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The Bukovina Society of the Americas NEWSLETTER The Bukovina Society of the Americas NEWSLETTER P.O. Box 81, Ellis, KS 67637 USA Vol. 18, No. 3 September 2008 Editor: Sophie A. Welisch Assistant Editor: O.M. Windholz Board of Directors Rebecca Hageman Laura Hanowski Kurt Rein, Ph. D. [email protected] [email protected] Martha McClelland, President Wichita, Kansas Regina, SK,Canada Baldham, Germany Hays, Kansas Shirley Kuppetz Ortfried Kotzian, Ph. D. Wilfred Uhren Web Site: www.bukovinasociety.org O.M. Windholz, Vice President Ellis, Kansas Augsburg, Germany Tulsa, Oklahoma Webmaster: Werner Zoglauer Assistant Webmaster: Rebecca Hageman Hays, Kansas Norma Lang Edward Al Lang Sophie A. Welisch, Ph. D. [email protected] [email protected] Joe Erbert, Secretary Ellis, Kansas Sycamore, Illinois Congers, New York Ellis, Kansas Steve Parke Paul Massier Membership Dues: Art Honas, Treasurer Pueblo, Colorado Las Vegas, Nevada Lifetime $150.00 Ellis, Kansas Werner Zoglauer Van Massirer Annual $15.00 Ralph Burns Naperville, Illinois Crawford, Texas Ellis, Kansas International Board Steve Parke Irmgard Ellingson Michael Augustin Pueblo West, Colorado Grafton, Iowa Leonberg, Germany Doug Reckmann Eileen Goetz Ayrton Gonçalves Celestino, Ph. D. Portland, Oregon Hays, Kansas Curitiba, Brazil BUKOVINA PEOPLE AND EVENTS settlers from Bukovina. Dr. Nicole Eller and Dr. Alfred Wildfeuer were also here last year in conjunction with their attendance at the conference of the Society for German • The Society is pleased to welcome our new lifetime American Studies at the University of Kansas. During their members : #172 Franz and Gertrude Oswald, Graz, projected three-year Austria; #173 Nancy Hoedel, Homer, AK; #174 Randy stay in the United Gaschler, Placerville, CA; and #175 Charlene Minor, States they plan to Royal Oak, MI. visit several other • The annual meeting of the Bukovina Society was German Bohemian conducted on July 28, 2008. In addition to financial communities as well as reports, the membership elected Steve Parke, Ralph Burns, to attend the Shirley Kuppetz, and Martha McClelland to fill expiring Bukovinafest in Ellis terms on the Board of Directors. scheduled for Septem- MADONNA AND CHILD ber 18, 2009. Fred and Nicole enjoying dinner at Board member Norma Lang’s home. In past issues the Newsletter detailed the odyssey of the Bohe- mian icon donated to the Society by Sophie Welisch. The NEW PUBLICATION statue, now on display at the Hays Public Library, rests in a secure location among other international treasures related to Claus Stephani, The Maiden of the Forest: Legends, Tales and local history. Along with the history of the statue, a brief Local History of Bukovina, trans. by Sophie A. Welisch (Ellis, mention is made of the KS, The Bukovina Society of the Americas, 2008), 53 pp., 1 Bukovina German photo, 6 illus. heritage in the local area. Several years ago The Bukovina Society proudly announces the publication of the Hays Public Library, the English translation of a work by Dr. Claus Stephani, which draws many prominent author, ethnologist and journalist. Born in Brasov visitors from far and (Kronstadt) Transylvania in 1939, he pursued German and near, was rated number Romanian philology and journalism for more than two decades one in the nation based (1967-1990) and edited the monthly newspaper, Neue on its size. Literatur (Bucharest). Since 1968 the author has published Eric Norris, Adult Department Librarian, over 2000 texts, which have been printed in books, newspapers placed the icon in the lobby display. and journals in Belgium, Denmark, England, Israel, Italy, GERMAN RESEARCHERS Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and now in the United States. Two researchers from Germany spent the week in the Ellis area In The Maiden of the Forest: Legends, Tales and Local History studying the German Bohemian dialect of the descendants of of Bukovina the author presents 106 vignettes gleaned from 1 contemporary residents of Bukovina through field work, Until this time industrial production had been almost exclu- interviews and questionnaires. These include tales of witches, sively in the hands of the Germans; however, due to outside enchanted forests and elves as well as historic glimpses into the factors, the situation began to change rather rapidly at the lives and traditions of Bukovina’s multiethnic population, expense of the Germans. With the construction of the which will no doubt charm and fascinate their readers. Such Lemberg-Czernowitz railroad (1865) the cheaper industrial are the stories our grandparents and great grandparents would products of the West began to filter into the land and undercut have heard as children at the end of the day as the family domestic producers. Although the quality of the craftsmen’s huddled around a wood-burning potbelly stove in a room products had improved and they were beginning to gain market illuminated by a kerosene lamp or a candle. The Maiden of the strength, the characteristic tendency for the Germans to turn Forest affords us an opportunity to touch base with our roots to other occupations, above all to government service, became and at least for a moment to recapture the all-but-forgotten life noticeable. and times of our Bukovinian forebears. German industry faced the decisive blow about twenty years The book may be ordered through our Kansas headquarters or later when Romania, after the expiration of the Austrian- on line at www.bukovinasociety.org. Romanian trade agreement of 1876, considerably raised tariffs in 1886. This increase resulted in a practical exclusion of imports, causing Austria to close agricultural imports from INDUSTRY AND TRADE Romania. Since a considerable portion of Bukovina’s industrial IN BUKOVINA production went to Romania, this measure was a hard blow for Bukovina’s German producers. In addition, the businessmen of by Erich Beck (Sindelfingen, Germany) the western Austrian crownlands increasingly looked to and Original publication: “Zur Wirtchaftsgeschichte der Deutschen in der Bukowina” in found in Bukovina the markets for their products to replace the Buchenland: 150 Jahre Deutschtum in der Bukowina, Veröffentlichungen des lost Romanian markets. The producers could have withstood Südostdeutschen Kulturwerks, vol. 16, series B, ed. by Franz Lang, trans. and ed. by this setback but as a group they lacked solidarity and engaged Sophie A. Welisch (Munich: Verlag des Südostdeutschen Kulturwerks, 1961), pp. in mortal competition among themselves. Thus it came about 174-178. that the manufacturers had to reduce their production by more than half and their number rapidly declined. When at the turn By the time Austria annexed Bukovina the centuries’ long of the century a definite improvement occurred in the indus- Turkish domination had completely destroyed the last vestiges trial sector, business activities, in particular in the cities, no of its former thriving commercial activity so that in the 18th longer lay in German hands. The Germans had left these century industry and trade were non-existent. Only in occupations, thus opening the field to the Poles, Ukrainians, Gartenberg (Sadagora), the site of the former mint of the Romanians and Jews. From this time on German industry could Russian army, could craftsmen still be found, almost all of more frequently be found in rural areas where the farmers, due whom were Baltic-Germans. to continued subdivision of their land, had to turn to a side occupation. This development proved favorable in that they Austria’s first measures were aimed at changing this situation. were not limited to a particular locality. From the 1890s Initially it was necessary to bring in experienced master German masons and carpenters went to Moldavia and craftsmen from its western lands. Freedom of trade and a thirty- Walachia, where they were welcomed into the workforce, year exemption from taxation served as inducements. By-and- while their families tended the small farms at home. by German tailors, bakers, carpenters, locksmiths, etc. appeared in the cities. Presumably over 1000 artisans were living in Bukovina’s annexation by Romanian in 1918 brought the Czernowitz in 1788. former Austrian crownland new possibilities for trade and commerce. While the agricultural Germans were struggling In 1804 the guild system was introduced in Bukovina. The with increased difficulties in marketing their products, the territory was divided into three guild districts: Czernowitz, manufacturers had a larger potential market in the industrially Suczawa and Sereth. German guild practices were adopted. The underdeveloped lands of the Old Kingdom of Romania. At guild masters trained apprentices and journeymen and the first, however, an upswing was not evident; the old economic German craftsman soon reaped the fruits of his calling. After difficulties persisted, reaching their height with the world 1848 the guilds, which initially looked very promising, lost economic crisis in 1931/32. Nonetheless, the German national their significance and were abolished in 1859. A new free- organization, which had earlier been established, was able to trade policy and the disintegration of the guilds permitted prevent the collapse of trade and commerce. The interests of poorly trained journeymen to become independent contractors. Bukovina’s commerce lay with the German Industrial Union Their rapid increase, however, resulted in intensified competi- for Romania [Deutscher Gewerbebund für Rumanien]. From tion and in deterioration in the quality of their workmanship. here
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