inspect the feeding of 400 milk cows. We saw the production of the silage, consisting of corn which was still green and other feeds mixed together. All this was done under trained specialists. When we asked the specialist about the history of the red cow, he said it was introduced by Mennonites and improved by breeding specialists. All breeding is done by artificial insemination. There were a few bulls but we were told they were out of tradition and for inspiration only. After our visit, we proceeded to a grove, past beautiful fields ready for sowing winter wheat. In the grove we found a table laden with food. The usual salad, smoked tongue, borscht, stuffed peppers, steak, pastry and fruit were followed by coffee, milk, and honey. The Russian toastmaster was well-qualified to handle his glass swiftly and to express words of friendship smoothly. In Rosenthal near Chortitza, the editor visited the place where he was born and the. elementary school he attended. Between the Chortitza and Molotchansk two he crossed the Chortitza River: which still had ducks as in When the Germans in World War II withdrew from the olden days. Zaporozhe and the Mennonite settlements of Chortilza and Molotschna, they took along the remaining population including the Mennonites. Little was .known of what happened to the settlements and Mennonite villages in the Ukraine since that time. We were among the first to visit the centers of these villages at Chortitza and Molotschna. It was and still is generally assumed that the villages were mostly destroyed during the last war. This was not the case in Chortitza and Halbstadt. Driving through the village streets, we stopped wherever we found public buildings such as schools, hospitals, factories, etc. Many pointed out the homes in which they were born. I located the school I had attended. When I came to the place where I

152 MENNONITE LIFE

(WP6, p.20) was born, I found the brick structure had been replaced by a smaller building. The villages were kept about the way they were left by the departing owners. A later visit may make it possible to determine the actual conditions. The industrial centers were functioning in both Chortitz and Halbsladt (Molotchansk). The trip to Molotchansk was unusual. It was special. It was not on the itinerary. Nevertheless, be- cause of a request it was made possible for twelve members to visit this former center of the Molotschna Mennnonite settlement. The trip took us through the adjacent German Lutheran settlement, known as Prishib. We could easily recognize the former German villages and structures on the way to Molotchansk. There were no signs of deterioration or neglect on the streets nor in the fields, yards, or houses. Out in the open we saw one church which was not in use and in disrepair. Through Intourist we had hired four taxis to make this approximately fifty-mile trip. The cost was only ten dollars per person. It seemed that some of the chauffeurs were more than just good drivers. Their stiffness melted when we arrived in Molotchansk where a friendly young man greeted us on the street and introduced himself as the chairman of the Soviet Council of the town (mayor). He was extremely The backyard of the Chortitza Zentralschule [secondary helpful and showed us around. He was evidently school] and the girls’ secondary school. Teachers and delighted to have some contact with foreigners who students were just getting ready for the next school year. showed interest in his city. When we parted after a two-hour visit, consisting primarily of photographing the landmarks of the town, our friend waved at us and said, "Until we meet again." At this occasion it is in place to say a word about the Intourist services. They were good everywhere, but particularly so in Zaporozhe, where the interpreter and guide, Larissa, was extraordinarily understanding and helpful, as was her supervisor, Ivan Ivanovitch, who gave her constant support in her responsibility.

Back to Moscow When our plane arrived at the Moscow airport, my wife, daughter, and I had a surprise. We had left Kiev before breakfast and were now ready for a good breakfast at Moscow. On our way, we met my brother and three sisters. On one hand this was expected and yet it was overwhelming. We had expected this to happen but did not dare believe it until it was a reality. After all, a separation of over four decades becomes almost a permanent separation. One must get used to seeing and actually feeling the brothers and sisters. The Lenin monument in front of the teachers' first day was to get reacquainted. In this process I had training school (Padagogische Schule) at the embarrassing experience of seeing myself in the Chortitza. It was still used for the same purpose face of my brother. Although he is younger, it always for which it was built. seemed to me that I looked into a mirror when I saw him. It was like a dream to spend three days with my brother and sisters—who had traveled more than two days from their home in the "Ural Mountains—in Moscow in

MENNONITE LIFE 153

(WP6, p.21)

One of the many churches of Moscow which the tour At the close of the service in the Baptist Church on the group visited. Many of them are being restored as last day in Moscow, the congregation sang “God be with national monuments of architecture, art, and history. you till we meet again.” the Kremlin and saw the magnificence and splendor all waved their handkerchiefs. The next morning of Russian czars in a museum and the richest we ended our Russian journey by flying to collection of Russian art in the Tretyakovskaya Winnipeg where we arrived in the evening. We gallery. They could not grasp that all this happened had had a most memorable trip! to them nor could we believe it had happened to us. And yet, it was reality as it was to others who spent [Those interested in a tour of Russia in the up to ten days with relatives in their homes. The last summer of 1971 should contact Menno Travel evening the whole group went to a Russian Baptist Service, 726 Main St., Newton, Kansas 67114 or service. In closing the congregation sang in Russian the editor of Mennonite Life who has been asked "God be with you till we meet again." Some wiped their tears and to serve as tour leader.)

OCTOBER 1970 155

(WP6, p.23) The American Historical Society Of Germans From Russia Greeley, Colorado

Dear Mr. Miller,

The large picture of the church in Frank states that the building on the right of the picture is the school. Actually it is the prayer house which is arranged like a church with an altar. The only schooling we had (there) was 3 weeks confirmation classes before Pentacost, and 2 weeks in the fall. At that time the students from Frank, Walter, Kolb, Hussenbach, Neu-Frank and Neu- Walter all attended. The church was 2 blocks north and south, with the prayer house and the parsonage, and one block east and west. The church has no heating system. Since it was not as wide a city block, the streets east and west were wider than an ordinary street. The northwest corner of the church fence was the town market (Tsazzap), where three times a year was held "Gurmeth", things we re exciting then. The village "Gemeinde" school was east of the church. The street that ran from the church to the east was called "Broad" street, and was the dividing line between the upper and lower village. The school was the first building that was three stories high. It held 8 classes, and was built of red brick. We had one hour of German and one of Russian, but no spelling. We learned the letters as they were learned in Russian. I sent 3 pictures to you, one of the mill, one of people hauling water from the river, and one of the blacksmith shop. I have had several letters from Frank. The big attraction in Frank now is the gas industry, which has drawn many people from other villages to Frank. There is still much handicraft work done. The Government of Russia has built apartment houses of three or four stories high where the workers live. I would like to see the city again today if it were possible.

Best wishes to the Society from.. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Grosskopf,

Bennet, Colorado.

(WP6, p.24) Saskatchewan History

Vol. XX Winter 1967 Number 1

St. Joseph’s Colony, Balgonie SAINT Joseph's Colony is a small community located four miles east of Balgonie, Saskatchewan, and one mile south of the C.P.R. main line. The settlers who formed the colony decided, after going onto their homestead quarter sections, that they would establish a hamlet in order to strengthen social, religious and community ties. These original settlers were German Catholics who emigrated mainly from Josephstal, a small colony near Odessa, in Southern Russia. Their ancestors had previously emigrated from Germany to Southern Russia in the early part of the nineteenth century, drawn there by the prospect of improving their living conditions. Czarina Catherine II of Russia issued the first ukase concerning German immigrants on the 22nd of July, 1763, granting free land on either side of the Volga to the Germans. Very successful colonies were established in that region. Shortly after Alexander I came to the throne in 1801, he issued a similar manifesto, offering the Germans land above the Black Sea for settlement. Briefly, the terms of the edict, which was similar to the earlier one issued by Catherine, granted full exemption from military service, complete religious freedom, and full freedom to conduct their own schools and their own judiciary. The settlers were to live in colonies, every family receiving 162 acres of land and every single person, 81 acres. This included a lot in the colony, 100 by 600 feet and the use of common pasture in the immediate vicinity of every colony.1 These terms encouraged many Germans to leave their homeland to escape the crowded living conditions and the warfare prevalent in Europe at the time. To get to their new homes in Russia, the settlers traveled overland by wagon. Groups of 25 to 100 families traveled together through Austria, Czechoslovakia, Moravia, and Galicia until they reached the Russian border city of Radziwillow, where they rested from two to three weeks. There they were taken up as Russian citizens and assigned their place of settlement. They were also given provisions for their further journey and a guide who would bring them over the endless and monotonous steppes to Odessa. The journey from Germany to their final destination was not only slow and tedious, but also very long since it often took them from 20 to 25 weeks. What those immigrants went through, the hardships they endured on that long journey, and the many privations and inconveniences they were subjected to, can easier be imagined than described. But, as so many immigrants before them and after them, they were spurred on by the blessed hope of finding a new land where they would build their homes and would be assured of a better future for themselves and their children2. The founders of the colony of Josephstal came from the Rhineland, Alsace, Lorraine, Baden, Würtemburg, Silesia, Bohemia, Switzerland and Hungary. By the time the settlers arrived in Southern Russia, winter was upon them, so they were billeted in cramped quarters in Odessa. (1) Aberle, G. P. From the Steppes to the Prairies, Bismarck, N.D., Bismarck Tribune Co., 1964. pp. 16, 19. (2) Ibid,. p. 32.

(WP6, p.25) 2 SASKATCHEWAN HISTORY

In March, 1804, thirty-two families were moved by the authorities from Odessa to a site on the east side of the river Baraboi, some seventeen miles south- west of Odessa. In a single day, under the instruction and supervision of the first colonial inspector, Joseph Schimiot, thirty-two wicker-work huts were built. More families came in later years and when the colony was eventually completed in 1810, it contained sixty-eight families3. The various German colonies prospered. Vineyards, orchards, and fields of grain were cultivated, livestock increased, and neat, orderly villages were erected. Some of the settlements expanded from their original holdings by purchasing land from Russian landowners. Because of the prosperity of the farms and the privileges granted by the government, the Germans were reasonably content until the privileges were withdrawn by Alexander II. In 1891 the welfare committees of the settlers were eliminated placing the German settlers directly under the jurisdiction of the Governors of the provinces4. Thus the Germans lost what little local autonomy they had. The Czar withdrew the exemption from military service and passed a new ukase requiring the German children to be instructed in the Russian language5. Understandably the colonists became apprehensive and many of the Volga Germans decided to leave the country even before the full meaning of the reforms became apparent6. In 1874, emissaries were sent by the Volga Germans to the United States and South America to investigate prospective localities for resettlement. As a result, by the time service in the Russian army was imposed on the Germans in 1876, groups of Volga Germans had already left for Kansas. Judiciary reforms in 1876 deprived the colonists of their separate local courts of justices and judges. Hitherto, only the most serious cases were tried before Russian judges in the district and state courts. Lesser crimes were tried in the colonists' courts. With the judiciary reforms of 1876, all cases were tried before Russian judges who readily overlooked not only petty crimes of stealing but more serious crimes committed by the Russian serfs against the German colonists. Antagonism between the Russians and Germans had been building up over a number of years arising from the envy of the serfs for the better farms and general prosperity of the Germans. Resentment also arose because the Russian govern- ment officials exhorted the Russians to emulate the industry and progressive farming practices of the German settlers7. With the loss of the privileges originally granted them, and the open animosity of the envious Russians, the German settlers decided they would have to leave. The first migrations were from the Volga region [untrue!], but the Ukraine-Germans were more reluctant to leave because of the milder climate and the excellent farms they had created in the more fertile region north of the Black Sea. Here, too, the

(3) Keller, Rev. P. C. Die Deutschen Kolonien in Suedrussland, Stadelmeir, Russia, 1905, p. 213. (4) Hildebrand, J. J. Chronologische Zeittafel, Winnipeg, 1945, p. 234. (5) Canada, Sessional Papers, 1874, No. 9, p. xii. (6)Aberle. G. P. op. cit., p. 68. (7) Ibid., pp. 63, 69.

(WP6, p.26) ST. JOSEPH'S COLONY, BALGONIE 3 settlers finally decided they would have to leave. The poorer settlers, as long as they could raise the cost of transportation, found leaving relatively easy as they had little to lose. The richer settlers had more difficulty as there were not enough purchasers for their expensive holdings. As emigration increased, though, the price of land fell and some of the more prosperous farmers were able to leave. These factors, combined with the fact that passports were not issued to those of military age, caused emigration to be carried on over a prolonged period and families were split up8. The emigrants from both regions went to South America and to Kansas and the Dakotas in the United States, but Canada also appeared as a land of hope to the Russian Germans. In the 1870's Canada was actively soliciting Europeans as possible immigrants for its vast territories. In 1872, "Very considerable sums were voted by [the Canadian] Parliament to promote immigration …" and the [Canadian] Government placed agents to secure immigrants in promising cities, chiefly in Europe, and a Select Committee of the House of Commons on Immigration and Colonization was constituted, with James Trow as chairman, to exercise a general supervision9. Mr. Wilhelm Hespeler, a Canadian immigration agent of German birth, while on a visit to his former home in Baden-Baden in the summer of 1872, learned from a Russian, Count Menshikov, that a large number of Mennonites living in Southern Russia were considering emigrating. This information Mr. Hespeler immediately forwarded to the Canadian Immigration Committee. He was subsequently authorized to proceed to Southern Russia as the official representative of the Canadian government, to assure the Mennonites there of a hearty welcome in Canada and that they would enjoy all the rights and privileges they had enjoyed in Russia, By good fortune for the Canadian Government, Mr. Hespeler's visit to South Russia in March, 1872, coincided with the feeling of unrest caused by the reforms of Alexander II. By avoiding the Russian police, Mr. Hespeler managed to contact a large number of German Mennonites living around the Black Sea region. The result of this visit was the migration of more than 7,000 Mennonites to Manitoba by 187610. Mr. Hespeler returned to Southern Russia in November, 1872, where he continued his solicitations in the Odessa region, but under cover11. He found that the most effective way to further immigration to the Dominion was to go from place to place and call on the clergy12. It is possible that Father J. Wanner, parish priest at Josephstal from 1871 to 1895, may have been contacted by Mr. Hespeler at this time. Many of the Ukraine-Germans had adopted a watchful attitude, but the intensified Russification program of "one literature, one language, and one religion"13 of Alexander II in 1881, resulted in a large number of colonists choosing migration rather than complete assimilation. (8) Ibid., p. 71. (9) Morton, A. S. History of Prairie Settlement, Toronto: Macminan, 1938, p. 54. (10) Hildebrand, J. J., op. cit., pp. 331, 340. (11) Ibid., p. 236. (12) Canada, Sessional Papers, 1873. No. 26, p. 153. (13) Thomas and Hamm, Modern Europe, p. 500.

(WP6, p.27) 4 SASKATCHEWAN HISTORY

The migrants had to find their way back to Germany where they reported to a Dominion Immigration agent. The agent would then make the travel arrangements, and sometimes even provide financial assistance, to aid the migrants on their journey to Canada. Most of the early settlers embarked at Amsterdam, then sailed via Liverpool to Kessel Gardens in New York. From New York they went west by train to Minnesota, then north by boat and carriage, arriving in Winnipeg some three weeks later14. The first of these Russian German settlers who came from Josephstal to settle near Balgonie consisted of four families, Anton Diewold, his wife Lucy Neigel and their son Albinus; Joseph Diewold, his wife Katherine Schafer and four children, Peter, Dominik (Tom), Magdalena and Elizabeth; Johann Kuntz and his wife Caroline Laturnas and six children; George Eckert and his wife, Regina Kuntz. When these four families arrived in Winnipeg in the early part of 1886, they reported to the immigration office. They were advised of land available for homesteading in the Balgonie region, and the agent offered to take them there for an "on-site" inspection. Anton Diewold, fearing that this faraway land was inhabited by Indians, chose to remain in Winnipeg. Joseph Diewold, Johann Kuntz and George Eckert accompanied the immigration agent to Balgonie via the Canadian Pacific Railway. Subsequently, the agent conducted the three immigrants to the center of section 32, township 17, range 16, west of the second meridian. The proximity of the available four quarters appealed to the new homesteaders. In order that the land would be allotted without favoritism, the agent suggested that the three homesteaders draw straws. The results of the draw gave Joseph Diewold the NW1/4, George Eckert the SW1/4, Johann Kuntz the SE1/4 and the remaining quarter section was assigned to Anton Diewold in his absence15. This land is one mile south of the present colony and is still farmed by Lawrence and John Kuntz, grandsons of Johann Kuntz. The three settlers returned to Winnipeg with the agent to get their families. Here they also received loans from the Canadian Pacific Railway Company with which to purchase supplies. The money was loaned at six per cent compound interest, and a lien was placed on the land by the company16. Part of the lien note illustrates how the loan was used by Johann Kuntz: One yoke of oxen $100.00 One double ox harness 10.00 One hill plow 20.00 Half interest in wagon 31.25 Freight on oxen, cow and implements 10.89 Freight on cook stove 1.18 Cash advanced for supplies 1.30

(14) Verbal Report, Wendel Wagman, Regina. (15) Verbal Report, Dominik Diewold, Regina. (16) Archives of Saskatchewan, (A.S.) Department of the Interior, Homestead Records, File No. 251021.

(WP6, p.28) ST. JOSEPH'S COLONY, BALGONIE 5

As this list indicates, the settlers sometimes cut expenses by sharing the cost of equipment. When space became available, supplies, along with their families, were loaded into box cars and shipped to Balgonie. The settlers arrived at Balgonie on May 22, 1886 accompanied by Herman John Maas, a Canadian Pacific Railway land agent from Winnipeg, who came provided with tents and supplies to help the settlers get established. Many were the trials and tribulations in store for these new homesteaders. Nature had prepared a rousing welcome. During their first night, under tents, there was a tremendous electric storm, accompanied by heavy winds and rain. They were not aware that wet ropes on the tents would shrink and should have been loosened. They soon came to grief, for the ropes broke and the tents blew away, exposing them to the fury of the elements and the hordes of hungry mosquitoes. On arrival at their homestead sites, they constructed sod houses by ploughing furrows, cutting turned sod into lengths, and setting them as one would bricks, to form a wall. The floor was nature's own, while the roof was made from tree trunks. These, covered with hay, were in turn covered with more sod to repel the wind, rain and snow. Joseph Diewold simply excavated his first living quarters out of the side of a hill, covering the roof with tree trunks and sod17. Three of the quarter sections homesteaded by these earliest settlers of the Josephstal group were ultimately patented in the names of the original claimants or their heirs. George Eckert died in 1890 and, after an unsuccessful attempt to get a better farm in the United States, his widow and his son Anton returned to Canada and the original quarter section was patented in Anton's name in 1903. Johann Kuntz also sought better lands in the United States, returned and got patent for his land. Joseph Diewold lived on his quarter continuously and received patent for it in 1896. Anton Diewold only lived on the NE1/4 until May 1887. In 1889 it was filed on by Johann Klotz in whose name it was ultimately patented. However, Anton Diewold remained in the district purchasing and homesteading other lands a few years later. Letters written by these four settlers to friends and relatives in Russia en- couraged others to come from the same region of South Russia. Over a number of years, small groups of settlers arrived taking up homesteads near the original four families. In the fall of 1886, the following settlers came: Peter Yunker and his wife Aggie Weist, children Max and Joseph; Wendel Wagman and his wife Phillipine Laturnas; Balthasar Wagman (his wife Grace Marci came later); Christian Grad and his wife Barbara Bachman and children, Adam, Peter, Magdalena and Elizabeth; Anton Schafer and Philip Wiesgerber, both single. The following settlers came in 1887: Frank Wagman and his wife Eva Heinz; Frank Geiger and his wife Margaret Maurat and children, Peter, Gervasius, Protasius, and others; Prank Neigel, his wife Katie Becker, and his brother John, who was single. In

(17) Verbal Report, Dominik Diewold, Regina.

(WP6, p.29) 6 SASKATCHEWAN HISTORY

1889 John Klotz came with his wife Johanna Maurat; Thecla Materi and Christina Selenski came from Marienthal (Thecla Materi married Anton Schafer shortly after arrival); Anton Leibel arrived with his wife Barbara Schafer and three children, Barbara, Magdalena and Henry. Stanislaus Laturnas came in 1890 with his wife Regina Bachmeier and two children, and in 1891 Andreas Leibel brought his wife Magdalena Keiser. In 1892 Florian Becker and Anton Bengert, both single, reached the colony, also Anton Bachman with his wife, Theresa Herzog; John Weist and his wife Elizabeth Herzog; Peter Konanz and his wife Barbara Diewold and children Anton and Maria; Kosmas Matt and his wife Regina Schafer; Paul Wagner and his sons Albert and Philip, from Austria; Leo Reilander from Klosterdorf; and Anton Kaiser, from Frankfeld18. The early settlers encountered difficult conditions. They had the usual problems connected with getting established in a strange land and on new farms. The homestead files indicate that the settlers were as industrious as any in preparing the land for cultivation and planting crops but many of the Russia- Germans came to Canada at a time when crops were generally poor due to drought. When there was a good growing season, some crops were destroyed by hail, frost or prairie fires. These natural hazards meant that the settlers were unable to meet their financial obligations. An example of this is Gervasi Geiger who went onto his homestead in 1891. He was gradually increasing the cultivated area and getting more stock, when, in the fall of 1896, his stable, granary, all of the hay stored for the winter and a crop of thirty acres of wheat and oats were destroyed by prairie fire19. Father Zerbach, in his letter of the 17th of April, 1897, to the Archbishop at Winnipeg, noted that "Worse than it has been in 1893 and 1894 it will never be." The Mounted Police report for 1895 also makes reference to this situation. Quite a number of the Germans settled about Balgonie are leaving. They were crowded together, their crops have been failures until this year, and they have become burdened with debt. Although their grain crops did not grow, the interest crops did, and being unable to meet any payment for several years, small debts have grown into big ones until many of the unfortunate homesteaders find themselves submerged20. Information that some settlers were planning to leave was brought to the attention of the Department of the Interior officials when J. B. Hawkes, a merchant of Balgonie and a distributor for seed grain, reported that he was approached by bondsmen for seed grain debts to see if anything could be done to make the settlers pay their debts. The bondsmen feared these debts would become further liabilities against their own lands. The difficulties of Johann Kuntz21 illustrate the financial burden and other difficulties which induced some of the settlers to leave. In 1886 he received a colonization advance of $174.62 from the Canadian Pacific Railway but because of (18) Zimmerman, Rev. A. Zum Fuenfzigjaerigen Jubilaeum, Pamphlet, (Translated), pp. 9-10. (19) A.S. Department of the Interior, Homestead Records, File No. 333573. (20) Canada, Sessional Papers, 1896, No. 25, p. 58. (21) A.S. Department of the Interior, Homestead Records, File No. 251021.

(WP6, p.30) ST. JOSEPH'S COLONY, BALGONIE 7 poor crops he was prevented from making any payments on the loan. By 1897, the interest charges at six per cent had increased the debt by $108.05, Johann Kuntz also incurred seed grain debts, and liens were placed against his land for $29.10 in 1890 and $19.68 in 1895. Besides these seed grain debts incurred for his own use, Kuntz was bondsman for the debts of other settlers, even as they were bonds-men for his. He had also purchased farm equipment from the Massey- Harris Company costing $514.00. Although he had paid a considerable part of this debt, charges on the balance left an account of $348.70 still to be settled in 1896. He feared that the company would persuade him to mortgage everything, and then foreclose if he was unable to make further payments. These financial difficulties were aggravated by the fact that he had to pay for an extensive but unsuccessful search for water on his farm. Lacking water he had the expense of moving from his homestead to St. Joseph's Colony. His crop of 1895 was destroyed by frost and by 1896 his difficulties convinced him that he should leave Canada for the United States where he could make a fresh start. At this time relatively cheap lands were still available in the United States and there was not the rush into the Canadian West such as took place ten to fifteen years later. As a result immigration agents were concerned over the possibility of the settlers leaving Canada. The Department of the Interior officials attempted to dissuade him from doing so and discussed his financial problems with him to see if they could not be alleviated.

John T. Stemshorn reported that because Mr. Kuntz was one of the leading settlers of the St. Joseph's Colony, there was a possibility that he might persuade others to leave the district should he find that the conditions were more favorable for settling near Langdon, North Dakota, his intended destination. Mr. Stemshorn pointed out to Mr. Kuntz that should he leave, his land would be patented to the Canadian Pacific Railway, that he wouldn't be able to get homestead land again in Canada if he should leave without paying his debts and then later return, that by not paying his debts, grave reflections would be cast on the German-speaking settlers and the various companies would be more anxious to protect themselves against further losses. The Department interceded with the Massey-Harris Company which was quite willing, if security was given, to divide their claim into three equal payments so that Mr. Kuntz would be freed from the idea that he would be closed out if a mortgage was given. Despite the efforts of Mr. Stemshorn and the offer of the Company, Mr. Kuntz and the other settlers went to the United States some time in 1896. In 1897 the Canadian Pacific Railway foreclosed their lien on the land which Mr. Kuntz had left and sold it to George Zachre, one of the other members of the Colony. After being in the United States for a while, Mr. Kuntz concluded that the advantages of the Balgonie district were greater than those in Dakota and applied for help to return. Not only did the Canadian Pacific Railway provide free transportation back to Balgonie but also gave the returning farmers a specially low rate for their effects. The Company also induced George Zachre to accept a refund of the money he had paid and this enabled Mr. Kuntz to return to his original homestead. As a further inducement to Zachre, the Company allowed him to homestead a quarter section of its land grant which it was holding for sale and this enabled Zachre to remain

(WP6, p.31) 8 SASKATCHEWAN HISTORY

(WP6, p.32) ST. JOSEPH'S COLONY, BALGONIE 9 close to the Colony. It was not until 1903 that the seed grain and the Canadian Pacific Railway liens were paid and patent was issued to Mr. Kuntz. Other families involved in the move away from the St. Joseph's neighborhood were those of Anton Diewold, Andrew Koch, John Konantz, Mrs. George Eckert and her son Anton, and Johan Klotz. During the summer of 1896, Klotz went to Manitoba to locate a better farm. He was only absent a few weeks but during that time an application for inspection, preparatory to cancellation was filed, the applicant stating that Klotz had left the country. Klotz returned shortly after the cancellation was filed and on the statutory declaration he submitted to prove that he still wanted to claim the homestead, J. B. Hawkes, Justice of the Peace, made the notation that "this is one of the men who went away looking for a better place & didn't find it & wishes to take his old place back and will reside on it for good." Some settlers went to North Dakota and others are reported to have gone as far away as Kansas. Andrew Koch went to Montana but returned to settle in St. Peter's Colony, another hamlet formed by German Catholics on Sec. 14-16-17 W2. Difficulties were apparently encountered in the places to which these farmers moved as nearly all returned to Saskatchewan. As in their old home in Russia, the church was the nucleus about which the community was organized. The first church was built in 1887. It was small and was constructed of mud and stone. The church was located immediately adjacent to the southeast corner of the present graveyard, on the homestead of Peter Yunker, NE1/4 6-18-16 W2. The actual measurements of the church are not known, but it was built in a north-south direction, and was large enough to accommodate at least thirty families. The south end of the church was round and contained the altar, and the entrance was located on the northeast corner. In addition to its use for services, the building also functioned as a school. On the north end of the building a small room was added in which the teacher could live. In 1890 a second small room was attached to the church to provide living accommodation for the priest22. The name of the individual who formulated the idea of establishing the hamlet of St. Joseph's Colony is not known. Certainly the idea was not new for these people who had so recently arrived from colonies in South Russia. What was needed was organization and action on a community basis. To this end, thirty families elected a. committee of four: Anton Leibel, Peter Yunker, Wendelm Wagman and Franz Geiger, presumably with instructions to obtain land suitable for the purpose. The committee purchased the east eighty acres of NW1/4 5-18-16 W2 on the 5th of September, 1891, at the price of $4.00 an acre from the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. The entry for this sale shows the principal as $320.00 and the interest as $19.2023. This leads one to speculate that the agreement of sale was probably made in September of 1890, the sum of $19.20 representing the interest at six per cent for one year. There was apparently some additional agreement of sale, as records in the Land Titles Office at Regina show a Transfer Certificate of Title for the north half of the section 5-18/16 W2, containing 320 (22) Verbal Report, Dominik Diewold, Regina. (23) Glenbow Foundation, C.P.R. Land Sales Series, Vol. 109.

(WP6, p.33) 10 SASKATCHEWAN HISTORY acres more or less from the Canadian Pacific Railway to the Committee of the 5th of July, 1897, presumably on completion of payments. The authority for settlement in the colony was obtained under Section 37 of the Dominion Land Act of 1886, which stated that: If a number of homestead settlers embracing at least twenty families, with a view to greater convenience in the establishment of schools and churches, and to the attainment of social advantages of like character, ask to be allowed to settle together in a hamlet or village, the minister may dispense with the foregoing requirements as to residence [i.e., residence on the homestead for three years], but not as to cultivation of each quarter section entered as a homestead24.

A letter from Mr. T. R, Burpee, Secretary of the Commissioner of Dominion Lands, to James A. Smart, Deputy Minister of the Interior at Ottawa, dated the 28th of June, 1898, states, "Under the authority of the then Minister, a hamlet under Clause 37 of the Act was established in July, 1894, on Section 5 T18, R16, W2M. This action being taken upon the application of a number of Russian settlers in the neighborhood.”25 As of this date, the formation of the hamlet was officially authorized. It was called the "Village of Josephstal" by its founders, but it was variously known as St. Joseph's Colony or St. Joseph's Hamlet. Although the colony was officially surveyed by Mr. W. R. Reilly, D.L.S., in June, 1908, a statement written on the survey map in Mr. Reilly's own handwriting indicates that the members had done their own survey some time previously. The irregularity of this survey may be explained by the fact that the several owners of the lots have been in actual possession for years. It is now desired to give each clear title to his land, thus releasing the trustees. To subdivide the land in any other way would not only be an injustice, but would interfere with the agreement of the members of the colony26.

The survey map shows the lots to vary slightly in their shape, but all con- tained 36,750 square feet, and as far as possible measured 350 feet in length and 105 feet in width. Unfortunately, no record has been found of the original survey made by the settlers themselves. The lots were assigned by having each of the interested families draw a number from a hat27. The results of this draw, according to church records, were as follows: Peter Yunker, Lot 1 Kosmos Matt. Lot 10 Stanislaus Laturnas, Lots A. Bachman, Lot 18 2 and 3 George Fisher, Lot 19 Adam Grad, Lot 4 Leonard Stephen, Lot 20 Joseph Materi, Lot 5 Anton Bengert, Lot 21 Heinrich Schafer, Lots 6 Florian Becker, Lot 22 and 8 F. Geiger, Lot 23 Anton Leibel, Lot 7 John Klotz, Lot 25 Martin Marci, Lot 9 P. Bolan, Lot 26

(24) Revised Statutes of Canada, 1886, Ch. 54, Sec, 37, p. 829. (25) A.S. Department of the Interior, Homestead Records File No. 427332. (26) Survey Plan, St. Joseph's Colony, Balgonie, June, 1908. (27) Verbal Report, Frank Wagman, St. Joseph's Colony.

(WP6, p.34) 12 SASKATCHEWAN HISTORY

The Church and Rectory in St. Joseph’s Colony, Balgonie

(WP6, p.36; p.35 follows) ST. JOSEPH'S COLONY, BALGONIE 11 Balthasar Wagman, Lot 11 Fred Geiger, Lot 27 Johannes Kuntz, Lot 12 Christian Grad, Lots 28, 35, 36 Anton J. Schafer, Lot 13 Andreas Leibel, Lot 29 George Schafer, Lot 14 Wendel Wagman, Lot 30 Peter Geiger, Lot 15 George Zachre, Lot 31 Johannes Weist, Lot 16 Franz Wagman, Lot 32 Joseph Diewold, Lots 17 and 24 P. Wagman, Lot 34 Lot 33 is not recorded and presumably was not drawn at this time. It would seem that each of the original thirty families received one lot for a registration fee of $1.00 and that the extra lots which some had drawn were for their grown sons and were sold at $25.00 each, the money going to the church. By good fortune one of the original transfers of the lots was obtained from Dominik Diewold, but the document is not dated. A portion of the "Transfer of Village lot number 24 of the Village of Josephstal by Franz Geiger, Anton Leibel et al to Joseph Diewold" states: We, the undersigned, Franz Geiger, Anton Leibel, Peter Yunker and Wendelin Wagman, all of Balgonie, in the North West Territories in the Dominion of Canada, farmers, being registered owners of an estate . . . described as: 'Village Lot number Twenty-Four (24), of the Village of Josephstal ... do hereby in consideration of the sum of one dollar ($1.00) paid to us ... transfer to the said Joseph Diewold ... all our estate and interest in the said piece or parcel of land.

After St. Joseph's Colony was formed, it was decided to move the church from its original site on the adjacent section to the hamlet. The property upon which the church was constructed was not designated as "church grounds" on the original survey made by the founders of the colony. It was actually two lots which were privately owned. The central location of the lots made them rather ideal as a site for church construction. With this purpose in mind, the lots were acquired in 1897, when they were purchased from John Nichols at a price of $50.00. The first resident priest was Father Erasmus Proth; he came in January, 1892, and stayed until the end of 1894. Prior to this time the spiritual needs of the parish were tended to by occasional visits of various priests, Fathers Bietsch, Sinnet, Gratton, from Regina28. Father J. E. Zerbach took charge of the parish in the early part of 1895. He was an energetic young clergyman who apparently possessed considerable talent as an organizer, for it was under his supervision that the new Church was constructed. Financing the construction of the church and the necessary improvements of the grounds was indeed a big project for so small a community. They obtained money by making a very thorough canvass of all individuals and business people in Balgonie and surrounding towns. The Members of the Legislative Assembly and Members of Parliament were not overlooked, and the names of J. H. Ross, N. Flood-Davin, G. W. Brown, D. Mowatt, G. H. V. Bulyea and others are listed among the contributors. A total of $1,169.50 was collected from 170 people. From Josephstal in Russia the community received 58 ruble and 50 kopeck which at that time amounted to $29.25. The district of Blomfeld donated $350.00. Additional money was obtained by assessing taxes on the village lots at $30.00. (28) Gerein, Rev. Fr., Golden Jubilee Archdiocese of Regina, p. 141. (WP6, p.35) ST. JOSEPH'S COLONY, BALGONIE 13

The church was built with field-stone to a height of approximately six feet, while the superstructure was made of lumber. The basement was made only large enough to accommodate the heating unit and fuel supply. The church was built by S. A. dark, contractor and builder, at a cost of $2,500.00. The cost of the furnishings, fixtures, and other incidentals, amounted to $1,305.15 (e.g. chalice and ciborium, $72.00; pews and altar rail, $250.00; bell, $100.00; confessional, $72.30 etc.). In addition to special collections and special assessments, money was also raised by bazaars, picnics and by the Ladies' Auxiliary. Twelve hundred dollars at six per cent compound interest was borrowed from La Corporation Archiepiscopale C.R. de St. Boniface in 1897. The last payment of $107.90 on this loan was made on the 28th of January, 1917, repayments with interest having started on the 24th of April, 1907. A new two-storey rectory of mud brick was also constructed in 1897; it was located between the present rectory and the church hall. The cost of the mud rectory and a barn built nearby was $759.25. Father Zerbach lived in this rectory until 1903, when the new priest's house was built. The new rectory was built of cut field-stone, at a total cost of $5,370.00, and completed in 1903. Both the church and the rectory are still in use today, but the people are seriously considering the possibility of building a new church, which will probably be located in Balgonie. On the 4th of July, 1917, Archbishop D. E. Mathieu visited the parish and wrote the following comments in the church record book. I come with great pride to the parish of Balgonie, which is one of the oldest in this district. Many parishes have taken their origin from here. The people organized the visit and did their very best to please the Bishop and satisfy his every wish. It is stimulating to see such harmony in the midst of progress for the good of the whole parish. The debts of the parish are all paid; the church is nice; the rectory is big—yes, too big. May God bless these good people. This is the inner wish which comes from the heart of your Archbishop, who will have the most pleasant memories of this visit with you29.

The walls surrounding the main altar and side altars are covered with murals depicting religious scenes. These were painted by Father Heinrich Metzger, a priest from Alsace. He was parish priest at St. Joseph's Colony from July, 1913 until October, 1916 at which time he went to St. Peter's Colony near Kronau, Saskatchewan. During his spare time at Kronau he would return to St. Joseph's Colony to paint the murals30. In the early years, most social functions of the community were carried on in the school, but as the population increased, this proved inadequate. The leaders of the community also felt that with changing social conditions, better facilities for entertainment were needed within the Colony to prevent younger members of the community being attracted to larger centers for their amusements. Under the direction and supervision of Father Justin Heinrich, a (29) Zimmerman, Revl A., op. cit., pp. 15-16. (30) Ibid.

(WP6, p.37) 14 SASKATCHEWAN HISTORY parish priest who came from Alsace in 1923, a parish hall was built in 1928. This was a wood frame building covered with stucco on the outside, and located on lots 26 and 27, immediately east of the church property. The hall measured eighty feet long and thirty-two feet in width; it contained a stage and had a kitchen attached on the southeast corner. It was built largely by voluntary labor, under the supervision of a carpenter. It was financed by voluntary donations and a loan of $2,500.00. The building is still in use today. The church obviously had some priority in the community, but the import- ance of an education for the children was not overlooked. On December 23, 1887, a tract of land consisting of twenty-five sections was formed into the Roman Catholic Public School District of St. Joseph, No. 17 of the North-West Terri- lories. The first meeting of the ratepayers for the district was held at the residence of Peter Yunker on the 20th of December, 1887 and the trustees elected were John Kuntz, Franz Geiger and Wendelin Wagman31. A report on the Roman Catholic Schools for the Winter Term of 1888, gives the teacher's name as T. P. Plamondon, and the number of pupils in attendance as fourteen32. Classes were at first held in the small mud church built in 1887. When the new church was built in 1897, the small, old mud church became the school house. The first notation of the possibility of building a better school is found in the minutes of the annual ratepayers' meeting of the 24th of January, 1901, but it was not until January, 1903 that a decision was made to build a new school. A single-room frame school house with a stone foundation was built on a lot near the Colony. An upstairs was added to the building to provide accommodation for the teacher. The old school house, the original church of the Colony, was no longer used for school purposes. By March, 1903, there were fifty-seven pupils listed on the attendance record of the school and as the community grew, the school enrollment exceeded the facilities available. In 1912 and 1913 school bylaws33 were passed enabling the borrowing of a total of $2,000 to construct additional classroom space. As a result of these expenditures the school consisted of two large classrooms and the living quarters for the teacher. Time and the elements, however, were not kind to this building, and it was removed and replaced by a somewhat smaller structure a few years ago. George E. Newman, who taught in the school for twenty-eight years, became almost an institution in the community. He was an Irish-Catholic born at Port Dalhousie, Ontario, in 1873. After teaching for a few years in Ontario, he came west and began teaching in St. Joseph's School in November, 1902. Besides being the teacher he was also the secretary for the school board and aided the residents with the many forms; letters and legal papers they had to handle. School in- spectors' reports34 mentioned his steady, thorough style of teaching, though it was described as becoming somewhat plodding and old-fashioned in later years.

(31) North-West Territories Gazette, Dec. 31, 1887. p. 162. (32) Report of the Board of Education for the North West Territories, 1887-88, p. 90. (33) Minutes of School Board Meetings, 1912 and 1913. (34) A.S. Department of Education. File 42, Newman, George Edward.

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Of particular importance was the relationship between Mr. Newman and the community as described in reports from 1919 to 1932. Mr. Newman is like a father among his Russian-German Canadians and is much respected by their elders also. His relationship with parents and with children are excellent. Mr. Geo. E. Newman is the right man for the place. His school is composed of Russian German children, Mr. Newman is of course a coreligionist but more important than that fact is his sympathy and understanding of the people who thoroughly trust him. Having taken a reasonable attitude towards them he finds them very willing according to their light to do what he needs for the school. Mr. Newman shows equal sympathy and understanding in the case of the pupils. Some of the methods used in teaching are not the most modern but on the other hand Mr. Newman knows his pupils so well and the pupils are so accustomed to their teacher that quite good work is accomplished.

Mr. Newman kept firm discipline over the pupils even though at times they found him quite strict, even stern. He was an industrious teacher and, expecting the pupils to be likewise, had work so organized that there was no time for dawdling or getting into mischief. It is worth noting that the inspector who stated his teaching was somewhat plodding and old fashioned also commented most favorably on his firm, patient and careful teaching and on the fine qualities he was trying to instill in his pupils. Other than the school buildings, the church buildings and the parish hall, the Colony had no public buildings or commercial establishments. Stores and other business institutions were available in Balgonie. St. Joseph's Colony was purely a residential settlement. Those settlers whose farms were reasonably close built good homes and barns in the colony and operated their farms from there. Others lived on their homesteads all year round, but owned lots in the colony, perhaps expecting to build a home there some day in which they might live upon retirement. Still others lived in the colony during the winter months and on their farms during the summer. The homes of the settlers whether on the farm homestead or within the hamlet, were usually constructed of mud brick, lumber being used for the doors, window frames and roof. The buildings were long and rectangular in shape, with living quarters in one end and the barn in the other. Sometimes a small repair shop would be placed between the house and the barn, but at other times, there would be direct communication from the living quarters into the stable. The door itself was divided horizontally in the middle. This allowed opening of the top half for ventilation, while the closed bottom half would prevent animals from entering the house. The bricks were constructed by making a thorough mixture of mud, clay and water, the mixing being done by leading horses across a clay pit until such time as the proper consistency was obtained. Straw would be added to this mixture to act as a binding material. The mixture would then be made into bricks by means of a mold, measuring approximately eight inches by eight inches by sixteen

(WP6, p.39) 16 SASKATCHEWAN HISTORY

(WP6, p.40) ST. JOSEPH'S COLONY, BALGONIE 17 inches. The bricks were laid out in the sun to dry and turned at frequent intervals. Some farmers were fortunate to find almost pure clay for bricks and did not use mud or straw. If these bricks were dried properly they became almost as hard as concrete. In fact, some settlers and some homestead inspectors, when describing buildings for official purposes, stated that the houses were made of "concrete" or "mud concrete". Others described their houses as "adobe" or "mud brick". The bricks would be used for constructing the walls much as the modern bricklayer does, using a heavy clay mud as the binding mortar between the bricks. Fieldstone was also used where available and the farmers used for mortar either limestone reduced in a kiln or a good quality clay. The completed brick wall received a final coat of clay on both the inside and outside, trowelled on, much as plaster is used. This would result in a wall of some twenty to twenty-four inches thick. Those who desired applied a coat of whitewash. The life expectancy of the outer layer was dependent upon the amount of rain. On the average, all or a portion of this would require replacement annually. Granaries, sheds, or other buildings, were also built of mud, but with a somewhat less elaborate construction. The walls of these buildings were con- structed simply of mud and stone, the walls measuring two-and-a-half to three feet in thickness. The roof was made of supporting rafters of trees or lumber, and these in turn covered with hay and earth. The better buildings, of course, had the roof constructed of lumber. The approximate value of these buildings is mentioned in homestead records. When Joseph Diewold applied for patent for his second homestead he stated that his residence duties were fulfilled by living in St. Joseph's Hamlet where he had a house, fifty feet by eighteen feet, valued at $800.00 and two stables thirty-five feet by eighteen feet and twenty feet by thirty- five feet valued at $500.00 and $300.00. He also had a small "mud-stone" house on his homestead valued at $100.0035. Entertainment consisted of box socials, dances, folk singing and card games held in private homes. After the school house was built in 1903, community social functions were held there. At Easter the game indulged in by nearly everyone was "Eier Kugelen". Translated literally it means "egg bowling". The game consisted of rolling hard-boiled, colored eggs down a grooved tract four feet long, set at approximately a forty/five degree angle, the eggs being rolled onto a blanket on the floor, so that they would not break. The object was to hit the opponents' eggs with the egg being rolled. Any eggs hit by the "kugler" (shooter) would become his property. The life of the community was completely church orientated, and all church feasts, fasts, and days of obligation were strictly observed. Lent was a period of mourning. All musical instruments would be put away, dancing was prohibited and even whistling was frowned upon. In the home of Florian Becker the order of the day consisted of rosary every evening, followed by a period of one half to one hour of reading of the Bible by Mr. Becker. Dress among the people was the same as worn elsewhere. The ladies wore (35) A.S. Department of the Interior, Homestead Records, File No. 518243.

(WP6, p.41) 18 SASKATCHEWAN HISTORY ankle-length dresses, closed at the neck, and usually made of dark material. Their coats were short in comparison, and were about knee length. For dress purposes, the men usually wore dark suits, shirts with high white collars and a tie. The overcoats were long, either of cloth or fur, depending on the individual's tastes and financial status. The story of the settlers in the St. Joseph's Colony parallels in many respects that of other Russian-Germans in nearby hamlets such as St. Peter's, St. Mary's and Rastadt. These settlers did not come to Canada under well-organized, large- scale immigration plans such as those that brought the Barr Colonists, the Doukhobors, Mennonites and other groups. Instead, they came in small family groups organized mainly through personal initiative, and usually on the advice of immigration agents or friends and relatives who had preceded them. Hamlets were not formed in any preconceived pattern as were the settlements formed when the Germans moved to Russia. Instead, the settlers went onto their separate homesteads and later established hamlets to strengthen community ties. These hamlets were generally residential areas only, the settlers looking to the larger nearby towns such as Balgonie, Sedley, Odessa, Kronau and Vibank as their commercial centers. In the days of slow transportation the hamlets filled an obvious need in the lives of the early settlers but in the days of more rapid trans- portation, the hamlets, like many villages in Saskatchewan, are declining in importance. The hamlets, though, once played an important part in the lives of the settlers and are an interesting aspect of the history of the province. A. BECKER

The author wishes to thank Mr. Frank Wagman of St. Joseph's Colony for much of the information in this article.

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MIGRATION OF THE FIRST RUSSIAN GERMANS TO DAKOTA

By Friedrich Mutschelknaus (1852-1929)

At the beginning of the 70's in the last century, there was much unrest in the German colonies in Russia. The Germans had been given the promise by Empress Catherine that they would be exempt from military service as long as the sun and the moon remained in the heavens. This privilege was terminated with widespread unrest resulting. Old Johannes Sailer said to us in Johannestal, "No, I’ll never be a soldier. And no claw will I leave here." By that he meant his sons, as he had seven of them. Thereupon an exchange of letters with his brother-in-law Ludwig Bette in America began. Ludwig Bette and August Scheller had migrated from Johannestal to America around the year 1849 and, on an island near Sandusky, Ohio, operated a vineyard, becoming well-to-do. Twenty-one other families had migrated to America at that time with Bette and Scheller. If all were from Johannestal, I am unable to say9. It may have been in the last days of June or in the first days of July, 1872, that Ludwig Bette arrived in Johannestal from America, visiting his brothers-in-law Johannes Sailer and Jacob Steiger. Following discussions with him, four families pledged themselves to migrate to America. They were his brothers-in-law Johannes Sailer and Jacob Steiger, Michael

9. Rath, "Die Russlanddeutschen ..." p.26; Wenzlaff, A Son of Colonia the Forgotten, p.90. Bette was born in Johannestal in 1821 and married in 1840. He wanted to emigrate to the United States with his family, his widowed mother, and a younger brother and sister in 1842, but for some reason the plan was abandoned. In 1849 however, Bette, his family, and a small following of friends embarked from Odessa on a stormy 103-day voyage to the United States. The reason for their emigration is not clear. After a short stay in Cleveland, Ohio, Bette and his next of kin went to Kellys Island, an island in Lake Erie near Sandusky, Ohio, where they became successful winegrowers. Apparently some of Bette's friends settled in Burlington, Iowa, for Peter H. Griess, in the following article, recalled meeting a number of his countrymen there in 1873 who had come to America twenty-four years before.

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Schatz and Matthaeus Sailer, the son of Johannes. At this time numerous gatherings were held at which many people were present. Firstly, many were happy to see this old acquaintance again, and, secondly, they were also inquisitive to learn about America. The czarist government naturally looked upon the presence of Ludwig Bette with a jaundiced eye. He was also the guest in the country of various landowners, and it is possible that he incautiously made unfavorable comparisons between the United States and Czarist Russia. Then one day it was reported that the authorities were looking for him for stirring up the people. Of course the officials thought it would be easy to arrest him for, as an American, he was easily recognizable, wearing a tailored suit and a cylinder hat. But good friends helped him. The cylinder hat was hurriedly discarded and a cap substituted, such as we wore, and his fine clothes were exchanged for German farmer clothes. Friends hustled him to the border, and then one day we heard that Ludwig Bette was gone. The above-named four families sold their crops, though even yet standing in the fields. Because they were the first to leave, they encountered many difficulties in obtaining passports. Robert Levi, the church secretary, first had to write out the application and other papers, and it was necessary to go to Nikolajew, to Odessa and even to the city of Cherson, to obtain the necessary papers from the authorities. It took so much time that these first emigrants had left only a short time before the departure of a second party. To the second party belonged my father Jakob Mutschelknaus, Gottlieb and Ludwig Sailer, sons of old Johannes Sailer, Gottfried Mehrer and others whose names I cannot recall. From Rohrbach, there were the families of Peter Moos, Adam Zimbelmann, Jacob Huber and others; from Worms, there were Jacob and Johann Kusler and others. This second party, before leaving, reaped their crops, threshed and sold them, and sold or auctioned off their belongings.

(WP6, p.44)

On the 17th of October, 1872, the second party left Johannestal to board the train at Odessa. It was a beautiful, sunny autumn day; only our hearts were sad. Especially for me, Friedrich Mutschelknaus, and for my parents-in-law, Gottlieb Delzer. On the 3rd of October of that year, I had been married, and now we were making the long trip to America. My parents-in-law had only one thought, that they would never again see their daughter Caroline. Among the other families, too, there was much sorrow; for America at that time was a much greater distance from Russia than it is today.

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"She is leaving and I'll never see her again!" So said my father-in-law. But he was wrong for in September, 1874, my parents-in-law also came to America. On the evening of the 18th of October, we arrived in Odessa, and on the following morning, at about 7:00 o'clock, we boarded the train for Germany. It took about three days until we arrived at Hamburg where we stopped off for two days. Next a steamboat took us to Hull on the east coast of England. The North Sea was very lively, giving us our first experience with seasickness. From Hull we went to Liverpool by train. On a Saturday evening, at about 7:00 o'clock, we arrived in Liverpool where we had to wait four days until we were driven to a large ocean liner. Up to now the trip had been tolerable. But after we had steamed three days and three nights toward the west, we encountered terrible storms. Doors were fastened securely so that no one could go out on deck. High waves swept over the ship, damaging it extensively. Much of the superstructure was torn from the deck, and finally the propeller was so damaged that it could no longer be used. It was for us during that awful night as it was for the tribe of Israel in the Wilderness, and all our people cried out in their anguish and fright, "There were no graves for us in Russia; we had to come here to drown." But where one's misery is the greatest, there God's help is the nearest. No one drowned and the storm calmed itself. Because the ship was damaged too extensively, it could no longer proceed and must, therefore, turn around even though at night. When we came on deck the next morning, we saw that instead of proceeding toward the west, we were going toward the east. Because the machines could not be used, the ship had to set sails. The return to Ireland required six days and nights. We had to wait three days in the Irish port until another ship arrived. Then there was another delay of three days to transfer the stores of the ship, and on the fourth day we were again ready to sail toward the west. Because we again encountered high seas throughout the onward voyage, we were a total of thirty-six days on the water.

(WP6, p.46) THE RUSSIAN GERMANS 387

Early in December, we arrived safely in New York. On account of the damaged ship, we had lost so much time that a third party leaving from Johannestal had passed us and was already on the way to Sandusky, Ohio, by the time we arrived in New York. In the third party were my uncle George Jasmann, George's son Christian Jasmann, Henry Sieler, Dominic Stoller and others. "Where do you wish to go?" we were asked in New York. But we were strangers in this country and did not know ourselves. We were told that others of our people had preceded us and had gone to Sandusky, Ohio, so we decided, too, to go to Sandusky. We arrived in Sandusky some time between the 10th and 15th of December, 1872. This was a large manufacturing city, so we found enough empty lodgings to accommodate us. Because no report of us had been received, those at home in Johannestal thought nothing else than that we had drowned in the ocean. As soon as we arrived in Sandusky, I wrote a letter to my parents-in-law. This letter was the first evidence of our safe arrival which those in our homeland received, and interest in it was so great that Pastor Birnbach read the letter from the pulpit so that all Johannestal would know of our safe arrival. Sandusky was a large city even then. Even as many families as we were, we found good lodgings for all. We younger men soon found employment and worked for wages by the day, and the old men would assemble, smoke their pipes and hold conferences as to what was next to be done. In that way the winter passed and the spring of 1873 came into the land. By the beginning of March, it was resolved to choose scouts and send them to the West in order to determine where to settle. Among the scouts chosen were George Jasmann, Christian Jasmann, Henry Sieler, Gottfried Mehrer, Jakob Mutschelknaus and Gottlieb Sailer. There were twelve men in all. The Reformed minister in Sandusky, Pastor Schaf, to whom we always went to church, drew up the route for the scouts. He also sent letters in advance to pastors and members of his church so that when the Sandusky scouts

(WP6, p.47) 388 NEBRASKA HISTORY arrived, they could assist them by taking them in and showing them salable land. The scouts first went to Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. They found there that one could buy eighty acres of land here and several miles away additional acres. "No, this isn't what we want;" they said, "we want to all be together so that we can have our own church and school." Then was said to them, "Well, people, if that is what you want, then you must go far west of here, as far west as Nebraska." Because it would be too expensive for twelve men to make the trip, it was decided to send six men back to Sandusky, and the remaining six then set out on the trip to Nebraska. Those making the trip west were George Jasmann, Christian Jasmann, Henry Sieler, Dominic Stoller, Jakob Mutschelknaus and Gottlieb Sailer. They went to the region where Sutton, Nebraska, is today. But again they didn't find land in Nebraska according to their wish. There would be a section of government land and then a section of railroad land alternating, and the railroad land would have to be bought. Because there were poor people among our group who would not be able to buy railroad land, the people again would be scattered too widely. It was our wish on account of the church and the school to remain close to one another. After stating their wishes, they were advised to go to Dakota to the city of Yankton; there, very likely, they would find land to their liking. Because, as previously mentioned, these trips cost so much money, they decided again to separate two from the remaining six scouts, and only four men went to Dakota. By this arrangement, Jakob Mutschelknaus and Gottlieb Sailer returned to Sandusky. The other four went to Dakota where they found the land as it had been described to them. Around Yankton and along the Jim (James) River, the land was somewhat settled, but farther out there was nothing but the sky and the land. After they had traveled around, looked at the land and acquainted themselves with the law for taking up land, they returned to Sandusky.

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It may have been the 25th or the 26th of March, 1873, when the four scouts returned to Sandusky. An afternoon assembly was called in which all Russian Germans took part. The four men reported about the land and how the law for homesteading had been explained to them. They related that they already had seen green crops, and that a farmer near Yankton had told them that the crop was sowed at the end of February. This was almost like it had been for us in Russia. The scouts declared, "We are firmly resolved that we all go to Dakota Territory, to the city of Yankton. If you have faith in us, then let us go." To that others replied, "If it is good enough for you, then it is good enough for us." All but about four families decided to go to Dakota. Of the families that remained, some came along later. Those who remained were the families of old Johannes Sailer, Adam Shaefer, Michael Stoller and Johannes Will. Sailer by then had already bought land near Sandusky.

While in Sandusky, because we always attended church services with the German people there, we had become well acquainted. When they heard that we had decided to go to Dakota Territory, we were very much pitied by them. "Oh," they said, "what will you people do there in the wilderness? You won't be able to make a living there. Buffalo and bears and wolves and other animals wander around out there!" The four scouts replied, "We went out on the prairie and saw nothing of all those animals. We shall go." But just to be sure, however, every family provided itself with weapons to defend their lives from the buffalo and bears. For the trip from Sandusky to Yankton, we obtained a special train. All household goods acquired during the winter were taken along. Nothing was sold. As well as I can remember, we had one railroad car for our household goods and two cars for our people. On about the 14th of April--it was about 6:00 or 6:30 o'clock in the evening— we left Sandusky. It was raining lightly when we left, and when we arrived in Chicago, it was snowing and the farther west we got, the more it snowed.

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Two businessmen of Yankton, Henry Hoefner and Jacob Brauch, met us in Chicago, and when we arrived in Yankton, lodgings had been arranged for us. Transportation for the women and children as well as for our baggage met us at the railway station. The trip from Sandusky to Yankton took about three days. The scouts had reported that the fields had been sown in February and that green crops already stood in the fields, but when we arrived in Yankton, there was only deep snow10. Dissatisfaction about the report of the scouts was very great. “They didn't tell us the truth," said Peter Moos of Rohrbach, "they said the farmers sowed their fields in the last days of February, and here it is the middle of April and they are still having snow! No, sir, I won't stay here." But stay he did, and when the snow melted away, the green crops did appear. Lodgings for us had been arranged in the building of "Wien and Buchwalder". There was a hardware store below and a large hall above in which we found shelter. Some families set up stoves which they had brought along from Sandusky to cook their meals; others ate at the hotel. Several families purchased horses and wagons in order to drive out into the country to look for a place to settle. The old surveyor Maier always went along on these drives. My father, Jakob Mutschelknaus, also bought a team right away, and so I was always along on the drives. Generally in the morning after breakfast, we would take off across the prairie. We would take our noon meal along, but by night we would have to be back in Yankton; for out there away from the city, there was nothing but the barren prairie.

10. Coincidentally, the Seventh U. S. Cavalry with General George A. Custer in command was on its way from the South to take station at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory, and arrived in Yankton in the same blizzard. The regiment was camped on the outskirts of town when the storm broke. General and Mrs. Custer, with their maid, took shelter in a small house nearby, and the soldiers were directed, to ask for shelter for themselves and their horses anywhere they could find a welcome. The officers found rooms in the hotel, and later General and Mrs. Custer took rooms there also. After the storm had expended itself, the regiment continued up the Missouri River to Fort Lincoln. Elizabeth B. Custer, Boots and Saddles (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, new ed., 1962), 9-22.

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On an afternoon in the last days of April--it may have been around 3:00 o'clock— Gottlieb Sailer said, "We have driven around long enough; get down off the wagon and start measuring." The wagon was stopped and we all got down. Old Mr. Maier took his survey tools in his hand, and another person and I pulled the chain as the first claim—it was for Gottlieb Sailer--was surveyed. This place is located about three miles northeast of Lesterville. Lesterville did not exist then, nor did any of us have any idea that a town would be located there. One claim after another was surveyed, going four miles north, then turning about and surveying the claims going south. So it went, up and down, always toward the west until claims had been surveyed for everyone. I believe it took us two half days to do all the surveying. This colony received the name "Odessa Settlement" because all of our people had lived in the Odessa District in the old country. Those who had no horses or cows endeavored as soon as possible to obtain them in order to put their places in order. Up until that time, this is the full account of the settlement of the first Russian Germans in Dakota. As more than 50 years have passed since that time and as no diary was kept at the time, it is easily possible that I have made slight errors here and there. Should I have erred, I beg the reader to forgive me. As was already mentioned, there were those in Sandusky who pitied us for wanting to go out to Dakota into the wilderness where they feared we could not make a living. We sowed the little land in the spring of 1874 that had been broken up in 1873, and then in the month of July, the heads were bounteously filled with grain. At that time, August Scheller, who also had pitied us so very much, came out from Sandusky for he was very inquisitive to see in what kind of wilderness his countrymen had settled. When he saw how abundantly the grain was standing and what kind of land we had, he said to my father, Jakob Mutschelknaus, "Jakob, you could not have found anywhere in the United States a more suitable place for your vocation; and knowing German

(WP6, p.51) 392 NEBRASKA HISTORY industry and thrift well, I do not hesitate a moment to say that here you will become well-to-do people." And so it was. With industry and thrift and with God's blessing on the work of our hands, the most of us have become well-to-do people.

(WP6, p.52) The Pacific NORTHWESTENER

VOLUME 8 FALL 1964 NUMBER 4

Inland Empire Russia Germans by HARM H. SCHLOMER

THIS PAPER DEALS WITH a people whose tradition of Sebastapol, and in 1788, after a long siege they had for two hundred years has been to pioneer the taken the fortress Otschakow. In 1789, the Russians development of raw country as a way of life. Some of conquered the (at that time) unimportant Charaschibej, these people have put their energy and talents to work a small Turkish fortress, upon whose ruins the in the Inland Empire to build from raw nature an cosmopolitan city of Odessa was to rise. agricultural belt from west of Odessa, Warden, Marlin and Lind, through Ritzville and beyond Endicott and The wide empty steppes in the south and southeast Colfax. They are the Russian Germans. of the new realm were not profitable to the state. Instead the steppes offered welcome protection to the The policy of conquest of Empress Catherine II and many nomad peoples, who could easily undertake their Alexander I secured for Russia huge territories in the predatory incursions and plundering raids against the southeast and south of the Czar's realm. Through the adjacent Russian border regions. According to peace (treaty) of Kutschuk Kainardschi, 1774, previous experience this state of insecurity was best Catherine II succeeded in taking larger strips of remedied by colonization of the newly conquered territory from Turkey along with some significant regions and, at the same time, the utilization of the parts of the Black Sea. The second war with Turkey empty uninhabited steppes could be accomplished. In and the peace of Jassy, 1793, pushed the Russian previous centuries Russia's own populations had border to the Dneiper (Dnjester) until finally through provided the quota needed to colonize border areas. the peace of Bukarest (Bucharest), 1812, Bessarabia Since the middle of the 18th century, however, Russia fell into Russian possession. In 1783 Russia had was not in a position to colonize the empty steppes. already taken possession The bad situation of the peasants, the hard fetters of serfdom, their entire economic and cultural condition Harm H. Schlomer, after training in Washington's secondary made them useless for profitable colonization. In order and college educational institutions, earned his Ph.D. at to realize Germany's Heidelberg University.

(WP6, p.53) 58 the colonization of the steppes, therefor, Russia turned The German colonists were deceived the moment her attention over her borders to western Europe. With they set foot on Russian soil. In imagination the this a new epoch in the "Europeanizing" of Russia was Germans saw a new paradise awaiting them at the end opened which had already begun under Peter the of the journey. What they found was a no-man's land. Great. No sooner had colonies been established than nomadic raiders descended upon the settlers to steal, plunder, Peter the Great had worked to win German scholars, rob and burn, especially on the east side of the Volga, merchants and artisans as individuals to settle in the plains side (Wiesenseite). The newly acquired land Russian towns. He had not only sent agents to other on the Volga was either very light and sandy in parts countries to induce colonists to come to Russia, but in or very rich. It gradually dawned on the stolid 1679 he personally brought in more than one thousand Germans that they were to be used to tame the technicians and military scientists. Now the goal was, nomadic hordes, (wild Mongolian tribes called to establish whole German settlements on the open Kalmucks, Bashkirs, Kirghiz, etc.) and to cultivate the land. So it was the obvious thing to do for Catherine II, virgin soil. herself a German, to turn to colonizing with Germans in a big way. Her manifesto of July 32, 1763, was the For the first ten years the colonists harvested only cornerstone of Russian colonization policy during her subsistence crops. They experienced much of the same reign and in later times. In this document the colonists life as our American pioneers upon entering the were promised the right to settle in any part of Russia, uncharted west. The government was obliged to extend payment of traveling expenses, freedom of religion, credit to supply seed which always came late, and to freedom from taxes for thirty years, freedom from supply flour which for years was a sour moldy rye military service, and internal self-government. product. Debts mounted. Moreover, the men were not The organization of the official recruiting work was permitted to leave the villages to look for work. The transferred to the Russian Ambassador Simolin at the nomadic raiders often razed whole villages and carried Regensburger court in Germany. The Ambassador men away into slavery. The immigrant had hoped to swore in two commissars, Karl Friedrich Meixner come to a land of freedom, actually he had gone from from Augsburg and .Tohann Fncius, from Hanau, as liberty into slavery. In this way the Volga colony was Russian officials and put them in charge of the started. recruiting work. One opened his office in Ulm, the other in Frankfurt a. M. At the peace of Tassy in 1792 Turkey ceded to Russia all the territory from Astrakhan to the Dneiper. Countless copies of the Czarina's (Catherine II) The Tartars living in this region refused to submit to appeal were distributed in Germany. All of the Russian authority. Consequently, the Russian ministers and representatives at the numerous courts of government looked for people to play the role of divided Germany spread a net of assembly points over "Tarter-tamer". Some of those in authority the German "Laender." Through all kinds of lures and remembered the successful colonies on the lower inducements the Russian agents sought to get Volga. The solid and hardy qualities of the settlers on emigrants. Numerous lies and tricks were practiced by the Volga would also serve to great advantage to hold the Russian agents in their attempts to gain large the new territories for Russia even though many of the numbers of colonists. The Germans were told that the colonists brought in under Catherine were of less than country along the Volga was very much like the one in average quality. With a little planning and diplomacy which they were living. They were told that the superior and sturdy settlers could be gotten from climate was extremely mild, the ground fertile, and the Germany. entire region a veritable paradise. In this way 23,000 people were enlisted for the colonization of the Volga region. The very quantitative attitude of the In accordance with this need, a second colonization colonization policy and the way it was carried out by policy and program was issued by Alexander I in the the emigration agents assured a collection of Ukase of February 20, 1804. Under the new policy, physically and morally incompetent and unfit persons emphasis was placed on a selected limited among the competent farmers, officers, doctors, immigration. German farmers and artisans were students, artisans and craftsman. All who reported carefully selected. They were to travel in groups and were cooped up in mass transportation to the east. not more than 200 families were accepted in one year. Considering that there were no improved roads The agent was to pay transportation only, and to issue whatsoever the travel was by water, wagons, horses passports only to those who were honest, industrious and the most primitive ways. and possessed not less than 300 rubles in cash or property. These colonists were to be family men.

(WP6, p.54) 59 This set the second great German emigration in extractions. Nearly all the Russia Germans of Endicott motion. It began in 1804, and continued until 1817. and Colfax came from the Volga settlements. The The areas settled by these people were called the Mennonite settlement is limited to a very prosperous Black Sea colonies. Among the German colonies in community around the Mennonite church about twenty the Black Sea region are included the settlements of miles west of Ritzville. the whole north coast of the Black Sea including In this paper the designation Russia Germans is Bessarabia as well as those settlements in the north consistently used. This designation appears to be the Trans-Caucasian area. most correct. It is careless usage of terms to refer to In 1786 Danzig Lutherans founded the colony of these people as "Russians" or to use any term that Old-Danzig near Elizabethgrad. In 1787 began the would imply identity with the native people of Russia. emigration of the Mennonites from Prussia which In the interests of accuracy we need to remember that continued for three decades. In 1789, Josephtal, the colonists are Germans, and that they struggled Jamburg, and Pybalsk were founded. In 1803 Com- against odds to keep their culture and civilization missar Ziegler brought 2990 Germans to south Russia. unaffected by their domicile in Russia. All of the first In 1804, four hundred and two families arrived. In this colonists were located on the west bank of the Volga, way the colonies around Odessa, Russia, originated. called the "Bergseite" or hilly side. In 1765, villages The Mennonites constitute a third group of Germans were founded on the eastern shore or plains side who came by way of Russia to the Inland Empire. (Wiesenseite). They settled primarily around the Mennonite church Victor Donis of Ritzville relates how the land was area west of Ritzville. All Russia Mennonites trace divided in a communist way. The lands were owned their origin back to the commonwealth of the German by the community and not by individuals. The Russian Mennonite colonies which flourished in the Ukraine said, "The women have no soul," so the land was since the times of Empress Catherine the Great. In the divided among the masculine souls of the colony. 1870's, Russia German Mennonites migrated to North Every twelve years the land was redistributed among Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska and Minnesota. The the increased number of masculine souls. Thus, with Mennonite communities in the United States are time the parcels of land became so small that sub- mostly of Swiss German and South German origin. sistence on them became a problem. In 1816 there Mennonite history is determined not so much by a were 10.4 dessiatines per soul (dusch), but in 1857, preconceived ideal of a perfect society, but by the in- only 3.3 dessiatines. The per capita reduction of land defatigable search for a form of social life according available to the colonists brought pressure for renewed to the Bible. Their story is one of search and hope, not emigration. of rigid insistence upon the definite form of perfection, and thus permits a more general What were the events that kept the early German application because it is so deeply human. They live in colonists insecure? The state of constant insecurity reality. under which the Volga Germans lived in the early years is best illustrated by the story of Pugatcbef. The story of Mennonitism itself presents a colorful Emilian Pugatchef, a Cossack deserter and a raskolnik offshoot of the social and religious movement which, (Old Believer), who bad been already confined as a in the sixteenth century, revolutionized the social dangerous character in the prison of Kazan, and had fabric of Western civilization. The religious found means of escape into the steppes of the Iaik, communities of the Protestant "left wing" became gave himself out as Peter the Third, and asserted that known as Anabaptists. One of the outstanding leaders he was saved under the very hands of the executioner. of the Evangelical Anabaptists movement in the Displaying the banner of Holstein, be proclaimed that Netherlands was Menno Simons. Menno's movement he would march to St. Petersburg to punish his wife became the rallying point for Evangelical Anabaptists. (Catherine II) and to crown his son. Pugatchef gained Today this religious tradition carries the name of many little fortresses on the steppes. He would hang "Mennonite." Our Inland Empire Community, about local officers and cut the hair of their soldiers in twenty miles west of Ritzville, was born of this Cossack style. In the villages the nobles were hanged. tradition. All who resisted his plunder were punished as rebels Our interest in the study of Inland Empire Russia, and convicted of high treason. The Russia German Germans is focused on first, the Volga Germans of colonies suffered from the scourge of Pugatchef. Catherine II (1763) colonization period, second, the Everywhere proprietors fled and the barbarous tribes Black Sea —Bessarabia Germans of the Alexander I, hastened to Pugatchef's headquarters. The peasants 1804, call to Russia, and, third, the Mennonites from rose against the nobles and the tribes of Tatars and the Mennonite colonies of South Russia. Ritzville and Tchuvashi against the Russians. A social war was let Odessa settlers appear to be nearly evenly divided loose in between Volga German and Black Sea-Bessarabia German

(WP6, p.55) 60 the basin of the Volga. Much of this took place among and agreed on time payments. He had heard that in the early German settlements. Catherine II charged instances of this sort, the buyer was supposed to give Alexander Bibikof to check the scourge. Bibikof a note. So he gave his note to him with the remark, attacked the Imposter (Pugatcbef). Bibikof died in the ‘You have the horse, you may as well have the note.' midst of his victories. In 1775, Pugatchef was Later the man came to pay, bringing the note with captured and put to death "on the wheel" (geraedert). him. 'Now,’ he said, as he paid the money, ‘you have the money and you may as well have the note also.' The struggle of the Russia Germans to make For the Russia German it was a disgrace to ask for progress was slow. The first cellar houses were dug credit. Debts were a worry. When he bought he could out of the hillside called Semlenke or earth house. bargain well. The price he agreed to pay was paid. If a Then the colonists made their own bricks out of loam mistake was made in the transaction in his favor he mixed with straw four inches thick, one foot wide and returned what he was not entitled to, often going out eighteen inches long. The homes were built out of of his way to do so. these bricks. As the years unfolded the Russia Germans developed wood houses built of lumber, One hundred years after Catherine had called the covered with straw first, then wood and tin. Apart Germans to the Volga, they had progressed to a level from agriculture, the greatest industry on the Volga of farming leadership in Russia. Their villages were was the manufacture of grain into flour. The spinning clean. The Germans had introduced water systems and weaving industries were also developed on the into their villages. Their farms were models of "Bergseite" hilly side of the Volga. There were no productivity to all the native Russians. They were bridges across the Volga. Crossings to the capital, prosperous. Saratov, were made by ship. In the winter the Volga Why than, did individual Russia Germans leave? would freeze over solidly so that colonists could drive The best way to find out is to interview living Russia across it in sleds. German immigrants to ask them. In order to capture The years of change and progress in the Volga the natural expression of the original Russia colonies were the result of constant hard work and Germans, all of the interviews with them were sacrifice. The Russia Germans developed a conducted in the German language. 3 had been materialistic measure of values superimposed upon referred by Senator W. C. Raugust of Odessa, strong emotional religious traditions. Success was Washington, to Victor Donis, of Ritzville. measured by the land one possessed. At the same time the Russia German had an awareness of his past Truly eminent among the Russia German settlers sorrows. Often — when one touches upon the of Ritzville was the spirit and mind of Victor Donis. experience of his past sorrows, he becomes filled with He was a scholar and teacher before emigrating to emotion. America. His complete command of several lan- guages — especially Russian, German and English — A story is told about a church janitor. "In his native gave him the vehicle with which to understand colony he received 65 rubles annual salary. On this humanity and to develop a profound philosophy of income he reared a large family. He heard of greater appreciation for the simplicity of life and a love for opportunities in Siberia, so he emigrated to Omsk, the simple dignity of each individual man. Vic Donis only to find himself out of the frying pan into the fire. lived his philosophy of life so genuinely that he was Enough money was finally saved to return home once able to enrich the life of many individuals who had more. Then the relatives in the United States beckoned come in contact with him. Several of the immigrants and he came here. Today, at a ripe old age, living in that I interviewed related how Vic Donis had settled comfortable circumstances, be looks back upon the personal misunderstandings among them. They said long years of homesickness, hard labor and "Der Viktor" would say, "It is not who is right that is pilgrimage, and he confesses that God has been very important, but rather what is right." To use the terms gracious and kind to him. Why should not his heart in their highest traditional sense, Victor Donis was a beat faster and his eyes become filled with tears, as he spiritual and intellectual inspiration for the early gives thanks to God for these innumerable blessings in Ritzville Russia German settlers. America? Victor Donis came to America quite by accident. The Russia German believed that a man was as He had traveled with his brother to Germany. Victor good as his word. In business dealings, mortgages, Donis' father's sister, Pauline Koch (Mrs. John notes and liens were not executed. If the buyer was not Koch), was in Ritzville. John Koch worked in the to be trusted, there was no transaction. He bought trading company there. He had sent a ticket to the when be could make payment in cash. To illustrate Volga colony for relatives to come to America. this trait of honesty, the following story is told. "A Victor Donis’ brother, Edward, had planned to use man once bought a horse the ticket to emigrate.

(WP6, p.56) 61 During the final medical examinations the physicians 1902. Micliael Lesle arrived in Ritzville from the Volga declared that Edward Donis had an eye disease. Thereupon colony in 1913. Between 1904 and 1905 he had served in it was decided that Victor Donis would take his brother's the Russian army. He related how his family had farmed passport and identification papers. So Victor Donis came to with camels and horses. Farming with camels was quite America, first to New York, as Edward Donis, his brother. common in the southern Russia German settlements. He Jakob Ils, born July 8, 1878, on the (Bergseite) hilly side had left for the greater opportunities in America. To get the of the Volga, came to Ritzville at the age of 35 with his money to make the trip he had sold all of his personal wife Katherina, nee Schoessler, in the year 1912. Jakob Ils possessions. came on money that his father gave him before he left the The most spirited interview was held at the home of Volga colony. In 1899 he was drafted into the Russian Adam P. Morasch in Endieott, with him and his life-long army and he served four years on the Turkish border. In friend, Johann Morasch of Calgary, and Johann's sister, 1904 he was released from the army to return home for a Elizabetli Fox. Both Adam P. and Johann had been close short time. In the fall of 1904, he was drafted again to serve friends in the same village of Jagodnaja Poljana on the two years in the Russo-Japanese war. He fought in the (Bergseite) hilly side of the Volga colony. Their great battle of "Lyonski Boye" about fifty miles from Mukden. friendship had survived enormous changes in the fortunes He was transferred all along the front to near VIadivostock of each man. It was my good fortune to come on the scene as an infantry soldier. at the time of one of their regular reunions. Jakob lls had had friends in the Volga Colony who had Adam P. Morasch, born April 1, 1886, had left gone on to Ritzville, in earlier years. He related that among Jagodnaja Poljana in 1907. He arrived in Endicott October the very first Volga Germans to settle in Ritzville were 4th. Adam P. Morasch was due to be drafted into the George Schoessler and Adam Weber. They had left Russian army. One of his brothers put it up to Adam P. to Nebraska in a covered wagon. They stayed in Walla Walla choose "now" between America and a future and the two years and in 1890 or 1891 they homesteaded around Russian army at 35c to 50c per month (depending upon the Ritzville. Jakob lives in retirement in Ritzville. He owns a enlisted rank). The decision was easy to make. Adam P. farm about nine miles north of town. went to America. He received a three-month pass by the Johann Reiber born in 1873, will be ninety years old this Russian government after which he was ordered to return year. Both Reiber and Ils came from nearby villages in the for military draft. Instead Adam P. used the three-month (Bergseite) Volga colony. Johann Reiber was thirty years pass to get to America and freedom. old when he came to Ritzville. He had served five years as Johann Morasch, born September 25, 1876, left for a soldier in the Russian army. Reiber had relatives in America on a six-month pass. Elizabeth, sister of Johann Ritzville. War seemed imminent for Russia. He wanted out and her husband George (Fuchs) Fox, left with him. At the of further military service so he paid his passage with his examination station the physician pronounced Johann own money. Soon after his arrival Johann Reiber took up a Morasch's eyes as in unacceptable condition for emigration homestead. to the United States — but he said that they were good Both Ils and Reiber believed that the very first Volga enough for emigration to South America (Argentina). The German to settle in Ritzville was Phillip Gottwig in 1884 truth of the matter was that two shipping companies, — from the same village as Ils. They related that among the working together, had had the ship for the United States earliest Volga Germans to take up homesteads in the filled — with still room for more on the ship leaving for Ritzville area were the Reibers, Rosenoffs, Thiels, Bauers, and Kochs. These families traveled from Nebraska in Argentina. The die was cast and both Johann, his sister covered wagons since there were yet no railroads. Many of Elizabeth and her husband, George Fox, left for Buenos the immigrants worked on the expanding railroads. Aires, Argentina. Several years in Argentina were filled with hardship. Always Johann Morasch had kept up a Heinrich Boos left the Volga colony because there was correspondence with his old friend Adam P. Morasch, now little opportunity "to get ahead" with the long hours of in Endicott. In 1911 another big decision was made to work in Russia. He left the Volga in 1907 with money he migrate. In 1911, a friend in Calgary invited Johann to had saved for the purpose of coming to America. He had a come to Canada to find his fortune. Elizabeth and George good, friend, Peter Grammers, who had taken up a Fox had an uncle, Heinnch Scheirman in Endicott, homestead in the Ritzville area in about Washington. They set sail again — the Foxes for Endicott, and Johann Morasch for Calgary, Canada. Now Johann has been very successful in wheat raising and in oil speculations. In

(WP6, p.57) 62 his retirement he keeps faith with his old friend Adam My next interview was with the oldest living P. by arranging a visit between them about every two immigrant in Endicott, Henry Schmick, born July 10, years. 1874. Henry Schmick arrived in Endicott on April 1, 1899, with John Hergert, Henry Mohr, Adam Repp Adam P. and Johann Morasch referred to their and Peter X. Weitz with his wife, Mary. He had left village on the Volga as a "paradise in which the colonies because too many people were dividing everything grew". In fact, there were so many native up too little ground. Dr. Conrad Weitz, Sr., of Colfax, delicious wild strawberries everywhere when the was born November 5, 1890, in Jagodnaja, Poljana. colonists arrived from Germany that the village was Peter Weitz, brother of Conrad, had arrived in Endicott called Jagodnaja, Russian for strawberry. On the about 1900. Peter Weitz had bought land near Endicott (Bergseite) hilly side of the Volga River colony strips with money he had got out of Russia. Dr. Conrad of land were alternately covered by woods and Weitz used his own money to come via Riga as far as farmland. The woods were deciduous, mostly oak, Belmont, New York. Brother Peter sent him his birch and a very useful tree called "Lenne". From the money to come to Endicott. John Weitz, an uncle, and Lenne a tea was made and the bark was sliced to make others had written about how much money one could shoes. Adam P., Johann, and Elizabeth recalled how earn in harvest in the wheat fields. in their childhood in the Volga colony they would suck the sweet sap from the Lenne tree through straws each Dr. Conrad Weitz, in 1913, knew that war in Europe spring of the year. What a treat this was! The lumber was about to break out. Like others, before him, he from the Lenne tree was used for flooring. left on a limited pass. The Russian government sent him a telegram upon his arrival in Belmont, New The homes were heated with a combination of two York, to return immediately to report for military duty. kinds of fuel. The "Lenne" tree was cut into cord wood Instead, Conrad proceeded to Endicott, Washington. for heating. The long-burning fuel, however, was The Russian government located him in Colfax. He made from a mixture of horse manure, straw and received a second telegram to report for duty. Roy water, compressed in forms and dried in squares. LaFollette, Conrad's attorney in Colfax, helped him Sunflower growing was one of the main crops. In one take out his first naturalization papers. This stopped larger village there were twenty-two (Oelmuehle) oil the Russians. mills producing cooking oil. The sunflower seed was peeled. The kernel was ground to a pulp, heated and John G. Kaiser, born in 1880 left Russia too, on a compressed. The oil would then run out of a tube at the six-month permit. He was age 19 and at age twenty he base of the compressed container. The colonists used was to be drafted into the army. By the time the six- sunflower oil exclusively for cooking purposes. month period had expired, John Kaiser was in the United States, safe from the Russian military draft. Making pig sausage was a specialty among the John had an uncle, Henry Kaiser, in Endicott, John had colonists. The hogs were cut up, the pieces run through traveled as far as Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with a friend a sausage grinder, then seasoned expertly with salt and from his home village. His uncle Henry brought him pepper. Success in following the recipe included to Endicott from Oshkosh in time for the wheat harvest frequent tasting to get the flavor "just right". John A. of 1901. John Kaiser told about the train trip from Morasch, of Endicott, son of Adam P. is today an Russia to the German border. "The passengers," he expert sausage maker (for home consumption only) said, "traveled like livestock on the floor of the big box using the traditional recipes and methods. cars. The trip lasted ten days. We ate when and where On the plains (Wiesenseite) of the Volga, we could, from what we could hurriedly buy at train watermelons and Zuckermelon, like cantaloupes, were stops." John Kaiser lives in retirement in Endicott. important crops. The summers were warm and the One of his sons, Robert, is a prominent merchant and season right to mature large delicious melons. Wheat, real estate developer in the Tri-Cities area in Pasco, rye and barley were the principal crops. The housing Kennewick and Richland. conditions were crowded. Up to eighteen people lived Mr. C. G. Schmick of Colfax, who came with his in one house. The father, mother, children and the parents from Jagodnaja Poljana, related an interesting oldest children with their wives or husbands often story about the children of his village. They would shared one house. Harmony was maintained by strict chant in German, "We're going to America, the land training — that each member of the household must where milk and honey flow. Where the cows come respect the rights of every other member. The home with sweet bread (Johannisbrot) upon their interview with the Morasches was concluded with a horns." After some of the children had lived in superbly prepared dinner featuring, among specialties, Endicott they would rob the overflowing wild bee a delicious home made rye bread — following a Volga honey from the hollow trees along the German recipe.

(WP6, p.58) 63 Palouse River. The pastures were so rich in the small parcels that the units were unprofitable. Today Palouse, that each evening when the cows came home Phil Herman (Jr.) is a large property owner in Moses their udders were so full of milk that, as the cows ran, Lake and in the wheat country around Warden. It is the milk spurted out. So said the parents, "look — see interesting to note that Odessa was named by one of the conductors of the Great Northern Railway you have the milk flowing from the cows and the sometime after 1892 "because so many 'Russians’ honey flowing from the trees, just as we said it would came to settle". be like here when we were in Russia." John Weitz, whose father Peter X. Weitz had arrived Jacob Kagele and his wife, Margaret, came direct from Jagodnaja in Colfax in 1899, relates another oft- from Odessa (Russia) to Odessa (Washington) in 1900. Jake, the son, relates about his family's experience in repeated story. An immigrant couple were riding on "forced credit" buying. Funds were so short at one the train from Colfax to Endicott. They had heard in time that Jacob asked the storekeeper in Odessa, for Russia that America was so rich that the fences were credit until after harvest on a $2.50 purchase of salt, made of sausage. This was in the year 1903. It had pepper, lard and flour. The storekeeper, a Mr. Kriegler, been a year when the Palouse country had been refused, saying, "I can't do it. If I let you, you'll owe infested with untold numbers of ground squirrels. It me $25 by the fall of the year." Jacob thought it over. He went to Mr. Nelson's store, a competitor. Nelson, had become the practice for everyone to shoot as many twisted his mustache as he pondered the request for as possible and to hang the squirrels on the fence wire. $2.50 credit. He consulted his wife. A decision was Soon, between Diamond and Endicott, most of the made to carry Jacob Kagele's account. Later spaces on all three fence wires were covered with storekeeper Kriegler would meet Jacob on the street hanging squirrels. Seeing these squirrels from the with, "Why don't you buy in my store?", as he would train, the Volga immigrant said to his wife, "Look wring Jacob's hand warmly. Jacob replied, "You asked for it. When I had no money, Nelson helped me mother, see. It's just like they said in Russia. Not only — so I stay loyal to my friend." Today Jacob Kagele are the fences made of sausage, but they have plump is one of the largest wheat ranchers about twenty miles sausages (Bratwurst) hanging all along the wire." Such south of Odessa and he is one of the leading citizens in was the practical humor of this hard-working, serious his community. people. Eminent among us in politics is Senator W. C. Many of the Russia German immigrants came from Raugust of Odessa, Washington. His parents, Bessarabia and along the Black Sea in Russia. These Christian and Louisa (Janke) Raugust, came from were the colonists who answered the appeal of Bessarabia to Ritzville in May, 1899, when Senator Alexander I in 1804. They emigrated to America for Raugust was four years old. Their cousins Andrew similar reasons to those from the Volga — to get away Blum and Andrew Janke had already moved to from Russian military service and to find a better life Ritzville. The Raugusts had heard about the free in America. Friederika (nee Steg) Klettke, born in “homestead” land. Within days after their arrival, 1878 in Bessarabia, sums it up this way. In 1903 there Christian "homesteaded" south of Odessa. were many rumors of war with the Japanese. Friederika Klettke persistently urged her husband, Senator Raugust told about the complete honesty of Gottlieb, to get out and to go to America before it was the Russia German settlers. Jim Ferrier of Odessa too late. Finally, Gottlieb consented. They realized (Washington) sold to the new German settlers on $1400 cash from the sale of everything they owned in credit. He took no sales contract or note. Most of the Russia. With this they first settled in Marlin (then sales were horses. If the buyer couldn't pay, he would known as Krupp), Washington. Friederika Klettke now cheerfully return the horse to Jim Ferrier "broke" and lives in retirement in Ritzville. well-trained. W. C. Raugust became a state legislator Phil Hermann of Warden, originally of Swabian in 1943. He served as a representative until 1949. In German extraction, came to South Dakota from 1949 he became a state Senator. He is still serving as Siminova near Odessa (Black Sea), Russia, with his state Senator. Another prominent Bessarabia-Russia parents in 1899. After one year Phillip Hermann, Sr. brought his family west to Paha. In 1902 Phillip Sr. German immigrant state legislator is David Hoeffel of took out a homestead three miles south of Warden, He Ritzville. had left Russia because the land was being divided into such

(WP6, p.59) 64 Ralph Gering of Ritzville related the very interesting father was John Schmick of Jagodnaja in the Volga history of the Gering family. His parents, Adolph and colony. John Schmick arrived in 1896. The name Elizabeth Gering, in 1900 "homesteaded" near the Smick has been anglicized by part of the family from location of the present Mennonite church about twenty the original Schmick. Ben's brothers, Charles and miles west of Ritzville. The history of the Gering Willia are well-known physicians. family is especially interesting because it presents much that is typical of Mennonite migrations. Moses Eminent among the ladies is Anna Beidel Weitz of Gering was a member of a group of Mennonites that Endicott. Her father, John Beidel (Beutel) emigrated emigrated from the Palatinate, South Germany, to from the Volga colony. Anna Weitz is known by all as France near the Swiss border. Moses Gering was born the Inland Empire mother of the year 1952. She is a about 1760. In 1791 Moses Gering moved to recognized poet, a writer and a very successful Einsiedel, Galacia, Austria, with his family. In 1797 he business woman. again moved to Michelsdorf (near Warsaw), Poland. In Among the established families of the Inland 1817 the entire family moved to Eduardsdorf (near Empire from the Volga colonies at Ritzville, Odessa, Dudno), Russia. Some members of the Moses Gering Endicott and Colfax, one will find the family names family participated in the founding of Herodish and Becker, Fink, Gettman, Hardt, Homberg, Hopp, Horst, Waldheim villages northwest of Eduardsdorf in 1837. Kissler, Melcher, Ochs, Pfeiffer, Rudy, Schauerman, In 1860 Eduardsdorf dissolved and Kutuzovka was Starkel, Wacker, Walter, Zeller, Zier, Repp, Weitz, founded. In 1874 the Kutuzovka, Herodish and Morasch, Schierman, Scheuerman, Schmick, Luft, Waldheim Mennonite settlements dissolved and Lust, Kaiser, Bafus, Daubert, and Litzenberger; emigrated to America. Some of the Gerings settled in Kanzler, Schaefer, Oestreich, Werttemberger, Bastron, Kansas, others went to South Dakota. Our Inland Koch, Thiel, Wilhelm, DeWald, Echhardt, Becker, Empire Gerings migrated from South Dakota to Wolsborn, Benzel, Boos, Braun, Giese, Greenwalt, Eugene, Oregon. In 1899, Adolph and Elizabeth Helm, Heimbigner, Hilzer, Hoffman, Ils, (Iltz), Gering traveled from Eugene, Oregon, to Ritzville in a Kembel, Krehn, Kiesz, Kinzel, Kramer, Lesle, Lenhart, covered wagon to help establish the Mennonite Miller, Rehn, Maier, Rogel, Rosenoff, Schmidt, community. Scheller, Schoessler, Schutz, Steinmetz, Stumpf, Thaut, Wagner, Walter, Weber and Werzel. These, and It is interesting to note that Mennonites have others, are folks who first answered the call of contributed much to the development of better wheat in Catherine II, in July 1763, to come to Russia to the United States. The National Geographic Magazine colonize the Volga regions. in a story on Kansas, August, 1937, states, "Until Men- nonites settled here (Kansas) in 1873, little wheat was Among the established families of the Inland Empire grown. From Russia, however, 'these immigrants whose ancestors answered the call of Alexander I in brought a new variety — a red winter grain so hard that 1804 to settle in Bessarabia and the Black Sea area millers at first had trouble grinding it." It was quite a around Odessa are the Bischoffs, Ochs, Brauns, Fricks, natural move for the Mennonites to make when they Janke, Jasmans, Jeskes, Kappels, Kuchs, Kuests, settled on homesteads west of Ritzville. The flat rich Ramms, Raugusts, Salos, Schimkes, Schmauders, ground resembled the terrain of the Ukraine areas from Sieverkopps, Stehrs, Weishaars, Wenzs, Hilles, which they had come. Growing wheat had been Hoefels, Klettkes. Gusts, Wahls, Allerts, Fasts, traditionally one of their specialties. Ferderers, FIoethers, Grabers, Gross, Haases, Hoffmans, Kageles, Kautz, Kisons, Kleins, Klemmers, Knodels, Krehbiels, Kusters, Laib, Lobe, Maier, The Russia German citizens of the Inland Empire Ottmar, Riecker, Roloff, Sackmann, Sauer, Shell, have built a basic agricultural development throughout Schutz, Selcho, Stengel, Suko, Tschritter, and many a large area. Their sons and daughters are prominent in others. many fields of life — ministers, doctors, lawyers, physicians, teachers, business and politics. We have Prominent names among the Mennonite families already mentioned prominent citizens among us such west of Ritzville are the Gerings, Schrags, Waltners, as Senator Raugust and Representative Hoeffel and Franz, Dycks, and Jantz. Because of the fact that, upon others. William F. Raugust, born in Ritzville, and a their arrival in America, the Russia Germans felt no graduate of the University of Washington Law School complete allegiance to either Germany or Russia, it was a prosecutor at the Nuernberg trial under Jackson. was easy for them to break off all European political Dr. Clarence Schrag University of Washington ties and to develop a feeling of loyalty to the United sociologist descends from the Mennonites of the Inland States, In addition, their honesty, hospitality, law- Empire. Well known to Spokane residents is Ben abiding spirit, and unusual thrift and industry have Smick, insurance and mining, whose made them a definite asset to every community in which they have settled.

(WP6, p.60) GENEALOGY SECTION

Following is the translation of a very interesting copy of an old "Reisebreif" (Travel-letter) which was sent to us by Mr. and Mrs. Lorin Weber of Rexburg, Idaho. They are researching the Weber and Grasmick ancestors who came from Balzer.

The letter is fascinating in several aspects. It definitely establishes the fact that families of character and respect were among those who emigrated to the Volga in 1765-69 and that the colonists often consisted of families of young children. We can also be encouraged by this letter's existence that there may be other documents of great genealogical value for our colonists in Russia just waiting to be found. If you should, have any record of G-R interest we will be happy to print it.

In the Grassmuck document I did not attempt to translate all the old German idioms into contemporary language because then the quaint flavor of the letter would be lost. Gerda S. Walker

A CASE OF PRACTICAL HELP FOR GERMANS IN FOREIGN LANDS

— Grassmuck in Russia --

In the second half of the 18th Century a great many German families emigrated to South Russia and colonized an extensive area along the Volga River. Among them were a large group from Ober-Hessen (now Hesse-Darmstadt in west central Germany). The excerpts by Hermann Koffmann which we printed in our Volume 4 about the marriages of Russian Colonists that took place in Büdingen in 1766 form a small part of them.

This publication was the reason our present member, Herr Dr. Med. Johannes Grassmuck of Dessau (city on the Mulde, Germany) has asked whether we could perhaps be of help in establishing the origin of his family who emigrated from Germany in the 18th Century to the Volga area. We were able to inform him immediately that the name Grasmuck occurs in the area around Büdingen today, whereupon he sent us the only document he has about the origin of his family, the following "Reisebrief": (Travel-letter)

(WP6, p.61) "In this letter of Introduction of Johann Jakob Grassmueck, who with his wife Johanetta Elizabetha and the 6 children of their marriage, have determined, with God, to leave this country and make their home in Russia. For this reason he has requested some references from me of his life and activities. Therefore it being my duty to have the true facts, we could not refuse him. To the best of my knowledge and conscience, he and his family have at all times conducted themselves in a Christian manner and as far as I and the Presbyter (minister) know, any complaints against them have never reached our ears for they have led a quiet and peaceful life at all times.

For this reason we heartily wish that wherever they may dwell in the future they heed with especial diligence the doctrines of our Reformed religion which is instituted according to the evangelism of Jesus Christ and to which they all belong. May they also have such a charitable manner in all their life and dealings that everyone note their ways and doings. Parents and children are truly actively reformed through the Spirit of God, and as members of Jesus Christ, renewed and sanctified.

Hence, with due respect to all those to whom these lines may reach, each and everyone of these people are hereby recommended very highly and should be offered a Christian reception when this is presented.

The above mentioned Johann Jakob Grasmick, the legitimate son of Johannes Grasmick and Anna Elizabetha who were married and subjects here, saw the light of the world on the 7th of March, 1729 and received Holy Baptism on the 15th of the month. The witness of the baptism, or the Godfather, was Johann Jakob Poppy also a subject here. His wife, Johanetta Elizabetha, the legitimate daughter of Casper May and Barbara, who were also a married couple from here, was born on the 28th of April, 1726 and baptized on the 50th of the month. According to the book (church records), the Godmother was Johannetta Elizabetha Dittmann.

The couple’s children are the following; the first was a son, Johannes, who was born here on the 16th of March 1755 and baptized on the 18th of the month. The Godfather was Johannes Wissemer from here. 2) Elizabetha Margaretta was born 29 June 1755, baptized on the 2 July. The Godmother was Elizabetha Margaretha Popp from Rohrbach. 3) Anna Catharina was born 2 March 1757, baptized on the 8th of the month and the Godmother was Catharina Wissemer from here. 4) Eva was born on the 28th of April 1760 and baptized the 2d of May, the Godmother was Joh. Heinrich Popp's youngest daughter, called Eva. 5) Johan Konrad was born the 11th Jan, 1765 and baptized the 9th of the month [an evident error, the 19th probably]. The Godfather was Johann Conrad, the father's brother.

(WP6, p.62) 6) Johann Georg was born 11 Jan 1765 and was baptized on the 15th Jan. The godfather was Johannes Naumann's son named Johann Georg Naumann from Bleichenbach. 7) Johann Christoph was born in the colony Goli-Karamisch (Balzer), Russia on Johannistag 1 (24th of June, 17—) and received holy baptism on that day, the godfather was Johannes Christoph Herzenreder,

I, Georg Grasmick, was 3 years old when the afore-mentioned parents and I left Germany and were sent by the hand of God to Goli-Karamisch to be reared. In my 14th year I was confirmed by the sainted Pastor Jantt, After I entered my twentieth year in 1784 (19 going on 20) I entered the holy state of matrimony with the spinster Catharina Barbara Mayer, daughter of Johannes Mayer of Goli-Karamisch. This, my first marriage, was blessed with 5 children, 4 boys and one girl. This marriage lasted 10 years. In 1795 I entered the holy state of matrimony for the second time with the spinster Eva Elizabetha Keil, oldest daughter of Johann Peter Keil from Sebastianovka (Anton). This marriage lasted 7 years and was blessed with 3 children. In the year 1802 I entered the holy state of matrimony for the third time with the widow Johanna Giess, born a Klaetter, from Sebastianovka. This marriage, which was instituted by God, lasted four unfruitful years. In the year 1818 I entered the holy state of matrimony for the fourth time with the widow Louisa Bauer, born a Martin, the youngest daughter of Nikolaus Martin from Jablanowka (Laube)."

Our member, Mr. Heusohn, a teacher in Lorbach near Buedingen, who is presently engaged with this matter could establish on the basis of this Reisebrief that the Johann Jakob Grassmueck mentioned in the letter came from Rohrbach near Buedingen and that all the dates given agree almost perfectly with the church records in Rohrbach, He was also able to verify the marriage of Johann Jacob Grassmueck and Johanna Elizabeth May on the 16th of June 1752, the death of his father Johannes Grassmueck on 12 Feb. 1751, and the birthdays of the latter’s children who were born in Rohrbach since 1715.

This Johannes Grassmueck probably moved to Rohrbach around the year 1715 as his name does not appear before then in the church records which were begun in 1699. There is also no mention of a Grassmueck in the census of the county of Isenburg-Buedingen in the Fuerstlichen (Sovereign) Archives at Buedingen. Where the family came from must still be ascertained. (Footnote in book: "In the year 1598 a citizen named Luze Grasemocke lived in Herborn."-in the Anna1en des Verein fuer Nassauische Altertumskunde und Geschichts forschung, Band 52, 1901)

(WP6, p.63) Dr. Grassmueck tells us that the Reisebrief he has probably originated with Johann Georg Grassmueck who was born on 11 Jan. 1765. In the second part he adds his autobiography. Goli- Karamisch and Sebastianovka are German colonies on the mountainside of the Volga River in the government of Samara [error: should be Saratov] where two families of Grassmueck's live today.

A great grandson of Johann Georg Grassmueck was 'Ludwig Grassmueck who was born in 1832 in Jablanovka and died in 1907 in Saratov. At first he was a schoolteacher but after the death of his father and being the only son, he inherited both a large farm and business which he then managed*. His sons are Alexander Grassmueck, born 1860, who is now a doctor in Rownoie (Seelman) on the Volga, government Samara, and Johannes Grassmueck, born 1871 who at first was a doctor in Russia (1900-1918) in the German hospital in Simferapol in the Crimea and since 1918 in Germany.

(WP6, p.64) CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Second International Convention, Lincoln, Nebraska June 17-20 Northern Colorado Chapter, Greeley Visit with Dr. Stumpp June 24

(WP6 inside back cover) (The back cover is a map of Russian German settlements in Canada in German by Dr. Stumpp)