On the cover: Certificates of death can be requested by immediate descendants of a citizen of the former Soviet Union from the regional ZAGS (Bureau of Registry of Civilian Acts) in which the person lived/died. This death certificate is for David Andreyevich Fischer, father of Friedrich Davidovich, whose story is found pages 1-4. A translation of the certificate reads as follows:

CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

Citizen Fischer David Andreyevich died on 10 November 1937 [in letters and figures] at the age of 66 according to the registry book of deaths, [Extract #12 made] 26 September 1990. Cause of death: shot Place of death: Engels Region: Engels /krai: Saratov Republic: Russian S.F.S.R. Place of registration: Marxstadt, bureau of ZAGS Date of issuance: 26 September 1990 Signed and sealed by bureau director III RU No. 368618

Published by American Historical Society of Germans From 631 D Street • Lincoln, Nebraska 68502-1199 • Phone 402-474 -3363 Edited by Jo Ann Kuhr ©Copyright 1992 by the American Historical Society of Germans From Russia. AH rights reserved. 1SSN 0162-8283 The Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by its contributors. CONTENTS

UNFORGETTABLE ENCOUNTERS ...... 1 Nikolai V. Titov Translated by Elena Petrovna Mikhailova and Lawrence A. Weigel

EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT ...... 5 Nina Berend Translated by David Bagby

UNCLE JACOB'S WILD RIDES ...... 8 Alexander Dupper

VOLHYNIAN GERMAN BAPTISTS IN ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA ...... 11 Richard Benert

THE MATRON WHO WOULDN'T BE A MAID ...... 30 Ralph G. Bennett

UPDATE: THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON'S ...... 32 FAMILIAL ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE PROJECT Thomas D. Bird, M.D.

WE FULFILL OUR LIFE-LONG DREAM! ...... 35 Esther Beltz Trekell, et al.

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE AHSGR LIBRARY ...... 49 Michael Ronn

Members of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia receive the Journal quarterly in addition to a quarterly Newsletter and an annual genealogical publication, Clues. Members qualify for discounts on materials available for purchase from AHSGR. Membership categories: Student, $20.00; Individual, $30.00; Family, $30.00; Contributing, $50.00; Sustaining, $100.00; Life, $500.00 (may be paid in five annual installments). Memberships are based on a calendar year, due each January 1. Dues in excess of $30.00 are tax deductible. Applications for membership should be addressed to: AHSGR, 631 D Street, Lincoln, NE 68502-1199. Telephone (402) 474- 3363. FAX: (402) 474-7229.

UNFORGET TABLE ENCOUNTERS: People from the Past and Thoughts on the Future

Nikolai V. Titov

Cultural and Historical Museum , Marks, Russia

Translated from Russian to German by Elena Petrovna Mikhailova and from German to English by Lawrence A. Weigel.

Edited by Fr. Blaine Burkey, O.F.M.Cap. In Down the (HarperCollins, 1991 }, the fascinating Such an encounter occurred at our museum in the report of a 1990 journey down Russia 's greatest river, Marq summer of 1990. It was an ordinary sunny morning, with de Villiers devoted a marvelous chapter to Saratov and few visitors , when a man of medium height entered. His Marks {formerly Katharinenstadt), in the course of which he appearance differed little from any other person's—a wrote, ". ..the prospect of Germans returning to Saratov had pleasant, sunbu rn ed face, eyes faded by time, and silver- set off widespread racist hysteria in the region. " [p. 251] The gray hair. He offered me a sultry hand that had once held an present story, which gives a d ifferent perspective to the ax, a crowbar, and a hatchet, as well as tweezers and a return of the , was written by 65-year-old surgeon's knife. Nikolai Vasilevich Titov, an ethnic Russian , historian , and "Friedrich Fischer," he said gently, "I come from former regional newspaper editor who directs the museum Shakhtinsk (near Karanganda, ). Here, I brought something along." Caref ully he laid the contents of his in Marks. Bishop Joseph W erth of Novosibirsk , , son briefcase on the table. There were various papers, an of a native Volga German, helped T itov contact the Volga- inkwell, a penholder with a "Rondo" pen, a note holder, a German Society of Ellis and R ush Cou nties, Kansas, for horn knife for cutting paper, a cast-iron ashtray shaped like assistanc e in rest oring the Marks museum's coverage of an oak leaf, an unexplained match box, photos, various Volga German culture and history. Titov wrote in February documents, and a photo album from early-day Marxstadt. 1991, "About 5,000 Germans live in our city and region. "These all belonged to my father. My children don't Their relations with those of other nationa lities are good and want to give them away because they are all that is left of peace ful. Yet the city officials are agitating an anti - their grandfather. Believe me, it isn't easy for me to part autonomy state of mind . I believe the re-establishment of with such relics; but I want the people to know what it was the Volga Republic would improve the lives of the entire like then." population of the region. "——Fr. Burkey At first I couldn't understand what this was all about, A person's mind is a vessel one can neither see nor but gradually Friedrich Davidovich unfolded a vast facet of hold in one's hands. One can only stir up recollections, the past in a tragic story of the older generation. This is a excite them, and thus bring to light things hidden for heretofore untold story of the suffering of those who decades, yet preserved in the corner of the mind. These disappeared as well as those still living today. recollections have indeed faded, have been blotted out, and It is impossible to measure the suffering, the sorrow, have been pushed backwards by various events; but from and the grief of such destiny. No, people can't comprehend generation to generation they shall endure. it. Time alone will judge it all, and then on its own merits. Once in a while one meets a person , a complete The large Fischer family always lived in stranger; after spending time with him , one touches a tense Katharinenstadt. One of them was Friedrich Davidovich 's string of his soul, and a lively picture escapes, bringing the father, David Andreyevich, who was born in 1871. From past so close as if it had just happened yesterday. One even childhood on he had lea rn ed the feels like a participant in such events.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 2 UNFORGET TABLE ENCOUNTERS: story of religion. For twenty-one years he assisted the While he was relating the tragic fate of his father, sexton-schoolmaster at Unterwalden. Soon thereafter he was Friedrich Davidovich sighed and wiped the sweat from his allowed to lecture on the word of God in the school. brow. It was very difficult for him to speak about this. He Within two years, the young , hardworking schoolmaster showed a photo of the house he lived in before they were had become the sexton-schoolmaster, organist, and church deported and said sof tly, "They took our father away on choir leader at the Lutheran church in Katharinenstadt. He August 5, 1937. The Chekists (forerunners of the KGB) said also kept the church books, and from 1924 until 1930 he no more than they had to. He knew he would never return was schoolmaster in Rosenheim (Podstepnoye). and would never see his dear ones again. He was tried by a In his later years, David Fischer served as schoolmaster tribunal and judged to be an enemy of the people. What in his hometown. When the new authorities closed the happened to him, none of us knew until the end." church, he held services in his home, and the people joined Friedrich Davidovich was quiet. We looked at the him. It was forbidden , but he continued to hold religious documents by which his father had at various times been services. He carried his cross and was convinced that he had distinguished. These time -yellowed papers thanked him for to help the people lighten their suffering and do good. Many good service. A document of the Moskow Evangelical inhabitants of the city can remember how nicely the choir Lutheran Consistory said in part, "Dear Schoolmaster. For sang with his direction and organ playing. twenty-five years you served our congregation and led the singing by playing the organ. The congregation members thank you .... You conducted the services faithfully and full of devotion. We hope the Lord will always give you spiritual strength." This wish was fulfilled throughout his life, until the very last hour. Even in his most difficult moment of his life, his spirit wasn't broken.

This photo of the Evangelica l Lutheran Church in Katharinenstadt (now Marks) was taken in August 1992. The building is now being used as a recreation center. The This photo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Katharinenstadt Catholic Church in Katharinenstadt was blown up in 1983 or was taken prior to the Revolution. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Friedrich 1984 to make way for a rose garden and statue of Lenin. Zitzer. Photo courtesy of Marion F. Wasinger.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 Years passed, and no news was received concerning Now it was the youngest brother's turn. Johannes the fate of David Andreyevich. Relatives of an "enemy of Andreyevich was fifty-three years old. His life story was the people" didn 't try to look for him. Only after many little different from that of his older contemporaries. After years, when it was possible to speak freely, did Friedrich twenty-five years of service, he was given a pension but Davidovich finally begin writing. This past year, after f ifty- continued to work, teaching night school, and was known three years, he received a communication from the by everyone in the city. The Chekists took him in the night governor of the Saratov Oblast. This document said, "By a of February 13, 1938. The accusation was the same: anti- public decision of the N.K.V.D. Tribunal of the Auto- Soviet propaganda. The sentence was also the same: nomous Socialist Soviet Republic of the Volga Germans on shooting . On August 21, 1938, the sentence was carried November 8, 1937, your father, David Andreyevich out. Where he is buried is unknown. Fischer, bom 1871, was condemned to be shot because of This is how the lives of the three Fischer brothers came anti-Soviet agitation. The sentence of the Tribunal was to an end. In the course of ten months, the lives of a carried out on November 10, 1937. " His place of burial religious leader and two teachers, all of peaceful wasn't given. Enclosed with this announcement was a copy professions, were offered up by the lawless. Thus the of a document of rehabilitation, which noted that D. A. dragon of the totalitarian syst em crushed the fate of several Fischer, aged 66, had been shot in Engels on November 10, generations. 1937. We sat silently and paged through the papers. Both One could have ended this sad story of the religious head and heart ached. The mind searched for an answer to leader if the suffering of the Fischer family had only ended. the question: Of what were they guilty? Why were they But fate had terrible trials in store for them. The clouds tried? Who shall answer for this? What did the children gathered, and the storm fell on the second of the Fischer have to do then? How to survive? How to leave the brothers. parents? There were many questions, but no answers. Andrei Andreyevich was fifty-four and had been a The documents of rehabilitation—who needs them? teacher in the Katharinenstadt classical high school most of Are they only so the relatives can be convinced of the his life. Later he worked as a tour guide in the cultural and innocence of their father and grandfather? They knew that historical museum, where he arranged many items from the without documents. world of plants. He was the author of a botany textbook It was not only the Fischer family which suffered used in the secondary schools of the Volga German because of this injustice, and it was not only Germans who Republic. He is said to have had an extraordinary ability to were carried away during the night. , , learn foreign , such as Greek, Italian, Hebrew, , Tartars, etc., were also shot. These events surely and . He was well known and highly respected empowered the lawless, but they in no way lightened the throughout the republic. In his last years, Andrei fate of the unfortunate. The memory of the innocent dead Andreyevich was a businessman and served as an burns in the hearts of the living. Their descendants must interpreter for the People's Committee for Social always remember their story and these times. Assistance. For a long while we visited and recalled the old names The arrest of his brother was very hard for him; he of the streets, the houses, and the families, but Friedrich knew that his turn also would soon come. On the night of Davidovich told nothing about his own life. I didn 't feel January 30, 1938, he was arrested. As was customary, he like I should ask him. Before his departure he came to say was accused of anti-Soviet propaganda and condemned to good-bye and promised to come again next year. Later we be shot. The sentence was carried out May 22, 1938, in learned that he visited the cemeteries in Engels and Saratov. Thus ended the career of this talented teacher, but Saratov. He knelt before strange graves and placed a bunch this fact was revealed only f ifty years later. of flowers on the first graves he came to. He didn't find the How much strength one needed to survive this! But graves of his relatives. He knew he would never find them, this wasn't all; the work of the bloody villains continued. but he had some hope in his heart that he would. Not

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 4 UNFORGET TABLE ENCOUNTERS: without good reason is it said: "Hope is the last thing to Once the decree which lifted the restriction of the die. " German people became known, he returned to the Volga After a while I wrote to him in Shakhtinsk and soon Region and lived at Nishnaya Dobrinka. Then he went to received an answer. He wrote that he was taking up a Kazakhstan; he didn't say why. He has served forty-six collection in order to help restore our destroyed museum in years in health care, is a veteran of the medical profession, his hometown. Here is a person who thinks of future and has possession of documents which he retained, generations, one who wrote only few words of his own life. regarding it as his duty. His family is well, and he has two He was born in 1915 in Katharinenstodt, studied in the daughters and four grandchildren. "Red School," then in the model school. In 1936 he entered The reason for all our letters and conversation is his the Saratov University of Medicine, He was unable to longing for a home. He was deported but didn't have complete his studies there, however, as he was evacuated enough money to buy a house. To obtain one, a person has with his elders to Tomsk Oblast where he f inished his to wait many years—but his age makes this impossible. I education. In January 1942 the young doctor-therapist was can understand this person's sorrow very well. He has mobilized to help build the -Askiz Railroad, in the suffered much violence but doesn't complain about his fate . Krasnoyarsk territory. Active at f irst as a doctor, he was It was the fate of all peoples and nations, and time will heal taken in November 1942 with a work gang to the Ozarevka all. labor camp in Tula Oblast, where he was forced to work as Dear Friedrich Davidovich, it is easy to understand that a miner. An accident there left him a second -class invalid, a person has only one homeland. It is where the parents and and by the fall of 1943 he was again active as a physician. grandparents were born and buried. Your homeland is here on the Volga; your harbor on the shore of this mighty river.

Nikolai Titov and his wife in the backyard of their home in Marks (Katharinenstadt). Photo courtesy of Marion E Wasinger.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 "EVERY THING IS DI FFERENT...” Present-day German Russians in Mannheim, Nina Berend

Trans lated by David Bagby

"Whom I have met, no one speaks High German correctly, come to believe that it would have been better if he had for them it is also difficult. They say we speak like landed not in Mannheim, but in some other area of literature, but I have never yet heard." Germany where—in his opinion—"there is no dialect," for example in northern Germany. For Mannheim residents also, not only for German I have been surprised by two observations made in the Russians, learning the standard of High German is course of studying the language integration of German difficult. This is the conclusion reached by a German- Russians [into German society ]; one, by their language Russian worker who has lived in Rheinau-Sued (Rheinau consciousness, which grows astoundingly quickly, and two, South, near Mannheim) for two years and who works in one by the "language confusion" which prevails among them. of the factories of the firm Mannheimer Werke. His These two occurrences seem at first glance to be mutually conclusion addresses one of the most important problems exclusive but are factors in the language behavior of with which these people must come to grips in their "new German Russians which have developed in the course of old homeland": their relatively short time in Germany and which are learning standard German. In Mannheim at least, they have intensif ied by the extreme situation of German Russians. come up against an unexpected difficulty; "No one speaks High German correctly." German Russians came to the Language Consciousness, Language Confusion Federal Republic, however, with the intention of learning "correct" German. German Russians in the Soviet Union developed gradually but continually in the direction of Russification: Better to Go to North Germany they had to make the ever more their own, at the cost of their German dialect. This development had Language researchers may debate the questions of whether progressed so far that it was already accepted as a matter of dialects in Germany are still alive and whether they still course. The language policy of the Soviet Union was not the hold any relevancy in society. For the German-Russian least of the factors accelerating this development. worker who has "dropped" into the language environment What expectations concerning language do the German of a large, southern German city, there is no doubt: He Russians have as they enter their new language community? experiences directly how strongly the city dialect influences In my opinion, the answer to this question reveals one of the his "language fate" [sprachliches Schicksal], and he has most important contradictions created by their language Nina Berend is a researcher with the Insti tute for the German consciousness and language confusion: the contradiction Language (Institut fuer deutsche Sprache) in Mannheim, Germany. between their expectations and the reality of spoken This article first appeared in the newsletter Sprach Report language which they find here, a contradiction which (Language Report), from which this article was translated . Sprach ultimately calls forth a radical change in the attitudes Report, 3 (1991): 1-3). ©1991 Institut fuer deutsche Sprache. toward language and in the language behavior of German Photos by B. U. Biere. Used with per mission . Russians.

AHSGR Journal / Win ter 1992 The First Disappointment... ness to leam. None of them had f igured that a new dialect in German Russians learn that their expectations don't match Germany would stand in the way of learning High German. their reality through a series of frustrating experiences. The At f irst , the presence of a dialect is not experienced as an first disappointment concerns the dialect they bring with obstacle. Quite the opposite: the f irst emotions when one them; they discover very quickly that their native dialect is discovers that a dialect is spoken in Mannheim are very of little use to them here. This discovery is a painful one for pleasant; the experience is almost one of joy, combined most German Russians, for it was their native German with the hope that one will be able to settle into a new life dialect which in Russia strengthened their feeling of more quickly and easily through this level of "almost-like- belonging to Germany. The reasons for these false language home" dialect. "I was so happy!" said a beaming, expectations probably lie in the nature of the "island" enthusiastic young German-Russian woman from the dialect itself. When surrounded by a foreign language of Baden in the when I asked her about her environment, the German dialect (as the only available first impressions in Mannheim. variety of German) represents the itself Interestingly, the f irst thing that German Russians (which leads to the lack of differentiation between High discover are the similarities between the Mannheim dialect German and dialect). This has far-reaching consequences and their own. This leads them to the thought that their for German Russians in their new language environment. ancestors emigrated long ago from Mannheim or the Every German Russian in the Soviet Union who has an surrounding region to Russia. This gives them a feeling of active competency in a German dialect knows that he can belonging and strengthens [the feeling that they have] the speak "German." True, he is aware that his German is not right to live here—something for which they have a great entirely "correct," but that does nothing to change his belief need in daily life while building up their new existence. Not that he will quickly be able to learn "correct" German. the least among these feelings is the idea that dialect is German Russians do have a certain, if somewhat nebulous, something comfortable, gemuetlich, and—especially understanding that they speak a dialect and of what that against means. However, it 's not until they are faced with the appearance in Germany of High German and the German dialects as concrete variations of language that they fully realize the implications. Their mistaken belief is that they can simply "add" to their dialect. This is obviously not the case: their dialect is not an aid but rather a hindrance to learning High German. This is revealed more clearly with German Russians—but also in different ways—than with native-born dialect speakers.

And the Second...

The second disappointment faced by German Russians comes in connection with [the contrast between] High German and the Mannheim dialect. After they have discovered—first disappointment—that the German dialect they brought with them is not useful as a means of communication in the new language community, and after they have accepted and prepared themselves to learn High German, they are confronted with the Mannheim dialect. This con frontation saps their readi-

Ti m and Arthur; They sti ll speak Russian with their fa ther and a German-Russian dialect with their mother—but already with a Mannheim accent,

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 the background of High German, which they still have to they have the best command. The language confusion lea rn —familiar and understandable. which prevails among German Russians is particularly Very quickly, however, they make the sobering evident in this statement: discovery that is the basis for their negative appraisal of the Mannheim dialect: They don't understand it. This is Everything is different: there we spoke Russian on the apparent in all statements by German Russians about the street and German at home; now we speak German on Mannheim dialect. The radical nature of their attempts to the street and Russian at home. develop clear conceptual [language] structures is remarkable: High German is the correct German, the pure German Russians are certainly not overjoyed that German. The language is "cleaner," i.e., prettier and easier many of the new people they speak with do not speak High to understand; High German is better understood than German in most communicative situations but rather the dialect; High German is understood by all in Germany, Mannheim dialect: regardless of which dialect they speak. High German is therefore consciously chosen by German Russians over the My husband understands almost nothing of the Mannheim dialect. The dialect—at least so far—doesn't Mannheim dialect, and he 's always frustrated at work stand a chance with them. when someone doesn't speak High German. [The German-Russian immigrants] are unable to Fourth Variety: Russian imagine what must be done: since fate has already sent them to Mannheim , they will just have to learn to live with The language situation of German Russians in Mannheim is it. Learning High German is not the only task they will face further complicated by the fact that to the three German (as may seem to be suggested in the many language courses varieties they must deal with—High German, their native offered). They will also have to learn which varieties of German dialect, and the Mannheim dialect—there is added language in their new home have which social significance still a fourth language variety, Russian, of which as a and meaning. Above all, they will have to learn to use and practical matter evaluate the standard language and the varieties to fit the communicative situation.

Victor M. from Ka zakhstan with his wife Emma in temporary housing quarters Rheinau South: "Language is the most important thing. "

AHSGR Journal/W inter 1992 UNCLE JACOB'S WILD RIDES Alexander Dupper During the First World War, and in the turbulent years of farmhouses. As a small boy, all the activity on the village the after the , we street was of great interest to me. lived in the German village Friedenheim (Vygoda) in the In Vygoda there lived across the street from our house Odessa Region of the Ukraine. It was the birthplace of my a farmer by the name of Jacob, one of the most industrious father, and his parents—my grandparents— lived there. My and richest farmers in the village. Uncle Jacob, as I called father, having been drafted into the military like most of the him , had two farmsteads next to each other, one for each of Russian-German men, was in the army and stationed at the his two sons. The one where he lived included a large Russian-Turkish front in the southern Caucasus. residential building, stables, barns, summer kitchen, and My mother, with the help of one maid, took care of our other smaller farm buildings. The other lot, for the time little household and in addition tried to carry on my father 's being, was planted with vegetables. Uncle Jacob had over business, the sale of farm machinery and spare parts for the 100 dessiatine (270 plus acres) of land; he owned six to International Harvester Company. This became almost eight horses and many cows, sheep, hogs, chickens, and impossible since at this time of war and internal unrest geese. Together with his wife, sons, daughters, a almost no one had money for anything but the barest manservant and a maidservant he managed an exemplary necessities and of course didn 't want to pay. Often Mother farming establishment. He himself always worked in the was verbally abused and even driven from farmhouses fields with his farm hands, and his farmstead was always where she had gone to collect bills long overdue. swept clean and in excellent order. I was at that time just four or f ive years old and liked Those were restless times. The Communist watchword, to play around our yard all day. Every morning I watched "Take everything from the rich and give it to the poor" with great interest as the cowherd and the shepherd [" From each according to his ability, to each according to gathered the cattle, the calves, and the sheep in the village his needs." Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program , and drove them to the pasture. Shortly thereafter the 1875] was, of course, not received with great en thusiasm farmers could be seen driving to their fields. Almost every by the landowning farmers. These farmers understandably wagon carried a barrel of water and, depending on the felt insecure, were intimidated, and became quite fearful, season , all sorts of tools and farm implements, such as not knowing what the future would hold in store for them. shovels, hoes, rakes, harrows, and scythes. Attached to the Many reached for the bottle to drown their worries and rear there was either a plow or a reaping machine. After the fears. Uncle Jacob, too, was dissatisfied and worried about farmers had gone to their fields, it became more quiet on the political and economic situation. Things in his fanning the street. Now the chickens, geese, and dogs ventured establishment no longer went the way he wanted them to. forth. The tranquil mood was only occasionally interrupted Often work on the farm came to a standstill or had to be by a meat or fruit peddler or another kind of itinerant interrupted for several days. Like so many other farmers, salesman who would loudly advertise his wares. The dogs he, too, sought consolation with a glass of vodka at the greeted every stranger wi th loud barking, so that everyone buffet in the railway station. One glass sometimes became knew right away when an outsider arrived. At sunset the two or even three glasses of vodka. Washing down political herders brought their herds back into the village, and the frustration with liquor became ever more difficult. After farmers, their day's work accomplished, returned to their imbibing liquor, Uncle Jacob had a red face, new-found Alex Dupper lives in Lodi, California , and is a fre quent con- courage, and restored strength to resume once more the tri butor to the Jou rn al with humorous tales of his childhood in struggle against a hostile world. Already on the way from South Russia as well as with scholarly articles of life in the the train station to the vil lage, he would begin to grumble German colon ies in South Russia. loudly, scold, rail, and swear. Once arrived at his farm, he became abusive to

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 everyone—his wife, sons, daughters, maidservant and most handsome horses in the whole village, definitely the manservant. They all knew him well and tried to get out of fastest ones. In his opinion they were the most gorgeous in his way as quickly as possib le, since he sometimes became the whole area. The horses and the splendid harness with its violent. His wife would shout, "Get out of here, everyone; gleaming metalwork and the handsome brichka painted the old man's gone crazy again!" She would then lock black were really something to see! Riding in the brichka herself in the bedroom, or she would run across the street in was always an adventurous delight, and our Black Sea order to hide herse lf in our house. Maidservant and Germans liked to show off with it. The horses pulling the manservant would run out of the backyard; his daughters brichka ran a race with the wind. jumped over the yard wall to seek protection with the After the horses had been hitched to the carriage, neighbors, and his sons would hide in the hayloft or behind Uncle Jacob vaulted onto the seat, put his left arm around the straw- or haystack. When Uncle Jacob realized that me, and with a "jaeh! (go !)" and the crack of the whip, the there was no one left at the farm to listen to him, he went in team galloped out of the gate, trailing a rooster tail of dust. front of his gate onto the street. We tore hell-for-leather through the lower village. Here, with a loud voice which could be heard all over Chickens, dogs, and whoever else was on the street got out the village, he let everyone know that, in his opinion, they of the way and sought refuge. At the southern end of the were nothing more than "dumme Esel und faule Huende village we took a sharp turn to the right. Only two wheels (stupid asses and lazy mutts)," spiced with several touched the roadbed; the other two flew through the air. unprintable German and Russian expletives. Those who Galloping wildly, we progressed farther toward the railway heard him hurried as quickly as they could into their houses line. The railroad crossing was passed with a loud racket, from where they could observe the spectacle from behind whistling, and whip-cracking, horses and carriage more drawn curtains. Even the dogs immediately grew silent; airborne than on the road. With my litt le child's voice I they knew that a powerful kick delivered by Unc le Jacob tried with much enthusiasm to support Uncle Jacob's did not exactly come across as a caress. Chickens ceased yelling and shouting. We circled around the railway station their cackling and quickly sought backyards. After he had in a great curve and approached the village's north end once once more yelled his opinion at the lower and upper village more. The horses were now cantering, and Uncle Jacob's (with by now an almost hoarse voice) and all was quiet in rage had by now pretty well spent itself. Yes, he even let the village, he discovered me. Here I stood in our front gate me hold the reins. This was, of course, the high point of the with my little wheelbarrow and wooden hobby horse and whole wild ride for me—to be allowed to hold the horses' listened with great pleasure to all the yelling and shouting. reins. With a more moderate pace, we now returned to For me, five years old, Uncle Jacob with his loud voice was Uncle Jacob's farm. On our arrival he lifted me down from a hero. In my eyes he was a great man who could outyell the carriage, and I immediately ran home. My mother was the whole village. When he looked at me, I smiled at him waiting already in front of our house. Full of joyous joyfully. As he now saw that I was his only listener, he excitement, I bubbled forth my enthusiasm over the ride. called to me, "Come, Sasha (Russian nickname for Mother wanted to scold me, but she couldn't get a word in. Alexander), let's go for a drive!" I didn't need to be told Above all, I was proud to have held the horses' reins. She twice; immediately I left my toys where they were and ran now tried to have a few serious words with Uncle Jacob, barefoot across the street to him . He caught me in his arms, for him not to take me along on his wild and reckless lifted me up, and carried me to his brichka (light carriage), drives. But he, with his nerves now cooled off, only replied, where he set me on the front seat. Then he got his two best "The little one should learn something, after all, and also horses and hitched them to the carriage. The brown stallion have some fun." with the white star on his forehead and the mare just as The followin g day I would play again in our yard with brown were a beautiful team of horses. These horses my hobbyhorse and my wheelbarrow. Sometimes I stopped understood each other, and they understood and obeyed in the middle of the yard and tried to imitate Uncle Jacob's every call and whistle of Uncle Jacob's. He had probably the loud words about the stupid asses and lazy

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 mutts. Things became unpleasant for me, however, when I In Vygoda people were talking for a long time about also tried to repeat his unprintable words. My mother, who ano ther wild drive Uncle Jacob took without me. One day had no understanding for that, quickly gave me a spanking he had once again had enough of everything, so he spurred and had me kneeling in the comer for five minutes. Those on his horses and raced like the wind to the village of five minutes seemed like f ive hours to me. But my joy at Freudental, where his parents lived. It was shortly b efore the brichka ride with Uncle Jacob lasted for days. noon, and his mother was just setting the table, which on I, of course, participated in only a few of Uncle Jacob's this warm day stood under the acacia tree in front of the wild rides. One day he drove without me to the train station house. Uncle Jacob rushed into the yard, shouted his Dachnaya (Villa Area), only twelve kilometers southeast of opinion at everyone loudly, that they were all nothing more Vygoda. He waited at the station's water tower until the than "Stupid asses and lazy curs !", turned around and, mail /passenger train from Odessa to Kiev arrived. This becoming aware of the half-set table, halted abruptly, train made a stop at each railroad sta ti on to deliver and pick leaped down from his brichka, seized the table by its legs, up mail. It was not exactly the fastest train but was always and overtu rn ed it while shouting, "That's all the lazy devils on time. Some farmers even set their watches by the train do—eat the whole day!" His mother screamed, and his whistle. Uncle Jacob signaled the locomotive engineer as father, who saw what was going on, ran into the house and the train came to a halt and the locomotive stood at the got his shotgun from the wall, inserting a cartridge water tower. With much yelling and gesticulating he tried immediately. The old man could be just as wild tempered to get the engineer to understand that he wanted to race as his son, But when the old man came out of the house, his him. The engineer understood and pointed in the direction son had already left in a cloud of dust and was by now in of Vygoda. As soon as the locomotive whistled and started the upper part of Freudental. The old man, whose wrath had rolling, Uncle Jacob, without looking back , cracked his been thoroughly kindled, nevertheless took aim and fired a whip, yelled like a madman, and his horses took off like shot. Fortunately, he didn't hit anything. Uncle Jacob had greased lightning. It took the old engine a while to accel- long since gone beyond the range of the old shotgun. He erate, but the horses ran for their lives, for the smoking only smiled: his horses, which could outrun a train, could monster—the train—puffed, hissed, and rattled after them; also outrun a shotgun. Y ippee! it seemed as though all the infernal demons of hell were Returning into his house, the old man was foaming and chasing them. At the train station Vygoda 's water tower, swearing that he would shoot Jacubchik (Jacob) the next Uncle Jacob suddenly halted his team. The horses were wet time he came to his house. So, for a while, there was no with perspiration and breathing heavily. Uncle Jacob, too, visiting between father and son. had to wipe off his sweat. But now the train arrived. A In the spring of 1920, the Red Army overran the Black shrill whistle heralded its coming, then there was the Sea area and occupied the city of Odessa. Our family squealing of brakes, and the locomotive stood at the water suddenly had to leave Vygoda, and for a long time I heard tower beside the brichka. The engineer waved at Uncle nothing more of Uncle Jacob. Not until the early 1930s, Jacob and respectfully doffed his cap in acknowledgement when we again lived in Odessa , did Yasha, Uncle Jacob's of Uncle Jacob's victory . Uncle Jacob waved back and oldest son, visit us and tell us of his father's sad fate. happily drove his team toward the village. The next day the Having been branded a kulak, he became like so many whole village was agog with the news that Uncle Jacob's others a victim of Stalin's Collectivization of Agriculture. team had beaten the mail /passenger train and was therefore In the spring of 1930 he and his wife along with other faster than the train. His victory over the train gave Uncle formerly well-to -do farmers of Vygoda were exiled and Jacob enormous satisfaction and great joy in this restless, transported in cattle cars to Siberia. None of them was ever unsettled time. Uncle Jacob continued drinking his liquor at heard from again. Did he starve to death, freeze to death, or the train station buffet, complaining loudly, and driving his was he beaten to death in the cold North? Siberia team like the devil to calm his nerves and to keep from swallowed him, as it has millions of others, without a trace. going mad. After every ride he would reward his horses But in my memory he lives forever as a great man who generously with oats. owned the swiftest horses in Vygoda and who taught me to hold the reins and guide a team of horses.

AHSGR Journa l / Winter 1992 VOLHYNIAN GERMAN BAPTISTS IN ST. PAUL MINNESOTA Richard Benert Germans from Russia, like other immigrant groups in the only lost much of their cultural identity in the process but New World, often settled in nearly homogeneous also made themselves less accessible to the curiosity of communities where they could preserve many of the later generations. Their tracks are harder to f ind. Leaving folkways of the old country and, consequently, their unique behind no distinguishing artifacts as a community, they are identity. Churches, cemeteries, folklore and folksongs, chiefly remembered as individuals, and their memories are names of towns, and countless traditions provided evidence preserved, if at all, chiefly by their families. of their need for continuity through the harsh transition The following pages will commemorate a small group their lives had undergone. Immigrants who merged into of Germans from Russia, most of them Baptists, who left larger communities not their homes in a relatively circumscribed region of Volhynia and settled in the Dayton 's Bluf f area on the east A native of St. Paul, Richard Benert attended Bethel College side of St. Paul. There they became members of what was there and earned a doctorate in European history at the Uni- then the Erste Deutsche Baptisten-Gemeinde, a church that versity of Minnesota. He then taught history at Lafayette Col- 3 lege in Easton, Pennsylvania. Since 1975 he has been had been founded in 1873 . For about thirty-five years, its employed as a harpsichord builder at Martin Harpsichords of membership consisted primarily of immigrants from Bethlehem , Pennsylvania. This article is dedicated especially Germany, but in the to the memory of Mr. Emil John.

The First German Baptist Church of S t. Paul, photographed shortly after its 189 1 construction.

AHSGR Journal / Wi nter 1992 12 VOLHYNIAN GE RM AN BAPTISTS years just before the outbreak of WW I, it became a in Kapetu lczyn. The Marquardt family owned a substantial targeted destination for newcomers from Volhynia, among amount of land and had donated a portion of it to be a whom were my father, Rudolph Benert, and the parents of cemetery for the German community. Emil also my mother , Alma (Bartel) Benert. remembered occasionally attending the local Lutheran The story concerns about two dozen families and an church or visiting the large Baptist church in Nowa Rudnia, area of Volhynia scarcely more than 25 kilometers in a brick structure with stained glass windows, having about breadth, stretching from Nowa Rudnia in the west to 200 members. The pastor of the Nowa Rudnia church Solodyri in the east (4-D on the Karte der deutschen regularly visited the Siedlungen in ukrainisch Wolhynien of Dr. Karl Stumpp [AHSGR Map No. 3 ]). A few of the families came from such outlying as Zeleznica (a few kilometers west of Korec —4-B—and about 70 kilometers west of Nowa Rudnia) and Kapetulezyn (about the same distance southwest of Nowa Rudnia— 5-B). What drew them to St. Paul, once the first of them had arrived, was the typical network of family ties and friendships already established in Volhynia, strengthened in this case by their contacts within the Baptist community there. Some of the story has been preserved by individual family members who have taken upon themselves the preservation of their own families' histories, but we owe a great debt to the amazing memory of Mr. Emil Jahn, who celebrated his 101st birthday on February 15, 1992, but passed away the following October 5. Until recently he lived in hi s own apartment about a mile from the old church (now converted, alas, into apartments). His patient answers to my questions got my research started several years ago, and further information has come largely from leads which he furnished. It is now possible to identify what I hope is all Emil J ohn in 1966. of the individuals who made the journey from Volhynia to the First German Baptist Church of St. Paul; to observe, in Kapetulezyn church, a branch of his own, four times each some instances, their lives in Russia and the circumstances year. After Michael Jahn died in 1906, Amelia married an surrounding their emigration; to note, in roughly older man (Eduard Bansmer) who was unable to maintain chronological order, their arrival in St. Paul; and to describe the Jahn's large farm. Therefore the family moved to Nowa in broad outline their adjustment to life in a midwestern Rudnia in 1909. From there Emil immigrated to St. Paul American city. through the port of Hamburg in 1910, aided by ten rubles Emil Jahn was bom in Kapetulczyn (5-B) in 1891, the he handed to a border guard in lieu of appropriate papers. fourth child of Michael and Amelia (Marquardt) Jahn, His His coming to St. Paul was directly related to the fact older siblings were Juliana (bom in nearby Marianovka in that a few years earlier his brother-in-law, Wilhelm 1881 or 1882), Rudolph (1885) and Reinhold (1888). Wiesner, had temporarily settled there. Wilhelm's brother August (1894) and A rn old (1901) were his younger August (born in 1876) had married Juliana Jahn, Emil's brothers. Emil attended school in nearby Michaloczka. His sister, in 1899. Wilhelm and August were sons of Friedrich father was the leader of a small group of Baptists who me t Wilhelm and Katherine (Sorge) Wiesner, both of whom in the home of Emil's grandparents, Karl and Mathilda had been born in Poland in the 1850s. Their other children (Rosien) Marquardt, included Emil, Heinrich, Adolf, Julius, Wilhelmina, and Karoline. The family lived on what Emil Jahn remembered as a large farm in Zeleznica. They had

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 come to Volhynia as Lutherans but became Baptists about Winnipeg, perhaps as early as 1903, and moved to St. Paul a 1894 and must have begun attending a Baptist church in few years later with his wife Natalia of Winnipeg. She nearby Luczinow where August was baptized in 1896 by a joined the church in 1909, but a few years later (perhaps Rev. M. Jeske. Three years later Rev. Jeske also off iciated 1912) this couple returned to Canada, lived in at August and Juliana's wedding. The Wiesners also Saskatchewan, and retired eventually in Vancouver, B.C. worshipped occasionally with the Baptists in Kapetulczyn While in St. Paul, however, Wilhelm urged his brother and had contacts with the church in Nowa Rudnia, where August to join him. To do so, August had to leave his August became a member. blacksmith shop in Kapetulczyn. Blacksmithing was a trade The Wiesners were a prosperous family. Emil he had learned from his uncle, Mr. Pershal, in the village remembered their large house and barn, sheds for the of— as Emil Jahn remembered it—Wow ze. August's shop animals, f ields of wheat, oats, rye, barley, flax, potatoes, had also provided employment for Emil. August duly rutabagas and cucumbers, apple and cherry orchards, oak arrived in 1910, transferred his church membership from and willow woods, swamps, six or seven cows and about as Nowa Rudnia, found work at the Northern Cooperage many horses. In spite of this, Company, and sent for his wife. Juliana came the following year with their son Rudolph, bom six years earlier in Marianovka. August later found employment in North St. Paul and purchased a 10-acre farm near that community. He quickly became active in the church, teaching Sunday school for a number of years and serving as a deacon throughout his life. In this role h e remains etched in my childhood memories, reverently serving the elements of Communion to the congregation. Two other brothers, Emil and Adolf, also sojourned in St. Paul for a time. Wilhelm Wiesner's advertisements about life in St. Paul acted even more quickly on other people than on his brother. Emil Jahn was one of them , and when he came, he was accompanied by the family of Friedrich and Pauline (Jahn) Gutzman. Pauline was Emil's aunt, and Friedrich came from the village of Michaloczka. They joined the church in July 1910 but stayed only a short time before moving to Madison, South Dakota, where there was also a German Baptist Church. Emil lived with them briefly before being This is possibly a photograph taken at the wedding of August '7 Wiesner and Juliana Jo hn in 1899 in Kapetulczyn. Positive offered a room by August Wiesner's family. Wilhelm Wiesner may have exerted influence on ident ification can be made of Michael and Amelia J ohn at the far another young man, John Roller, who also arrived in St. left. Juliana and August would be the couple standing in the center, Paul in 1910. His parents, Wilhelm and Pauline Roller, had with possibly Wilhelmina W iesner at the right. Seated in the middle lived near Zeleznica and were friends of the Wiesner and is possibly Karl Marquardt, and seated at the right, possibly, is Jahn families. As the Wiesners had left Russia for land in Friedrich Wilhelm Wiesner (or Karl Sorge?). Unfortunately, failing Drueckenhof, the Rollers became their neighbors again in eyesight prevented Emil J ohn from identifying these people. the nearby village of Treuhausen in 1908. It was apparently Friedrich Wilhelm and Katherine, with their daughter from there that John Roller came to St. Paul. He attended Wilhelmina and her husband, Karl Sorge, moved to the church until his marriage, when he joined his wife's Drueckenhof, Kreis Briesen, West Prussia, in about 1906. Lutheran church. Two brothers, Fred and Emil, also came. In this formerly Polish area, the German government was Fred taught Sunday school in 1914 and 1915. Both were offering land to German farmers, hoping to Germanize the area and make it more productive. The sons of the family had more distant horizons in mind. Wilhelm had apparently immigrated to

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 still on the membership list in 1927, although Emil had by the services , and once a month it was common to visit the that time moved to Chicago. church in Neudorf, whose last pastor, until its closing in The Wiesners and Rollers were only two Volhynian 1934, was Rev. Schmidgall. (In that year it became, thanks families who divided their migratory energies between to the government, a granary. The previous year, the Prussia and the . Several members of four government allegedly turned the church in Solodyri into a families which had come to Volhynia from the Kalisz veterinary clinic.) Emil Jahn recalled that a previous pastor district in western Poland also left for West Prussia around (Rev. Wuerch?) visited St. Paul, possibly around 1918, on 1906. The Kalisz district was not far from the Warta River what must have been a joyous occasion for his former district where the Wiesners came from. A Sorge family parishioners who then lived there. settled in or near Zeleznica, and one of its sons was the I have not been able to discover what led the first Karl Sorge who married Wilhelmina Wiesner and immigrants from Neudorf to St. Paul, nor is it apparent in accompanied her and her parents to Drueckenhof. Whether what order they arrived. There may, of course, have been this family was related to Katherine Sorge, the wife of communication with the Nowa Rudnia church, but I am not Friedrich Wilhelm Wiesner, no one seems to know. Three aware of any specif ic contacts. Emil Jahn believed that other families—Krebs, Freigang, and Riske —settled in about 1908 Mr. and Mrs. John Litz arrived from Nowa Rudnia, from where Heinrich and Luise (Heise) somewhere near Neudorf, possibly the first from that area . Krebs, Johann and Justine (Richter) Freigang, and Johann's By 1920 this fami ly had grown to include a daughter Esther daughter Lydia with her husband, Emil Riske, also departed and four sons: Arthur, Herman, Harold, and Rubin. They for West Prussia, settling in various villages in Graudenz remained members of the church at least through the 1920s. and Rosenberg. None of them was far from Drueckenhof, Also in St. Paul before 1910 were two Silke brothers, and contacts among the families were maintained. The Wilhelm and Albert. Emil Jahn thought that Albert might details of their intermarriages and subsequent movements have worked for my grandfather, W ilhelm Karl Boehnert, from place to place within Germany and between there and in Solodyri. They soon returned to Russia, but while they the United States (chiefly Milwaukee) make an interesting lived in St. Paul, they lived in a rooming house on East 4th story but lie beyond our immediate purpose. We will Street (the church was on East 5th) with Gustav Timm and encounter their names again, however, in connection with Robert Ittermann of Neudorf. later immigrants to St. Paul. Gustav Timm and his brother August were, I believe, While the immigrants from the Zeleznica-Kapetulczyn- sons of a cabinetmaker in Neudorf. Neither of them became Nowa Rudnia triangle were coming to St. Paul, another members of the First German Baptist Church, but August group was arriving from the Neudorf-Solodyri area. remained a lifelong resident of St. Paul. The Timms were Neudorf is not on Stumpp's map but appears as "Kol. well acquainted with the Ittermann family in Neudorf. Nowa" on maps of the Wojskowy Geographical Institute, Gustav Timm married one of their daughters, Regina; one lying 3 to 5 kilometers northwest of Solodyri. It was the of their sons, Albert, learned cabinetmaking from the elder site of a fairly large Baptist church, a smaller branch of Mr. Timm. In 1981 at the age of 96, this Albert Ittermann which was situated in Solodyri. According to my father, wrote a brief story of his life after a long career as a Baptist churches in Wiazowiec (5-D) and Horoszki (Wolodarsk, 4- preacher in places as far apart as Pleasant Valley, North D) were also branches of the Neudorf church, as the Baptist Dakota, and South Africa. According to his autobiography, church in Pulin was an offshoot of a church in Iwanowice. his father Peter had been a L utheran pastor, apparently in About half the population of Solodyri was Baptist. Mrs, the vicinity of Kiev. After Peter and his wife, Karoline Alice (Deblitz) Baumbach of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, who (Henkel), became Baptists in 1883, they were ostensibly was bom there in 1920, has identified 48 of her list of 89 "persecuted by the Synod" which had "decided to kill families as Baptist. In the 1920s the Solodyri congregation hi m" (!). 11 Apparently, after narrowly escaping death, he had two deacons, she remembers, Gottlieb Driesner and found safety in Neudorf where he became a teacher of Rus- Karl Deblitz. Three Sundays each month, the "brothers" led sian and Ger man and took up the study of law in

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 nearby "Goroscheck" (Horoszki, also called Horoshik including the delivery in November 1910, of a short 12 exposition on the ninth commandment. By June 1911, and Roschek). Albert managed to attend school along with however, he was in Winnipeg, requesting a transfer of his cattle-tending duties. After his three-year stint of membership. All the brothers, in fact, eventually went to cabinetmaking and to avoid being drafted, he immigrated to Canada, although Gottlieb and his wife Anna left St. Winnipeg in 1905, In July 1908, however, he appears in the Paul in December 1910 to take up residence for a time Sunday school records of the Firs t German Baptist Church in Oregon. Robert Ittermann and August Timm are in St. Paul as a teacher of the 7th class. Included among his of particular interest to me, for it was August Timm who, students was "Mrs. A. Ittermann." This young woman was having already come to St. Paul, returned to Russia and Julia, a daughter of a Mrs. Maier, in whose rooming house accompanied my father on his journey to the New World in his brother Robert would stay when he arrived in 1909. I 1911. On my father's first visit to the First German Baptist assume that Albert had roomed there also. In November Church, he was accompanied, according to Emil Jahn, by 1909 Albert terminated his membership in the church to Robert Ittermann. return to Winnipeg. After a brief period of homesteading in The year before my father's arrival, however, one more Moosehorn, he began his ministerial career as a student at young man from the Neudorf area came to St. Paul. This the German Baptist seminary in Rochester, New York. was Hermann Deblitz, one of seven sons of August and Robert, who joined the church in June 1909, was only one Wilhelmina (Holstein) Deblitz. This couple had come to of Albert's brothers who came to St. Paul. Gottlieb and Volhynia from East Prussia in the early 1860s. Wilhelmina's Jonathan also appear in church records for that year. One of parents, David and Louise (Pliege) Holstein, had emigrated the three must have been the "S. S. Schatzmeister [treasurer] from Eylau in East Prus sia and also lived in Neudorf. Two Ittermann" found in the records for January 1, 1910. A fifth of Hermann's brothers, Robert and Leo, left to live in East brother, August, appeared later in 1910, Robert took an Prussia, but three of them (Gustav, Friedrich, and Karl) took active part in the youth program, up residence in Solodyri. Gustav and Friedrich, in fact, became next-door neighbors of my grandfather. Hermann's arrival in St. Paul was followed quickly by his joining the church on May 1, 1910. He remained an active member for several years but moved to Milwaukee at some time before 1923. Like the Holstein and Deblitz families, my grandfather, Wilhelm Karl Boehnert, had come to Volhynia from Prussia—from Riesenkirch, Marienwerder, West Prussia. He had immigrated in 1870 at the age of six with his parents, Friedrich Wilhelm and Caterina (Wormik) Boehnert. In 1886 he married a widow named Louise (Schneider) Bunkowski, who had been bom in Poland in 1854. They were both members of the Neudorf Baptist Church but were married in Solodyri. My father, the fourth of six children, was bom in 1893 while they lived in the adjacent village of Kosze lowka [or Koscielowka]. He was baptized in the Neudorf church in 1908 by Rev. Morr. By this time the family had moved to a larger farm in Solodyri. Although their hard work made it a prosperous farm, my father, anxious in any case to escape the draft, probably could not resist the lure of that place where several of his Volhynians in Milwaukee. Stan ding, from left: Hermann Deblitz , friends had gone. In early 1911, with the aid of August Pauline (Roller) Deblitz , Alvina (Roller) Freigang, Betty Freigang, Timm, he made his way to St. Paul. Arthur Freigang, Lydia (Deblit z) Swatex. Front row from . left: Emil Roller, Franic Swatex, Bobby Freigang, Robert Roller.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 16 VOLHYNIAN GERMAN BAPTISTS Several other immigrants also entered the scene in St. joined the church in February 1912. After about five years, Paul in 1911, all of them from the Nowa Rudnia area. One the Geske family purchased a farm near St. Paul's west side of these was Karl Busch, born in or near this village about and Gustav found employment in the South St. Paul 1890. His family were neighbors of Emil Jahn's mother and stockyards. There they attended the Riverview Baptist stepfather. His name appears on a wedding certif icate of Church, which had originated in the 1880s as a station of 1904 as a witness to the marriage of Emil Riske and Lydia the First German Baptist Church. Freigang. In St. Paul he apparently lived for a time in Mrs. The year 1911 also saw the arrival of Rudolph Jahn Maier's rooming house, and he joined the church on (Emil 's brother) with his wife of two or three years, Amalia January 1, 1912. He returned to Russia in 1913, married a (Lueck), whose father Emanuel was an honored deacon of daughter of the Jaertz family of Kapetutezyn, and the Nowa Rudnia church and whose mother Thusnelda was returned—but this time to North Dakota and later to the a daughter of Rev. Bansmer. The following year, Reinhold Edmonton area. Jahn joined his brothers in St. Paul. Reinhold had lived for Another arrival from Nowa Rudnia in 1911 was that of a short time in Grunwald, near Malyn (3-F), where relatives Ferdinand (Fred) Gutsche, who came as the result of urging of the Jahns were living and where there was a Baptist by Emil Jahn. Fred quickly became a member in July 1911. church. There he began his career as a tailor, and there he I remember him as a tall, serious, soft-spoken deacon in the married Augusta Buchholz, a daughter of a local Lutheran church. He was the fourth of seven children born to Julius family. All four of the Jahn brothers raised their families in and Louise Gutsche. This couple had moved to Russia the church and contributed to its life in many ways. One from the Koenigsberg area in the early 1880s, settling first more brother and their mother were yet to come. in Zabara, later relocating to Nowa Rudnia where Fred was Also in 1912 (or possibly 1913), the Jahn brothers' bom in 1890 (' 91 ?) and baptized in 1901. 17 Their farm "Uncle Julius" Reiter came to St. Paul. He had been born consisted of about 20 acres, about 4 of them in oak and about 1880 in Michaloczka and had married Amelia various softwoods which provided some of their income. (Marquardt) Jahn's sister Mathilda. He came alone and Julius was also a blacksmith who made wagons and secured passage for his wife and children some years later. carriages until his untimely death, ironically, in a carriage Church records for 1912 indicate that one other couple accident. Other children were David (bom in 1884 or '85), joined the church in that year, Mr. and Mrs. H. Litz. This Mathilda (1886), Olga, Adolph, Lena, and Jonathan. was apparently a brother of John Litz, who remained in the According to Gutsche family lore, Fred received 200 rubles church only a short time. from his father in 1911 and was told to go to California. It Of the immigrants we have mentioned thus far, the must have been Emil's salesmanship that led him to the majority were not married when they arrived. Getting to the frigid climate of Minnesota. Or it could have been the fact New World could be easier than f inding a wife. Being in a that he travelled with August Jahn, who had decided to join strange country without knowing the language can present his brother Emil in St. Paul. proble ms to young men of marrying age. Being unattached, A friend of the Gutsche family, Gustav Geske (or of course, meant that they were free to travel in search of a Jeske), also came to St. Paul in 1911. Gustav's father was wife, which is exactly what some of them did—back to the also a blacksmith in or near Nowa Rudnia. His older old country. brother, Michael, had come to America but had returned. Among them was Emil Jahn, al though he also had Gustav came without his wife, Hulda (Beier), and infant other reasons for returning to Volhynia in 1912. He had son David whom he brought over a year later. A younger come here somewhat provisionally, not sure that he would brother also came to escape the draft but could not escape stay. He had left Nowa Rudnia under somewhat strained the war. He suffered shellshock while serving with United conditions. He had fallen in love with a young woman States forces in Europe and died at an early age. Unlike named Emma Bloch from Michaloczka whose parents had most of the immigrants, Gustav had not been a churchgoer tied their permission for marriage to Emil's having first in Russia, but he underwent a religious conversion and found success in America. Finding such an arrangement unsatisfactory and fearing

AHSGR Journal / Wi nter 1992 that his letters wou ld be read by her parents, Emil broke off Augusta—were born there before the family took up communication with Emma after he left home. He returned farming near Harvey, North Dakota, in 1896 and joined the to Russia to see his mother, to reconsider his move to German Baptist Church in nearby Fessenden. There three America, and certainly to see Emma. By jarring more daughters (Bertha, Hilda, and Esther) were born. coincidence, upon arriving in Zwiahel (4-C), he came upon In 1914 Marie Radke became ill and was taken to her wedding and was invited to the party. Through tears she Mounds Park Hospital in St. Paul (perhaps a mile from the asked why he had not written. Whatever his answer, it was First German Baptist Church and, I hasten to add, the site of now too late. This, plus his awareness that staying in Russia my own entry into this world). While she was there, the would certainly involve him in military service, propelled church's pastor, the Reverend C. F. Stoeckmann, visited her him once again to St. Paul. Once there, the fickle fate that and informed her that among his church's members was a had disappointed him in Volhynia would turn a kinder face Reinhold Jahn who had married Augusta Buchholz in on him as he met the woman who would be his beloved Volhynia. Marie, of course, knew these names and was wife for 64 years. soon recuperating at Reinhold's home. Soon thereafter, How Emil met Augusta Hintz is a story that proves Reinhold's wife Augusta accompanied Marie back to North once again how small the world can be. His brother Dakota, stayed there through the threshing season, and Reinhold had married Augusta Buchholz, as we have noted. returned to St. Paul accompanied by Marie 's daughter The Buchholz family was related to the family of Karl and Augusta. W ith fate now his friend, Emil soon met Augusta Amelia (Buchman) Radke, who had emigrated from Hintz, married her six weeks later (November 11, 1914), Koenigsberg and lived in or near Solodyri. Marie Radke, and honeymooned in (where else?) North Dakota. one of their daughters, had married Karl Hintz, son of For Emil's brother August the return to Russia was Adolf and Karoline Hintz, born in Russia in 1868. Marie more successful than Emil's had been. In 1913 he went back had been born in 1871 (or '72) and was baptized in 1890 in to Marianovka and married Olga Beckertt. They were the Neudorf church by Rev. Assaff Lehmann. Their accompanied on their return to America by her brother marriage took place the same year, in the same church, with Theophil, who also joined the church. These Beckertts were a Rev. Beirin officiating. Their first child, John, was born children of Alexander and Martha (Steingraber) Beckertt. the following year in Solodyri. In 1892 the three In 1929 Theophil married Lydia Hyske, who had been bom immigrated to Tennessee for a short time before moving to in 1901 to Pound, Wisconsin. Two daughters—Sarah and

The Hint z family. Standing, from left: Bertha, John, Sarah, and Hilda. The wedding of Fred and Pauline (Boehrnert) Gutsche in 1913. Seated , from left: Augusta, Marie, Karl , and Esther. Standing, from left: Pauline, Martha Irestone, Emil John, Rudolph Benert. Seated: Fred Gutsche and Emma Patet (fi ancee of Rudolph Benert).

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 Henry and Pauline (Bansmer) Hyske of Gruenwald. The Letters and money he sent never reached them. For six Hyske family had immigrated to Lodi, California, where years he knew nothing of their fate. We shall return to this Lydia was baptized at the German Baptist Church in 1920. story later. Theophil, Lydia, and daughter Olga moved to Lodi in 1946, In the meantime, part of Daniel's assimilation process Hermann Deblitz also returned in 1913 but not to was changing his name to the more German-sounding Russia, Having met John Roller in St. Paul, Hermann must "Klemke," Th is was done, I am told, at the urging of Miss have heard glowing reports about John's sis ter Pauline back Hannah Neve, a saintly woman who devoted her life to in Treuhausen, West Prussia. Emil Jahn and Adolf Wiesner teaching and helping others. Many of these immigrants' also put in a good wor d for her. Hermann's journey there diff iculties were eased by her efforts, which included was doubly successful. He not only married Pauline but teaching them English. David Gutsche's assimilation was also brought back a friend of hers, Pauline Boehmert, who, furthered a few years later when he met and in 19 19 within weeks of meeting Fred Gutsche in St. Paul, became married Lillian Healy from Pipestone, Minnesota, and his wife on November 15, 1913. [See photo page 17 .] began raising his family, beginning with the arrival from The year 1913 saw the arrival of at least three more Russia of his son Albert in 1920. newcomers from Volhynia: David Gutsche, Daniel Robert Hinz, the third newcomer in 1913, was a cousin Klemke, Robert Hinz and, possibly, Emil Krebs. David of Hermann Deblitz. His father, Gottfried Hinz, had Gutsche was the older brother of Fred. His lot in Volhynia married Augusta Holstein of Neudorf, sister of Wilhelmina had not been an entirely happy one. He had lost his wife Holstein, who had married Hermann's father (see above, at and child in childbirth, and other plans were not working n. 15). My father had the impression that Robert Hinz (born out. At the urging of his mother and, no doubt, his brother in 1886) was from Horoszki, but at least during the 1920s in St. Paul, he left a two-year-old son, Albert, in the care of (according to Alice Baumbach), three Hinz families lived loved ones and journeyed to America in the company of his adjacent to each other on the north edge of Solodyri, just brother-in-law, Daniel Klimenko (later, Klemke). This off the main road to Horoszki. Moreover, Robert's older young man, the only non-German in this group of immi- brother Emil was born in Solodyri in 1880 and was married grants, had married David's sister Mathilda in Nowa to Lydia Gerke, daughter of Christian Gerke, in Neudorf in Rudnia in 1910, the Reverend Adolf Bansmer off iciatin g. 1905 by the Reverend K. Baier. Three of Emil’s children, Daniel had been born in 1882 in Chernigov, north of Kiev. however, (Emma, Eugen, and Robert) were born in Conflicts with his stepmother had led him to take up Horoszki between 1908 and 1910. Where ever Robert was residence with an uncle in Janiszewka, five kilometers from, the Hinz family had close ties to Solodyri and northeast of Nowa Rudnia, where he went to school and Ne udorf, as attested also by Gottfried's marriage to Augusta learned to be a cobbler. He was baptized, no doubt in Nowa Holstein and, perhaps, their daughter Lydia's marriage to a Rudnia, in 1903. Later he was drafted and spent seven certain Gustav Radke. Escaping the draft was a prime years in the Russian Navy. Whi le home on furlough and motive for Robert's emigration, in which he was with the connivance of a friend of his uncle, he met accompanied by his brother Emil and his family. Another Mathilda Gutsche at an evangelistic rally in Nowa Rudnia, sister, Wilhelmina, remained in Russia, and Emil returned married her, and subsequently purchased a farm in to Europe, settling in Olschau, Kreis Neidenburg, East Ba rbarow ka, 5 kilometers west of Nowa Rudnia. The Prussia, in 1922. Robert, unlike some of his new friends in strong possibility that war might soon break out led him to St. Paul, waited a few years before entering into join David Gutsche in leaving their homeland. His intention matrimony. His marriage to Anna Tholke, a daughter of was to find work and send money back to his wife so that immigrants from Germany and a member of the church she and their three children (Olga, Alice, and David) could since 1903, took place in 1919. join him in St. Paul. World War One interrupted their Exactly when Emil Krebs got to St. Paul is uncertain, plans. The Gutsche family in Volhynia was exiled to the but Emil Jahn lived with him there briefly in 1913 or 1914. in June 1915. Emil Krebs was a brother of the Heinrich Krebs whose family moved to West Prussia

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 in 1906, probably from Nowa Rudnia. He had married draft notice of 1875. The family fared well in Volhynia, with Amalia Freigang, a daughter of Samuel and Mathilda Kristian working as a miller and woodworker and Amalia (Tichman) Freigang. She had been baptized in the Nowa providing eight children before they left for the United Rudnia church in 1909 by the Reverend Peter Brand. States in 1893. Only six of the children (Amelia, Alexander, Information about Emil and Amalia has not been Frank, Frederick , Alvina, and Eduard) survived to make the forthcoming, but they rema ined members of the church until journey, and Alvina and Eduard died soon afterwards in at least 1927. Johann Freigang's eldest daughter (and Mad ison. They carried on their voyage enough money to last Amalia's cousin) Amanda also made a brief appearance in for two years and a featherbed which concealed from cus- St. Paul about this time. In 1913 she married Adolph toms inspectors the hams sewn inside. The money helped Gutzman shortly before the couple moved to Madison , them through two initial years of crop failure. In 1897 they South Dakota. joined the German Baptist Church of Madison , where The outbreak of World War One in 1914 interrupted Kristian became a deacon. Five more children were born in the flow of immigrants from Volhynia. Those who left Madison: Ewald (Walter), there in the next few years unhappily headed northwards and eastwards—and not of their own volition. The war years, however, saw a continuation of a process already under way by 1914: the settling in St. Paul of individuals from families who had already settled elsewhere in the Midwest. North Dakota, as we have noted, had already begun supplying members for the First German Baptist Church. Augusta Hintz had become the wife of Emil Jahn in 1914. Her brother John had departed for Wolf Point, Montana, in 1912, and the rigors of farming with no sons finally led Karl and Marie Hintz to move to Fessenden in 1919 and then to St. Paul in 1920 with Hilda and Esther. They immediately joined the church; Marie became a Sunday school teacher by October and remained a member until her death in 1959. After several years in St. Paul and after obtaining a divorce, Karl left for Washington. Hilda, as

Mrs. Arthur Triebert, and Esther, as Mrs. Albert Sax, also 77ie Bartel family. S tanding in rear, from left: Ewald, Alma, Henry. remained in the church for many years. Their sister Sarah, Front row: Norma, Kristian, Lena, Amalia, George. after living in several pla ces between St. Paul and Seattle, joined the church in 1950, shortly after the death of her Henry, Alma, Norma, and George. The lure of better husband, Fred Pepple, and two days before she herself farmland caused them to move to Hinckley, Minnesota, in passed away. 1904, where Lena was bom and where they came into Two families in the church, the Bartels and the contact with the First German Baptist Church of St. Paul. Richters, came to St. Paul through Madison, South Dakota. That such contact was made with a church some eighty The Bartel family is of special interest to me, for it miles distant was due to the itinerant pastoring of the provided half of my genes. Kristian Bartel, my grandfather, Reverend Carl F. Stoeckmann, who served the church from had been born in 1854 in Rzeczaca [Reczaja in Russian], 1907 to 1927. Kristian and Amalia became members and Poland, and moved to Volhynia, it seems, in 1874. Four attended the church whenever they could. My mother . Alma, years later he married Amalia was baptized there in 1911 and, at Rev. Stoeckmann's 25 urging, stayed in St. Paul to attend high school. Eventually Patzer. Their domicile in Volhynia is uncertain. Family at least f ive more of the children (Walter, Henry, Norma, records refer, at one time or another, to Heimtal, Josephine, Amelia, and Lena) also became members, at least for a time. Michaloczka, Blumental, and a place called Kristian apparently never became fully enamored of life in ""Novogoroshkovskaya Buda" on Kristian's this

AHSGR Journal / Wi nter 1992 20 VOLHYNIAN GERMAN BAPTISTS country; he is reputed to have uttered the view, on occasion, Luise (Heise) Krebs, who also lived there with her husband that "all that holds America together is swindle and shingle Heinrich. Gottfried, along with Karl Busch, was a witness nails." Stricken with cancer, he died in 1917, but not before to the wedding there in 1904 of Emil Riske and Lydia he, too, had a chance to know how small the world could be. Freigang (see above, n. 9). The Richters were also known One of his stays in Mounds Park Hospital in 1914 coincided in the Baptist church in Soroczen, where Gottlieb was born with that of Marie Hintz (referred to above) and—I rely and married to Karoline Renz in 1878. Justine was married once again on Emil Jahn —she apparently remembered him to Johann Freigang (see n. 7) in 1879, and Jacob was from days long before in Volhynia! Alma Bartel was the married to Amelia Germis in 1884 .27 only one of the children to remain in St. Paul throughout her It was Jacob who first immigrated to the United States, life, in part because of her marriage to Rudolph Benert in arriving in Madison in 1888. In 1890 Amelia followed with 1922 .26 their six -year-old son Arthur, a journey made diff icult by The members of the Richter family that came to St. Paul uncooperative border guards, bad weather, unscrupulous were mostly grandchildren of Johann and Katherine "helpers," and narrowly missing the scheduled ship. In (Schmuland) Richter. This couple, probably from the Lodz 1891 they were joined by Pauline and her husband, John district of Poland, had raised a large family of five boys Kruger, and her brother John. Finally, in 1892, Johann , (Gottfried, Gottlieb, Jacob, August, and John) and four girls Katarina, and Lydia made the journey themselves. The pull (Mathilda, Pauline, of the homeland and the family still living there, however, drew them back to Volhynia. Madison in the 1890s must have had but minimal appeal to some immigrants. Amelia Richter, comparing the shops of Madison to her father's store in Volhynia, judged that Russia was more advanced than America. Disp leasure with the surroundings did not affect fecundity. Jacob and Amelia 's family grew to include Arthur, Albert, Adeline, Oscar, Hermann, Esther, Waldemar, Elsa, Erna, Myrtle, Amelia, Jacob, and Hulda. The large family served not only agricultural purposes; the Richters also boasted a family orchestra. Jacob had been a clarinetist in a Russian military band, and he used his talent to train his children, arrange the music, and conduct his orchestra at local events. Down through the years has come Johann and Katherine (Schmuland) Richter. the story that John Philip Sousa, having heard of this Justine, and Lydia). The Richters ' very active family talented family, stopped by one day to ask Jacob to join his historian, Gloria Jacoby of Omaha, believes that the family 's band. The men being out in the fields, where they were all first residence in Volhynia, as of 1874, was Janowka (4-D). needed, Amelia lost no time in driving away the hapless Various members of the family then moved elsewhere. Sousa with a broom! Mathilda lived with her husband, Stephen Beyer, near Once again it was Mounds Park Hospital that provided Zhitomir, and August resided for several years in Welleg, a connecting link to our church in St. Paul. First it was Elsa Jagodinka (4-E), before purchasing a farm in Nowa Rudnia who was brought there for treatment after an injury in 1912. Johann, by then a widower, moved to this farm also sometime between 1918 and 1920. A short time later, and joined his son 's family in attending the Baptist church Jacob brought Amelia there for surgery and stayed with the there. The Richters' connections with Nowa Rudnia, Patet fam ily, one of the church's German families from however, had begun earlier. Gottlieb apparently lived there Germany. The connection once established, others as early as 1881. Justine married Johann Freigang from this followed. Gottlieb's son Adolf, who had been bom in Nowa village and was a close friend of Rudnia in 1881

AHSGR Journal/W inter 1992 and had immigrated to Madison about 1910, came to St. wooden spoons. Not surprisingly Karl supplied the region Paul with his family in 1920, as did Jacob's sons, Oscar and with wooden shoes. Nor is it surprising that, after coming to Waldemar, and his daughters; Erna, Myrtle, Amelia, and Winnipeg in 1907 and homesteading in Moosehorn from Hulda. Jacob and Amelia themselves retired to St. Paul 1911 to 1922, he should have taken up carpentry upon his about the same time and became members of the church return to Winnipeg, working as "K. Riesenweber, Builder along with their children. Oscar had married Josephine and Contractor." Henke of Cresco, Iowa, (and a relative of the Gutzmans); His son Samuel did not join the family in Moosehorn, their son Donald is currently a Bapt ist pastor in Portland, but stayed in Winnipeg where he learned the art of cooking. Oregon. Waldemar married Ada Bienhoff, a daughter of He briefly worked as chef on the Canadian Pacific Railway one of the church's founding families, in 1927. He was a before coming to St. Paul in 1916. He joined the church the faithful but quiet member of the church, but Ada's fine following year and married Stella Madryck, an immigrant soprano voice sustained the choir for many years. Ada is from Austria. After her untimely death in 1927, he lived now living in a nursing home located on the site of what with Daniel Klemke for a time before marrying Elvira once was the Mounds Park Hospital. Hulda married Arthur (Bienhoff) Stahnke Stoeckmann, a son of Pastor Stoeckmann, and Amelia 28 became Mrs. William Emmeott. Erna and Myrtle joined the (whose husband had recently passed away) in 1930. Sam church for a time but went on to attend other churches. I was, I am told, a third cousin of the Gutsches and Daniel have had the enjoyment of meeting them only in recent Klemke. This relationship no doubt played a part in years. Hermann kept the farm operating in Madison for attracting him to St. Paul. many years, and Madison was the location for a Richter Yet another Volhynian who reached St. Paul by way of family reunion in 1989 , to which nearly 700 relatives were Canada was Arnold Jahn, the youngest of the Jahn brothers, invited! who had been bom in 1901. He experienced difficulties in Three years after Ada Bienhoff married Waldemar trying to immigrate after the war, but through the help of his Richter, her sister Elvira married the son of another Uncle Handke in Canada and a Lutheran immigration Volhynian-German family that had immigrated first to service, he secured passage to Canada and wound up Winnepeg. This was Samuel Riesenweber, son of KarI working on a farm in Lockwood, Saskatchewan. Already Andrew and Karolina (Stebner —daughter of a Baptist living in this area was his sister-in-law's father, Emanuel pastor) Riesenweber. Samuel was born in Nowa Rudnia in Lueck, from Nowa Rudnia. U.S. Immigration f inally 1893 and bapti zed by Rev. Byer (Baier) in 1906. Karl's allowed him to join his family in St. Paul about 1933. W ith father Andreas, an immigrant from Germany, is reputed to him came his wife, Mary (Herr), whose parents, Henry and have held some form of governmental authority and must Anna (Bill) Herr had left Schwab in the Volga region and have possessed an ex tremely large farm. He is alleged to settled first in Kansas in 1905, moving later to Lockwood have given each of his five daughters 160 acres (!) upon where Mary was bom in 1912. The Jahns had quicker their marriages and also to have provided 160 acres for the success in bringing their mother, Amelia Bansmer, out of establishment and maintenance of a Baptist church and its Russia in 1925, enab ling her to enjoy her children and pastor, which may have been the church in Nowa Rudnia. grandchildren for at least a few years before her death in Kar l's farm had a man-made pond which served both beast 1936. and man. The latter used it for both swimming and Arriving with Amelia Baugmer in 1925 (and also from baptizing . The house, barn, and utility room together Nowa Rudnia) were her sister, Mathilda (Marquardt) Reiter spanned 200 feet and showed what could be done with and her children; Olga, Lydia, and Herbert. Mathilda was wood. The house contained no nails. Hinges and latches the wife of Julius Reiter, who had come to St. Paul about were made of wood by Karl's father who also made their twelve years earlier. She apparently did not like being in the wooden plough. Chairs were fashioned from hollow trees. United States and soon returned to Kapetulczyn, where her The family dipped into the central wooden bowl at the table father, Karl Marquardt, had left her some land. Julius with Reiter thereupon obtained a divorce from Mathilda and, in 1930, married Amalia (Freigang) Krebs, who had been recently divorced from Emil Krebs (see above, at n. 22).

AHSGR Journa l/Winter 1992 22 VOLHYNIAN GERMAN BAPTISTS Amalia's brother, Otto Freigang, had joined his sister in St . precious carrots and turnips, and she attributes what health Paul at some point before 1927 (when they both appear on a they maintained, at least in part, to eating garlic on bread church membership list). His stay was short, and he soon dipped in lard or bacon fat. Life was bearable only left for Milwaukee where his cousin, Arthur Freigang (see sporadically. Cossacks, who saw to it that the Germans above, n. 8), was living. After his divorce Emil Krebs kept working, were not loath to use the women and girls for moved to Milwaukee, where his brother Johann was their enjoyment, and after the Revolution, Bolsheviks temporarily living and in 1932 moved once again, this time visited the area looking for recruits. Jonathan, at the age of to West Prussia. Julius and Amalia Reiter, at least, 18, was a prime target. After a few successful evasions of remained in St. Paul, as did Julius ' daughters, Lydia and these dragoon squads, he was finally found in a hayloft. He Olga. The latter (born in Volhynia in 1907) married was put to work digging trenches to bury those who were Edmond Ketcham in 1928 and remained a member of the executed. He was shot in the leg while trying to escape and church throughout her life. died soon afterward of infection. Alice also recalled The last, and most poignant, story of immigration to St. gypsies appearing now and then to buy children and the Paul is that of Alice Klemke, daughter of Daniel and pervasive fear of children being stolen if left unattended. Mathilda (Gutsche) Klemke, bom in Ba rba row ka (5 She envied the Russian children in a nearby orphanage: kilometers west of Nowa Rudnia) in 1912. In her privately they had dolls to play with. printed memoir, "My Childhood in Siberian Exile," Alice Relief from this e xile came as a result of the severe recalled her early life in Volhynia, the villages of Rudakop famine of 1921. Russian authorities decided to place the and Sokolowa, the f ields of rye and wheat, potatoes and Germans back on their land in Volhynia in order to increase other vegetables, a plenitude of sunflowers for seeds and food produc tion. The trip back to Volhynia confronted her oil, the gathering of berries and mushrooms in the woods, with yet more starvation and death but brought her and the windmills turned by oxen in the absence of wind, and what remained of her family to her father's relatives in the annual whitewashing of the modest but well-kept Chernigov. Daniel Klemke's letters to them had prompted houses. All these pleasant experiences were terminated by them to be looking for his lost family. From there they the expulsion of the Germans in 1915. She, her grand- returned to Nowa Rudnia, where money he sent was mother, mother, Aunt Lena and Uncle Jonathan (all finally—after two years of paperwork—transformed into Gutsches), her sister Olga, and brother David were all tickets for their trip to the United States. On July 23, 1923, deposited in a two -room house near Busuluk, near the Mathilda Klemke and her three children arrived in St. Paul. southern end of the Ural Mountains. David Gutsche 's young Lena Gutsche immigrated at about the same time but son Albert was also among the exiled, but somehow he was settled in Winnipeg with her husband, August Seidel, sent to America sooner than others, joining his father in St. whom she had met in Busuluk. Paul in 1920. As young as she was at the time, Alice took Alice was married to Jacob Discher in 1934. He had care to commit to memory the famous poem of exile, "Aus been born to Solomon and Anna (Kramer) Tischler in Wolhynien sind gezogen," written by an anonymous on the Volga in 1902. They had immigrated to St. deportee and usually sung to the tune, ".” Her Paul the following year and seem to have joined the church memoir contains her Eng lish translation. in 1909 or 1910, by which time the family included also a During this arduous journey, families were often daughter, Sophie Marie. Interestingly, Samara was not far divided, and Alice 's Aunt Olga and Uncle David and their from Busuluk, where Alice was later interned. families were sent off to some unknown destination. In Our interest has focused thus far primarily on the Busuluk, Alice's mother helped them survive the winter by immigrants' lives before their arrival in St. Paul. The spinning and weaving and exchanging the products for food immigrant experience did not end at this arrival, of course, from local villagers. In the spring, gardens were planted and for years of adjustment to new urban surroundings yet families were put to work raising crops and tending sheep. remained. Even with the help of a church where German Alice recalled the children secretly carving toys out of the was spoken and generous friends and relatives, a few few decided that the new world was not

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 worth the pains of adjustment. They retu rn ed to what they Hannah Neve are still almost legendary among those who could not know would become a worse fate. Extremely remember her. The willingness of relatives and friends to personal factors sometimes entered into the decision, open their homes to newcomers or to those having including a perhaps surprising number of marital problems. difficulties was undoubtedly more widespread than I have For most, however, the new environment was a been able to document. The Gutzmanns and August challenge to be overcome, and in meeting this challenge, the Wiesner provided room for Emil Jahn, as we have noted. church and their strong faith as Baptists provided strength. My father stayed for a time with Reinhold Jahn. The For some, coming to the United States was an act of tradition continued. In 1927 Fred and Pauline Gutsche following God. My grandmother, Amalia Bartel, is provided hospice in their home for the dying Mrs. Stella supposed to have spoken of a book she had read about a girl Riesenweber, and the Bienhoff sisters—Elvira, Sarah, and whose immigration to Ruth—came there and sang for her. Daniel Klemke then provided a room for Samuel Riesenweber after her death. Moreover, these homes that were opened were usually quite close to the church. An address list of 1928 indicates that a large percentage of these people were still living within a mile of their place of worship. Impersonal urban sprawl was yet to have its numbing effect on personal relationships. Participation in the life of the church was also an important part of the transition. Their Baptist form of worship, at least , was not seriously altered by an oceanic voyage. Several of these men and women (no doubt more than I have discovered) taught Sunday school, and Emil Jahn's son Milton was its superintendent for many years. Out of thirty-four choir members photographed in 1933, seven (Rudolph Benert, Sam Riesenweber, Fred Gutsche, Arnold Jahn, August Wiesner, Daniel Klemke, and Olga [Beckertt] Jahn) were immigrants from Russia, and ten more 36 were children of immigrants. Emil Jahn, David Gutsche, Rudolph Benert, and Waldemar Richter were among those who served as trustees, and Fred Gutsche, Daniel Klemke, and Samuel Riesenweber A gil ded sign fro m the days when church services were still in 37 German. H. Schulz was the pastor from 1881 to 1889. served terms as deacons. August Wiesner was one of only three men in his time chosen as a Deacon for Life. For America was intimately bound up with her religious providing purely temporal benef its, perhaps the prize would conversion. My uncle, Henry Bartel, told me of a Mr. Brase go to Sam Riesenweber, who donated his culinary talents who, having returned from America where he had accepted for church dinners. Christ, convinced Amalia to go to America and "be saved." I have not been able to delve much into the social lives Kristian and Amalia Bartel later spoke of their immigration of these people. I do not know, for example, how typical as it if were, in part, a spiritual quest. Remembering the my father was in his fascination for the movi es, but Emil deep piety of several of these immigrants, I can only suspect Jahn is fond of telling the story of how, whenever the that such feelings were not uncommon. They must have young men were together and Rudolph Benert was not to be helped them through some dif fi cult times. found, they automatically assumed that "Rudy was at the More tangible aids were also operative. One cannot movies." In general, movies were held in something less discount the importance of having church services in than high regard among these as among most Baptists. But German until 1936. The ministrations of Miss

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992

The church choir in 1933: 1. Rudolph Benert 2. Arthur Litz 3. Albert Gutsche 4. Samuel Riesenweber 5. Harold Litz 6. David Klemke 7, Milton Jahn 8. Fred Gutsche 9. Arno ld J ahn 10. Herbert J ahn 11. Harold J ahn 12. Alfred Gutsche 13. August Wiesner 14. Daniel Klemke 15. Lena Bartel 16. Dorothy Riesenweber Heckmann 17. Olga Beckertt Jahn 18. Margaret Benert. AHSGR Journa l / Winter 1992 perhaps it would be wrong to picture them as puritanical. Jahn's help, a custodian in a downtown department store They were, after all, Germans. By chance I found a youth before he went to work in the barrel factory. Hermann group treasurer's report of an ice cream social on July 21, Deblitz worked at the barrel factory before he found a more 1911, in which the largest expenditures after the ice cream permanent job as a streetcar conductor. August Jahn left itself ($11.05) were for one box of Zig-Zag ($3.25) and one conducting streetcars to enter the dry cleaning business. box of cigars ($1.75 )! It is probably safe to assume, Theophil Beckertt made barrels before becoming an elevator however, that church functions and visits to each others' operator in, of course, the Pioneer Building. homes dominated the social life of members of the First The barrel factory in question was Northern Cooperage. German Baptist Church. At least six of these men worked there for some period of As for all immigrants, f inding work was a matter of time, these including August Wiesner and Robert Hinz in highest p ri ority. I have not been able to determine how each addition to those already mentioned. Robert Hinz went on to of these newcomers earned a living, but a few unsurprising work as a sawyer for the Drake Marble Company. The generalizations can be made. One would not expect attraction of Northern Cooperage was not so much its pay immigrants from an agricultural society to enter the scale (about $1.00 a day) nor its work schedule (twelve professions in the new world, and these did not. Yet only hours a day, six days a week), but the fact that one of its John Litz pursued farming as a primary occupation, foremen spoke German. operating a farm near South St. Paul for many years. For Probably the major employer of German Baptists was others who had been farmers in other locations (the Bartel, the William Davidson Company, a f irm which owned Richter, and Hintz families), their coming to St. Paul several major downtown buildings. It provided temporary marked their retirement employment (as a painter) for Arnold Jahn, who later 39 from farming. Gustav Geske and August worked in the shipping department of Conveyor Specialties Wiesner Company, a firm owned by the church's Kampfer family bought small farms on the edge of the city but made their (Charles Kampfer having been a pillar of the church since living in industry—Mr. Geske in meatpacking in South St. its early days). Other members of the church became long- Paul and Mr. Wiesner (perhaps employing some of his time employees of the Davidson Company. Among them blacksmithing skills) at the Standard Conveyor Company in were Emil Jahn and Theophil Beckertt as elevator operators, North St. Paul. If any others continued "farming," it was Daniel Klemke as a plasterer, Adolph Richter probably in backyard gardens. Some of these, like that of my parents, could be quite large—but only later on, when they could afford to buy larger lots away from the Dayton's Bluff area. The urban environment offered urban jobs. August Jahn, for example, became a streetcar conductor; Marie Hintz became a sewing machine operator; Fred Roller worked in a restaurant; Julius Reiter became a plasterer; and Emil Jahn (with Wilhelm Wiesner's help) found a job making sidewalk blocks and also worked on a construction crew building the city's Central High School in 1911. He was also employed by a barrel company and an iron company before finding his life-long occupation as an elevator operator in St. Paul's Pioneer Building. A succession of jobs was not, of course, unusual. Rudolph Benert drove a grocery delivery truck before becoming a carpenter, the occupation of his f irst wife's father. During Interior decorating crew of the Davidson Company. Standing from lulls in carpentry during the Depression, he found employ - left: Adolph Richter, Rudolph Jahn, Alfred Gutsche, David Klemke, ?. ment in a meat market. Karl Busch became, with Emil Seated from left: David Gutsche, Daniel Klemke, ?, ?, Fred Gutsche.

AHSGR Journal/Winter 1992 26 VOLHYNIAN GERMAN BAPTISTS and Rudolph Jahn as painters, David Gutsche (who became "Memoirs" appeared in the 1982 edition (Part 2) of Clues, the head painter in the New York Building) and Fred served as pastor of the church from 1952 to I960 .43 From Gutsche (head painter for fifty-three years in the Pioneer 1982 until 1991, the pastor of the church was Rev. Rubin Building). Hermann, whose parents had immigrated to Canada from the Only two of our group of immigrants entered Odessa region and who is now himself living in Edmonton. occupations for which they had specifically prepared It would probably come as a complete surprise to all of themselves. Reinhold Jahn had learned tailoring in Russia, these immigrants that years later there would be anyone and this became his trade in St. Paul. Eventually, he and his interested in the fact that they had come to St. Paul from one brother August operated the Jahn Cleaning and Tailoring little region in Russia. They seem to have thought very little Company. Sam Riesenweber, as we have noted, learned to of the matter. Alice Discher admitted to having long been cook in Winnipeg and for years was chef in some of the ashamed of her Russian past, and she wrote her life story in city 's leading hotels: the Commodore, the Lowry, and the part to exorcise this ghost from her psyche. Her case was St. Francis. No male chauvinist he; on Sundays, he cooked unique and extreme, of course, but one cannot help but his family's dinner. He was active for many years in the wonder if the assimilation process for others was not aided Hotel and Restaurant Workers' Union, serving on its to some extent by a certain willingness, if not eagerness, to executive board and acting as a delegate to the St . Paul forget the past. Whether this is true or not, it is for us to Trades and Labor Assembly. When he died suddenly in remember. 1948, he was serving as chaplain of the union. It is apparent that, with the help of the church and their NOTES mutual support of each other, these neighbor s, friends, and 1.Two recent articles in this Journal have focused on im- relatives from Volhynia became integral members of the migrants of this type. Sophie Welisch's "Bukovina-German community in St. Paul. Although they entered a new, urban Pioneers in Urban America," Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring 1989), environment, they seem to have assimilated fairly easily. I pp. 19-26, discusses some of the hardships encountered in am not aware of any overt ways in which they may have large cities like New York and Detroit, Carol J. Halverson, tried to preserve their identity as Germans from Russia. I in her "Volga German-Russians in Minnesota," Vol. 14, was a young adult before I became aware that my father No. 2 (Summer 1991), pp.15-23, points out how quickly was not the only member of the church from Russia. If these immigrants to St. Paul's west side became assimilated Volhynian customs were preserved, it was probably done in to their surroundings. the homes, as, for example, when August Wiesner planted 2. Adam Giesinger, in From Catherine to Khrushchev trees upon the birth of his grandchildren, Ronald and Leila. (Battleford, Saskatchewan: Marian Press, 1974), p. 179, In household management and the raising of families, one estimates that about one-fi ft h of the German population of might well look for traces of old-country attitudes. These Volhynia was Baptist. matters, as well as the attitudes and activities of the women 3. The church belongs to the North American Baptist Confer- who came from Volhynia (who may well have been more ence. After German ceased to be used in its worship serv- conservative in this regard than the men), are beyond the ices in 1936, the church's name was changed to Dayton's scope of this paper but would be a very useful area of Bluff Baptist Church. Upon moving to the suburbs in 1968, study. its name became Redeemer Baptist Church. Halverson, op. It is very possible that a few individuals may have cit. p. 17, refers to a study, "Backgrounds of Nativism; eluded my search, but to the best of my knowledge, this German Immigrants in Ramsey County," by Sister John completes the list of Germans from Volhynia whose Christine Wolkerstorfer, which lists the churches attended migrations brought them into contact with the First German by German immigrants in St. Paul. It somehow overlooked Baptist Church of St. Paul. Two other gentlemen, although the First German Baptist Church as well as one of its not from Volhynia themselves, should be mentioned. Rev. daughter churches, Riverview Baptist, on St. Paul's west William Jeschke, a nephew of Ernest A. Jeschke who was a side, established in the 1880s. native of one of Volhynia's villages named Ma ri anowka At about the same time, another station was started in and whose North Minneapolis—Faith Baptist. I have found only one Volhynian family that attended the Riverview church (see below). Faith Baptist garnered some members of at least four families from South Russia: a Mennonite Woyke fam- ily; an Adam family, descended from immigrants Franz and Justine (Fregin) Adam from Nikopol; an Orsch family, de-

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 VOLHYNIAN GERMAN BAPTISTS 27 scended from Jacob Orzechowski and his immigrant son daughter-in-law of Emil Riske. Mrs. Anita S. Weiss , her Anton, who came as a Catholic to Minneapolis in 1925 cousin and also a granddaughter of Karl Sorge, and Mrs. from Alexandertal; and descendants of Heinrich H. and Alvina Freigang have also been helpful. Justine (Regier) Wall, who immigrated to Mountain Lake, 10. Alice Baumbach is a daughter of Friedrich Deblitz, who MN, from the Molochna colonies. lived just down the road from my grandfather's farm in 4. The pastor in 1893 (when Juliana Jahn was baptized) was Solodyri until they moved to Neudorf in 1932. She con- Rev. G. Hirsch. Subsequently, the church was served by tacted me after reading my article, "A Farm in Solodyri," Rev. Hiebner and Rev. Adolf Bansmer. The church had a AHSGR Journal, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Winter 1990), and seeing parsonage with a 10-acre farm. Another branch, besides the her father's name on a map of Solodyri on p. 4. She is now, one in Kapetutezyn, was in nearby Ba rb arowka. In addition after nearly sixty years, once again in contact with her to the families in this church mentioned in our story, Emil childhood friend (and my cousin) Mrs. Alice (Boehnert) recalled a few others: Handke (a half brother of Michael Buchholz of Creston, BC. Jahn), Steinke, Bliem, and Jans. 11. Whether or not Albert Ittermann was exaggerating the peril 5. Friedrich Wilhelm was born in 1853 to Friedrich and Karol- his father was in, testimony from August Wiesner leads us ine (Jabusch) Wiesner in the village of Paprotna, Kreis to believe that Lutherans, as well as the Orthodox, some - Konin. Katherine was a daughter of Ludwig and Fryderyka times regarded the Baptists with something less than broth- (Lappe) Sorge, bom in 1857 in Mikofajewy, Kreis Leczyca. erly affection. In accounts of his conversion experience, he 6. Rudolph Wiesner grew up in the church but moved eventu- told of how, while he was living with an uncle and learning ally to St. Louis. Emil settled near Oliver, BC. The family blacksmithing from him, he heard that his parents back in lost track of Adolf after 1934. Emil Jahn thought he went Zeleznica had "gone over to the hated and persecuted Bap - west to Washington. Heinrich remained in Russia. tists." Having been taught in his Lutheran church that Bap - Wilhelmina and Karl Sorge remained in Druckenhof with tists were "false prophets," he took the news very badly and her father unti l the flight to the west in 1945. On a freezing vowed "that the Baptists will never get me." Having been night during that flight, the aged Friedrich Wilhelm died in taught that the Baptists used "a different Bible," he finally his sleep. For information on the Wiesner family, I am in- was converted himself after he heard a Baptist evangelist debted to Mrs. Edith Riske of Ontario, CA, who maintains reading exactly the same words in his "Baptist" Bible as he contact with a great-granddaughter of Heinrich W iesner in found in his "Lutheran" version. For their part, of course, Russia; to Mrs. Anita Weiss of Warren, MI; and to Rudolph the Baptists who believed that Lutherans were "self- Weisner's son, Ronald, of Edina, MN, who wrote a very justif ied" and lacking in true repen ta nce were themselves loving account of his grandparents' life on their farm in somewhat guilty of prejudice. Certainly Martin Luther North St. Paul. would have been surprised and unhappy to hear it. 7. Of the Gutzman's four children (Adolph, Eduard, Reinhold, In another of his writings, Mr. Wiesner told of how an and Lydia), only Adolf's name is mentioned in church Orthodox priest conducted raids on meetings of a group of records as a member, along with "Mrs. Eduard Gutzmann," "born again" converts in order to confiscate their books. He in 1912. Adolf stayed in St. Paul at least long enough to also closed two Baptist churches, sent one pastor to Siberia, marry Amanda Freigang, a daughter of Johann and Justine and even—allegedly—had the home of a convert from or- (Richter) Freigang, in 1913. The Freigangs had lived in or thodoxy bu rn ed down. Worst of all, a recently converted 18- near Nowa Rudnia. Johann and Justine were married in year-old boy died from a beating while in the priest's Soroczinsk parish in 1879 but had moved to West Prussia custody. According to Mr. Wiesner, the affair was only about 1906. Amanda may have come to St. Paul from there. settled after a visit to the area by Maria Feodorovna 8. This information is from Alvina (Roller) Freigang, born in Romanov. 1905, who states that her family moved to Treuhausen when 12. This is problematical. Arthur Janke of Uniontown, Ohio, she was three years old. Accompanied by her brother tells me that there was no law school in Horoszki. Robert, she immigrated to Milwaukee in 1923. A few years 13. Albert Ittermann must have left a strong impression on peo - later she married Arthur Freigang, brother of Amanda (see ple even as a youth. My father's brother-in -law, Emil n. 7), whom she had met in West Prussia. She now lives in Kaufmann (bom in Solodyri), wrote to my father in 1923 Butler, WI. from East Prussia, asking for Albert Ittermann's address! I 9. Heinrich Krebs was born to Wilhelm and Florentine am indebted to Nelson Itterman of Winnipeg, son of David, (Schwarz) Krebs in Gorek, Poland, in 1867. Johann a brother who did not come to St. Paul. Thomas R. Siebold, Freigang was born in Dombie [Dabie] in 1845 to Ludwig a stepson of Albert Ittermann, generously sent me a copy of and Charlotte (Bergler) Freigang. For Justine Richter, see Albert's "This is My Life." Robert Ittermann married Katie below, at n. 27. Kar l Sorge was born in Dobrogost. Emil Kriewetsky in Winnipeg and had three daughters (Grace, Riske was a son of Karl Riske from Turek. He married Lillian, and Joyce), and a son, Albert. In my youth I enjoyed Lydia Freigang in Nowa Rudnia in 1904. Most of this in- knowing the Reverend Bert Ittermann, who served the North formation has come from Mrs. Edith (Krebs) Riske, a American Baptist Church in Hutchinson, MN. He is a granddaughter of Heinrich Krebs and of Karl Sorge and grandson of Peter Ittermann's brother Christian and cur- rently lives in Sioux Falls, SD.

AHSGR Journal/Winter 1992 25 VOLHYNIAN GERMAN BAPTISTS 14. See "Passenger Lists," in Clues, 1982 Edition, Part. 1. Everyone had to walk . The soldiers walked separate direc - August Timm is listed, following his father's trade, as a tions and left a clearing for the men to walk through. They joiner. walked over the river on boards and down country roads. 15. When Alvina and Robert Roller immigrated to Milwaukee They lost their blacksmith, but other people helped them to in 1923 (see above, n, 8), it was to join their sister Pauline, the train. They arrived in America in 1911. " wife of Hermann Deblitz. For this information on the 19. The Hintzes' place of residence is uncertain. Emil Jahn Deblitz family, I thank Mrs. Alice Baumbach (see n. 10) thought it might have been Heimtal, Other children in the who immigrated to Milwaukee after WW II because her Radke family were August, Karl, and perhaps Heinrich uncle, Hermann Deblitz, was living there. (Emil wasn't sure). 16. Details concerning the Bohnert family can be found in "A 20. Church records indicate that Pauline was bom to Karl and Farm in Solodyri," loc.cit., pp. 1-9. After writing this arti- Karoline (Hartwich) Boehmert in 1895 in Russia, The cle, I discovered the existence and location of Koszelowka. Gutsche family, however, believes that she was born in Ber- I had mistakenly indicated that my father's birthplace was lin. Her father was a butcher. "Kiselyowka." While investigating the family of Robert 21 . For information and documents pertaining to the Hinz fam- Hinz (see below), whose mother, Augusta Holstein , was a ily I must thank Robert Hinz Jr., of St. Paul. sister of Wilhelmina (Holstein) Deblitz and of Louise 22. This Samuel Freigang I take to be a brother of the Johann (Holstein) Link, I was placed in touch with the Link family Freigang who had taken his family to West Prussia in 1906. which held a "grand reunion" at the North American Baptist Both of them were sons of Ludwig and Charlotte (Bergler) College and Divinity School in Edmonton in 1984. From Freigang of Augustopol. Edith Riske states that her mother- "The Connecting Link ," a paper which they prepared for the in-law, Lydia (Freigang) Riske, a daughter of Johann occasion, I learned that the first wife of their patriarch, Freigang, was a cousin of Amalia Freigang. Amalia's father, August Link, a member of the Neudorf church who lived in therefore, must have been Johann's brother. The names of nearby Rogow ka, was one Friederika Boehnert, whom he Amalia's parents are given in the records of the First Ger- married shortly after arriving in the area from Kreuzburg, man Baptist Church. East Prussia. She died in 1870 or 1871, and her two children 23. See above, n, 7, This marriage is mentioned in records of died within a short time. I strongly suspect that she was the Richter family compiled by Mrs. Gloria Jacoby of related to my grandfather, but who she was remains a Omaha, NE. mystery. Can anyone help? 24. Two grandchildren also made their way to St. Paul. Carolyn 17. According to Mrs. Alice Discher, a niece of Fred Gutsche, (Rudel) Paul, daughter of Bertha Hintz, has been active in Zabara (she spelled it "Sabarra") lay about 50 km north of the church for many years, and Clyde Pepple, son of Sarah, Zhitomir. I have been unable to locate it there on maps was a member from 1947 to 1953. They have both provided available to me. There was a Zabara (also called Davidow) me with a short family history and the lovely photograph of about 50 km north of Zwiahel, and another about 2 km the Hintz family. north of Nowa Rudnia, usually called Zabarska-Szlach on 25. Kristian's parents were Kristoff (also called Frank) and maps. (Stumpp located this—apparently incorrectly—about Karoline (Jobs) Bartel. His siblings were Wilhelmina 16 kilometers south of Nowa Rudnia, 5-D). Arthur Janke of (1860), Maria (1862), Juliana (1864), Gottfried (1867), Uniontown, Ohio, knew this village as "Zabara." His Apollonia (1869), and Julius (1867). Amalia's parents were father's cou sin, Eduard Janke, had a farm there, and he and Samuel and Katherine (Ross) Patzer. Samuel was a pastor his parents l ived there in 1920 and 1921. It was liquidated, who had performed some legal services for Polish partisans he says, in 1938. Without absolute certainty, I assume that during a rebellion (probably 1863) and, in retribution, was this is the Zabara the Gutsches settled in, due to its proxim- killed by Russian soldiers. ity to Nowa Rudnia. 26. Rudolph Benert had married Emma Patet in 1914 and had 18. For information on the Gutsche fami ly, I am indebted to two children by her (Margaret and Robert) before her early Fred's son Irvin and his wife Betty of St. Paul. From Betty's death in 1920. LaVeme, William, and I are children of transcription of a taped interview with Fred, we have his Alma Bartel. News of my father 's marriage to a Bartel account of his departure from Russia; elicited from his brother August in So lodyri the suggestion "August and Dad started the long journey together. The that a Bartel family in Tatarszczyk, 5-D, might be friends. railroad agent took them over. He told them where to sit and My father thought they were probably relatives. that there would be a blacksmith (all dirty, etc.) on the train. 27. My father told me that the Richters had come from They were to follow but not contact this man. When they "Yazevits," which I take to be Wiazowiec, just north of arrived at Mualwe (a certain town near Poland) they were to Pulin, Gloria Jacoby cannot confirm this, and no informa- get up and walk out with this man. Then they followed him tion is available to shed light on this discrepancy. by taxi (horse and buggy) to a saloon, to another building 28. Samuel Riesenweber had three daughters (Dorothy, Flor- with many men sitting around. They stayed there until mid- ence, and Irene) by his first wife and three more (Carol, night or later when they were loaded on many trucks, Marilyn, and Virginia) by his second. Most of the informa- wagons, and busses to resemble people going to work. They tion on the Riesenweber family I have acquired from Carol, came to the border of Germany where they saw soldiers. Mrs. Jack Engle of St. Paul.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 VOLHYNIAN GERMAN BAPTISTS 29 29. Mathilda's two brothers, Adolph and Rudolph, also retu rn ed 36 . These were Lena Bartel, Margaret Benert, Alfred Gutsche, to Russi a after coming to America, although Rudolph came Dorothy (Riesenweber) Heckmann, Harold, Herbert and Milton back and lived out his life in Mi lwaukee. For information on Jahn, David Klemke, Arthur and Harold Litz. Julius and Matilda Reiter, I thank Mrs. Delores Cylkowski of 37. So seriously did he take his charge as conservator of church St. Paul, a daughter of Mrs. Olga (Reiter) Ketcham. property that Waldemar Richter, as trustee, once voted against 30. Johann Krebs had also been instrumental in getting his allowing his son Roland to practice on the church organ! He nephew, Assaff Krebs, his wife, Lydia (Sorge), and their would have felt personally responsible, Roland says, if anything daughter Edith to Milwaukee in 1923. In 1932 Assaff and Emi t had happened to the organ. The other trustees outvoted him , and both made the unfortunately timed decision to return to Roland went on to become a very fine organist and carillonneur. Germany. Edith (Krebs) Riske returned to the U.S. after WW n 38. The major exceptions would be Albert Ittermann, who be- and now lives in Ontario, CA. Johann Krebs settled in Texas. came a Baptist pastor, and Robert Ittermann, who entered real 31. See the AHSGR Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring 1989), pp. estate in Winnipeg. 31-32. 39. In a few cases, sons of immigrants continued farming. Wal- 32. Anna Marie Kramer was born in 1883 to George and Anna ter and Henry Bartel maintained farms near Hinckley, MN, but Marie (Becker) Kramer of Baratayevka (Bettinger) (1-F on they were never truly active members of the church. Hermann Stumpp's map of the Volga region [AHSGR Map No. 6 ]). Richter in Madison, SD, of course, never came to St. Paul. 40. This, at least, is the information passed down to Ronald 33. A balanced view of things requires us, however, to note Wiesner, August's grandson. August Wiesner's observation, in a letter written in German in 41. It was while working there myse lf as a co llege student that I 1953, that of the "great number from my parish there in got to know and appreciate Arnold and his unfailing good Volhynia, many of them were still unconverted," when they humor. He was fond of announcing every now and then, "If came to St. Paul, but eventually "a great number of these people they make me king, I 'll take it." Was this the immigrant became believers and joined the church and still today remain speaking? faithful to it." 42. Alfred Gutsche (Fred's son) and David Klemke (Daniel's 34. My father's brother-in-law, Emil Kaufmann, asked, in a son) were also members of this painting crew for a time. George letter from Tiefensee, East Prussia, in 1923, if my father Gutsche (Dave's son) was a plasterer. would please send him die grosse und die kleine Palme: die 43. E rn est Jeschke was one of four sons of Gottlieb Jeschke grosse Palme Nr. 1 und die kleine Pa lme Nr. 2. These were, who came to America and set tled in Nokomis, apparently, hymnals that were in use on both sides of the Saskatchewan. The others were Reinhold, Karl, and David. Atlantic, or at least Emil Kaufmann had reason to think so. William Jeschke is a son of David, and it was he who [Die Palme, numbers 1 through 4, are found in the AHSGR provided the copy of his uncle's memoirs to AHSGR. He library. These are collections of melodies "for church choirs, currently lives in retirement in Portland, Oregon. His pastor singers, etc. {fur Kirchen-Choere, Saenger, u.s.w .)," They is Rev. Donald Richter. were published by Meyer & Bro., Chicago, 18 ??, 1891, 44.I wish to express my thanks to Rev. Hermann and to Mrs. 1896, and 1902 .] Pamela Stewart, the church secretary, for their willing coop - 35- Among those who taught Sunday school shortly after their eration with this project, supplying photographs, copies of arrival were Albert Ittermann, August Wiesner, Hermann documents, and numerous addresses and telephone numbers. Deblitz, Fred and John Roller, and Rudolph Jahn.

24th INTERNATIONAL AHSGR CONVENTION

Sheraton Denver Tech Center Denver, Colorado

June 21—27, 1993

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 THE MATRON WHO WOULDN 'T BE A MAID Ralph G. Bennett Th e first time I can remember my grandfather Meyer The years passed until 1904. Then one day when telling me stories about my ancestors ' lives in the Ukraine Meyer was twenty -eight years old, the woman who was to was when I was a little boy of about six or seven. It was at become my grandmother walked into the shop. Her name one of those marvelous dinners that my grandma and was Jenny Lapidos. Jenny was only eighteen years old at grandpa used to host on special Sundays when the whole the time but had been in business for herself already for family would gather around, totally unlike the traditions of three years. She and her sister Ida traveled all through me today, where we have small families, and they are scattered Ukraine selling women's fine millinery items which were all over the country. After the meal Grandpa would make manufactured in a workshop run by Jenny herself. Quite a music on his balalaika, and everyone would join in the remarkable achievement for an eighteen-year-old! She was singing. beautiful, petite, and bright as a penny. Her family also had On that particular Sunday I must have done something a very interesting history. Her grandfather's last name on naughty, although I can't really remember what it was. My her mother's side was Ruden, of German extraction. The father had chastised me and made me go sit by myself in grandfather was very rich, and he had two daughters. The the corner. My grandfather, who was a wonderful old older one was named Ita and the younger was called Mimi gentleman with a wh ite handlebar mustache, came over to Ruta. Mimi was pretty and charming and had married early, comfort me by telling me one of his secrets. When he was but Ita was more austere and bookish. Therefore, although just about my age he had also done something naughty, but her father was quite wealthy, suitors for Ita were hard to much naughtier than the little affront that I had committed! come by. One day Ita spotted a very handsome, new young What was it? He had gone out to the barn to see the new man in town who had just started working in her father's calf, and he had started playing with a lantern. paper box factory. The man's name was Milos Lapidos. Inadvertently, he had set the whole farm on f ire! Meyer had Milos had flashing dark eyes and a winning smile. been born on that farm outside the city of Nikolayev in the Although a very adorab le looking young man, he was Ukraine in 1876, and now suddenly, his family had become penniless. Ita's heart was set on him , and her father's money homeless. His parents were forced to divide up their family won the day. She essentially bought him as a husband and among various relatives, and Meyer was sent to live with a used to joke later that he was the handsomest catch that cousin in the city. Later on the cousin arranged for Meyer money could buy. Milos, unfortunately, proved to have no to become an apprentice to a millinery manufacturer, where head at all for business, so he went through one venture he grew up working in the trade as a maker of hats and later after another, making a mess of them all. It was only on as a salesman. because of his wife's family's wealth that he was able to survive. Milos and Ita went on to have five children, of whom Ralph G. Bennett, M.D ., first became interested in the history of my grandmother Jenny was one. Luckily, she had inherited surnames when he discovered that his wife's ancestors were some her father's good looks and her mother's brains and of the first Europeans who settled here in the 1660s. From determination—a totally winning combination. Like her genealogy , his interests over the years have broadened to involve mother before her, she took one look at the man of her scholarly study in a number of other areas as well. Dr. Bennett has dreams (in this case Meyer) and decided he was for her. written numerous articles concerning medical subjects, history, genealogy, art history, and economics. His work has been accepted They were married in 1905, and they decided to immigrate for pub lication in the United States and six foreign countries and to the New World that year. Meyer's original family name has been translated into four foreign languages. Dr. Bennett is a was Beresteczyk. Although his family was very proud of its physician whose practice encompasses Dermatology and Allergy in German heritage, I had often wondered why Grandpa didn't Hayward, California (a suburb of San Francisco )—but only when he have a is not collecting dead relatives!

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 German surname. Also no one in the family ever could she had come in as a maidservant! She adamantly refused. answer the question as to exactly when the family had Her sister Mimi, who by this time was a widow, had no migrated from Germany into Russian territory. I found out scruples about saying anything that needed to be said in much later that the name was Polish and meant "from the order to leave Russia. So she came instead as "the Bennetts' city of birch trees." The name referred to his family's new maid." ancestral origin from the Polish city of Brest-Litovsk, Subsequently, the immigration restrictions were lifted. which is now the Russian city of Brest. So the family's At quite an advanced age, Ita and Milos came into this migration out of Germany must have taken place very long country—as a lady and gentleman. Grandpa Meyer showed ago indeed! In any case, after my grandparents' arrival in me a wonderful photograph, carefully tucked away in a North America in 1905, Meyer found that his unwieldy drawer, which had been taken in 1932 when Ita and Milos name was not only unpronounceable but also totally celebrated their golden wedding anniversary here in unspellable in English. He very quickly "Americanized" it America. By that time, of course, they were in their late and shortened it to Bennett. Not only did the couple leave seventies. Milos was still handsome as ever with snow Russia to come to a new country, but they also discovered white hair and a stylish, clipped white beard and mustache that they had come into a whole new technological world as which set off his dark, twinkling eyes. Great-grandma Ita, well. There were all kinds of inventions here, including the who died before I was born and whose likeness I had never telephone, phonograph, automobile, and even the bicycle, seen before, was wearing an elaborate beaded and jeweled which were entirely new to their eyes. They were also gown. She had beautifully coiffed white hair and the shocked to f ind that they had arrived in their new homeland sternest expression of any woman I had ever seen! in the midst of a f inancial crisis which became known as Surrounding this couple in the photo were their five "the panic of 19 07. " Thus their early years here we re very children and many grandchildren , all of whom my rough economically. They had gone from being quite grandparents , Jenny and Meyer, had "sponsored" to be wealthy in Russia to being suddenly quite poor while brought over. But one look at Great -grandma Ita's face and struggling to adjust to a new language, culture, and locale. one knew she could never have fooled anyone into thinking Later on, after they had gotten better established, like she was a maidservant. So there she posed, the matron who many immigrants they tried to bring over their relatives would never be a maid. from the old country. They worked very hard for years to save money in order to do this, and eventually they established a chain of millinery stores. By this time, however, the immigration laws had changed, and there were now restrictions being applied to immigrants coming from Eastern Europe. The only way they could get their kinfolk over was if they came in ostensibly as servants. Meyer and Jenny were not yet really prosperous enough in those days to afford a live-in housemaid of their own, but for the sake of getting Jenny's parents into the country, they wrote on the official documents that Ita and Milos were "being sponsored" to come in as the butler and the maid. Milos, always agreeable to any adventurous scheme, was willing, but Ita, having been rich and proud all of her life, absolutely put her foot down. Although she very much wanted to get out of Communist Russia to come to the golden land of opportunity, there was no way she was ever going to have an official paper say

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 UPDATE: THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FAMILIAL ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE PROJECT

Thomas D. Bird, M.D. Neurology (127) VA Medical Center 1660 South Columbian Way Seattle, WA 98108 It is a great pleasure for me to return to the meeting of your cause within those families, biologically, there must be a society. I enjoyed speaking to you last year in Schaumburg. clue to the cause of at least one kind of Alzheimer's I think many of you were there. I know some of you were disease. Any clue that we can find will be important. not. I am not going to repeat the things that I said a year For the last seven years, we have been trying to locate ago. My major purpose is to give you an update on what 's families that have a heavy load of Alzheimer's disease. We been happening with our research project and specifically have screened more than 200 families that have at least a its relevance to some of the families that we have couple of people with the diagnosis in the kindred, and we encountered that are Germans from Russia. I think you all have more than 50 families that have several affected know that Alzheimer's disease is not a rare disease. The people in multiple generations. We are doing genetic DNA numbers that are talked about are something on the order of analysis of these families. We have been collecting such 10 percent of all people over the age of seventy have serious families for seven years without particularly looking for and progressive memory loss. More than half of those any special ethnic group or family background. However, it individuals with memory loss have what we call soon became clear that there were several families that Alzheimer's disease. That must represent in this country and were all of Volga German ancestry, and they clearly had around the world a huge number of people. As a common Alzheimer's disease. We do not think that this is a disease and serious problem, it is clearly the equal of heart disease, that is especially common in Germans from Russia. We stroke, cancer, and diabetes. At the present time, not only is simply believe that all these German families from the it not preventable or curable, it 's really not even treatable. Volga region are actually related. They are probably all So any clues we can discover as to the cause of Alzheimer's distant cousins, and the gene for Alzheimer's disease runs disease that may lead to a prevention or treatment are badly in the families and is passed from one generation to the needed. next. I certainly want to emphasize that Alzheimer's disease One thing that we 've known for many years is that in at can occur in any family, it can occur in any ethnic group, least some cases of Alzheimer's there is a genetic factor. and it's seen worldwide. When we review the ethnic Most individuals who have the diagnosis are the only background of some of the other large families with affected member of the family, and to our knowledge, that Alzheimer's disease that we've seen in our studies, it really is not a genetic disease. However, it is very clear that there represents the ethnic background of the general population are families in which there are many individuals with of the Northwest: British Isles, Scandinavian, German, Alzheimer's disease, and it appears to be running in those Eastern European, Japanese, French Canadian, and many families as an inherited disorder over multiple generations. others. So there isn't any ethnic group that is spared from Such families are relatively uncommon, but they are very this disease. I want to make it very clear to your important be- organization, to the media, and to other researchers in the field that this isn't something we think is more likely to happen in Germans from Russia. It's just that these few (This is an edited transcript of a presentation by Dr. Thomas D. Bird interesting families are very important to us scientifically. on 2 July 1992 at the AHSGR convention in Seattle .)

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 Genetic Environmental

Toxins

Virus

Trauma

G e n e 1 (early onset)

Gene 2 (early onset) Alzheimer's Gene 3 (late onset) Disease Defective Gene / \ Aging Environmental Factors Down syndrome A. (trisomy 21) Diagram of potential causes of Alzheimer 's disease. Most of the causes are speculative and not proven. Down's syndrome (trisomy 21} and one genetic mutation in the amyloid gene are accepted causes of two forms of Alzheimer's. The Alzheimer's disease occurring in Germans from Russia being evaluated in this study may represent a single genetic mutation in some families and a combination of genetic and environmental factors in other families . That brings me to another point which often comes as accepted by scientists in the field. That is a genetically- a surprise to the general public. Scientists today believe caused accumulation of protein in the brain. The that Alzheimer's disease is probably not a single disease. It probably has more than one cause, none of which is known for certain. We have placed Alzheimer's disease in the center of the diagram above. On the left side it is seen that there may be several different genetic causes of the disease. On the right side is indicated that there may be non-genetic environmental causes of the disease, such as toxins, poisons, or viruses. Most of these potential causes are speculative. At the bottom we have shown that there may be some persons who have a combination of the two. They may have inherited a predisposition to the disease but they don't develop it unless they are also exposed to something in the environment that tips the scale toward developing the lesions in the brain. So Alzheimer's probably has more than one cause, almost all of which are unknown and speculative. Since I talked to you a year ago, at least one cause of Alzheimer's has been pinned down and is generally name of the protein is amyloid. This is a certain kind of that a mutation in the amyloid gene in this family seemed chemical that accumulates in excess in the brain in to cause Alzheimer 's disease. This produced a considerable Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid is a long string of amino acid amount of excitement and scientists have tried to determine that occurs in nerve cells and is deposited in the brain of whether this is a common cause of the genetic form of persons with Alzheimer's. About a year ago investigators in Alzheimer's disease. In the subsequent year, hundreds of London discovered a mutation in the gene for this families worldwide have been screened, and at least eight chemical, amyloid, that was causing Alzheimer's disease in have been found to have this mutation as the cause of a family in England. This was a family with early onset of Alzheimer's disease. The large majority of families do not the disease. They were developing dementia in their forties, have this as a cause. So this is an interesting and important which is, of course, quite early. The disease happened in example of how genes for this disease can be discovered, multiple generations of the family, and they could show but this

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 particular mutation is not a common cause of the disease. single instance of this mutation that was described in the There must be other causes. I'll get back to how this relates English family of last year. So we have conf irmed that the to our German from Russia families in just a moment. amyloid mutation is a rare cause of the disease, and it does Prior to and subsequent to my talk to your organization not represent the cause in any of the families we are last year, we've kept careful track of the number of families investigating. We are still looking for the gene in both the that are Germans from Russia who have contacted us and German from Russia families and all our other families as said that they have at least two cases of Alzheimer's disease well. We have not yet found another gene for Alzheimer's, diagnosed in the family. We have had contacts from but we are working very hard with my colleagues at the seventy-four families that are Germans from Russia. Forty- University of Washington, particularly Dr. Jerry five of those are Volga German, eighteen are Black Sea, Schellenberg. and ten know that they are Germans from Russia but they I met earlier this week with Timothy Kloberdanz, don't know what village they came from. There is one fam- Richard Scheuerman, and Professor Igor Plehve from ily that is a combination—one side of the family is Volga Russia. It was a wonderful afternoon spent going over the German and the other side is Black Sea. It's the larger pedigrees and trying to match our families with the large families that are of most interest to us. They come from a families that Prof. Plehve has constructed with the wide variety of villages, both in the Volga Region and the genealogical records from Saratov. We were extremely Black Sea Region. Frank and Walter are two areas that fortunate to discover that two of our families clearly fit stand out as being very important, but they are not by any very nicely into the genealogies that Professor Plehve has means the only villages that some of the Alzheimer's drawn. W ith additional information from Tim KIoberdanz, families have come from. Of the larger kindreds, eighteen we have been able to trace two families to their original are Volga German and ten are Black Sea German. The vast villages in Germany. That was quite exciting, and we hope majority of the Volga German families have come from it will lead to even further information about these families. Frank and Walter. No one is "picking" on the villages of In conclusion, we think that the Alzheimer 's disease Frank and Walter. These families are likely to be blood occurring in the German from Russia families that we are relatives. They're probably all distant cousins, so it's not investigating is genetic. We think the families are probably surprising that as they trace their family stories back, they all distantly related to each other. We don't know what came from the same two villages. chromosome the gene is on. We haven't found the gene, but To give you an idea of what the characteristics of the we are working very hard to find it. I am greatly disease are in these families, we are aware of 132 people appreciative of the invitation to speak to you and also of who have died of dementia in the kindreds. Half were your individual and family help in the project that we have males and half females. The average age of onset in the been pursuing. Thank you all for your interest and families is sixty-one years old, and that 's with a wide range cooperation. I will stay here for the rest of the afternoon, of at least f ifteen years. So it's a bit earlier than in the and I will be happy to talk to each and every one of you general population. These are not generally people in their who is interested in the project. The research nurse who seventies and eighties. The typical course is about nine works with me, Ellen Nemens, will also be here to answer years of slowly progressive severe memory loss and then your questions. We are very interested in knowing if you death from pneumonia and poor nutrition. are aware of families of any ethnic origin that have multiple We have looked very carefully in all the families in our cases of Alzheimer's disease. Everyone's concern is to find project for the mutations that I just mentioned in the a treatment for this very unfortunate disease. This has to be amyloid gene. We have looked in all our German from done systematically and scientifically, and unfortunately, Russia families (Volga and Black Sea), all the Japanese that's very time-consuming and takes a great deal of families, all the Scandinavian families, and all the British patience. I think we really are making some progress. Isles families, and we have not found a When the research results are sorted out years from now, your organization will be very pleased to have been part of this scientific endeavor.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 WE FULFILL OUR LIFE-LONG DREAM! Esther Beltz Trekell

In collaboration with t wenty-five other Volga German descendants

As the Kutter village research coordinator /or many years, I don't know why some people thought it was unusual Esther Beltz Trekell has accumulated many stories about for me to be so persistent. Our forefathers were persistent, the village and its inhabitants. These she has shared in courageous, determined in their efforts. Why shouldn't I seven issues of her village newsletter Meine Heimat These pursue this dream of mine? I was so persistent because I stories strengthened her desire to visit the birthplace of her had a dream to fulf ill. parents. After many years of planning and disappointments Let me tell you my story and why I could not give up. of cancelled tours, she f inally succeeded in leading a tour to One sunny day on our Ok lahoma farm, I came bouncing Saratov and various villages on the Bergseite of the Volga into our large kitchen /dining room. As I crossed the River during June 1992 . The tour participants are herewith threshold into the room, I heard my daddy say in an sharing brief re miniscences and some photographs of the agonized voice to my mother, "Oh , I want to go home just once more. I need to go back just once more." I was villages they visited. shocked to see the tears running down his weathered face as he held a letter in his lap. That letter was from "the old country" telling of the starvation death of one of his sisters Introduction and her two small children. Another sister disappeared, never to be heard of again. Something happened to me that On June 1, 1992, twenty-six descendants of Volga Germans day. I never forgot that scene—the first time I had ever seen flew out of JFK, winging their way to the homeland of their my father cry. It had a devastating effect on me. It has been ancestors. Long had they agonized and wondered if their written that in every childhood, a door silently opens and villages were even there anymore. Only one had ever been lets the future in. That must be what happened to me that there before, and she was but an infant when brought to long-ago day. I never forgot my father's longing to go home America by her parents. In hopes of finding out for "just once more." All during my growing years, I dreamed themselves, nine of the hopefuls had signed up again and of going to Kutter to see my fa ther's old home for him , again as I planned my first four unsuccessful tours to our since for obvious reasons he was never able to return. ancestral villages. Now they and the rest of the participants I had to go for him , and now I've walked the soil where were on their way. My fifth attempt had paid off at last after he and mother walked. I washed my hands in the Bach four long years. where the children played and mothers washed their Again and again, I 've been asked what kept me so clothes. I breathed the air that blew over Kutter. I saw, I hopeful that a successful tour could ever be realized. heard, and now I am at peace. My father's tears are now Everyone knew how disheartening it had been for me as I avenged. planned yet another tour. Some even knew of the sleepless We won't go into our lovely days spent in or nights I endured and how many times my husband had to St. Petersburg, but we will share with you the electrifying hold my hands as yet another message would come that my visits to our villages. We visited ten villages and the huge attempt was in vain. Through all the four previous attempts, metropolis of Saratov from June 5 through June 10, 1992. the Soviet authorities would say "come on ... all is well." Arrangements had been made in advance for the Then abruptly we would be asked to postpone or cancel. I participants to be hosted by German families now living in even postponed the third and fourth tours myself because the ancestral village. The warm hospitality they received the time was not right. Nevertheless, I persisted and from their hosts and others they met in the villages was continued to plan. overwhelming.

AHSGR Journal/Winter 1992 All tour participants had a positive, rewarding trip and all gone. Water is pumped in from the Volga River. would like to retu rn once again to the homeland of their Housewives no longer can bake their own bread as they are ancestors. unable to buy flour locally, yet they live in the heart of the Now, dear friends and Volga German descendants, get grain belt. yourself a cup of coffee and that coffee cake hot from the The reception I received from the German Russians oven, sit back and travel with us as our excited travelers tell was nothing short of outstanding. My host family, Mr. & you their stories. Mrs. Johannes Barthuly, took me on the village tour . He Is your village still in existence? Listen and you shall showed me the area where the original Reformed church know! stood. Today it is a memorial for the soldiers of WWII. I met a lady by the name of Katharina Klaus who was BALZER: Herbert H. Huber familiar with the Hubers and reminded me that the family nickname for my father was "Angel Man," a memory I had It was a wonderful experience to see the village where my forgotten. father was born and lived until he was seventeen years old. I found the house where he was born and the flour mill that BEIDECK: Martha Greenemeier my grandfather owned . My father worked in that mill until Our trip to Beideck (Luganskoye) was a very memorable he immigrated to America in 1913. one. Our hosts, Arthur and Elena Wagner, were very gracious and warmhearted. We also met various relatives and friends of theirs. To our great surprise, two of our second cousins and their mother were there to greet us. They did not live in Beideck but had been notified through Dr. Igor Plevhe that we would be visiting on those two days. They (Amalie Schanz Greenemeier, Alexander [Sasha] and Vladimir) still speak German. Peter and I could understand them well. Peter could answer in German, but I had to use the Russian interpreter, Al ia. Our relatives now live in the area. The village was sad to see, and I'm certain our parents would not have recognized much of it. Many houses had been torn down (including our parents’ homes) and in some areas were replaced by shabbily built apartment houses (flats). The church was still standing, but the steeple had been removed and some other changes had been made. It was being used as a recreation hall. There was a store, but it was very meagerly supplied with canned goods in glass jars, meat, and clothing. Th e mill owned by Herbert Huber 's grandfather where his The meals served the two days we visited were very father worked until he emigrated from Balzer and came to tasty: cheese, bread, rolls, sausage, chicken noodle soup, America in 1913. chicken, and gallta (small hamburgers). An elderly gentleman, Karl Meng, his wife Antonina, and two It was sad to see that the village has deteriorated to the daughters live across the street from the home of our host. point it is now. Many of the buildings look like they are Karl spoke German and was always ready with a vodka about to collapse. The roads leave a lot to be desired: they toast. are very rough and not passable when there is any amount of The old cemetery was in ruins: no gravestones, just moisture. small hillocks where the graves were. The old and new It did not look like the village of my father's stories. He cemeteries were located on the outskirts of town. talked about what a f ine village it was, like the county seats of today. He remembered a prosperous village with fine gardens, many flowers, trees, etc. He talked about the fine spring that furnished water for the entire village. Today the spring is all but

AHSGR Journal/Winter 1992 There were farms on the outskirts where the farm animals were used for food storage. Some of the roads were asphalt were kept. The school was a large, fairly new, and we ll- covered and others were dirt roads. built buildin g. Our hosts' home was nicely furnished with We only saw the area of town where our parents lived; rug wall hangings; they had a refrigerator and a television. there were more homes in other sections of the town we The bathtub and sink were in a separate room, but the didn 't see. We were treated royally by a people who now outhouse was in the barn. They had a garden, chickens, live a different way of life than our forefathers did. One of geese, and a dog with her newly born puppies. the highlights of our stay in Beideck was being able to In some areas where houses had been torn down, there walk around the town where our relatives once walked. were sheds built that led to old basements. These

The Lutheran church in Beideck is now being used as a recreation hall.

CHELYABINSK: Herbert H. Huber

[Ch elyabinsk is a Russian city east of the southern Ural The letter was from Amelia "Mae" Alexander Greif, a mountains. Herb was able to visit his relatives there at the daughter of my father's sister. She wrote that she was 80 conclusion of the tour .] years old and also had a 69-year-old sister (Katharina) living in Chelyabinsk who was married to her husband's In 1913 my father became the only member of his family brother, Victor Greif. They had come from Balzer during to immigrate to the United States. I often wondered what the Stalin purges. While going through their family Bible, became of my relatives after they were banished from they found four letters my father had written long ago. Balzer, and I always wanted to f ind them . My f irst real They decided to write him and see what would happen. effort was in 1989 when Esther Beltz Trekell began her Correspondence followed which led to the visit I was attempts to take a tour to the Volga German villages. I was able to make to them after the official tour ended this past signed up for the first tour when a letter from Russia June. It was a great experience to live with them for two arrived, addressed to my father's address where he had weeks and learn to do as the Russians do. The hospitality lived before his death. The Post Office forwarded it to my was great and so was the food ! They cooked many of the brother who lived in the same city. dishes my mother did when

AHSGR Journa l / Winter 1992 we lived on the farm , like kraut and homemade noodle soup. Naturally we also made a few toasts with the ever- present vodka. They have a hard time trying to comprehend all the material things we enjoy as well as the variety of food we have. My cousins and their husbands are on pensions, and in all the years they worked, they were never able to afford a car. They walk or use the public transportation system. They do have a motorcycle with a side car, but it is used very little because of the cost of fuel. DREISPITZ: Rebekah and Leslie Keller

A dream of a lifetime came true on June 7, 1992, when— overwhelmed and tearful—we visited the homeland of my father, David Keller. After a three- and-one-half hour drive from Saratov, we entered the littered outskirts of Dreispitz. Because anything associated with Germans, including place names, is a sensitive subject, the town is now called Dobrinka and has a population of 1800. Until 1941 the village population was almost entirely German. After September 1941 most of the houses were burned down; others were torn down and moved to Kamyshin. Since then the village has been rebuilt. Several new homes were under construction. People are so isolated from the rest of the world that they feel they are living very well. They have beautiful gardens and flowers. The most common flower throughout Russia is the rose. The countryside is beautiful; the soil looks black and very rich. Most areas we visited keep their trees and shrubs well trimmed. We were met by the head of the collective farms, who gave us a tour of the area, showing us their farming procedures. They do some irrigation with sprinklers. Their source of water is the Volga River, which pumps 200,000 gallons of water per hour into a reservoir. They raise Red Hard and Spring wheat, which is harvested in August. While we were there, it was hay cutting season. They use tractors, drills, and other equipment which is old. We saw several herds of dairy cattle and goats. The collective farms were once wealthy but now are going bankrupt. We visited the cemetery where we found familiar names. Some graves were marked with a tombstone and the picture of the individual buried. Others were This photo of the cemetery in Beideck is a good illustration of marked with a crib and appeared to be entire families modern-day cemeteries in Russia with crib-like fences around buried together. Metal wreaths of flowers with names stood the grave sites and stones bearing a photograph of the person around the inside of the metal crib. interred there. This is the grave of Anna Petrovna Wagner, During Stalin's campaign against religion in the 1930s, 1918-1990. the structural appearance of the churches was changed by removing steeples and making them public buildings. The Lutheran church where my father attended school was made into a community building. We drove up to a neatly painted blue-and-white picket fence. Behind it stood a lovely little home. Our hosts met us at the gate, where we were very warmly greeted. They took us into their home and introduced us to several relatives who treated us as part of the

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 family. We met in the family summer kitchen for a short The services were held in what was formerly a home. visit. Then we were led to the parlor where we removed our The old Lutheran church is now used as a social hall. The shoes. The ladies prepared a feast for fifteen of us. Several people were wonderful. Many gave us names of relatives friends dropped by during the afternoon to visit and talk they were trying to contact, but for whom they didn't have about Dreispitz and the United States. Our host family was addresses. It saddened us that we could not be of more help. overwhelmed to see pictures and hear about life in the They were pleased that we could speak German with them. U.S.A. They hope that some day they can come to visit us. One couple offered to drive us to the ruins of the old After hugs and good-byes, we returned to Saratov with flour mill along the Medveditsa River. Lydia's father and some questions still unanswered. brother had operated that mill. In fact, that is why the brother did not come to the U.S.; he thought he would have it better in Frank. Walking along the river to the mill, we experienced a peculiar sensation that we were walking where a beloved father had walked and were seeing the FRANK: Larry Jordan and very river where parents had gone swimming. Lydia was Lydia Bernard t Hition overcome with surprise to have a lady introduce herself as her cousin's widow. Her husband had never returned from Lydia Hilton writes, "All my life I've heard about Russia, Siberia. It was a very emotional meeting. but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would actually Next there was lunch at the small school house. The see the village where I was born. When my parents left old school still stands but is not being used as a school. The Russia, they left behind my father 's brother and my new one is very modern with a nice kitchen and modern mother's sister. We heard father's brother was banished to toilet. The old building still has the very antiquated toilets Siberia." seen so often in Russia. The ladies had prepared a Larry Jordan visited Frank because he had been told wonderful meal, served on lovely china, German crystal, that his mother's family, the Besels, might have lived in and sterling silver. There were chicken, potatoes, pickles, Frank prior to moving to Hussenbach. tomatoes, and cake. One shortage in the area is flour, which The visit was an experience not to be forgotten. Since it is amazing since wheat and rye used to be the main crops was Sunday, it was a celebration. We were told it was grown in the area. They would like to bring back those Pentecost Sunday, and they felt our arrival was a visitation crops, but they have few tools and cannot get the seed. from God and the Holy Spirit. Church was just ending After lunch we were entertained with a program of folk when we arrived. The singing from inside the church filled singing and readings which told the history of the Germans the air as we departed from our bus. It was one of the in Russia from the time of their immigration until after WW greatest sounds we ever heard. When those people sing II. A wedding scene was included, and the young man praise to the Lord, they don't hold back! There were about playing the groom looked somewhat like Larry's father in 80 people in church, most of them women over 65. As we his wedding picture, including the long wedding ribbon. stepped into the alcove, a hush fell over the singers as they We danced polkas with them and probably looked funny in came to greet us. They were so happy to see us that there our awkwardness. The people had never seen a polaroid wasn't a dry eye in the house, including our own. Everyone camera and enjoyed having the instant pictures. After more wanted to be hugged and greeted. Expressions of joy, refreshments, we took our departure. It was sad to say happiness, and yet sorrow were apparent on all of their goodbye to such a fine, brave people who have truly risen faces. One lady handed Lydia a Gesangbuch as they sang from the ashes. together. Several told us that they feel forgotten, there is no one to represent them in Russia, and they are treated as second-class citizens. Many were trying to return to [We regret that none of the people visiting Frank submitted Germany. Our presence assured them that there are people photographs to accompany the article.—Ed .] that care about them.

AHSGR Journal/Winter 1992 FRANZOSEN

(No one on our tour group was descended from Franzosen. However, a number of them elected to visit another village since they had a second day to choose wherever they wished to go. Vladimir, one of our Saratov officials, knew a family who lived in this village, so it was arranged for them to visit here. A delightful lunch was served by the hosts. No further report was given.)

The old hospita l in Hussenbach.

Nancy Andrich's family (the Finks) had not lived far from the Besels. We went marching into the yard that we were told was the Finks', only to f ind out that it belonged to the Wink family, who were very glad to see us. We spent an hour with them. We visited the old hospital, now a clinic, and the vegetable oil factory which, I was told , the Besels operated in the late 1800s. The original factory still stands and is a cucumber and pickle factory. The low point of our trip was a visit to the old cemetery where most of the tombstones were no longer in A street scene in Fran zosen . existence. The Russians built homes over our cemetery. The population of Hussenbach is about 9000, and of that number, 2000 are Germans. They are not as vocal HUSSENBACH: Larry Jordan about their treatment as in Frank, but most wish to go to Germany. Both villages are considered collective farms. We had our f irst glimpse of the village on the return from The people returned to Frank and Hussenbach from Siberia Frank. It is only twelve miles from Frank, and we wanted to in the 1960s. make sure we saw it, in case something went wrong and we I thank God for the opportunity to visit these villages. could not get back. We visited the ruins of the Lutheran My father always wanted to return, but it wasn 't possible in church: all that remain are the walls. his lifetime. If my parents could have visited, I think they We did get back on the scheduled day. Our lunch was in would not have seen much change. I have to agree with my a private home with ten or twelve hosts. We were told that father that this is a very pretty country. Frank and the ladies were up cooking until midnight the night before Hussenbach are probably among the best preserved of the and then arose at 3 a.m. to complete the meal. It was a old German villages. wonderful time. Many people came by to vi sit, and we sang hymns together. I brought a map of Hussenbach, and one lady pointed out three houses where Jordans had lived and also the Besels. On our tour of the area, I got to take pictures of these homes. My mother and aunt had often described their area, and it has not changed. They lived on the bank above what they referred to as the "big sea." This is a reservoir formed from the overflow of the Medveditsa River. Their house is on the bank, and the orchard and garden went down the bank to the reservoir. There are still gardens there today.

AHSGR Journal/Winter 1992 KUKKUS: Marie Becker McGerty fearful that the Germans may try to reclaim their homes. We were referred to Margaretta Maser Baum and her I remember my parents and other relatives speaking of what husband Andreas. They lived in a small home: the living a lovely village Kukkus was, right on the banks of the room and bedroom were one. Everything was neat as a pin , beautiful Volga River. Now I too have seen the place of my with Persian-type rugs on the walls, white curtains, and roots. Was it a dream? Have I really been to Russia? It bedding with a white lace dust ruffle. At the age of 73, the comes back so clearly when I share with friends and couple seemed older and weary looking. There was much relatives about my experience. pain and grief reflected on their faces as they recalled having Four of us traveled 60 miles of old dusty roads to reach to leave their home for a horrendous life in Siberia. When Kukkus. Our driver , Dr. Josef Garfinkle, a medical doctor, they finally returned to Kukkus, they had to start all over is of Volga German parentage. Our interpreter, Rosa again since all of the homes had either been destroyed or Bazyleva, teaches English at Saratov University. Esther confiscated and given to Russian families. We found out that Trekell and I made up the rest of the group. I was the only there are 51 Volga German families, 131 people, now living one with roots in Kukkus. Many thoughts came to mind as in Kukkus. we traveled this road. Was it the same road on which my Was I perhaps in the very home in which my parents parents used to travel back and forth to Saratov? How long had lived? My sister, who was 5 years old at the time, recalls would it have taken them in a horse-drawn vehicle? Whe re living in a small house right on the banks of the Volga , and did they stay? How did they cross the Volga? we were in a small house and right on the banks of the Volga, the very river where my parents went swimming. How they loved this river! As I stood on the banks of the beautiful Volga , I held my parents in my heart and eyes to let them see once again their much-loved village and river and told them the trip was really in remembrance of them. Margarette told us how beautiful Kukkus once was, just like my mother and father had told me. Their pension was 28 rubles per month and is now 764 rubles, equivalent to $7.64. They recognized some of the names I asked about but needed to know the nicknames. However, I didn't know of any, although I recalled my father referring to relatives and friends by nicknames. Why didn't we write some of this precious information down instead of relying on memory? We reluctantly bid farewell to Margaretta and Andreas and promised to write and send pictures. On the way back to Saratov, we stopped at a cemetery with many graves: all were Russians. The German graves were destroyed by Dr. Joseph Garfinkle talking to a man on a street in Kukkus. Stalin's troops in 1941, while they were destroying homes and churches. We stopped at the monument to , When we reached the village, Josef stopped a ba- the first Russian cosmonaut who landed just outside bushka-clad woman and asked if any Volga Germans lived Kukkus. We were some of the f irst Americans to visit the here. She hopped into the back seat of the car and directed site. At a small village shop, I bought a souvenir cup and us to the home of a Volga German couple. We sat in their saucer—made in China! yard and talked. The village manager, Alexander, was apparently alerted to the fact that we were visiting. He stopped by, a very tall, somber-faced and unsmiling man. As I thought about this later, I could see that he would have had suspicions as to why we were there. The Russians in the village are

AHSGR Journal/W inter 1992 Although we saw very little of Kukkus —a sad, tired grandparents, cousins and near-cousins. I never dreamed village f ifty years behind the times, with outside toilets, that someday I would stand on that ground and see where shared pumps for drinking water, proud but poor people—it my parents had trod. I am overwhelmed with feeling: may was the village of my people: parents, parents must know that I was there!

Herman Herdt and Esther Beltz Trekell pointing to their ancestral village Kutter. Doenhof can be seen in the distance.

KUTTER: Esther Beltz Trekell, Herman Herdt, Roy Turnbull

Kutter was first named Brenning, and its Russian name was visited Kutter: Herman Herdt, Marie McGerty, Darlene and Popovka. In 1767, Christopher Brenning (Brehning), 30 Lynn Rogers, Esther Trekell. The hotel gave us a brown- years of age, left the town of Hanau, Germany, with his bag breakfast consisting of salami and cheese sandwiches, wife Engle, sons John and Wi lliam, and two servants (John apples, and mineral water. Outside Saratov we stopped for Crumb and Andre Yete) to found the village that became a good, cold drink of water out of a natural spring. The Kutter along with the Kutter Reformation church. With this countryside looked like eastern Iowa with large rolling hills recent information about his family, Roy Turnbull and five covered with fields of oats, wheat, and rye. The terrain others changed

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 slowly until it looked like the sandhills of Nebraska. All the way we kept our faces to the windows to see that first glimpse of Kutter. Our wonderful interpreter would smilingly say, "Not yet, just a little ways now—just over the hill in front of you." At the crest of a hill, the bus stopped and let us out. We took pictures, lost in our own thoughts. One thought of a grandparent who had walked the 5 miles from Balzer to Kutter to court his future bride. Others thought of whom they would meet. One said, "Dad, I'm here. I made it for you,"

As we neared the town, we could see that it had few trees or shrubs. The buildings were in disrepair, there was no bell tower or church, and a feeling of despair prevailed. There are wells within the town, and the main water supply comes from an artesian well. At last we arrived at the home of our hosts, the Eakes (Ickes?), the only German family left in Kutter. They have only lived there for five years. Out poured the family, children, and neighbors to greet us. They were overwhelmed that we would come from so far and at such expense to visit for only a few hours. They wanted to touch us, hug us, and talk to us. Our hostess, Elvira, led the Elvira Eakes is drawing water from the well in the backyard of her women through the garden in back of the house, through home in Kutter. the chicken yard, and around a building where we saw the outhouse leaning against a building. Now this is someth ing top of the samovar and poured just enough of the strong to tell our grandchildren about. There was a shelf about 8" brew to make our water the right color: presto, wonderful high with an 18 "-squa re hole. How to use this facility was a tea. puzzle for us "furriners." I guess we did alright as we are After brunch, our hosts graciously accepted our gifts of still here today to tell you about it. We entered the house flour, sugar, clothing, and special treats for the children: through a small entryway with plank flooring: nothing candy, balloons, beads, pencils, coloring books, and fancy here. We saw the shoes of the children lined up. bubbles. They were so excited! Shoes are generally removed when entering the home. The After the meal they took us on a wa lking tour of the brick home was clean and neat but had no running water. village and surrounding hills. We found it a very emotional Gas pipes ran above ground on stands about eight feet high experience to know we were walking on the very ground which equipped the house for gas and heating. that our forefathers had walked upon. But alas, there were The brunch we were served was delicious and plentiful. no flowers, lawns, trees, painted houses nor the cleanliness It was served in a lovely dining room with crystal and china that is always associated with German neighborhoods. We and an oriental rug on the wall. There were bread, butter, were almost glad our parents and grandparents were not jam , cheese, and tea from a samovar. This is one custom there to see the changes. our people adopted from their Russian neighbors. Elvira The house where Herman Herdt's father lived was opened the spigot on the samovar and poured hot water in destroyed during WW II. In its place is a baked-stone our cups. Then she took a small pot which was brewing [brick] house occupied by a Russian family. Two-thirds of strong tea on the village was destroyed and never rebuilt. Roy found one building on the map marked "Brenning" still standing. It was an old building made of squared logs with fitted corners . Later German homes were made of brick with a distinguishing pattern of two kinds of brick. Darlene located the original house of the Bohm family, which is now a school.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 44 WE FULFILL OUR LIFE -LONG DREAM!

According to an early map of Kutter, a Brenning family lived in this house. Roy Turnbull, pictured here, be lieves this is the house his grandfather lived in before he emigrated from Kutter and came to the U.S.

The brick home of the host family, Heinrich and ELvira Eakes, contrasts with the style of the earlier homes in the village. Esther longed to see the brook (Bach) which ran east After dinner Mr. Eakes drove to Balzer to bring and west on the left side of the village. The children led us Gottlieb Lori [Lohrei] to see us. Gottlieb was born and to our destination up dirt streets, over rubble, and finally raised in Kutter. His home is still in good condition, but he through tall brambles. We shed tears as we swished our is not allowed to occupy it. He had tears in his eyes the hands in the very brook where our family had fished, entire time he was sharing with us. He was a gentle, kind swum , and washed clothes. We brought home pebbles from man who was also hungry to hear about those who had the creek bed to remind us of our visit. Our next visit was gone to America. He told us that prior to 1941, Kutter was to the loam pit where loam was dug to build homes and a beauti ful village of about 300 German families. There outbuildings. It had probably not been used since Kutter were clean streets and well-kept homes with grass and was bombed in the fall of 1942. We could see far down into flowers. Pictures taken by the German Air Force in 1941 the shambles of the village where only about 100 [people] show a neat, orderly village. But the Russians became still live. We tried to envision the flour mills near the loam concerned that the Volga Germans would side with the pit, the tall-steepled church, and the nearby store which German troops, so they bombed Kutter. They divided the once stood there. Gone are the oil press factories and two villagers into two groups: one was sent to Siberia to work cemeteries which were bombed. Gone is the lofty bell in coal mines and the other to do manual labor jobs. Many tower. We could almost hear it tolling the hour for church perished or stayed in Siberia. Some returned with papers to assemble. Gone, but never to be forgotten by the few showing they owned land, only to discover that the papers who still live in nearby villages. were not recognized and they were without land. Many We returned to the Eakes where we were served a full Ukrainians were moved into their homes. It is no wonder German meal with homemade noodle soup, wonderful that many Germans wish to immigrate to Germany. pickled tomatoes, mashed potatoes, chicken, and vodka. Gottlieb also wanted to return to his home after Esther was honored to be asked to give the blessing. returning from Siberia, but he is denied this right.

AHSGR Journal/Winter 1992 The roads were rough, and twice our Russian driver had to stop to ask directions as there are no road signs leading to this former German village. At the entrance to Norka, now a collective farm , we stopped to take pictures. Unfortunately, Norka is no longer the lovely village it once was. The magnificent church is gone and so are most of the old German houses and gardens. My family was known as the "Garten Kriegers": my grandfather had a fruit orchard and large garden. The trees and gardens are gone now, but my cousin recognized one familiar house in the area where her older sister's Hochzeit (wedding) had been held. We found a few German-speaking people, one an 80- year-old lady whose name is Natalie (Natasha) Urbach. She has lived her whole life in Norka. She was not sent away because she had married a Russian man. She now lives in one of the better-preserved houses with her granddaughter. Alongside of the house was a lovely vegetable garden. She apologized for her dirty apron, so I assume she still works in the garden. She directed us to her daughter's house, where When the churches in Ba lz er and Kutter were torn down, the best she was in the kitchen churning butter. She offered us fresh materials were u sed to construct this movie theater in Balzer. milk and a platter of sweet rolls and pirozhki. She went with So he settled in Balzer. Esther plans to invite him to meet us in the van to direct us to the former "Garten Krieger with those who go on her next scheduled tour in spring 1993. Platz." When we tried to leave, our hosts brought chairs outside and urged us to sit a while longer. Gottlieb accompanied us to Balzer to pick up others in our group and showed us the movie theater which is a combination of the best parts of both the Kutter and Balzer churches. We were told that on the marquee there used to be the name of a church official from Kutter, and that was Beltz, Esther's maiden name. We left part of our hearts in the little village that day. As we looked back on Kutter when we left, it looked so serene and lovely—but lonely. In our hearts we silently thanked God for the fulfillment of our dream to visit Kutter for our loved ones who had hoped in vain to go back home just once more.

NORKA: Rachel Holmes

For several years I have had a desire to visit Russia but did not want to go until I could go to the Volga German area. It became a reality when we flew into Saratov, the f irst tour group from the United States to visit this city. We were warmly greeted by local officials and faculty from the Natasha (Natalie) Urbach visits with Katarina Weber of , Russia, university. At the hotel I was greeted by relatives from Ufa in front of Natasha 's home in Norka. Both ladies were born in Norka. with a huge bouquet of CalIa lilies. It was an emotional meeting. They had taken a train from Ufa and had been awaiting our arrival for thirteen hours. We spent rime toge ther in Saratov and also went together to Norka.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 Our host family for the day was the Bieber family, We had not expected Saratov to be so beautiful, and Mans and Anna and their young children Helen and Dima. we all fell in love with that city of one million people. We They had prepared a delicious dinner for us including enjoyed our visits to Moscow and St. Petersburg, but not in homemade preserves and, of course vodka toasts. Since the way we loved Saratov and the villages. In some peculiar everyone spoke Russian fluently, I had to remind them to way, Saratov belongs to us for it represents our loved ones. speak either German or have our guide translate into It was a magic place for them, and some of that rubbed off English. It seems that only the older people are fluent in on us. We walked about the market square where our German. fathers once walked. The huge mall is lined with large trees and old buildings on each side, with sidewalks next to the buildings and quaint benches on which to sit. No cars are SARATOV: Esther Beltz Trekell allowed on this mall. The people don't stare at us; they are a very courteous people who dress much as we do. On June 5 we left Moscow on the way at last to the magical We were told that many of these buildings were city of Saratov, the "big city" which our people spoke of erected in the 1800s and that the trees are much older than often; so often that many descendants think that is where 100 years. The stores do not carry as much merchandise as their people were born. In fact, a relative of mine sent me a ours, but it seems to be adequate for their needs. I had a genealogy chart showing that his father was bom in Saratov. unique experience trying to find thirty scarves for a friend I wrote him that his father had not been from Saratov, and of mine who wanted to give them to her local AHSGR he was positive that he was. Much to his surprise, his sister chapter. The clerk had a puzzled look on her face when I also confirmed what I told him. asked for 30 babushkas. I had a diff icult time making our Saratov, the fabled city of our people! As our plane Russian escort understand too. Imagine my surprise when I neared the city, our hearts beat faster and faster. Everyone discovered that in Russian babushka means grandmother— had the most expectant look on his or her face, all eager for not scarf! We felt that we were walking on hallowed that f irst glimpse of the Volga and Saratov, in that order. I ground as we shopped and walked the streets. actually saw Engels first. We were told that the bridge Anatoly, our Russian travel agent, arranged for us to connecting Saratov and Engels is the second largest in the have our evening meals served in a privately owned CIS. When I saw the mighty Volga River, I could almost restaurant. They did not allow other guests to enter. hear my heart beating. All my life, I have heard of the Volga. My father used to tell me that my mother was the best swimmer in their village, and she often swam across the Volga. Once we landed, we were taken to the terminal where we were met by a large gathering. We had not expected such an enormously warm welcome in this city where only a year before there was so much unrest and harsh treatment of our returning German people. We did not witness or experience any such treatment. The welcoming group grabbed our luggage; they were as happy to see us as we were to see them. Dr. Igor Plehve stood out in the crowd: he was a head taller than most. After this "red carpet " treatment , we were taken to our hotel by bus. It seemed so appropriate that our rooms faced the Volga. Every morning and evening I would go out on A section of the German-Russian display in the museum in the balcony of my room and say a silent "thank you, dear Saratov. Photo courtesy of Marion F. Wasinger. Lord" for this opportunity to see and visit the homeland of my ancestors.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 The owners were bent on serving us the best they had. a delicious, warm and aromatic loaf of bread which we were Much of the food was German. One evening we were given to sample before we entered the house. This is the typical lovely bronze medallions to wear. They have "Sputnik way that guests are greeted. The host family gave us a warm Travel Service" engraved on one side, and on the other is an welcome and generous sharing of themselves and their indication that we were the f irst group to ever visit Saratov. possessions. We entered into a cheerful house with a blend It is a lovely commemorative gift that will always be of nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There were a piano, precious to us. radio-stereo, a bare light bulb hanging from a cord, We toured the Saratov museum , including a special tapestries on the walls, dishes washed and dried on the display containing hundreds of items used by our Volga living room table, and an outdoor toilet. We were saddened German kinsfolk, i.e., farm equipment , household items, by their primitive surroundings, but they were proud of and toys. what they had, and their apparent family closeness makes One day we took a lovely boat ride down the Volga. up for what they lack in material goods. Our hope is that We were told that many middle-class citizens own dachas private enterprise becomes more of a reality so that they because they need a place to get away from the city heat in will prosper in the land they love. the summer. Some of the dachas are quite humble and look Many villagers came to visit: Alexander Nebert; as if they could fall right into the Volga. Suzanna Wilhelm; Johannes Benner from Naberezhnoye, It was really heartrending to say good-bye to our new Pavlodar District; Matilda Litzenberg Kohn , her daughter friends. I found the Russians to be a very warm, loving, and Alvina Wall and granddaughter Olga; Vladimir Goldstein, a caring people. Our escorts and translators were all Russian and partner with Victor's son in a farm venture; and courteous and concerned for our well being: many others whose names we did not get. Most of the they felt we were one of them. Their gracious hospitality villagers spoke Russian. We were told that twelve Volga will always be remembered by all of us. German families had returned to Yagada in 1968. Some others live in Kazakhstan. Eva's mother was a Scheuerman Yagodnaya Polyana: Jessie Appell, Phyllis Sturgis, Eva on her father's side, and she was related to the Kohns. Balderee Lunch was one of the highlights of the trip. Before we began eating, Matilda stood up and we bowed our heads in When we first read about Esther Trekell’s tour in "Usu silent prayer. Food arrived in courses at the long table set Le ut'," it immediately sparked our imaginations, since we across the living room. Everyone in the room was invited to too had dreamed of visiting our ancestral village. Could we partake and began with three squares of bread (cottage be so fortunate? Not believing that we would ever visit the cheese, strawberry and apricot), crusty and golden. Next land of our forefathers, we were actually on our way. came sausage and tomatoes, pickled and plain cucumbers, Our interpreter, Anatoly Plushkov, a travel agent from pickled wild mushrooms from the meadow. All was Saratov, drove us to our village which is about thirty-five interspersed with friendlier and friendlier toasts of vodka miles northwest of Saratov. Our spirits were high as we and a boiled fruit drink. The main course was rabbit , drove on the bumpy and dusty dirt road. The flat fields mashed potatoes and cooked onions, rye and white bread, extended as far as the eye could see. The shades of deep and on and on until we were stuffed. blue reminded us of relatives who had spoken of bluestem Next it was time for a walk with a babushka for our wheat[g rass] . When we saw Yagodnaya from a distance, heads as the sun was hot. Never mind that the scarves made we were excited and filled with all kinds of emotions. With it hotter! We began with a picture of Yagada in 1888 which our hearts pounding and our breath short, we arrived at our Eva had brought with her. We walked to a lovely cold beautiful, green , ancestral village of Yagada. It was a day spring straight out of the ground on the side of a hill we will never forget. overlooking the village. We couldn't resist a long, cold Our host and hostess, Victor and Mary Scheuerman, drink. The wild berries from which Yagada received its their son Phillip, Matilda Litzenberger Kohn, and others name were in bloom. [Yagodnaya Polyana = Berry Glade.] were at the gate to greet us. Mary was holding We were pushed

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 and pulled up the tall hill to a panoramic view. The heat of supplies, cosmetics, clothes, and seeds. Our hostess gave the day was upon us as we walked back, each trying to each of us a generous supply of sunflower and pumpkin understand the questions of the other. seeds, breads, and a piece of side pork. Though these were The village mostly consists of Ukrainians brought in graciously accepted, it later became a challenge to decide during WW II to occupy the homes left by the Volga which might be taken to the U.S.A. We had brought along Germans who were transported to Siberia. The wooden a world map to show where we lived in respect to the houses are quaint, colorful, and characteristic of Russia village. They were amazed that we would come so far to with decorated window frames of various colors. One see them. Questions about family members who had landmark was in the center of town where Aunt Eva emigrated or had been banished to Siberia flew fast and remembers her grandmother speaking of the gathering of thick. the village ladies for companionship and gossip. We saw Before we knew it, the time came to leave. Our host the spring where our grandmothers had done their weekly and hostess and their son escorted us to the cemetery at the washing . The village consisted of dirt streets, a single store, edge of a beautiful birch woods. Each plot is surrounded by daily bus service to Saratov, a telephone, and schools. We a fence, some made of wood, some metal, some painted stood near the remains of the old Lutheran church, now an bright colors, some with pictures of the departed, and some administration building. Only the foundation is original . with small tables and benches for special church days . We The lilacs were in bloom , which brought back memories of walked and talked, prolonging our departure as long as we Grandmother's garden and the ever-present lilac bush. could. Then with tears in our eyes and many hugs and We returned to the cool house and exchanged gifts as kisses, we left with long-lingering, backward glances and more food appeared. We had brought medical then silence, each thinking private thoughts.

A panoramic view of Yagodnaya Polyana.

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 NEW ADDITIONS TO AHSGR LIBRARY Michael Ronn, AHSGR Librarian

Advance Notice. Z 671.A38x England, Louise C. Glantz. Al ien , Philip Schuyler, and Max Batt. Salem Reformed and Evange lical Church Found ed 1884, Easy German Stories, Edited With Exercises, Notes, United Church of Christ Since 1956, Denver, Colorado: and Vocabulary. Records 1884 to 1909. BX 9886.Z7D46 1991 PF 3117.A4419 03 Enns, Harold J. American Historical Society of Germans From Russia. A Dutch Connection; A Descendant of Russian-Mennonites AHSGR Library Family History List. Discovers Ensz Family Origins in 16th Century Holland. CS Z 7lO.A43x 71.E578 1991 American Historical Society of Germans From Russia. Evans, Doris. Annotated Bibliography of Materials Available for Purchase: Andreas Eckhardt of Frank , Russia, Periodicals, Books, Maps. Z 1361.R86A46 1990x CS71.E24 1992 Axtell, Roger E., ed. German Genalogical Digest. CS 610,G47x Do's and Taboos Around the World. Globus. DD l.G56x HF 5387.D66 1985 Bemardin, Tom. Goedsche, C.R. The Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook. Patterns of German Conversation. PF 3121.G56 1958 TX725.A1B47 1991 Graber, Ben B. Family Record ofJacob Krehbiel. CS 71. K733 1960 Brandt, Edward Reimer. Where Once They Toiled: A Visit to the Former Mennonite Graber, Eldon W. Homelands in the V istula River Valley. BX8119.P6B7 1992 A Family Genealogy Listing the Descendants of Peter Bunyan, John. Graber and Katherine Krehbiel. CS 71.G722 1972 Pilgerreise nach der seligen Ewigkeit: nebst der Goerz, H. Lebensgeschichte des Verfassers. Aus dem Englischen. PR Mennonite Settlements in Crimea. 3330.A5 1905 BX8119.S65G6313 1991 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Family History Gronow, Anna Talea Scherz. Library. Z 733.C53C47 1988 Jung Deutschland. PF 3117.G75 1912 Compute rRooters Quarterly. CS 42.C65x A Guide to Research. Z 710.G84 1988 Deutschlandpolitische Schriftenreihe. DD 258.D48x Hildebrandt, Rainer. Dudek, Pauline Brungardt. Es geschah an der Mauer = It Happened at the Wall. A Voice from the Past; A History of the Heinrich H. DD 881. H54 1986 Rehn Family. Historical and Cultural Agencies and Museums in Illinois, CS71.R4351987 1991-92. F 536. H57 1991 Eastwood, Harland L. Historical Footnotes. E 172.H57x The Story of Henry Koch. CS 71. K62 1991 Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Cal ga ry, Alberta. Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Calgary, Alberta, 1901-1947. OVERSIZE BX 8063.C36I45 1947

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 Isaac , Franz. Gehorsamen sich des ewigen Lebens auf Erden in restloser Die Molotschnaer Mennoniten. Ein Beitrag wr Geschichte Zufriedenheit und vollkommenem Glueck erfreuen koennen. derselben. Aus Akten alterer und neuerer Zeit, wie auch auf BX 8526.R87 1928 Grund eigener Eriebnisse und Erfahrungen dargestellt. Sawatzky, Heinrich. BX8119.R8I82 1908 Mennonite Templers. BX8119.S65S3813 1990 Jehovah Evangelical Lutheran Church, Calgary, Scholmer, Joseph. Alberta . Vorkuta. HV 8959.R9S313 1955 Family Registry. BX 8063.C36 J43 1913 Schwab, Alexander. Kasper Schafer Reunion: June 27-28, 1981. Russlanadeutsches Liederbuch. M 1734.S38 1991 CS71.S3331981 Smith, Frederick George. Klippings. CS90.K5 4x Die Offenbarung erklaert. BS 2825.S635 1900 Lincoln-Lancaster County Genealogical Society. Smith, Hedrick. Newsletter. CS 42 ,N488x The New Russians. DK 288.S59 1990 Litak, Stanislaw. Stern, Sigmon Martin . The Latin Church in the Polish Commonwealth in 1772: A Studien und Plaudereien. PF 3111.S76 1879 Map and Index of Localities . BX 1565.L37 1990 Teaching About Genocide. W6322.7T 43 1991 Lock, Ethel (Brack). Trinity Lutheran Church (LC-MS), Arapahoe, My Grandmother's Moore Fa mily. CS 71.M66 1987 Nebraska . Lutherische Kirche in der Welt: Jahrbuch des Martin Luther- Trinity Lutheran Church (LC-MS) , Arapahoe , Nebraska , Bundes. BX 80 01,L87x 1882-1982: "A Century of Grace and Blessing. " BX Lutherischer Dienst. BV 44 00 .L87x 8076.A72 T74 1982 Mader Family. CS 71. M32 1992 Troyat, Henri. . DK 170.T76 1981 Miller, Michael M. North Dakota Centennial Newspaper United States. National Archives and Records Service. Index. F 636.M54 1991 Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives. Minnesota Genealogical Society, German Interest Group CS 68.U53 1983 Newsletter. CS 42. M566x Moody, Dwight Lyman. Der Weg w. Gott und wie er Voth, Norma Jost. mfinden ist. BV 3797.M7 W415 1912 Mennonite Foods and Folkways from South Russia. Vol. 1 Nebraska State Historical Society. Historical Newsletter . & 2. TX 715.V82 1990 F 661. N24 x Wahl, Dale Lee. Newsletter. German Genealogical Society of America Hinsz, Scheuffele, Wahl , Wall. CS 71. H6658 1990 Newsletter. CS 42.N485x Wahl, Dale Lee. NGS/CIG Digest. CS 42.N37x Hinsz, Scheuffele, Wahl, Wall Families Newsletter. CS71.H6658x North Da kota Biography Index. Z 1321.N67 1980z Wahl, Dale Lee. Oates, Jack James. Working Book: 98 Chapters. Vol. 1,2, & 3. CS The Oates Family and Related Families. 71.H6658 1992 CS71.013 1992 Wessely, Ignaz Emanuel. The Plough: Publication of the Bruderhof Communities. Burt's German-English Dictionary. PF 3640.W47 BX .8l29.B6x Wolhynische Hefte. DK 511.V7W64x Rutherford, J.F. Versohnung: eine einfache Erklarung der gnadenvollen Yost, Donald A. Stories by Grandpa Don. CT 235.Y67A3 1992 Vorkehrung Jehovas, alle Menschen in vollige Harmoni c mit sich •w, bringen, damit die Ziegler, Marvin E. The Stricker-Ziegler Families from 1849 to 1990. CS71.S775 1990

AHSGR Journal / Winter 1992 MANUSCRIPTS SOLICITED The International Foundation of the American Historical The Journal welcomes manuscripts of articles, essays, family Society of Germans from Russia is a nonprofit organization histories, anecdotes, folklore, and all aspects of the lives of which seeks funds beyond annual dues of members to aid the Germans in/from Russia. needs of the many operations of the Society. The Foundation We request that manuscripts be typed double-spaced on accepts monetary gifts , bequests, securities, memorial gifts, standard 8 1/2 by 11-inch paper. If printed on computer fan- and trusts. Gifts may be designated to the Foundation for fold paper, please remove the feed-guide edges, separate and specific purposes or for where most needed. The Society also number the pages, and place them in order. If the manuscript was written on a computer, please include with the manuscript welcomes gifts which may be designated for specific a copy of the article file on a 3.5 " or 5.25" diskette. We can ac- purposes, such as promoting the work of the Aussiedler cept IBM PC/AT compatible files on low- or double-density Project, the AHSGR/CIS Project, library, genealogy, or where disks. most needed. All contributions aid in furthering the goals of For questions of style, please consult our standard AHSGR: to gather, preserve, and make available for research referenc e. The Chica go Manual of Style, 13th ed. rev. material pertaining to the history of the Germans from Russia. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982). Please indicate For further information and to make contributions, write to in your cover letter whether you have photos which may be the International Foundation of the American Historical used to illustrate your article. If you wish your manuscript and Society of Germans from Russia, 631 D Street, Lincoln. NE disk returned to you, please include with the manuscript a 68502-1199. Telephone: (402)474-3363. FAX (402) 474- stamped, self-addressed envelope of the same size and with the same postage as your mailing envelope. Manuscripts not 7229. All donations to the International Foundation are tax published in the Journal or returned will be added to the deductible. AHSGR archives. Address all correspondence on editorial matters to AHSGR, 631 D Street, Lincoln, NE 68502-1199.