Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1 Spring 1980 · A DOCUMENT OF 1766 FOUND IN BUDINGEN, GERMANY Emma...

Journal of the

American Historical Society of Germans from Russia

Vol. 3, No. 1 Spring 1980

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Adam Giesinger. .......................…………………………………………………….................................... i

A DOCUMENT OF 1766 FOUND IN BDDINGEN, GERMANY

Emma Schwabenland Haynes ...............………………………………………….................................... 1

VILLAGES IN WHICH OUR FOREFATHERS LIVED: GERMANS FROM HUNGARY IN THE ODESSA COLONIES

Adam Giesinger.....................................……………………………………………………….........................6

LICHTENTAL BESSARABIA: THE STORY OF A SWABIAN COMMUNITY IN RUSSIA

Karl Roth Translated by Herman D. Wildermuth. ................…………………………………….......................... 11

ORLOVSKAIA ON THE VOLGA

Jacob Eichhorn and Irma E. Eichhorn. .............……………………………………….............................23

THE GERMAN REPUBLIC ON THE VOLGA IN THE 1920's

Adam Giesinger..........................…………………………………………………................................... .39

HEIMATLAND - HOME

A Poem by Christian Idler Translated by Herman D. Wildermuth........................……………………………………....................43

PASSAGE TO RUSSIA: WHO WERE THE EMIGRANTS? Part V: The Long Trail of the Poor

Lew Malinowski Translated by Hildegard Keller Schwabauer ........................………………………………............. .44

AN INTERVIEW WITH LYDIA KRETZ: OBSERVATIONS OF A SOVIET-GERMAN MEMBER OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE USSR

Translated by Philippe Edel................................……………………………………………...................46

RECENT NEWS ON GERMANS FROM RUSSIA

Emma Schwabenlund Haynes .................................………………………………………................. .50

THE VOLGA GERMAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN THE GREAT SOVIET ENCYCLOPEDIA .......………………………………………………..................................53

(Continued on inside back cover)

Published by

American Historical Society of Germans from Russia 631 D Street • Lincoln, Nebraska 68502

Editor: Nancy Bernhardt Holland

© Copyright 1980 by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. All rights reserved.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear Members of AHSGR:

This issue of the Journal again brings you considerable variety. There is an unusual interview with a Soviet-German member of the Supreme Soviet of

the USSR, which appeared in a Soviet publication in Germany and was translated for us by Philippe Edel of Strasbourg, France. Another item from the Soviet press is from the newspaper Neues Leben, the fifth of the series of articles by Lew Malinowski on the German emigrants to the Black Sea region in the early 1800's, this one translated for us by Hildegard Keller Schwabauer.

A substantial number of the German immigrants who settled in the Odessa colonies had lived for a generation or more in Hungary. Their little-known story is told in this issue's installment of my series. Villages in Which Our Forefathers Lived.

Those of you whose ancestral home was in the Volga colonies will have a special interest in a document of 1766, described by Emma Haynes, and in an article on the Volga German Republic of the pre-war period by me.

Two German villages in Russia receive special attention: Orlovskaia on the Volga in an article by Jacob and Irma Eichhorn and Lichtental in Bessarabia by Karl Roth, translated by Herman Wildermuth. Current history is represented in an article by Emma Haynes, which deals with recent news on Germans from Russia.

The music of our people is for most of us a fascinating aspect of our history. Our expert in this field, Lawrence Weigel, again presents interesting facets about music in this issue.

As usual, we have reviews of some books recently added to our Archives. On your behalf and my own, I express gratitude to the contributors and to our talented editor, who puts it all together.

Sincerely,

Adam Giesinger i

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A DOCUMENT OF 1766 FOUND IN BUDINGEN, GERMANY

Emma Sohwabemand Haynes

In Work Paper No. 9 for October 1972 on page 50,1 described a very interesting document dated October 30, 1766 which is in the library of Buedingen Castle east of Frankfurt, Germany. During the past year several people have written to ask for further details of this historic paper, which lists the names of twenty-five heads of families who left Germany for the Volga.

Since not all members of AHSGR possess early issues of our publications, may I repeat that Buedingen was the most important "Sammelplatz" or gathering place of those Germans who wanted to emigrate to Russia in the late eighteenth century. The town was headquarters for a Russian commissioner named Facius who moved to Buedingen after being expelled from Frankfurt. Numerous edicts had been passed by the rulers of south-western Germany prohibiting emigration. But in spite of their efforts, it is presumed that approximately 27,000 people left for the Volga after 1763.

The Russian government preferred that stable citizens settle in their domains, and for that reason 375 marriages took place in the Protestant church of Buedingen between February and July of 1766. In 1971, shortly after our Society was organized, I made a trip to Buedingen to look at these marriage lists, which were kept in the home of the Evangelical-Lutheran pastor of the city. It was quite a thrill to turn the pages of the church register and see such names as Spomer, Loos, Weigand, Repp, Vogel, Lehr, Koch, Nazarenus, Klein, and Weitzel, which are still being carried by Volga Germans in the United States today,

At the same time, I also went to the castle of Buedingen, which is used as a home by members of the family. They have hired a full time archivist, Frau Dr. Reimers, to take care of the manuscripts and books belonging to the castle. I asked Dr. Reimers for documents and other material going back to the year 1766 when hordes of would-be emigrants converged on the city. To my great disappointment she said that nothing remained except five pages listing the citizens of Duedelsheim and Rohrbach who had left for Russia.2 At my request she made a copy of the document, three pages of which are reproduced in this issue of the Journal.

At the top of the first page is written, "Buedingen, the 30th of October." Then comes a flowery salutation, '"An die hochgraefl[iche] Ysenburg Buedingen hochloel[iche] Regierungs Kanzley, unterthaeniggehor-sames Bericht! 1766." This may be roughly translated as, "A report most respectfully submitted to the highly esteemed government chancery of the Count of Ysenburg-Buedingen."

The document then goes on to say that all of the subjects who left the country for Russia have sold then-goods and property and have paid the necessary taxes, with the exception of: 1. Johann Stephan Claus, who has given everything to his step-son, Johann Henrich Menges, on condition that if he arrives

safely in Russia, his step-son will pay off his debts. 2. Andreas Klink. His parents have recently died and their estate is still not settled. The share belonging to Andreas Klink

will remain unresolved until the trustees, Herman Klink and Philipp Schneider, will be able to sell the property. 3. Johann Peter Claus, who went to Russia as an unmarried traveling artisan, has given his share of the family property to his

brother Johannes to be used until he returns home again or writes that his part should be sold. 4. Conrad Raab has sold his possessions but this will scarcely pay for all of his debts. 5. Johann Henrich Scheyd with his wife made so many debts through disorderly living that he could hardly repay them. In a

few years he would have had to go begging or else become a shepherd's servant at the home of his father-in-law Hohnstein. He would not have been good either for his master or for the community. At his departure he turned over all his goods to his brother, Johann Adam Scheyd to pay the interest which must be met before other payments are made.

The paper closes with the same flowery language with which it began, and is signed by Ernst Karl Schmid. Pages four and five of the document list the names of the subjects who left;

From DUDELSHEIM Johann Henrich Jacket All of these people were "Unterthaner" or subjects of Johann Henrich Scheyd2 the Count. Johann Adam Scheyd, the miller

1

Johann Henrich Schneider Johann Stephan Claus Lorentz Eyring Adam Weisheim's widow Johannes Raab

Johann Adam Eurich These people were called "Beisassen." They were not Johann Conrad Weisheim subjects (citizens) but instead were servants or the Johann Ernst Willmann like. Johann Henrich Dippel Johann Henrich Mogel Adam Hermann Fech

Johann Henrich Raab Were neither citizens nor servants. Both were single. Scheydemann's Prau3

Andreas Klink These men were single but got married before they Johann Jost Bender left. Johann Philipp Scheyd

Johann Peter Claus Was single.

Henrich Jacob, ox herdsman and schoolteacher, moved to Buches, near Dudelsheiin

From ROHRBACH Jacob Grassmueck All were citizens. Johann Henrich Bopp Casper Weber's widow Conrad Grassmueck Schoolteacher Seeberger

Johann Friedrich Naumann did not go to Russia. Moved to Callbach.

From HOCHHEIM Nobody moved away except Jacob and Johann May to a farm in Endsheim. Johann Bechtel went to Bueches.

Readers may be wondering why I have paid so much attention to these twenty-five family heads when 375 couples got married in the church of Buedingen. But it must be remembered that even though we know the names of the 375 couples, there is no way of definitely determining where in Russia they settled. There are only four Volga colonies for which we have the names of the original founders: Jagodnaja Poljana, Balzer, Semenowka, and Dittel. Back in 1972 I thought that Jacob Volz was first responsible for telling us who the founders of Balzer were. He had printed their names in a booklet entitled Festschrift der Balzerer Wiedervereinigung on the occasion of a reunion held in Lincoln, Nebraska, on 28 August 1938. However, I later discovered, through Hattie Plum Williams, that a citizen of Balzer named David Merkel had printed these names in the Dakota Freie Presse for 19 November 1912 and 1 August 1913. Mrs. Gerda Walker was able to find these lists, as well as those compiled by H. Wilhelmi for an article entitled the History of Balzer" in the Dakota Freie Presse for 18 April and 11 July 1911. However, it was only David Merkel who told from what places in Europe people had come.4

I was very excited to discover that thirteen of the families from Dudelsheim and three from Rohrbach were listed as settling in Balzer.5 Their names and dates of arrival as given by Merkel follow:

2

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3

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From DUEDELSHEIM 1. Jost Bender 2. Adam Eurich 3. Heinrich Jackel 4. Andreas Kling 5. Heinrich Magel 6. Heinrich Scheldt 7. Philipp Scheldt 8. Konrad Weisheim 9. Maria Sophie Weisheim, a widow [presumably of Adam Weisheim]

10. Stefan Claus (widower) 11. Lorenz Eurich 12. Hermann Fech 13. Heinrich Raab

From ROHRBACH 14. Jakob Grasmueck 15. Konrad Grasmueck 16. Anna Margareta Weber, a widow [presumably of Casper Weber]

It should be pointed out that David Merkel does not mention that these people came from the villages of Duedelsheim and Rohrbach. He simply mentions Isenburg. The same designation is made for fifty-two other families who settled in Balzer. In other words, about two-thirds of all the original inhabitants of the colony came from the territory of the counts of Isenburg.

The fate of the other family heads who left Duedelsheim and Rohrbach remains a mystery. One cannot help but wonder what happened to Johann Adam Scheyd, the miller; Johann Peter Claus, the traveling artisan; or the schoolteacher Seeberger. Did they eventually decide not to leave for Russia; did they suffer death on the long trek to the Volga; or did they settle in some other colony? One can only speculate.

Notes

1. Both Dudelsheim and Rohrbach belonged to the "Grafschaft" or earldom of Isenburg-Buedingen. 2. The letter "y" was often used instead of "i" in the 18th century. Notice Ysenburg, Kanzley, and Scheyd. 3. Since the Scheydemann woman is listed as single, the word "Frau" may be used as a term of respect. I have not counted her

as head of a family. 4. For a complete list of those people who settled in Balzer see Hattie Plum Williams, The Czar's Germans, published by

AHSGR in 1975, pages 102-105. 5. My article in 1972 was based upon Jacob Voiz's booklet which is not completely accurate.

DON'T MISS THE ELEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE

AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF GERMANS FROM RUSSIA TO BE HELD

AT THE

HYATT REGENCY HOTEL IN DEARBORN, MICHIGAN JULY 7- 13,1980.

SEE YOU THERE!

June 18, 1767 June 18,1767 June 18, 1767 June 18, 1767 June 18. 1767 June 18,1767 June 18, 1767 June 18,1767 June 18,1767 July 1, 1767 July 18,1767 July 18,1767 July 18,1767

June 18,1767 June 18, 1767 August 8, 1767

VILLAGES IN WHICH OUR FOREFATHERS LIVED: GERMANS FROM HUNGARY IN THE ODESSA COLONIES

Adam Giesinger

Among the founders of several German villages in the Odessa district were large groups of families who had come to Russia from Hungary. Their numbers are given in the Gemeindeberichte of 18481 as follows: 40 to 50 families to Peterstal in 1805; 13 families to Franzfeld in 1805-1806; 78 families to Freudentalin 1806-1807; 21 families to Alexanderhilf and 29 families to Neuburg in 1807; 27 families to Glueckstal in 1809; and 11 families to Neudorf in 1810. In addition to these a few families settled in other German villages of the district. The total was at least 250 families, a substantial fraction of the German immigrants who came to the Odessa district at that time.

Reports of the early days tell us that these immigrants from Hungary, most of them with farming experience and some with more than average means, quickly became successful farmers in Russia. Freudental in particular prospered early. When Tsar Alexander I visited this village in 1821,2 he was impressed by the progress these colonists had made in just a few years. They were in many respects a model for the other German immigrants, whose adjustment to conditions in Russia was a more painful process.3

The history of these Germans from Hungary will be of special interest to those of our people whose families once lived in the Black Sea villages mentioned, since some of their forefathers probably belonged to this group,

German migration to southern Hungary, from which these colonists later moved on to Russia, was a deve-lopment of the eighteenth century paralleling in many ways the German migration to the Volga, The colonization policies of Catherine II of Russia were not unique in her era. Her contemporary, Empress Maria Theresa, ruler of Austria-Hungary 1740-1780, competed with Catherine for German settlers for sparsely populated areas of her empire.4 The end of the Seven Years' War in February 1763 brought the demobilization of larger numbers of soldiers in the various German states, whom Maria Theresa wished to attract to her frontier provinces, where they could serve as a buffer force against attacks by predatory neighbors. On 25 February 1763, five months earlier than Catherine's famous manifesto, Maria Theresa issued a similar decree, inviting demobilized soldiers and German farmers and tradesmen to settle in her Hungarian provinces, particularly the Banat and Batshka, where there was much vacant land. Like Catherine she made many promises designed to attract immigrants: support money for the journey to the settlement area, financial help to get established, freedom from taxation in the early years, and so on. She set up a special colonization commission in Vienna and sent recruiting agents into German lands. These efforts brought 27,000 German colonists mainly to the Banat, but some to the Batshka, in the years 1763-1773, about the same number as went to the Volga in those years. The colonization program was then allowed to lapse for a time. A few years later it was revived by Joseph II, son and successor of Maria Theresa, who renewed and extended the promises to prospective immigrants by a decree of 21 September 1782. Unlike Maria Theresa's invitation, which had been extended to Catholics only, Joseph's decree invited Protestants as well and promised them complete religious freedom in the Hungarian provinces. The new recruiting campaign continued to 1787 and brought another 30,000 Germans to southern Hungary, divided nearly equally between the Banat and the Batshka. The settlements founded in that era in these Hungarian provinces are shown on the map.

In the early 1800's, when Tsar Alexander I was promoting German settlement in the Black Sea region, some of the Germans migrating to Russia used the Danube route, traveling down that river from Ulm in Bavaria to Ismael in Bessarabia, then overland to Odessa. On this route they passed by some of the Hungarian settlements and sometimes stopped there for a time. From them the Hungarian colonists heard about the promised paradise in southern Russia. In Hungary by this time their tax-free years had expired and conditions were less favorable than they had been earlier. In many families too, sons had grown up who were now looking for land. As a result, beginning in 1805, a movement began from the Hungarian settlements to the Black Sea region.

The majority of the emigrants from Hungary who participated in this movement were Protestants from the Batshka, but the Banat was also represented and there were a few Catholics among the migrants. Dr. Stumpp, in his village lists in Emigration from Germany to Russia,5 indicates for some of these families the villages in Hungary from which they migrated to Russia, as well as their places of origin in Germany. In a more recent publication6 he gives a list of 231 families from Hungary who settled in the Black Sea region, with places of origin in Hungary and in Germany for most of them. The majority of these came from a few

6

villages in the Batshka: 65 families from Torschau, 23 families from Sekitsch, 27 families from Chervenka, 36 families from Neu-Werbass, 22 families from Kis-Ker (KIein-Ker), 4 families from Bulkes, and 4 families from Siwatz. A small number came from the Banat: 9 families from Liebling and 9 families from Franzfeld. For some families in the list the village of origin in Hungary is not known. Other Hungarian immigrants have so far escaped listing as such.

Abbreviations Used For Some of the Place Names on the

Map of the Banat & Batshka Heu....... ......... Heufeld Phi..... .......... PhilippowaHod....... ........ Hodschag Pri..... .... Priglewitz St. IwanKar....... ..... Karawukowa Sac .... ........ SackelhausenKI-J ....... ...... Klemjetscha Sar..... ............SartschaKoen....... ....... .Konigshof Sch .. .. .......... SchondorfKre ....... ..... .Kreuzstatten Seg . . . . ...........SegenthauLov ....... .......... Lovrin Set. .... ............SetschanMar....... ....... Marienfeld Sig..... ........ SigmundsdorfMas....... .........Massdorf Stef.... .......... StefansfeldMil. ....... ......... Militisch Tra . .. . ............ TraunauNeud...... ......... Neudorf Tri..... ........ .TriebswetterNeuh...... ..........Neuhof Wep.... .......... WeprowatzN-Fut ..... ....... Neu-Futak Wie . .. . .......... WiesenhaidN-Pal...... ...... Neu-Palanka Orc ....... ....... .Orczydorf 7

Alb . Alex Alt.. BU.. Blu . Bog. Bre . Cha. Eng . Ern . Ger . Got. Gra . Gr-J. Gut.

. , . Albrechtsflur Alexanderhausen ...... Altringen ......... Billed ..... .Blumental ..... .Bogarosch ..... Brestowatz . .Charlottenburg .... Engetsbrunn . . .. Ernsthausen . . . .Gertjamosch ....... Gottlob ....... Grabatz .... Grossjetscha . .. Guttenbrunn

Having arrived in Russia, most of the Hungarian colonists settled near Odessa. In 1805-1806 they became the founders of Peterstal and Freudental and thirteen families of them became the first settlers in Franz-feld. In 1807 they filled the gaps created by the high death rates of 1805-18067 in Alexanderhilfand Neu-burg, founded by immigrants from Wuerttemberg in 1805. In 1809-1810 they participated, with immigrants from several parts of Germany, in the founding of Glueckstal and Neudorf.

The majority of these people had been in Hungary for only one generation, having migrated from Germany in the 1780's. A few, however, had been there since the 1760's. For many of these families the dates of their migration from Germany to Hungary and other information can be determined from the voluminous work by Wilhelm and Kallbrunner.8

Of special interest to a researcher, because so very little has been written about them, are the thirteen families from Hungary who were the first settlers in Franzfeld. Konrad Keller, in his account of the founding of Franzfeld,9 mentions them as follows: "The founding of the colony Franzfeld began in the year 1805 and was completed in the year 1809. The first settlers, comprising thirteen families, came in the years 1805 and 1806 from the vicinities of the Hungarian district capitals Temesvar and Kula, but, with the exception of three families, gradually transferred to the neighboring Evangelical-Lutheran colonies. In the years 1806 to 1809 another thirty-eight families arrived from Alsace and the Rhine Palatinate. . . . Franzfeld was originally intended to be settled by Lutherans and Grosshebental by Catholics, but Duke Richelieu changed the plan."

Obviously the thirteen families from Hungary who were the first settlers were Lutherans and the thirty-eight families from Alsace and the Palatinate were Catholics. It was not usual in that era to permit people of the two faiths to settle together in the same village, because there was fear of religious strife. In this case, however, the early Lutheran families, although encouraged to move to villages of their own faith, were not forced to do so. Some of them, according to Keller,10 continued to live in Franzfeld till the 1860's.

In addition to the information given in Keller, there is an account of the early days of Franzfeld in a Zen-family history published in Odessa in 1914.n Putting together the information from the two sources, one can create a list of the original landholding families in Franzfeld, including the thirteen founding families from Hungary.

The land area assigned to Franzfeld by the Russian authorities at the founding of the village permitted forty-three landholding families.12 Keller gives a list of the forty-three landholders as at 1816.13 and Zerr a list as at 1821-1822,14 The Zerr list includes information about changes in ownership up to 1822, a valuable addition which has so far been overlooked by researchers on the early days of Franzfeld. It enables one, in nearly all cases, to determine unambiguously the names of the original landowners, those who received the land from the crown. Comparing the primary list obtained in this way with the list of 1816, one finds that twenty-four of the forty-three landholdings had changed hands by 1816, although ten of them had merely passed from father to son or son-in-law.15 Of the thirteen Lutheran families from Hungary who had been landholders originally, only five still had land in Franzfeld in 1816 and one of these sold out to a Catholic in 1818.

Using the Zerr information, one can list the thirteen families from Hungary who settled in Franzfeld in 1805-1806 as follows: Georg Bauer, Theobald Becker, Biedermann (first name not recorded). Binder (first name not recorded), Georg Fischer, Konrad Gotz, Martin Heer, Andreas Hatterle, Christian Schmidt, Christian Schmierer, Andreas Schnepf, Bartolomaus Uhl, and Jakob Uhl. It is interesting to trace their connection with Franzfeld and their later history, to the extent that the sources give us this information.

The Martin Heer family and Konrad Gotz, then a single man, appear to have been the first settlers in Franzfeld.16 Heer was prominent in the early years, highly respected by the people of both faiths. He was mayor of the village for some years.17 It was probably he who gave the village its name, after a German village of that name in the southern Banat, from which some of the first settlers had come. Konrad Gotz, who married soon after his arrival in Russia, died in 1812 and his widow married Johannes Heer, eldest son of Martin, who took over the Gotz landholding. Except for one son, Christian, who married a Neuburg girl in 1818 and moved to that village,18 most members of the Heer family remained in Franzfeld till 1839, when they went to Sarata in Bessarabia.19 The following first settlers sold their land before 1815 and moved to the place indicated: Georg Bauer to Odessa, Theobald Becker to Neuburg, Biedermann to Alex-anderhilf (? ), Binder to Peterstal (? ), Georg Fischer and Christian Schmierer to Worms, and Andreas Schnepf to Gluckstal.20 Jakob Uhl died in 1813 and his widow married Friedrich Landsiedl, who took over the land but sold out in 1815 and went to Neuburg.21 Bartolomaus Uhl died in the first years and his

8

landholding passed to his widow, then to his son Marzell Uhl, who sold it to a Catholic in 1818 and moved to Neuburg.22 The Christian Schmidt family left Franzfeld in 1844 to go to Sarata.23 This leaves unaccounted for only the Andreas Hatterle family, whose descendants may have been the ones who remained in Franzfeld till the 1860's.

It is said that many of the Protestants who left Franzfeld had pleasant memories of their life there and remained sentimentally attached to the beautiful village that had been their first home in Russia. A grandson of old Martin Heer, Gottlieb Heer, born in Franzfeld but taken to Sarata by his parents in his youth, returned in his old age and erected a monument with the inscription, "In memory of my unforgettable Franzfeld, where my cradle stood."24

The Villages in Southern Russia in which Germans from Hungary Settled in (he Years 1805 to 1810

9

Neudorf

• Gitickstal

Notes

1. The Gemeindeberichte (Village Reports) of 18-18 for Peterstal, Freudental, Alexanderhilf, Neuburg, Glueckstal, and Neu-dorf appear in Georg Leibbrandt, Die deutschen Kohnien in Cherson und Bessarabien (Stuttgart: Ausland und Heimat Verlag, 1926), pp. 16-32,45-65; for the first four villages the reports appear also in Jakob Stach, Die deutschen Kolonien in Suedrussland (Prischib: Verlag von Gottlieb Schaad, 1904), pp. 137-154. The report for Franzfeld is not available, but the information from it was incorporated into the section on Franzfeld in Konrad Keller, Die deutschen Kolonien in Suedrussland (Odessa:Verlag von Stadelmeier, 1905), pp. 254-305.

2. There is an account of Alexander's visit to Freudental in Stach, pp. 159-161. 3. The greater success of the Hungarian colonists in the early days, as contrasted with that of the others, is described by

Stach, p. 197. 4. Austrian rulers in the latter part of the eighteenth century were actively colonizing two provinces in southern Hungary, the

Banat and Batshka, acquired in wars with Turkey, and Galicia in the northeast, acquired in the 1772 partition of Poland. The following are good sources of information regarding these colonization activities; J. H. Schwicker, Die Deutschen in Ungarn und Siebenburgen (Wien: Veriag von Karl Prochaska, 1881), pp. 327-348 for the Banat and pp. 390-401 for the Batshka; R, F. Kaindl, Geschichte der Deutschen in den Karpathenldndern. dritter Band (Gotha: Fried-rich Andreas Perches Aktiengesellschaft, 1911), pp. 3-127 for Galicia and pp. 185-262 for the Banat and Batshka; Walter Kuhn, Die jungen deutschen Sprachinsein in Galizien (Munster in Westfalen; Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1930), pp. 26-76; Hans Herrschaft, Das Banat: ein deutsches Siedlungsgebiet im Donauraum (Berlin: Verlag Grenze und Ausland, 1940), pp. 45-85; Paul Flach, Goldene Batschka (Munchen: Im Selbstverlag des Verfassers, 1953), pp 79-144; Josef Senz, Geschichte der Donauschwaben (Freilassing, Bayern: Pannonia- Verlag, 1955), pp. 25-40.

5. Karl Stumpp, The Emigration from Germany to Russia in the years 1763 to 1862 (Lincoln, Nebraska: American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1972), The village list for Freudental, pp. 572-576, is a good example,

6. Karl Stumpp, "Weiterwanderung deutscher Kolonisten aus Ungarn (Batschka) und dem Banat nach Sudrussland in den Jahren 1804.1816," Sudostdeutsches Archiv, XIX/XX Band (Munchen: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1976/77), pp. 70-85.

7. The death rates in both Neuburg and Alexanderhilfwere shockingly high in the first two years on the settlement site. In Neuburg, for example, by the spring of 1806 only 29 of the original 65 families survived. See the village reports in Leib-brandt, pp. 45-52.

8. Franz Wilhelm und Josef Kallbrunner, Quellen zur deutschen Siedlungsgeschichte in Sildosteuropa (Munchen: Verlag von Ernst Reinhardt, n.d.). This work contains 326 pages of lists of names of German families who migrated to Hungary and Galicia in the eighteenth century. Places of origin and dates of migration are given, but not the village of settlement. There is an index of family names and an index of places of origin,

9. Keller, pp. 254-255. 10. Keller, p. 255 footnote. Father Keller was parish priest at Franzfeld in 1903-1904 and had access to the village records. 11. A. Zerr, Einwanderungsgeschichte der Familie Zerr in Russland (Odessa; Buch und Notendruckerei des Klemensvereins,

1914). This family history was written by Bishop Anton Zerr after his retirement from the see of Tiraspol. 12. Each of these families had 50 dessiatines of land (about 135 acres). 13. Keller, pp. 255-256. 14. Zerr, pp. 96-107. Unfortunately the numbering system for the landholdings is different in this list than in the Keller list.

This causes some problems in identification. 15. Because of the interesting sidelights it gives on the early days, it is my intention to publish the complete primary list and

the ownership changes that occurred from 1805 to 1822. 16. KeUer,p.284. 17. Keller, p. 284 fn and p. 294. 18. Zerr, p. 70. 19. Stumpp, Emigration, pp. 297, 544. There is some confusion in the listing. The Sarata list contains only Martin Heer, Jr.,

but the other Heers appear to have gone there also. 20. The names can be found in the appropriate village lists in Stumpp’s Emigration. 21. Zerr, p. 105. 22. Zerr, pp. 70,98. 23. Zerr, p. 71. 24. Zerr, p. 12.

10

LICHTENTAL BESSARABIA: THE STORY OF A SWABIAN COMMUNITY IN RUSSIA

Kari Roth

Translated by Herman D. Wildermuth

The following article comprises most of the first chapter of Lichtental, a book by Karl Roth which was published in 1969 in commemoration of the 135th Jubilee of the founding of the colony of Lichtental in Bessarabia. The volume details the history, geography, economic situation, and customs of the village from its founding to the forced resettlement of ifs citizens in 1940. Hen Roth, a retired headmaster, draws not only on published books, newspapers, and Kalender, but also on personal recollections and private documents of Lichtentalers now living in Germany, on "old letters in the municipal archives of Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart [which] describe the journeys and the arrival at the goal" and on "records of the emigrants' communities of Kirchberg on the Murr, Kornwestheim, Rielingshausen, and others. " At the age of eighty-seven, Herr Roth makes his home in Kirchberg in Wuerttemberg, from which founders of Lichtental emigrated to Russia a century and a half ago. As the author observes in the Foreword to his study, "We should not forget .. . that one who discards the old orders, customs, and beliefs as prejudices of the past, will one day not know from where he comes or where he should go. Just as it is obvious that a family should stick together, so if is proper that those of a common origin should also remain associated. ... We do not intend to idolize our past, but to esteem it. for tradition is not inflexibility; if is creative transmittal... it is God-given .. . our entire being and doing is dependent on those who preceded us."

Early History — Bessarabia

The land between the Dniester and the Prut rivers was, from ancient times, a migration route for many and various tribes. The Ostrogoths, also, controlled this area temporarily under their chief, Ermanerich (330-375 A.D.). Calamity came to them in the form of the Huns who attacked them, destroying everything they had built up and forcing them westward. In the following centuries came the Avari, Bulgarians, Petschenegs, Kumani and, in the thirteenth century, the Tatars.

The Bessarabian neighbors, Ukrainians in the east and Rumanians in the west, gradually trickled into the area and partially settled it. In the fifteenth century, Turkey took possession of Bessarabia and settled the Nogai Tatars in the southern area—the Budschak (sixteenth century).

In 1812, the Turks were forced out by the advancing Russians. The Tatars left the area, en masse with the Turks. In this nearly empty territory, our ancestors were settled. After the time of the Russian Revolution (1917), the Rumanians took over Bessarabia and in 1940 the area was incorporated into the USSR.

The Wall of Trajan and the White Citadel (Ceta tea-Alb a) in Akkerman [now Byelgorod-Dnestrovski], in the southern part, show that the Empire of Rome reached to Bessarabia. The wall served as a defense against the Asiatic tribes. It stretches across the territory and calls to mind the "Limes" [fortified Roman boundary] in Wuerttemberg.

The name of the territory comes from the Russian princely family "Bessarab" from Wallachia, which ruled over Bessarabia from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries.

Bessarabia has an area of about 44,200 square kilometers [actually, 17,147 square miles]. It is about 450 kilometers [280 miles] long and averages about 100 kilometers [62 miles] in width. It is bounded on the west by the Carpathian Mountains. It has a population of 3,000,000 inhabitants and Kishinev is its principal city.

The southern, softly undulating land consists of black earth and loam. Under the layer of humus lie sand and thin layers of marl, intermixed with clay, lime, and mollusk-shell limestone.

Bessarabia is a clear and sunny land which has the characteristics of an inland climate. The transitions from winter to spring and from autumn to winter are usually harsh and the changes in the weather are frequent and unpredictable.

Before it was settled by Germans, Bessarabia was a treeless steppe. In it the wildlife reigned undisturbed in the "Goatsbeard" as high as a man, in thorns, in prairie thistles, in spurge and in wormwood brush.

The situation was gloomy and it was difficult for the German settlers to bring the land under cultivation. There was a shortage of draft animals and the cultivation implements were primitive. The first years were full of trouble and worry, distress and misery, Many became ill from want and homesickness. They were

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plagued by disease epidemics among man and beast, crop failures, hail, and grasshoppers. Nevertheless, the German settlers "held their own" and wrested a blessing from the earth. They realized a cultural achievement of the first magnitude.

Motives for Emigration

"The causes of emigration were land shortage and overpopulation which brought a variety of afflictions and poverty in their wake. In addition, ecclesiastical distress provided a motive for emigration."3

The first large gathering of former Lichtental residents was held in Kirchberg on the Murr, 20 May 1956. In his greetings for this gathering. Mayor Walter Klenk wrote among other things in the Kirchberg community newsletter, "Why did the forefathers of our guests emigrate?"

"At that time, much misery prevailed everywhere in Swabia. The Napoleonic Wars and the wars of liberation had caused much distress. The king of Wuerttemberg had abrogated the old constitution. The common people resisted the influx of the new religion-rationalism. The redistribution of the real estate [dividing the land equally among the male population] had divided the largest farm estates. Any farther partition would have made existence impossible. The villages were overpopulated. There was a shortage of housing and suitable employment. Skilled artisans just could not find work. At this time, the message from Russia promised an attractive new homeland. So, many emigrated. In the years 1834-47, a number of families from Kirchberg, several neighboring villages, and from other parts of Wuerttemberg and the Rhineland settled the colony of Lichtental, which remained a true Swabian settlement to the day of its repatriation in 1940."

Well known persons such as Dr. Georg Leibbrandt, Prof. Dr. Karl Lindemann, and many others have investigated the causes of the emigration. They have studied the government records at Ludwigsburg, Stuttgart, Esslingen, Petersburg [Leningrad], etc., as well as periodicals and other pertinent literature. The results of their studies indicate three great waves of emigration. The first wave from Wuerttemberg and other parts of Germany promptly followed the (first) partition of Poland (1776-86) and the second poured into the Duchy of Warsaw (1801-06). The third wave followed in the winter of 1816-17. Always, it was the urge for economic and religious freedom and self-sufficiency that stimulated the waves. The emigration from Wuerttemberg lasted many years, with only short interruptions. The emigration road of the "concord of emigrants" was the Danube River and its barges, the "Ulm boxes." Most of the emigrants, however, chose the overland route through Galicia, seldom through Hungary or Rumania. The Lichtental settlers were part of the last wave of emigrants (1820-60).

After King Friedrich (1797-1816) abrogated the old Wuerttemberg constitution the government installed its representatives and officials in the communities without considering the wishes of its constituents. The police became a most important branch of the administration. The state censor supervised the book trade, scrutinized publications, so that self-government played only a minor role. Compulsory military service was especially hated because the sale of the country's youth as soldiers overseas had not yet been forgotten.1 The grief over the frightful casualties of the Wuerttemberg regiments in the Napoleonic War [as an ally of Napoleon] was still an appalling memory. The population became annoyed. The constitutional conflict was not resolved until 1819, under King Wilhelm I ofWiirllemberg.2

Also, religious distress provided an urge to emigration. In this context, a word from Swiss naturalist Albrecht von Haller: "Nowhere was faith deeper in the hearts of the people than in Wuerttemberg. This is illustrated by their community life, their pastors, their schools, and their church services.

"Toward the end of the eighteenth century, rationalism penetrated Wuerttemberg. This replaced religion with moral philosophy, biblical authority with rational conclusions, and faith with logical analysis. Such sermons left the congregation cold and emotionally unmoved. The antipathy toward the church grew and the influence of Pietism spread wider and wider. Here now, the Swabians could sit and brood. In 1791, a new song book was introduced in Wuerttemberg that caused a storm of indignation in the congregations. However, the great agitation among the people came with the introduction of the liturgy of 1809. The relationship between the congregation and the church was thoroughly disrupted by these two significant changes."11

As Mayor Klenk has already pointed out, a farther distribution of land was impossible. The population was too dense for the subsistence available. "It was impossible for the artisans to find work."

In times of crises, the independent farmer is always better able to cope with the situation than the renter or small-holder or the skilled worker. Consequently, artisans, small farmers, viticulturists, and day-laborers

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made up the bulk of the emigrants. In Kirchberg, the subsistence of too much of the population depended on handicraft occupations. From this arose the

custom of butchering and baking by turns until shortly before World War I, as I have been able to ascertain personally from innkeeper and butcher, Steidle.

In spite of the years of distress (war, crop failures, etc.) the farmer had to give four-fifths of the income from his farm to the government, church, and creditors. (See the letter from Hahweiler below.)

As evidence [of the surplus of artisans], I want to present the distribution of occupations of the Kirchberg people who emigrated to Lichtental (1830-40) with their families;

6 weavers 2 bakers 2 farm laborers 3 shoemakers 2 tailors 1 glazier 2 cabinetmakers 3 viticulturists 2 day-laborers

Altogether twenty-three families emigrated, followed later by two others. Families with four or five children predominated. Among these were a large number of older daughters [beyond marriageable age?].

Because they had no money many were unable to emigrate unless they were able to get aid from the community. 1 would like to give several examples from the community records:

Transacted 23 March 1838: .... further J.L., tailor here, who wishes to emigrate to Russia, requests that he be allowed a reduction of 12 guilders, 48 freezers on his annual rent of 256 guilders, so that he can more readily defray the expenses of the trip because, without this help, it would be very difficult for him to manage.

The community council and citizens' committee, after deliberation, decided to reduce the annual rent of 256 guilders due from J.L., citizen and tailor here, in the amount of 12 guilders, 48 kreuzers, and to authorize taking this into account as a loss to the community welfare fund. Verified: Community council and citizens' committee: Renz, Schreyher, Metzger, Kuntzi, Orthwein, Benzler, 2. Steidle, Schreyher, Wolf, Koch, Mayer, Steidle.

Transacted 4 May 1838: Ph.K., weaver and J.L., tailor here, who want to emigrate to Poland, reveal that only a little money, for K.., some thirty guilders and for L., about nine guilders, remain for the trip, and they ask that the community allow them an additional amount to enable them to make the trip.

The community council, with the consent of the citizens' committee, has decided to grant Ph. K., weaver, the sum of twenty guilders and J.L., tailor, the sum of thirty guilders from the community welfare fund.

One more case—transacted 6 May 1839: J.H., who wishes to emigrate to Russia, again brings out that, although it is true that he was assured sixty-six

guilders as travel money from the community funds, he still owes forty guilders for the horse bought from Melchior Eisenmann in Zwingelhausen. This would leave him too little money to set out on the journey and he therefore asks that they allow him an additional amount.

The council then asked P.H., father of J.H., to give his son some money for the journey. Whereupon he said that he would take over his son's debt of nineteen guilders to Johannes Eisenmann of Unterschontal, and take care of the payment. Attested by P.H.

The community council and citizens' committee deliberated over this and decided to give J.H. another thirty-four guilders from the community fund, however, with the reservation, that in the event J.H. or his wife Magdalene (nee A.) or his children should ever inherit anything, the community would be compensated for the thirty-four guilders, and that these shall not inherit until the above thirty-four guilders are paid to the community. Satisfied and agreed; tester: J.H, and the wife of H.

Verified by the community council and citizens' committee. From the quoted examples, one could get the impression that only poor people emigrated. Most of them moved from their

fatherland into a foreign country to better their economic situation which seemed impossible in the homeland under the given circumstances.

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Since each emigrant's assets (in money), which also had to defray the travel expenses, had to be stated in the emigration permit, we can establish that many took an appreciable amount with them. The following list is given herewith:

Name Vocation Amount G. Gall Shoemaker 600 guilders J. Fink Cabinetmaker 500 guilders Jakob Friedrich Wildemiuth Weaver 600 guilders Johann Mich. Schreiber Weaver 600 guilders Christian Gottlieb Wolf Weaver 600 guilders Georg Adam Giess Viniculturist 500 guilders Felix Giess Weaver 1,200 guilders Georg Muller Fanner 900 guilders Priedrich Fink Cabinetmaker 1,200 guilders Maria Orthwein-widow with 100 guilders 3 sons:

a. Ludwig Shoemaker 700 guilders b. Johannes Farmer 872 guilders, 50 kreuzers c. Friedrich Shoemaker 854 guilders, 51 kreuzers

Among the others, two had 300 guilders each, three had 200 each, three had less than 100 each, two had no money; two went along as itinerant craftsmen [likely as vehicle repairmen], i.e., they did not give up their citizenship.

In reacting through the community council records, one cannot find any precise motives for the emigration. Only the widow Orthwein, with her three sons, Ludwig, Johannes, and Friedrich, said that she wanted to go to her daughter Anna Maria, wife of Johann Georg Muller who had migrated the year before and settled in the colony of Sarata. (Clarification: the majority of the Lichtenta] settlers came through Sarata.) According to the information received from there [Russia], they hoped to improve their economic condition beyond that possible in Wuerttemberg. Thus most emigrants had information about the possibilities of economic advancement.

The way even personal freedom was restricted at that time is brought out by the following example which is verified in the record. Ludwig Orthwein, shoemaker, sought permission from the mayor [ofKirch-berg1 to marry Christine Bauer of Erdmannhausen and thus have her taken up into the local citizenship. The citizens' committee was unanimously against the request, because Christine Bauer had no assets, and it would be difficult for him to provide for himself and his family, although he possessed assets of 600 guilders.

It is further revealed in the records that the community council had to occupy itself a great deal with penalties for gathering wood in the forest, for breaking off dead branches, for gathering leaves in the woods, and for picking grass at the end of the wooded areas. This indicates poverty, unemployment, and economic stagnation. Moreover, Kirchberg has large wooded areas.

Nowhere can one read that religious grounds were the motive for emigration. However, they were certainly present too, for in the 60's (1864) several Lichtental families migrated to the Kuban District (Caucasus) for religious reasons. Their leader was old Jakob Schreiber from Kirchberg. However, most of these 'Templars'* returned after a few years because they could not endure the climate. The price they paid for their Kuban migration was the loss of their homesteads in Lichtental.

A letter written in Hanweiler [Waiblingen District, Wuerttemberg] in 1838 throws a clear light on the state of affairs at that time. It reads:

Hanweiler, 16 June 1838 Dearly beloved brother-in-law, friend and brother, together with wife and children, I, your unacquainted brother-in-law in the flesh, and friend and brother in the spirit, will venture writing

once more to see whether I, too, may be acknowledged by you. First, 1 must mention that I have written three times and never have you answered. Maybe you did not understand me correctly; therefore I am writing once more. I have always wished to come to you; indeed, my desire is strong and irrepressible to get to Russia, but I cannot get

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any information about the situation; therefore, I beseech you, dear brother, asking from the bottom of my heart that you write me the truth and give me details about your area and about your prevailing life-style there. I want to make it clear that we, and other citizens of Hanweiler, have the longing and the wish to migrate to Russia. If only it is not like it is here with us where one cannot earn enough to pay the taxes in addition to the king's due. We can no longer earn enough for food and clothing for our bodies, because one day I must do statute-labor; the next day I want to earn wages to satisfy daily needs, but the tax collector comes to the house right away and claims the few kreuzers that one has earned. Or it may also be that one is left with only fruit and cherries, but that isn't enough anymore. One can be as thrifty as one wants to be, yet one cannot bring a piece of cloth to ones body and if one worked day and night, still nothing will help; therefore, for me, living and being in Hanweiler is unpleasant and disagreeable

In concluding this section we quote the words of August Lammie who said this about this period, "Likewise, the joy of life had reached zero point for the people. Village and city were impoverished. The kingdom was as good as penniless. A true frenzy to emigrate set in."

Emigration — Preparation

After serious counsel and discussion with close relatives, after much deliberation and reflection, after consideration of answers to written inquiries of friends who had emigrated, having had the problems of emigration explained, and having decided to emigrate, then one went to the city hall to tell the mayor of the decision. Just at that time, community authorities were requested to make written accounts of all events and circumstances occurring within the community. This resulted in long, difficult waiting periods for those wishing to emigrate, which required much patience. Above all, the citizens' committee and community council concerned themselves very closely with the emigrants. They were very concerned that no one would, sooner or later, return and become a charge of the community. Therefore, they demanded a positive guarantee of one year for each emigrant. After many painstaking considerations, the community council approved and supported the emigration and, in isolated cases, assisted emigrants with money. (See community records mentioned above.) After this, the emigration-inclined citizen had to prepare a pile of papers for the trip. The following were required:

1. Letter furnishing record of birth for himself and family. 2. Citizenship certificate, i.e. citizenship renunciation. 3. The character testimonial. 4. The assets attestation. 5. The dismissal certificate from his community (departure permit). 6. Certificate of admission from the foreign country, and other papers. Only when these necessary documents had been procured, could the emigration-minded citizen go to the Imperial Russian

embassy in Stuttgart and apply for a visa. The process of obtaining all the necessary documents seldom took less than a year. Then, only when the suitable time of year (spring) arrived, could the journey begin on the prescribed route, either in groups or individual wagons.

The Beginning

In the account of 24 April 1848,d we are not told how our forefathers came to Bessarabia. From the Kirchberg emigration records and other sources, we learn that they made the long journey in small groups, but also singly without a leader, provided solely with their emigration pass sanctioned by the Russian embassy in Stuttgart. With the proceeds of the sale of their non-movable assets, with various household goods, food, clothing, and bedding which they could stow on a two-horse-drawn wagon, they began their journey to distant Bessarabia.

They came to Lichtental through Sarata after a journey of two or more months through Silesia, Poland, and Kair'enezk-Poldolsk [Podolsk, U.S.S.RJ. They brought very little cash or articles of value as the long journey, with many an accident and illness on the road, had exhausted most of their resources. Whoever had more money left could, at once, obtain and maintain more livestock, seed more acreage and so get a better start. Those not so well off felt themselves impelled to imitate the others. They contented themselves with simple fare and everything they made was put back into their farms. Also in clothing, they limited themselves to simplicity. This moderation and unimaginable frugality was the only possible way of

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FOUR VIEWS OF THE BESSARABIAN VILLAGE OF LICHTENTAL.

bettering themselves. Only a very few among them lived without thought for tomorrow and so fell into poverty or even gave themselves up entirely to drunkenness.

The climate to which there were not accustomed, the un familiarity of working the soil of the steppes, and complete ignorance of farming [by some] brought many an unpleasant setback. In the worst times, only cattle-raising kept most colonists solvent.

The emotional strain of the emigration, the difficulties of the new beginning, the unfamiliar surroundings, and the gnawing homesickness weighed heavily on their spirits for a long time. Indeed, it was fortunate that other German colonies were already there from whom they could get advice and assistance. These were Sarata and Gnadental. How helpful the concern of the district administration authorities, especially the Welfare Committee, must have been! This aid was certainly thankfully received and therefore, in spite of adversities, the colonists went to work eagerly to fulfill their duty to family and state.

On the Road

The reasons for the departure into this foreign land are now known to us. The enticing goal, to build a new life of freedom and to work unhindered, according to ones own knowledge or understanding, was stronger than the old, limited bonds to the fatherland which could no longer offer anything, but could only make demands. One was ready to make sacrifices which were greater than one could foresee.

We wish to undertake such a journey to the distant goal of Bessarabia with a family; to suffer with it the renunciations, burdens, privations, disappointments, fainthearted hoping, the frightened clinging to the ancestral faith, and also the patient perseverance in the most difficult situations that were meted out to these people in excessive measure.

Our family comes, not from Kirchberg, but from Murr on the Murr five kilometers away, where the same conditions existed as at Kirchberg. This family is that of the master weaver Friedrich Schlechter and his wife Friederike (nee: Koch) with four children, ages two to eight years.

What this family experienced on their journey from the administrative district Marbach to the province of Bessarabia is recorded in a letter of January 1841 written to relatives in the old home, and published on 19 April 1934 in the monthly supplement to the Marbach Zeitung [Newspaper].

The letter describes, in remarkable completeness, the trip itself and the conditions in the German colonies in early times, which agrees with the reports of our sexton-teachers, Gottlieb Hahn and Jakob Heer.

Here is the reproduction of this unique document. Several notes have been added in parenthesis for clarification.

Colony Blotzge, 10 January 1841 Dear brothers, sisters, friends, and acquaintances, Now, I want to tell you how the journey Went for us. When we were in Sulzbach (Murr), my husband had a

beer at the Crown Tavern. The Crown innkeeper called to me and I went to him. He poured me a glass of the best wine, and gave the children some broth, and it cost us nothing. Because of this, I had to weep. He wished us good luck on our Journey.

When we came to Murrett (Murrhardt), the Hirsch Tavern keeper gave him as much beer as he wanted to drink, and also a four-and-twenty (wine of 1824 vintage). And I was sick for fourteen days; I had fever and chills, head- and toothache.

In Saxony on the day before the eve of Ascension Day, we came to an inn where a distinguished man wanted to take our child. He said that with him, the child would be better off than with us-that he would certainly be lucky. I took our boy into our coach at once; we told the man no, not for the entire world. We asked the innkeeper who the gentleman was; he said that he was a magistrate who lived one hour from Bautzen [city in Saxony]. They have no child. The gentleman gave me two pieces of money—in German money, thirty-six kreuzers (seven kreuzers = twenty pfenning). And we traded off the brown horse. He would not go any more and we have traded for a beautiful yellow sorrel. We had to pay eight F (guilders; one guilder = sixty kreuzers or 1.71 DM) for him. We had gone two days and an axle broke in the middle of the road. There was no village far and wide, so he made a half axle with the brake [handle?]. We drove off and a wheel broke. We didn't know what

17

to do, but we were not far from Warsaw, and we were able to get there and bought a wheel there. We stayed in Warsaw nine days until we received our pass. When we left Warsaw, we wanted to go through Austria, but they wouldn't let us in. Our pass did not allow this route.

We drove back to the side and drove about eighty hours and after we were far into Russia, our Schimmel [white horse] refused to go farther. Then we bought a nice Schimmel for forty German guilders. So we drove with three horses and still, we hardly made any headway.

Eight hours beyond Odessa we had to cross a large body of water [the Dniester Estuary]. That was two hours wide; we went over in three quarters of an hour on a steamship and as we came to Gnadental, the Drehers (acquaintances from home) walked toward us and took our children and cooked some milk- soup for us. He [Mr. Dreher] said, "Ach, what are you doing here (in Russia)? If only I were back in Germany!" Their children are content in Russia, but not they .... if one has a little bit with which to manage, he should stay in Germany. For this is Russia and no Wuerttemberger land. Here, there are more crop-failure years than in Germany, and for two years, nothing has thrived. Everything is expensive.

The Name of the Colony

Immanuel Wagner tells us the following in his History of the Establishment of the Colony of Sarata, 1822-32: On 26 January 1834, at the request ofVeygel, the Welfare Committee gave its permission for the

establishment of a third colony on the area of Sarata Tract. This colony became known as No. Ill and was called Tretii Step (Third Steppe) by the Russians. In 1837,. the new settlement had eighteen [colonist] families and two single dwellers. More settlers came every year, several from Sarata and Gnadental, such as Lust, Unterseher, Meyer, Gebhardt, and others, until 1847, when the last, the eightieth Wirtschaft [farmyard] was occupied by Abraham Winger from Sarata. In 1838, the Welfare Committee directed the Sarata District administration office to ask the community what name it wished for itself. The answer was as follows:

"To the highly regarded Sarata District Administration from the village elders of Colony No. 3. Report: The undersigned has the honor obediently to report to a highly regarded district

administration that the proprietors of Colony No. 3, with the approval of the congregation, have chosen the name of Nikolaihilf in the name of all.

29 November 1838; Village Elder, Hasart." It is not known on what grounds the district administration later wanted to change the name to

"Lobental," but it received the inquiry from the Welfare Committee "to ask the congregation of Colony No. 3 whether it was willing to name itself "Lichtental." On 14 July 1840, the congregation decided in favor of that name.®

Jakob Heer adds, "The request for the choice of this name was, according to a parish notice, the wish of the congregation—that the bright valley which was not shadowed by any woods, or even any brush, should become an ornament in every way."

Location

The colony Lichtental, today called Swetlodolinsk, lies along the left bank of Tscheligider creek for more than three-fourths of its length.

"The colony was to be laid out in a due north-south direction, but because the watch of District Director G. Veygel was a bit late, the direction of the colony is slightly NE-SW." Geographical location is at about 46°03' north latitude and 29°05' east longitude.

Lichtental village, lying along the edge of its border in a bright level valley, stretches throughout the breadth of the valley between two high ridges of hills that run in a north-south direction. The western slope of the Lichtental area is cut by several ravines throughout its more than seven kilometer length. Between the vineyards and walnut groves, the pasture thrusts to the cultivated fields on the heights. Earlier the pas-

18

ture stretched, like a valley-wide green band, through the entire length of the colony area. The greatly winding stream snakes its way through the bordering clover fields.

Right and left of the valley, the cultivated fields, beginning on the heights of the knolls, are planted to wheat, corn, barley, oats, sunflowers, soy beans, oil producing crops, and other plants.

If we include the free-holds of Fuchs and Gerstenberger, Lichtental colony area is bounded on the north by Tamur and Friedensfeld, on the cast by Plachtijewka and Sarata, on the south by Sarata and Gnadental, and on the west and northwest by New Arzis and Wosnesensk area lands. It consists of approximately 8,017 hectares [19,810 acres] ifwecountthe"Nanessteppe"of701 hectares [1,732 acres] lying northeast of Tamur. Geographically, the area is part of the "Budschak." The area is drained by Tscheligider creek which, four miles south, at the Moldavian village of SatuI-Nou, enters Kogalnik creek which wends its way to the Black Sea.

On the western ridge there are two very conspicuous hills (the "Cannon Hills"), one on the road to Wosnesensk and the other to the right of the road to Arzis; a third, smaller one, has been leveled in the course of time.

In 1940, the Lichtental land consisted of 6,580 hectares [16,260 acres] cultivated; 880 hectares [2,175 acresi pasture; 240 hectares [595 acres] vineyards; 17 hectares [40 acres] woodland; 40 hectares [100 acres] nut and fruit trees; 100 hectares [240 acres] wasteland; and 160 hectares [395 acres] yards, roads, waterways, public squares, cemetery and church grounds. Total: 8,017 hectares [19,810 acres].

The ground water level lay about six meters [twenty feet] below the surface. Most of the wells lying on the east ridge had bitter water; only a few produced good-tasting water. At the upper and lower end of the village were two old wells, and several new ones, which had good water, well-liked by both man and beast. Immediately after World War I, a series of artesian wells were drilled, 70-80 meters [230-260 feet] deep which gave good, hygenically satisfactory, soft water.

The steppe-stream Tscheligider has only a slight gradient although many turns and twists with three steep and rapid gradient-drops within the Lichtental area. North of the village, the stream banks were overgrown with reeds, cattails, and bulrushes. The stream was subject to great variations in amounts and depths of water. During the snow melt and during strong down-pours in mid-summer, it flowed at threatening depths but in mid-summer it usually was completely dry. Seldom was there a regular flow of water. There was only one spring with good, fresh water in the entire Lichtental land area. It was on the land of free-holder Robert Gerstenberger.

Lower street circling the mill pond.

Earth dams were built to form ponds for watering and bathing the horses and for watering other livestock. These dams were torn out by high water but were rebuilt each year. Two wooden bridges in the village afforded reliable crossings over the stream. The water in the ponds of the Tscheligider and Klingen-bach (also called Johann Dam) on the "hill" was used for washing wool, watering newly planted grapevines, making adobe bricks and, now and then, for soaking hemp and flax straw as well as watering livestock and bathing horses.

In the course of the time, the streambed became filled in several places by the sediment from the ravines and ruptured dams, thus shifting the channel, which necessitated digging a channel, by hand, from the Klingenbach on the hill to the Plantage [plantation = garden] and further through the clover fields. The landscape changed very little in spite of all these natural and artifical changes.

19

Steppe — The New Home

Our southern Bessarabian homeland lay in the "Budschak" (Tatar-Kumani word meaning angle). The Budschak is bounded on the east by the Dniester river and on the west by the Prut river. In the southwest, this triangle borders on the Kilia branch of the Danube river and in the south and southeast it borders on the Black Sea. Its sharp angle lies in the north, on the Trajan Wall near Bender (Tigina) on the Dniester river. This is the dry, hot and treeless district of southern Bessarabia. Apart from a few saline spots, we find here the fertile black soil with its characteristic steppe vegetation. It is an undulating, almost level land with a summer mean temperature of 22° to 23°C (72° to 73° F], and annual mean rainfall of 400 mm [16 inches] (according to Calinescu) and an altitude generally below 200 m [650 feet]. Scarcely interrupted by trees, shrubs or any mounds, the broad plain stretches without an obstacle to the farthest horizon.

It is April, and from the cloud-free sky, the sun sends light and warmth to the spring-intoxicated earth. Larks warble their songs gaily into the majestic tranquility of nature. Light green tufts of grass and flowers of all kinds push themselves through old withered plant stalks and hard grass blades. The air is pregnant with sweet scents and filled with the buzzing, humming, stirring, and singing of honey and bumble bees, beetles and flies that amuse themselves with delight on the steppe. Industrious ants crawl, and magnificent butterflies, as well as other light-winged visitors, hover over the rippling and billowing old and new blades of grass. Lizards and snakes bask in the sunshine in otherwise vacant spots. Shade-loving creatures, such as worms, woodlice, mice, and the like, crawl, hop, skip, and jump under decaying leaves on the ground and seek cover from their numberless enemies. Hopping rabbits, slinking foxes, wolves resting in the under-brush, and alert chipmunks sitting up erect as manikins enliven the open prairie with their presence in its spring apparel. Each one watches, eyes all others with mistrust, as almost all are pursued by their enemies. Circling birds of prey draw many anxious upward glances, causing quickening heartbeats of distress and fear. Bustards and cranes stroll or strut over the bustling prairie. Herons and storks wade in the shallow water, searching or waiting patiently for prey. Several species of waterfowl find their nourishment—snails, insects, worms—among the numerous water plants, reeds, and rushes. See-sawing wagtails, and walking lapwings find their food on the luxuriant sheep pasture or on the moist shore of a stream. Coveys of shy partridges whirr over the grass and brush, and quail call out their "Furchtegott" [Fear God]. Flocks of raven, circling hawks, and vultures hang in the clear, blue sky, now and then uttering their warning cries, while smaller birds flit quickly and cautiously from bush to bush.

20

Evening in the lower street.

Evening scene in the middle street.

On such a day in the middle of April 1834, a troika left the colony of Sarata driving in a northwesterly direction. After passing the "Cannon Hill" at the summit, on the left, a clear open valley came into view in the distance. It is the destination of the carriage; Steppe No. 3. The distance of about nine kilometers [five and one-half miles] was soon covered and the carriage arrived at the side of Tscheligider creek. On the other side, a trail led up the rise to a sheep farm. Not so much the earthen hut as the pile of sheep manure was already noticeable from a distance. It was the home of the Moldavian renter of the pastureland, "Vacule." This visit of the first arrivals in this desolate place was meant for him. Vacule respectfully approached the carriage. He bowed and offered the guests salt and bread with the words, "Bine atz venit!" ("Hearty welcome!"). The first arrivals did not understand a word, but the tone and warmth of these words let them feel the cordial greeting. In the meantime, the occupants of the wagon, the widow Hahn, age 57, her sons, Gottlieb, 22, Gottlob, 20, and Samuel, 15, alighted from the wagon. They had come from Strump-felbach, Wiirttemberg. After relaxing and stretching, they went with Vacule into the earth-hut which he had prepared for them on orders from District Mayor Veygel. The newcomers were happy to have, at last, arrived at their goal.

They had left their old home, Strumpfelbach, Wuerttemberg, on 8 October 1833. They had spent the winter in Cassel near Tiraspol on the east side of the Dniester river with a German colonist by the name of Gross-hans. On 4 March 1834, they arrived in Sarata where, after a six-week stay, they were finally able to proceed to Steppe No. 3 where the colony of Lichtental was to be established. District Mayor, Gottlieb Veygel, saw to it that the family Hahn, the first to arrive there, could find temporary shelter near the friendly renter, Vacule, on the Klinge where later the "Bomstiickia" [small tree plots] were planted. After a month, the family of Michael Sommer came from Gnadental and from Sarata came the family of S. Gebhardt. So, during the summer, there were three families and by the end of the year there were eight.

During the summer of 1834, the Hahn brothers, with their mother, built a house, fourFaden [twenty-eight feet] long and two and one-half Faden [seventeen and one-half feet] wide which had a hip roof of reeds. It had a slope-roofed entranceway, a small parlor and bedroom to the left, a kitchen straight ahead,

21

Lichtental shepherds with their flock in front of the sheep-pens.

Horses being watered at village well in mid-suntmer.

and the barn on the right. These first premises of Lichtental stood where Jakob Maike lived in the last years. Year after year, more settlers came from Sarata, Gnadental, and Germany. From Sarata and Gnadental, they came, either with all the family members, or possibly the parents stayed behind. In any case, the children intermarried so as to be eligible for homestead land, as unmarried men had no right to receive homestead land. These three communities were later called sister-communities with good reason.

In one respect the settlers were all alike: They came from an intensively cultivated land to a grassland-the southern Bessarabian steppes. If they wanted to make good here, only one thing mattered: to work, save, pray, and endure without growing weary.

There were also pessimists among them. However, these were squelched with the observation, "The Sara-tans, the Gnadentalers, the Arzisans, and the settlers in other German Colonies have accomplished it; are we, by chance, inferior?" The cares and woes coming over them would be taken in stride, for, "Is God, perhaps, not also with us here on the steppe?" It came to this: having faith in Him, asking for His blessing, and really getting to work. Most of them set to work, planted the seed into the ground, built shelters for themselves and their livestock, and gathered provisions for the winter for man and beast.

Each homestead consisted of 60 dessiatines of land [162 acres]. "We will never be able to work that," some cried in disillusionment. Some, few, disappeared by night in the fog into town to carry on their former trades. And they were successful there, to the extent that they remained industrious, thrifty, and steady. Two or three families left the settlement, turned their backs on the steppe-land and moved off in the direction of the old homeland. Those who remained used their muscles and their common sense, worked calmly, and in spite of anxiety, great effort, toil and distress, accomplished what simply still astonishes us today. Every man could satisfy his basic need for work, express his individuality in his accomplish-ments, use his free time to his soul's content—that is, do all that which today*s work-methods have taken from us!

Translator's Notes

1. Very likely many "Hessians" in the British Anny in America were Wiirttembergers. 2. Not to be confused with Wilhelm I, King of Prussia, 1861.1888.and Kaiser of united Imperial Germany, 1871-1888.

Author's Citations

a Jakob Heer,GeschichtederGemeinde Lichtental vw 1834 bis 1909. b Georg Leibbrandt, Die Auswanderung aus Schwaben nach Russland 1816 bis 1823 (Stuttgart: Institute fur Auslandsbezie-

hungen.1928). c Friedrich Rub, Geschichte der Gemeinde Gnadental, Bessambien, 1830 bis 1930 (Nurtingen, 1959). d Leibbrandt. e Imnnanuel Wagner, Geschichte der Grundwg der Kohnie Sarata 1822 bis 1832 (Stuttgart: Heimatmuseum der Deutschen

in Bessarabien, 1967).

22

The church in Lichtental in 1910.

ORLOVSKAIA ON THE VOLGA

Jacob Eichhorn and Irma E. Eichhorn

Most of the Volga German colonies had uniform village plans in the period before World War I. The general patterns were rows of perpendicular and horizontal streets intersecting at 90° angles. Oriovskaia,1 however, had a distinctive radial plan with the houses built around a circle, a Rundell, in the center of the village. This notable difference suggests a constellation of intriguing questions about Orlovskaia's origins, early hardships, economic development, and leading entrepreneurial families. A probing for answers shows that the history of Orlovskaia was a microcosm of the history of the more enterprising villages on the eastern bank of the Volga.

Orlovskaia was situated on the Volga some sixty verstas (1 versta = .66 mile) north of Saratov in the volost' Katharinenstadt, uezd Nikolaevsk, and gubernia Samara (see sectional map). Both Katharinenstadt and Orlovskaia, founded on June 7, 1767 (O.S.),2 were among the twenty-seven private colonies established under Baron Caneau de Beauregard. along the eastern side of the Volga, from the Telauza river almost to the Irgiz river and inland into the steppe beyond the source of the Little Karaman river. Beauregard and other private agents had contracts for specific numbers of colonists and were rewarded according to results, unlike the Crown agents who recruited as salaried representatives of the government. Some Russian authorities complained, therefore, that the private agents were less selective about their recruits' moral character or suitability for colonization and often enrolled the dregs from the "urban proletariat." Ivan Simolin, the Russian Resident in Regensburg (seat of the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire), repeatedly made such accusations, especially about the low moral levels of Beauregard's enrollees, when he wrote to his superiors in St. Petersburg.3

The special government office created in 1763 in St. Petersburg to administer the colonization program was the Chancellery of Guardianship of Foreigners (referred to as Tutel-Kanzlei in the Volga German bureaucratic parlance). This Chancellery, annoyed with Simolin's interference and obviously defensive about its private agents, countered Simolin's charges in a memorandum of August 2, 1766. As a rejoinder, this document calls for some reservations, because the private agents undoubtedly minimized the shortcomings of their recruits. Yet the memorandum maintained there was no evidence of any tramps or disorderly types among the colonists, and especially among Beauregard's colonists, who already had arrived in Saratov. Beauregard's colonists, moreover, included a larger number of decent and well-to-do-people who

23

would benefit the Russian Empire more than the colonists recruited by the crown representatives under Simolin.4 The government's colonizing objectives for the lower Volga (whether mainly commercial, agricultural, cultural, or

defensive) and consequently the types of colonists recruited during 1764-67 are questions already much debated in writings on the Volga Germans,5 Relevant for the history of Orlovskaia are the statistics from Count Gregory Orlov's authoritative report to the Empress Catherine, February 14, 1769. Orlov, one of Catherine's favorites, was the first president of the Chancellery of Guardianship of Foreigners. His report deliberately used only one designation, other than a count of males and females, for evaluating the newly arrived colonists-"suited" or "unsuited" for agriculture. Of the 2,946 families recruited by the crown agents, 199 families (6.7%) were unsuited for agriculture. Of the 1,523 families recruited under Beauregard's direction, 166 families (10,9%) were unsuited for agriculture. Beauregard, therefore, had a higher percentage of unsuitable colonists than the crown agents but a lower percentage, according to Orlov's figures, than the other private recruiters.6 Orlov's statistics for Orlovskaia's founding were eighty-nine families, of which only six were listed as unsuited for agriculture. The total population was 312, including 168 males and 144 females. Orlovskaia, accordingly, was the fourth largest among Beauregard's twenty-seven settlements. Katharinenstadt, with a founding population of 812 (and a large majority of tradesmen and artisans) was the largest; Boaro with 344 and Ober-Monjou with 324 were second and third.7 Besides Katharinenstadt, several other Beauregard colonies also received names in honor of important personages at the Russian court: Paulskaia for Paul, the heir to the throne, Paninskaia (Schoenchen) for Count Panin, the statesman, and Orlovskaia for Gregory Orlov.

Rather than controversies over Beauregard's percentages, the more important question concerns the restrictive ness of the two designations in Orlov's report—"suited" or "unsuited" for agriculture. According to Catherine's Manifesto of July 22, 1763, the colonists could choose their occupations and places of settlement. Within the Russian government during the 1760's, however, there were trends regarding policies on colonization. That the Volga immigrants were forced to work the land represented a victory for the Chancellery of Guardianship whose goal was not industry and trade but agricultural settlements.8 In 1767, moreover, as Gottlieb Beratz indicated, the colonists had to agree to an administrative stipulation that required all colonists to engage in farming.9 Only after 1775 when Orlov left the Chancellery of Guardianship were the colonists unsuited for agriculture able to join the army or find work outside their original colonies.10

Not surprisingly, the early settlers in Orlovskaia, like settlers in other Volga colonies, found the first realities of their "promised land" a shocking betrayal of their expectations.11 Published recollections from colonists in Beauregard's group have provided vivid details of their departures from their German homelands, the trek over land and water to Luebeck, the journey by ships to Kronstadt, the processing procedures on Russian soil, a resumption of travel by land and water, a winter delay at Kostroma (or a similar spot) until the Volga melted, and then the final passage to Katharinenstadt. An early colonist in Boaro recorded some years later (1830) that the new arrivals had choices in selecting their particular colonies until they were fully occupied. Heinrich Erfurth, an original colonist in Orlovskaia, wrote in 1822 that the colonies had been measured out and the colonists could select their home sites. Lumber was on hand, but to save lumber the first colonists built houses with two rooms side by side to accommodate two families. The consequent complications from such close quarters eventually led to a different plan—two rooms, but each at separate ends of the houses.12

The recollections of another early Orlovskaia colonist appeared in August von Haxthausen's well-known account of his extensive travels through Russia. Haxthausen, a Westphalian estate owner, scholar, and one-time titled research analyst (Geheimer Regierungsmt) for the Hohenzollerns, stopped in Orlovskaia after an over-night stay in Paninskaia in June of 1843. Later he wrote that in Orlovskaia he visited one of the oldest men m the colonies, a lively eighty-six year old named "Rothermeler" (but referred to hereafter as Rothermel). Haxthausen recorded that Rothermel was born in Berlin where his father been a footman for Frederick the Great. He was a boy when his parents emigrated to Russia, but Rothermel recalled the journey and the earliest beginnings of Orlovskaia. Only a few one-room houses were ready for the first arrivals. Because of the shortages of virtually all expected appurtenances, such as cattle, barns, and even seed grain, everyone had to fend for himself.13

An indication of these colonists' progress in getting established appears in Orlov's previously mentioned report of 1769. By then there were ninety houses, fifty granaries and eighty-two stables for Orlovskaia's eighty-nine families (six unsuited for agriculture). In comparison with Boaro and Ober-Monjou, the number of granaries was noticeably small. Boaro's eighty-eight families (one unsuited for agriculture) had eighty-

24

four houses, eighty-four granaries, and eighty-four stables, and Ober-Monjou's ninety-one families (four unsuited for agriculture) had eighty-four houses, seventy-two granaries, and eighty-four stables.14 (For the majority of Beauregard's colonies, however, the Orlov report had no information on granaries and stables.)

Beauregard's colonies and the private colonies of the other recruiting agents, or so-called Directors, eventually became crown colonies. Because of colonists' complaints against the Directors (such as exactions of one-tenth of the crops), the Russian government instituted a special investigating committee and made a final settlement with some of the agents on January 31,1779. Apparently the government had received no complaints from Beauregard's colonies. The change from private to crown colonies came here, Grigorii Pisarevskii concluded, because of Beauregard's misuse of funds and his stubborn refusal to come to St. Petersburg to settle his account.15

The Volga German pastor, Johannes Kufeld, who wrote about the history of the colonies, became intrigued with Pisarevskii's account of Beauregard's activities. In his own search through Volga German parish records, Kufeld found only one brief reference to Beauregard. The church chronicle in the parish of Nab (which included Orlovskaia) mentioned that Beauregard had made a contract with the colonists in his territory, the Katharinenlehen, had not kept its terms, had designated Major de Monjou as his plenipotentiary, had made no appearance in Katharinenlehen himself, had returned to Europe from St. Petersburg, and never had come back to Russia.16

Eight of Beauregard's colonies in the region of the upper Little Karaman river (where the soil was dry and saline) relocated about two years after their founding to the eastern bank of the Volga, above Orlovskaia. In the thirty verstas from Orlovskaia to Schaffhausen, now the northern-most colony, a string of sixteen villages lay side by side in the Volga river terrace.17 Little information is available about their village plans, but most of these particular villages appear to have had a Strassendorf (street village) form. This term refers to villages with one street or several long parallel streets connected by small cross streets or alleys. Such villages sometimes occurred in sites between rivers or in river valleys. On both sides of the Volga, though, most of the German villages, large and small, presented a pattern of rows of perpendicular and horizontal streets intersecting at ninety degree angles. The term often used to describe this type of village layout is Schachbrettdorf (chessboard village). Boaro represented a slight modification of this plan.18

Orlovskaia was distinctive because it was a Rundling, with the houses built in a circle around the church. Villages with a round center appeared in Germany east and west of the Elbe-Saale line, often on river spurs. For the Volga German philologist, Georg Dinges, Orlovskaia's round center, the Rundell, was decisive additional evidence of the early settlers' origins. As Dinges noted, the speech patterns in Orlovskaia (and Boaro and Jost) indicated the osterlaendisch dialect of Saxony and its provinces: Fund, Feffer, .Maumen (for Pfund, .P/effer, Tyiaumen), Gind, Gaerche (for Kind, Kirche.), and so on. Orlovskaia's early colonists, therefore, must have come from Germany's eastern middle region,19

Yet Orlovskaia's geographical site, as J. Rothermel has explained, helped determine the shape and growth of the village. Located in a triangular area formed by the village pond, the stream Tischanka, and a deep trench, Orlovskaia "could develop undisturbed," even safe from the Kirghiz. The several meters deep trench was a line of defense which the Kirghiz horsemen could not surmount, and so Orlovskaia was more fortunate than some of the neighboring villages.

The Kirghiz attacks were among the most devastating early hardships a number of Wiesenseite colonies had to endure. These steppe Kirghiz plundered, murdered, and dragged off their victims to captivity or slavery. The attack on Mariental in August 177420 and the aftermath have become a well-known chapter in th history of Kirghiz atrocities. Colonies along the eastern bank of the Volga, such as Schaffhausen, Panin-skaia (Schonchen), and Hockerberg (Bohn), next to Orlovskaia, organized local patrols; and men from a number of villages banded together to pursue the Kirghiz and free their captives. Pastor Ludwig Balthasar Wernborner from Katharinenstadt and Ludwig Erfurt from Orlovskaia became the leaders of the expedition. These hapless colonists suffered a horrible fate. The Kirghiz cut off Wernborner's tongue, stabbed Erfurt's eyes, and brutally butchered the colonists with their pikes. The Kirghiz continued their deadly rampages later the same year and for a number of years thereafter, even into the early nineteenth century.21

Memoirs of early colonists reflected the lasting impressions of Kirghiz horrors. Several referred to an Altester or teacher named Erfurt (without a first name) from Orlovskaia. The brief recollections of Heinrich Erfurth from Orlovskaia, dated March 9, 1822, mentioned Wernborner but, surprisingly, not an Erfurt in connection with the expedition against the Kirghiz.22 According to Beratz, Orlovskaia's Russian register of 1767 listed three original colonists surnamed Erfurt:

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Ludwig, Vorsteher, 28 year old, unmarried, by profession a soldier, emigrated from Anhalt- Koethen. Karl Gottfried, bailiff, 26 years old, married, by profession a farmer, emigrated from Anhalt-Koethen. Heinrich Gottfried, 22 years old, unmarried, by profession a teacher. (German homeland not indicated),

Beratz concluded that the Vorsteher, Ludwig Erfurt, was the one murdered by the Kirghiz.23 The Kirghiz reputation of the Erfurt family remained alive in Orlovskaia, as J. Rothermel has indicated (#28 on the map),

Besides the Kirghiz, other enormous problems made the Wiesenseite colonists' existence a desperate struggle during the first decade. The government's late deliveries of seed grain and money, unfavorable weather conditions, and many other obstacles in individual and communal adjustments brought a series of crop failures.24 From 1768-74 Katharinenstadt had only one good harvest, and some colonies had none at all. Orlovskaia at least had two good harvests, 1771 and 1772.25 By the end of the third decade, however, Orlovskaia's population already had increased substantially, from 312 to 415. Yet Orlovskaia's continued growth pattern, as indicated by the following figures, was slightly under Karl Cramer's estimated three fold growth rates for the total Volga German population and slightly over Lothar Konig's calculations of a fifteen or sixteen times increase for the period up to 1914.26

1769 312 1788 344 1798 415 1816 791 1834 1302 1850 1769 1857 2217 1861 2137 1910 6169 1912 6517 1926 3243 (includes Orlovskaia

and several surrounding areas)

Additional statistics for Orlovskaia illustrate the problem of land shortage and the historiographical arguments regarding the Volga colonies' utilization of their assigned areas. Under the government's Land Law (regarding the Volga colonists) of March 19, 1764, each family of colonists was to receive 30 desiatinas of land: 15 desiatinas as plowland, 5 desiatinas as meadow, 5 desiatinas as forest, I/a desiatinas ashomesite, vegetable garden, thrashing floor, and 31/2 desiatinas as pasture (1 desiatina == 2.7 acres).27 The total amount of land Orlovskaia received at its founding in 1767 was 7640 desiatinas, but information is not available to explain how the colony actually divided this land.28 According to an early settler in Orlovskaia, everyone at first had worked as much land as he could.29 Orlovskaia, like the other Volga colonies, eventually adopted the land tenure system of the Russian mir-i.e., communal ownership and periodic repartition of the land according to male "souls." Pisarevskii suggested that the changeover from individual land ownership came about through an administrative order and not a law, during the period of 1782-1797 when the Chancellery of Guardianship and the subordinate Guardianship Office (Kontor) in Saratov had been abolished. A petition from the colonists to the Empress Catherine on August 14, 1794 stated that because of an order from Ogarev, the Director of the Provincial Treasury Department in Saratov, the colonies had to divide up the fields into equal shares. In his report of September 1795, Ogarev wrote that the colonies were carrying out his order to distribute the plowland according to "souls" in a three-field system. The higher Russian authorities had not sanctioned Ogarev's action but obviously were in agreement. Nor did the colonists present opposition. Their petition of 1794, in fact, had stated that communal land ownership was advantageous. Ogarev's order, therefore, made final the changes in land tenure which already were occurring in the colonies because of economic circumstances.30

By the eighth revision in 1834, the allotment for each soul in Orlovskaia was 15 desiatinas. By the tenth revision in 1857 the allotment was a mere 5.9 desiatinas.31 According to the statement in 1843 by an old colonist, Orlovskaia three times had received additional land from the government and again was leasing so-called "Bashkir" land 80 verstas away at 98 kopecks banco (paper) per desiatina (the price of about 3-1/3 puds oil; 1 pud = 36.11 pounds). Haxthausen, in recording this information, provided no dates for Orlov-

26

skaia's additional land grants, but for neighboring Paninskaia, he listed additional grants in 1825, 1828, and 1840. He also reported that almost all colonies on the Wiesenseite had permission to lease "Bashkir" land, the vacant land that stretched about 150 verstas from the Volga into the steppe and received its name from the nomadic Bashkirs.32

The amount of land a colony had was one problem, but the distribution of this land was another. In Orlovskaia, by 1865 each soul's allotment of four desiatinas was scattered over thirteen grain growing areas. Judging from David Schmidt's statistics, thirteen areas represented a fairly high figure for the parceling of a family's land. In Ober-Monjou the grain growing allotments were spread over eleven locations, and tobacco, vegetable, and potato allotments over eight locations. Boaro's figures were five locations for the 3V-2. desiatinas allotment per soul, six locations for the 1/8 desiatina allotment of tobacco land, and seven locations for the 3/6 desiatina allotment of potato land. Because in these and surrounding villages a joint family's parceled allotment sometimes lay 1-40 verstas apart, the small-holders particularly faced inconveniences and hardships in sowing and harvesting their crops. If the head of a household had only a few men and a number of women in his joint family, he virtually had to cultivate tobacco (women's work) and lease additional tobacco land at very high prices. Leasing additional lands, however, was expensive during the 1860's. In Ober-Monjou the rate for tobacco land was more than nineteen roubles silver per desiatina. In Orlovskaia the rate averaged more than twenty-six roubles per desiatina for grain and tobacco land.33

The writings of Johannes Zorn have recorded in simple terms the effects of these land arrangements upon the lives of the colonists in Orlovskaia. Zorn, who died in Yalta about 1923, contributed to the Volks-Zeitung (Saratov) and as his other works attest, he particularly investigated agricultural problems and the utilization of water resources. He also wrote about experiences in daily life which were the essence of the colonists' existence, such as plowing, sowing, and harvesting. Poignantly evoked on paper were the memories of his childhood and youth in Orlovskaia and especially the adventure of camping "draussen 'uf die Steppe' " with the men who worked in the widely scattered fields. A stay on the steppe sometimes lasted two and three weeks, and Zorn provided graphic details about the special tents or huts, the out-door cooking ("Kartoffe] un' Klump" in Orlovskaia's parlance, rather than "Kartoffel un' Kloss' "), the tasks and amusements of the young boys, and the work of their elders. Because only a deep furrow without any stakes demarcated the family allotments in the fields, each family plowed a special sign to designate its own holdings, such as a triangle (A), a half circle (n), or (in the case of Zorn's family) a double loop (oo). The horses at night were put on pasture lands, sometimes a few verstas away from the plowland. Occasionally horses were stolen. Zorn's grandfather Bar lost two of his best. All horses were branded with the village mark "0-R" for Orlovskaia. (Cattle, pigs, and sheep, in contrast, were notched in the ear with the registered mark of the family.) The numbers of horses per household and the consequent expenses of feeding them during fall and winter were very high precisely because the colonists' scattered land allotments lay so far out in the steppe.34

These practices and problems in the colonies' system of land tenure already received considerable attention during the reform era of the 1860's. Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881) had freed the Russian serfs in 1861, and this reform necessitated significant social, judicial, and administrative changes in Russian life. The ferment of reform also affected the Volga settlements. In 1865 the Saratov Kontor instructed volost' officials and agricultural committees to study the manifold grievances regarding the use and parceling of land. Excerpts, as quoted by David Schmidt, from the 1865 report of facts and opinions prepared by the Kreisamt and Landwirtschaftlicher Verein in Katharinenstadt have illuminated the land problems in Orlovskaia and other villages in this volost'. Pasture lands were used communally. Six villages charged a ground rent, but there were no uniform regulations regarding the number and types of animals allowed from each household. The report was critical, therefore, of the big and middle farmers who formed a majority and usurped more than their fair share of pasturage. Orlovskaia was a case in point. Of 270 heads of households, 155 owned 1,793 farm animals (including homed cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, and goats), whereas the remaining 115 heads of household owned 3,588 animals. This latter group consistently managed to frustrate attempts to impose a rent for pasture lands. Schmidt naturally interpreted these developments within a Marxist framework of class conflict, Volost' reports purportedly represented mainly the interests of the big farmers. Proposals from Katharinenstadt included a fair tax on the use of pastures, a redistribution of land according to families, but no really fundamental changes, such as abolishing the mir system. The efforts of the 1860's failed to bring results; the big and middle farmers, according to Schmidt, opposed land reforms.35

Theoretically, the mir system of periodic redistribution of lands "could serve as a leveler" in a village community. The role of the mir in Russia's nineteenth-century economic and social developments, how-

27

ever, has remained an intensely controversial subject in Russian history. From his broad comparative studies of European and Russian villages, Jerome Blum has noted that the unceasing subdivision and parceling of land, along with demographic changes, economic fluctuations, differences in economic initiative among peasants, and the consequent upward and downward mobility of village families gradually "produced more and more stratification within the community,"36 For Orlovskaia, the 1865 figures of 115 households who as a group seem to have opposed the remaining 155 on pasture rents would indicate that big and middle farmers, although not a majority, formed a very substantial percentage (over forty-two percent). Already in the earlier period, 1843, Haxthausen specifically had referred to Orlovskaia as a wealthy colony.37

One important source of wealth in Orlovskaia was tobacco. Early colonists of Dutch descent in Katharinenstadt presumably introduced tobacco cultivation in this Volga region,38 When P. S. Pallas, a natural scientist and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, visited Katharinenstadt in August 1773, he made a notation about ten desiatinas of tobacco planted in Katharinenstadt and up to twenty desiatinas in Paninskaia. The year 1773 was especially dry, and the grain and vegetable crops, even including potatoes, were very poor. By replanting and watering, the colonists had saved the tobacco fields, only to see them devastated by caterpillars and an August hailstorm. Because of frequent drought conditions, Pallas foresaw cattle-breeding and tobacco as the two most promising enterprises for the colonies on the east side of the Volga. Regarding tobacco, he suggested the colonists begin processing this crop and expanding their market beyond their early, limited trade with the retreating Kalmyks.39

The German colonists did indeed become the pioneers in the development of the tobacco culture in the lower Volga region.40 With experimentation and hard work tobacco began to flourish, especially in the villages around Katharinenstadt, the Big Karaman river, and the area north of Katharinenstadt towards Vol'sk. By 1800 the Volga colonists had expanded their trade beyond their nomadic neighbors and were carrying on a profitable business at annual trade fairs and markets of Russian cities. A stimulus for increased tobacco crops was the establishment of a tobacco factory in Saratov (1828?) by the Stahf family from Katharinenstadt. During the 1860's a small establishment in Wittmann processed a popular Turkish tobacco for cigarettes.41

The turning point and marked decline in this Volga tobacco industry followed the tax law of 1882, which was a culmination of the government's earlier attempts to tax tobacco in the nineteenth century. Beginning with the excise tax of March 31,1838, on processed tobacco, the government over the succeeding decades had extended taxes and controls to various phases of the tobacco enterprises. Under the law of June 4, 1861, only the growers could prepare tobacco for their own personal use. Everyone else had to use tobacco wrapped with the stamped tax band. Yet enormous amounts of tobacco (about two-thirds) slipped through the tax net, because the tobacco reached the consumers illegally in a leaf rather than processed form. The law of June 1871 reflected a number of remedies proposed by a special governmental committee. The emphasis was on supervisors in the factories and the factories' payments of specified tax totals. Large amounts of cheap tobacco used by the poorer population, however, still escaped taxation; and the factories cheated by wrapping tobacco with a low-tax band without the stamped, designated price and then selling it at a higher price. The new law of June 6, 1877, officially removed the designated prices except on makhorka and simplified the categories of excise taxes. For several reasons, the income accruing to the government declined. Factor supervision was inadequate. Excise taxes were too high on low grade tobacco and official sales dropped, but the new, simplified tax structure also mitigated against the government's receiving large amounts of revenue from the higher grades.42

These repeated failures to reap the full benefits of an effective tobacco levy help explain the government's drastic intentions in the law of May 18, 1882. Growers could not sell directly to users and even for themselves personally could prepare tobacco only with a knife and no other appropriate equipment. Factories alone had the right to prepare the tobacco products. A private individual could roll his own cigarettes, but had to use tobacco wrapped with a tax band. Wholesalers were allowed to sell three types of tobacco (in leaf form) but had to have three different licenses for (1) local and foreign tobacco excluding makhorka, (2) local tobacco excluding makhorka, and (3) only makhorka. Factories now were categorized into three types, according to functions: (1) the preparation of domestic and foreign tobacco, (2) preparation of pipe tobacco and snuff from makhorka, and (3) preparation of highest quality snuff. (Factories of the first type could have separate departments to prepare makhorka and to prepare snuff but then had to have three special kinds of storerooms.) Government tax officials were to supervise closely all tobacco entering and leaving a factory. Further control on the quantity a factory could market, especially of the lower grades, was the stipulation that for two pounds of the third grade tobacco, factories had to produce

28

one pound of the higher taxed first grade tobacco. (Specific ratios applied also to cigars and cigarettes.) After minor changes by decrees and laws in 1887 and 1S89, a law of June 4, 1890, allowed retailers to open their own storage places and allowed licensed makhorka wholesalers to sell crushed makhorka retail with a tax stamp like the factories.43

These many stringent requirements particularly redounded to the advantage of the larger Russian factories whose extensive trade in high grade tobacco could provide the stipulated balance for the low grade trade. By 1896 the Stahf factory in Saratov, concentrating on the production of makhorka, was the only Volga German factory still in operation.44 Particularly disadvantaged were the growers who legally could sell only to wholesalers and factories. (Tobacco smugglers, accordingly, became an accepted reality in the Volga colonies.) Consequent to the 1882 tax, the quantity of tobacco grown in the Volga colonies declined significantly. Because of soil and climate conditions, moreover, the quality had deteriorated also. In 1895, 60.04% of the Volga German tobacco was of the so-called American type, 39% makhorka, and only 0.6% of a Turkish variety.45

For the colonists of Orlovskaia, the 50-100-200 roubles or more from the tobacco crop often had made the difference between survival and disaster when the grain crops failed.46 As J. Rothennel has explained, Orlovskaia was particularly well situated for tobacco cultivation because of the three soil terraces which extended from Katharinenstadt north to Schaffhausen on the eastern side of the Volga. The light chestnut-brown soil of the second terrace, partly flooded by spring high waters, and the sandy chestnut-brown soil of the third terrace were particularly well suited for the cultivation of both cigar and cigarette tobacco of a higher grade than the inferior variety and the makhorka cultivated south east of Katharinenstadt and at the Karaman river. About 3200-1500 hectares (1 hectare = 2,47 acres) were cultivated with cigarette tobacco. Haxthausen, traveling the road from Paninskaia to Orlovskaia in 1843, as stated above, noted the three-field system but considered the husbandry as only middling. The exception was the care lavished on the tobacco fields.47

Johannes Zorn from Orlovskaia, who had worked in the fields as a child, penned a vignette about "Tuwakpflanz'n" which explains what this care entailed. The women, the "Weibsleuf," did most of the seeding in special beds enclosed with low wicker fences. Nurturing the young seedlings meant watering, weeding, and protecting them with mats or straw against the night frost. Transplanting became a family project. The grandfather led the way across the field, using his hoe to dig a hole to the right and then to the left. Behind him came the water wagon and someone filled the holes. The children followed, dropping the plants from their armbaskets into the holes, and then the women set the plants into place. Soon there was hoeing to do, then "Geizen," breaking off the excess sprouts, "Koppen" ("Kopfen"), controlling the height of the plant by snapping out the "heart," and finally "Bloten" ("Blatten"), tearing off the full-sized leaves from the stem and bringing the bundles of green leaves (der "Tuwaksbund") back to the family's sheds for further preparations.48 Here the women also helped in the tedious work of sorting and drying the leaves, piling them up and tying them into bundles. As the old colonists Rothennel had explained to Haxthausen in 1843, the women of Orlovskaia had no time for spinning and weaving.49 Tobacco cultivation was virtually a year-round p re-occupation.

Yet Haxthausen also commented that the colonists around Orlovskaia gave more attention to trade than agriculture.50 How extensive this trade became, J. Rothennel has indicated with his statement that Orlovskaia's entrepreneurial families bought up 80% of the tobacco crop in the Katharinenstadt to Schaffhausen region. One branch of the Rothennel family for three generations was involved in this tobacco trade (and one branch was in the flour business). The family's tobacco trade had started on a small scale with the neighboring Kirghiz on the Wiesenseite and then expanded, according to Rothennel's figures, to a yearly business of 1,000 tons. These figures also provide some indication how middlemen among the colonists became wealthy through the tobacco trade—i.e., buying tobacco for about 300 roubles per ton and selling it to factories in St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Moscow for about 600 roubles per ton. Yet the case of Orlovskaia illustrated also the runinous effect the 1882 tax had upon the fortunes of these tobacco traders. The Rothennel tobacco enterprise collapsed; two family members in the business sustained losses equivalent to about half a year's turnover.

The other branch of the Rothennel family had utilized the economic opportunities during the Crimean war (1853-1856) and the Russian campaigns against the native peoples in the Caucasus (1830's and 1840's) to build an extensive flour business. Astrakhan at the mouth of the Volga river was the southern base for the third generation of the family. This lucrative grain trade ceased when Orlovskaia's dock facilities deteriorated. By 1900 a small passenger ship still stopped (#4) on the map), but the large Volga barges no longer could dock because a shoal (#5) on the map) now blocked their passage. Even the local monuments of this

29

^ RUND£LL,w>^

The Rundell Residence in the Rundell [circle in the center of the village] corresponded more or less to the prominence of the families.

1. The founder Andreas Rothermel, 2. generation; the last one living here was Andreas Rothermel, 5. generation (a teacher). 2. The founder Johann Rotheimel, 3. generation; the last, Nicholas and Friedrich. 3. The founder Friedrich Rothermel, 3. generation. Barns and office of the tobacco business. The last, Kail, Friedrich, and Johannes. 4. Karl Rothermel (see #3). 5. Alexander Bauer, 4. generation, 6. Deaf-mute Institution, former house of Bauer, moved away, 7. Friedrich Rothermel (see #2), former house of Bauer, moved away. 8. Bauer, emigrated. 9. Axt, original home. 10. Axt, Jaschke. 11. 12.13. The Gerlinger houses, an old immigrant family. 14. 15.16. The Bar family houses. 17. Workshop of the brothers Woldemar and Wilhelm Rothermel, 5. generation. 18. Workshop and factory of the Rothermel Brothers and Co. 19. The Ehrentraut house. 20. Parochial school. 21. House of the schoolmaster and sexton. 22. Office of the village government, the Vorsteher (mayor) and Schreiber (secretary). 23. Ministerial school. The first teachers: Mr. Kufeldt, Mrs, Kufeldt, and Rothermel (see #1). 24. Monopoly shop [government liquor shop]. There was no Bierstube (tavern) yet at that time. 25. 26. The Hertje family houses. 27. Johannes Becker. 28. Erfurt. He rallied the settlers of the threatened villages and pursued the Kirghiz. 29. The Lehmann house. 30. The Loch-Christians houses,

From the Rundell the village barely expanded to the north, little towards the east, not especially towards the south, but mainly in the direction towards Ober-Monjou, along the channel from the village pond. The expansion along the highway in the direction of Ober-Monjou was negligible.

30

1^wei<<^

B,1L <^^1 T^^^^ B^^ \^^ -^^

^—w

Wi

Explanation of the Plan

The description shows the plan of the village of Orlovskaia in the years about 1900 to 1910.

1) The island lacks any vegetation. It serves as an overnight resting place for migratory birds, geese, and swans. 2) This island is overgrown with vegetation and covered with channels. 3) Granaries formerly stood here. After 1900 the large barges [from the Volga] no longer could dock; the commerce in grain ceased. 4) Docking place for a small passenger steamer. 5) A shoal that prevented the passage of the barges. 6) Fish ponds that remained after the spring flooding. 7) Orchards of the brothers Karl, Andreas, and Johannes Rothermel, 4. generation. 8) Orchard of Alexander Bauer. 9) Orchard of the teacher A. Rothermel (5. generation).

10) Orchard of the Axt family. 11) Orchard of the Becker family. 12) Orchard of the Hauenstein family. 13) Orchard of the Loch-Christians family. 14) Loch's mills. 15) Steam mill of the Hertje family (in the meantime torn down). 16) Orchard of the Hertje family. 17) Orchard of the brothers Nikolai and Friedrich Rothermel. 18) A several meter deep trench that after 200 years still carried water and was full of morass puddles. This trench was for the Kirghiz

horsemen an insurmountable line of defense. In the triangle formed by the trench, the village pond, and the stream Tischanka the village could develop undisturbed.

19) Hunting preserve with dangerous, deep swamps. 20) Red willows on sandy soil. 21) Main bridge over the stream Tischanka. 22) The Nab tongue. 23) and 24} New cemetery and small village threshing floor. 25) Cow pond in the pasture. 26) Small stream [Tischanka, the silent] with many pools. 27) Boundary line . . . municipal area of the village. 28) Rundell (circle) . .. interesting formation of the village of Orlovskaia.

By the village of Orlovskaia there are three distinctive terraces along the river bank. The I. terrace, beginning at the bank [of the Volga], is flooded nearly every year at high-water time. Here are numerous ponds, meadows, and gardens. By a high-water of 150 cm [1 centimeter = 0.39 inch] above normal, parts of the II, terrace are also flooded. The municipal area of the village is located on Terrace II. Terrace I. is covered with good meadow land, Terrace II. with light chestnut-brown soil, and Terrace III. with sandy, chestnut-brown soil.

From Katharinenstadt to Schaffhausen the soil of Terrace II. and Terrace III. offers good prerequisites for the cultivation of cigar and cigarette tobacco. Tobacco of inferior quality and makhorka (nicotiana rustled) grew southeast of Katharinenstadt and at the Karaman. Approximately 1,200-1,500 hectares [1 hectare = 2.47 acres] were cultivated with cigarette tobacco.

The enterprising and prominent families of the village of Orlovskaia. Many families developed a great enterprising elan. The enterprises were: tobacco trade (about 80% of the tobacco raised between

Katharinenstadt and Schaffhausen was bought up), trade in grain and flour, fruit growing, manufacturing of agricultural machinery and implements, and agriculture. The inhabitants of the village, numbering about 6,000 around 1900, were well off. The prominent families lived mainly in the Rundell of the village. The following families belong to the oldest and most successful families:

The Axt family, #9 and 10 [in the Rundell} is an old and rich clan who preserved and increased their wealth by marriages within the clan. The Bauer family, #5, 6,7, 8, belonged to the most successful of the village. Alexander Ivan Bauer was a rouble millionaire around the

year 1900.

31

The Rothermel family, #1, 2, 3, was a large clan with predominantly male member;?. The family was divided into two business groups: (a) tobacco trade, and (b) flour trade. The tobacco trade was established and carried on by three generations; great-grandfather Andreas, grandfather Friedrich, and Andreas, the father of the author of this essay. Dr. Johannes Rothermel. About 1,000 tons [1 ton= 1,000kg. or 2,205 pounds] of tobacco were traded yearly, bought up for about 300 roubles a ton, and so to the cigarette factories in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Helsinki for about 600 roubles a ton. At first a small trade was started with the Kirghiz. Consequent to the tobacco law of 1882, this enterprise collapsed. The losses amounting to about half a yearly turnover had to be absorbed by grandfather Friedrich and father Andreas alone.

The flour trade was carried on by Johann Rothermel, 3. generation, in Astrakhan. This was during the time of the Crimean War and the

struggle of the peoples of the Caucasus to preserve their independence. There was a great demand for flour. The price, therefore, was very good, and the profit was excellent.

The Bar family, #14, 15, 16. David Bar, #14, held a considerable bundle of shares in the cement factory in Vol'sk. Another Bar was a medical assistant (Feldscher) and another one was a large-scale farmer.

The Loch-Christians family, [#30]. They were the largest agriculturists in the village. On the occasion of a requisition [by the government] they had to deliver thirty-two hams.

The Hertje family, #25, 26. They were enterprising farmers and had a steam mill with three sets of millstones and a 30 h.p. motor. The Gerlinger family, #11, 12, 13, was presumably at one time highly respected and owned a two-story house in the Rundell. A medical

assistant (Feldscher) lived in house #13. The Lehmann family, [#29]. The father was a medical assistant and the son was a colonel in the army. Erfurt, [#28]. The birthplace of Erfurt

is not known. He distinguished himself especially as a successful strategist in the defense against the advancing Kirghiz.

former trade, the granaries along the Volga, disappeared entirely (#3) on the map designating where they once stood).

A look at the rise and decline of the grain and tobacco trade through several generations in Orlovskaia provides a chronological framework for demarcating the early stages of these enterprises and their development through the nineteenth century. Not only specific examples from the Rothermel family but also from other entrepreneurial families in Orlovskaia bring into focus questions about the economic and social infrastructures in the Volga German colonies. Why did some villages, like Orlovskaia, produce entrepreneurial leaders and an expanding economy in trade and small manufacturing? Despite the collapse of the grain and tobacco trade, J. Rothennel still described Orlovskaia at the beginning of the twentieth century as a village where the inhabitants were "well-off" and where "many families developed a great enterprising elan."

Marxist-oriented writers in the 1920's and 30's hurled such favorite accusations as "exploiters" at these families and their counterparts in other Volga colonies.51 These Marxian polemics with their requisite class biases, however, have ignored geographical, psychological, or other social explanations for the rise and the significance of these leading families. That the entrepreneurs in Orlovskaia bought up eighty per cent of the tobacco between Katharinenstadt and Schaffhausen (according to J. Rothermel) could indicate that rather than "exploiting" the tobacco growers they actually generated economic activities in this region. Not only the suitable soil but also Orlovskaia's good location on the Volga provided an incentive for the colonists to specialize in a cash crop that they readily could transport to meet the demands of a larger market. Profits from trade in tobacco and other agricultural products provided the stimulus and capital for the further development of commercial and small industrial enterprises, such as the manufacture of agricultural machinery and implements. David Bar (#14 on the map) even invested a large amount of capital in a cement factory in nearby Vol'sk,

Trade, profits, capital, and small industry became a possibility in Orlovskaia because of good soil conditions, river transportation (up to about 1900), and a convenient regional market center in nearby Katharinenstadt. Trade, profits, capital, and small industry became a reality, however, because of a fortunate interaction between natural and human resources. Many of the older generation of Volga colonists in the mid-nineteenth century had their own explanation why some villages especially prospered. They were the ones who had good leaders (Vorsteher) right from the start.52 Certainly in Orlovskaia there was no dearth of individuals and families who not only materially but also psychologically and intellectually could and did utilize available resources and opportunities. The success of these families represented the efforts of those who, despite the restrictions of the mir system and imperial economic policies, such as the debilitating tobacco taxes, were imaginative and bold enough to take the risks, to experiment, and to expand their economic activities beyond the subsistence needs of their own households.

Complementary to the question of how these families arose is also the broader question of how these families maintained their wealth and status. J. Rothermel designated his list of families "as belonging to the oldest and most successful," The count, for example, of five Rothermel generations and four Bauer generations suggests a tenacity of family tradition. Distinctive in the lifestyles of the leading families was a house in the Rundell. A two-story house was virtually a symbol of success. The Gerlinger family still owned a two-story house in the Rundell, and J. Rothermel's explanation was they "presumably at one time [were] highly respected." Not everyone had the means or desire to maintain a garden and orchard. The leading families did have gardens and orchards, as indicated on the Rothermel map. Besides wealth, certain positions or professions in the Volga settlements also carried status and prestige. Members of Orlovskaia *s leading families were among the first colonists to achieve the education requisite for the professions of teacher and minister and for political offices with responsibilities beyond the local level.

In the pre-World War I period (1909), Orlovskaia was one of eight villages on the Wiesenseite with a two-class level ministerial school.53 The founding date of this school (#23 on the map) is not known, but J. Rothermel has provided the names of the first teachers; Mr. and Mrs. Kufeldt and Andreas Rothermel. Orlovskaia also had the usual parish school,

Gemeindeschule (#20 on the map). According to one source, an early school building of wood, replaced by a structure of stone, was sold to the colony of Neu-Boaro, founded in 1845.54

Among the early Protestant clergy, Johann Christian Bauer of Orlovskaia probably was the first descendant of an original colonist to become an ordained minister. (The early Protestant clergy in the colonies came mainly from Switzerland, the German states, or the Baltic region of the Russian empire.) Bauer was born in Orlovskaia in 1806 and graduated from the University ofDorpat.55 In 1831 he assumed the Lutheran pastorate in Nab, the seat of the parish that included Orlovskaia. When the nineteenth-century clergy-

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The ministerial school. In the pre-World War I period Orlovskaia was one of eight villages on the Wiesenseite with a two-class ministerial school.

man, Friedrich Dsirne was writing his history of the Volga colonies, he used Bauer as an example of the hardships endured by the Protestant ministers. Heading a parish of seven colonies and more than 7,000 parishioners, Bauer had to rotate services among these seven colonies on consecutive Sundays. For a number of years he also had the added responsibility of making six or seven visits annually to a number of new settlements. These trips, each of about 225 versfas, were often harrowing experiences of spending a stormy winter night on the steppe with the wolves howling in the distance.56

Orlovskaia was the largest colony in the parish of Nab which also included Hockerberg (Bohn), Hummel (Brockhausen), Winckelmann (Susannental), Kind, and Meinhard (Unterwalden). The parish dated from 1820 when Ignaz Fessler, a former Capuchin monk who had become the first superintendent of the newly established Evangelical Lutheran Consistory in Saratov, reorganized and increased the number of Protestant parishes on the Wiesenseite from four to eight.57 By 1905 the entire parish numbered 19,046 parishioners. The clergy were David Flittner, 1820-1830, from Saxony; Johann Christian Bauer, 1831-1861, from Orlovskaia; and then three generations of the Heptner family. The first of this family was Emil Theodor Heptner, who came from the Baltic region (Livland) and served the parish from 1863-1864. His son, Nathanael Woldemar Emil Heptner was ordained in Orlovskaia and was the minister of the parish during the years 1895-1929. Under the Communist regime, however, he was jailed in 1922 and released in 1924. In 1929 he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment but was exiled to Siberia. He died in 1933. His fate and the fate of his son bespeak volumes on the history and tragedy of many Volga German clergy since the Bolshevik revolution. Bernhard Nathanael Heptner succeeded his father as minister in this parish in 1929 but was arrested in 1930, arrested again in 1935 and some time thereafter died in prison.58

Nathanael Heptner's name is also associated with the founding in Orlovskaia of an institution for deaf-mute children about 1897. The initiative to organize a Society for the Education of Deaf-mute Children in the Evangelical Volga Congregations came from Richard Keller, a minister in the parish of Bettinger (1890-1907). With no regional or national government support for such social welfare institutes in the colonies, the sponsoring society of this proposed institution had to raise funding capital from private sources. The necessary leadership for this undertaking came from the members of leading families in Orlovskaia: Nikolai Rothermel (later a member of the Russian parliament, the Imperial Duma) and Alexander Bauer. Dr. Bols from Katharinenstadt was also among the early organizers and for many years gave his free services to the

33

institution as medical doctor. The executive committee of the institution soon purchased a former Bauer house in the Rundell across from the church (#6 on the map) and remodeled it by adding a second story. This committee also solved the problem of a qualified teacher by sending Serafim Karachanjanz to Frankfurt a. Main for special training. Karachanjanz, an elementary school teacher, was a Lutheran Armenian, born in Shemakha near Baku in 1867.59

An even greater problem than securing a building and a teacher was the executive committee's problem of securing the authorization of the requisite Russian authorities. The imperial governmental board supervising deaf-mute institutions made its sanction dependent upon the use of Russian as the language of instruction. (As part of its Russification policies, the Tsarist government by the 1890's required the use of Russian as the language of instruction in the schools of the Volga colonies.) The institution in Orlovskaia finally won the right to use the German language when it designated itself a religious welfare institution rather than a school for deaf-mute children.60 Within a few years Karachanjanz took his deaf-mute pupils on tours to Volga German villages where they most impressively demonstrated their progress in reading, arithmetic, religious instruction for confirmation, and other subjects.61 After the completion of their schooling, some of the boys, in feasible cases, received further help to learn a trade, such as shoemaker, tailor, or printer.

The good reputation of the institution spread, and its annual operating budget was approximately 4,700 roubles. Financial support came from special offerings in churches, contributions from members and friends of the sponsoring society, and fees from the parents according to their ability to pay. Eventually the zemstvos of Novouzensk and Nikolaevsk (which included Orlovskaia) made an annual contribution. By 1914 the thriving deaf-mute institution had about thirty pupils and from two to three teachers. The first teacher, Serafim Karachanjanz, in 1906 had become a journalist for the Volks-Zeitung in Saratov. Three other teachers associated with the Orlovskaia institution were Univer, who managed to return to her Baltic homeland during the Revolution, Wohlbedacht, who was exiled to Siberia and not heard of again, and Gerlinger, whose fate and relationship to the Gerlinger family (#11, 12, 13 on the map) are not known.62 No history of the Volga colonists' efforts to establish their own cultural, social, and educational institutions would be

34

Church and village street in Orlovskaia with deaf-mute institute in the foreground. Photo courtesy of Woldemar Lehmann, Bud Oeynhausen, Germany.

complete without a glowing tribute to this deaf-mute institution in Orlovskaia. No history of Orlovskaia, moreover, would be complete without acknowledging on this subject the indispensable role of this colony's leading families.

Their names also appear in the political life of the Volga colonies. Nikolai Rothermel, mentioned above as one of the founders of the deaf-mute institution, was born in 1849 and elected from the gubernia of Samara in 1907 as a member of the Third Imperial Duma. (The establishment of a Duma was one of the results of the Revolution of 1905.) Rothermel was an Octobrist (a moderate right-wing party) and the only Volga German among the twelve Germans from the entire empire elected to this Duma, 1907-1912. He was officially listed as an estate owner and a member of the Duma's committees on public education and internal migration.63 His son, Alexander Rothermel, who was born in Orlovskaia in 1880, was a member of the assembly of Volga German delegates who gathered in Saratov, April 25--27, during the early weeks of the first 1917 revolution. Thirty delegates were members of a temporary committee previously organized in Saratov by the leading Volga German industrialist, Friedrich Schmidt, and 326 delegates represented the volosti. Serafim Karachanjanz, the first teacher of Oriovskaia's deaf-mute institution, was one of the two secretaries elected by this assembly. The delegates discussed the problems of schools and newspapers during the revolutionary crisis and the need for a Volga German political organization—i.e., a Central Committee in Saratov to work for rights of autonomy.64 Alexander Rothermel represented the volost’ Krasnyi-iar in this assembly. He had graduated from the University of Dorpat and then was a minister in the Volga colonies of Gnadenflur, 1909-1912, and Rosenheim, 1912-1922 in the volost' Krasnyi-iar. He came to Germany in 1922 and died in West Germany in 1963.65

The brother of Alexander Rothermel, was Dr. Valentin Rothermel who had begun his medical studies at the University of Dorpat and then finished in Berlin in the early 3920's. He was active in the Verband Studierender Wolgadeutscher and the Verein der Wolgadeutschen in Berlin. He also served as a medical doctor at the refugee camp at Frankfurt a. Oder and published several brief reports about his work. This, camp that formerly had housed prisoners-of-war was a way-station for many Volga German and other German refugees fleeing the Russian Revolution. In 1924 Dr. Rothermel emigrated to the United States and established a medical practice in Chicago. He died there in 1947.66

Additional published and unpublished accounts by émigrés make possible a more complete chronicle of Oriovskaia's fate during the catastrophic years of the Bolshevik revolution, civil war, and famine. A history of Orlovskaia, however, is an amalgam not only of the leading families but of the other colonists as well. Regarding location and economy, Orlovskaia was similar to neighboring colonies on the eastern bank of the Volga, Yet in the case of Orlovskaia, the significant social and economic achievements reflected an unusually effective combination of leadership and utilization of natural and human resources.

Notes

1. This colony had only one name, a Russian name. According to the Library of Congress system of transliteration, the American spelling is Orlovskaia. Various German spellings are Orlowskoje, Oriawskaja, and Orlowskoi.

2. Gottlieb Beratz, Die deutschen Kolonien an der unteren Wolga in ihrer Entstehung und ersten Entwickelung (Saratov: H. Schellhorn, 1915), p. 308. All dates in this article are Old Style, according to the Julian calendar.

3. Grigorii Pisarevskii, fz istorii inostrannoi kolonizatsii v rossii v XVIH v (Moscow: Pechatnia A.I. Snegirevoi, 1909), pp. 104-5, 111-12. Beauregard was one of the most intriguing of the several foreign agents who had contracts with •the government of Catherine II to enlist colonists in the German states and other European countries. The French government, attempting to thwart the recruiting efforts, began investigating the private agents. According to Pisarevskii, French police authorities were most interested in Beauregard about whom they knew the least. Although lacking definite information regarding his origins, they considered him a Frenchmen. Beauregard, though, variously claimed to come from Brabant or the area around Basel. Roger P. Bartlett has described Beauregard as an estate owner in Holland, but apparently of French or Alsatian origin. Roger P. Bartlett, Human Capital: The Settlement of Foreigners in Russia, 1762-1804 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 63.

4. Pisarevskii, Iz istorii inostrannoi kolonizatsii, pp. 111-12. 5. For a recent review of various interpretations regarding the Russian government's aims and the calibre or social status of the Volga

colonists see Fred C. Koch, The Volga Germans in Russia and the Americans: From 1763 to the Present (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977), pp. 6-8, 318-19. Bartlett, viewing the Volga colonization within the framework of eighteenth century theories and practices of statecraft, analyzed Catherine's purposes as efforts to hasten the settlement and development of empty lands. Bartlett, Human Capital, p. 230. James W. Loflg, however, has suggested that the more restricted recruiting procedures in 1804 for the areas in South Russia reflected the government's

35

dissatisfaction with the number of colonists enrolled during the 1760's who were unsuitable for farming. James W. Long, "The Russian Imperal Manifestoes of 22 July 1763 and 20 February 1804," in Germans from Russia in Colorado, ed. Sidney Heitman (Ann Arbor: Western Social Science Association, 1978), p. 7.

6. Pisarevskii, Iz istorii inostrannoi kolonizatsii, pp. 111-12, 7. Pisarevskii, Iz istorii inostrannoi kolonizatsii, Appendix, pp. 78-79, Trans. Adam Giesinger, Work Paper, No. 25 (Winter 1977), pp. 4-8. 8. Bartlett, Human Capital, p. 53. 9. Beratz, pp. 136-137. 10. Bartlett, Human Capital, pp. 68-69, 103. Bartlett was inclined to blame Ivan Kuhlberg's activities ("perhaps most importantly") for placing in the colonies a number of recruits who had no skills in agriculture. Kuhlberg, a Chancellery interpreter, in 1766 Joined a special commissioner in Oranienbaum to assist in processing the newly arrived immigrants. He interpreted very literally his instructions from the Chancellery to persuade the colonists to go to the empty territories. According to Bartlett, "everyone who passed through Kuhlberg's hands had to settle on the land." 11. An extant 1765 handbill used by Beauregard and his agents as advertising illustrates their lavish promises regarding fertile lands, opulent crops, trade opportunities, travel funds, educational opportunities, subsidies for agricultural appurtenances, etc,—all requisites for "a peaceful and plentiful life." Bartlett, Human Capital, Appendix II, pp. 243-47. 12. Johannes Kufeld published these recollections in the Friedensbote under the title, "Zur Geschichte der Wolga-KoIonien." Heinrich Erfurth, "I.Bericht," Friedensbote, No. 11 (1900), pp. 681-83. August Stahlbaum, 'W. Bericht," Friedensbote, No. 12 (1900), pp. 734-42. Trans. Adam Giesinger, Work Paper, No. 25 (Winter 1977), pp. 10-11; Journal of the AHSGR, 1, No. 1 (Spring 1978), 25-30. 13. August Freiherrn von Haxthausen, Studien uber die innem Zustande, das Volksleben und insbesondere die landlichen Einrichtungen Russlands, II (Hannover: Hahn'schen Hofbuchhandhmg, 1847), 38-39. The Russian crown's interest in supporting Haxthausen's research was to improve Russia's image in western Europe. Haxthausen's work, however, is particularly important for a study of Russian peasant institutions. 14. Pisarevskii, Iz istorii inostrannoi kolonizatsii. Appendix, pp. 78-79. 15. Pisarevskii, Iz istorii inostrannoi kolonizatsii, pp. 202-3. 16. Johannes Kufeld, "Die Geschichte unsere Heimat," Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte, No. 6 (December 1922), pp. 149-50. This article was an excerpt from Kufeld's unpublished manuscript. Bartlett found evidence that Beauregard used the German naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster to carry out a mission for him when Forster in 1765 inspected the territory of the Volga colonies. Roger P. Bartlett, "J. R. Forster's Stay in Russia, 1765-1766: Diplomatic and Official Accounts," Jahrbucher fuer Geschichte Osteuropas, 23, No. 4 (1975), 494-95. Beauregard later began dealing with the Austrian government. Bartlett, Human Capital, note 50, p. 282. 17. Beratz, pp. 62-63. 18. Lothar Konig, Die Deutschtuminsel an der Wolga (Dulmen in Westfalen: Laumann, 1938), pp. 119-21, A sketchy plan of Boaro appears on p. 121. 19. Konig, pp. 110-11, 114-15; Georg Dinges, "Ueber unsere Mundarten," in Beitrage zur Heimatkunde des deutschen Wolgagebiets, ed. Georg Dinges (Pokrowsk: Abteilung fur Volksbildung des Gebiets der Wolgadeutschen, 1923), p. 71. Scholars still dispute the origins of the Rundling village form. "Rundlinge," Brockhaus Enzyklopddie, 1973 ed., Vol. 16, p. 247. 20. Conflicting accounts in the primary sources have complicated establishing the dates of Kirghiz attacks. Pisarevskii, citing a report of

Gregory Orlov of November 19, 1774, dated the attack on Mariental and five other colonies as 31 August 1774. Four additional villages were the victims of Kirghiz attacks on 24 October 1774. Pisarevskii, however, provided no names or details of individuals involved in any of these attacks. Grigorii Pisarevskii, Khoziai&tvo i forma zemlevladeniia v koloniiakh povolzh'ia v XVIII-m i v pervoi chetvertt XIX-go veka (Rostov-on-the-Don: A.I. Ter-Abramian, 1916), p. 26. David Schmidt, who frequently relied upon Pisarevskii for factual information on other topics, took his dates from the letters of the Kreiskommissar in Paninskaia (Schoenchen), Johann Wilhelmi, and other sources. Schmidt, therefore, accepted 28 August 1774, as the date of the Kirghiz attack on Mariental which led to Wernborner's ill-fated expedition. D[avid] Schmidt, Studien uber die Geschichte der Wolgadeutschen (Pokrowsk: Zentral-Volker-Verlag der Union der Soz. Rate-Rep., 1930), pp. 88-90.

21 Beratz, pp. 213-15;Gottlieb Bauer, Geschichte der deutschen Ansiedler an der Wolga (Saratov: Buchdruckerei "Energie," 1908), pp. 61-63.

22. Erfurth, p. 683; Stahlbaum, pp. 740-42; Kaspar Scheck, "III. Bericht," in Kufeld, "Zur Geschichte," Friedensbote, No. 11 (1900), p. 686; Philipp W. Assmus, "V. Bericht,' Friedensbote, No. 12 (1900), pp. 744-45. Trans. Adam Giesinger, Work Paper, No. 25 (Winter 1977), p. 11; Journal of the AHSGR, 2,No. 1 (Spring 1979), 28.

23. Beratz, note, p. 204, Karl Stumpp listed an Orlovskaia register in his bibliography but supplied no information beyond author and title, Philipp W. Assmuss, "Das russ. Verzeichnis der Kolonie Orlowskoje aus dem Jahre 1767," listed in Karl Stumpp, Das Schrifttum iiber da & Deutschtum inRussland,2nd ed. (Tuebingen; Selbstverlag Karl Stumpp, 1970), p. 25.

24. Erfurth, p. 682. 25. Pisarevskii, Khoziaistvoi forma, p, 14,

36

26. Pisarevskii, Iz istorii inostrannoi kolonizatsii. Appendix, p. 78; A. Klaus, Nashi Kolonii (St. Petersburg: V.V. Nusval't, 1869), Supplement IV, pp. 54-55; Friedrich Matthsa,DiedeutschenAnsiedlungen in Russland: Ihre Geschichte und ihre volkswirthschaftliche Bedeutung fur die Vergangenheit und Zukunft (Leipzig: Verlag von Hermann Fries, 1866), p. 117. According to Cramer's calculations, the Volga German population increased almost threefold during the first fifty years (1816) and then continued at slightly more than a threefold increase for the following fifty year periods. Karl Cramer, "Zur Bevoelkerungsstatistik des Woladeutschtvuns," Auslandsdeutsche Volksforschung, No. 3 (10 August 1937), pp. 299, 301. Konig figured the Volga German population growth by 1914 as an increase of fifteen or sixteen times the original population. Konig's calculations admittedly were low because of the difficulty in obtaining accurate statistics for the colonists who had left their villages. Konig, pp. 147-48, 276.

27. Pisarevskii, Khoziaistvo i forma, p. 1. 28. Klaus, Supplement II, p. 13. Beauregard advertised in a 1765 handbill that in his settlement he would follow the Swiss canton system of

organization, and he spelled out the amount of land designated for the officials and other settlers. These promises obviously were not fulfilled. Bartlett, Human Capital, Appendix II, pp. 243-47.

29. Haxthausen,H,p.39. 30. Pisarevskii, Khoziaistvo i forma, pp. 63-65. 31. Klaus, Supplement II, p. 13. 32. Haxthausen, II, pp. 28, 36, 39, 41. 33. Schmidt, pp. 232-34. 34. J. Zorn, "Draussen 'uf die Steppe,'" Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte, No. 11/12 (June 1924), pp. 132-33; Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte, No.

13/14 (July 1924), pp. 146-48. Other works by Zorn include, Die Ausniitzung unserer Grdben und Tdler im Kampfe mit der Dune; nach russischen Quellen und eigenen Studien furs deutsche Wolgagebiet dargestellt (Marxstadt: Staatsverlag, Gebiet der Wolgadeutschen, [1921 ]). A partial listing of other works appears in Stumpp, pp. 34, 36. Otto Fischer wrote an obituary: "Johannes Zorn," Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte, No. 9/10 (May 1923), p. 135. See also notes 46 and 48 below.

35. Schmidt, pp. 232-37. 36. Jerome Blum, "The Internal Structure and Polity of the European Village Community from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century"

Journal of Modem History, 43, No. 4 (December 1971), 571. 37. Haxthausen, II, p. 38. 38. J[ohannes] Kufeld, "Der Tabakbau in denWolga-Kolonien: Seine Geschichte und sein trauriger Ruckgang in den letzten Jahrzehnten,"

Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte, No. 15/16 (August 1923), p. 210. 39. P.S. Pallas, Reise aus Sibirien zuruck an die Wolga im 1773sten Jahr, Part 3, Vol. II of Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des

russischen Reiches (St. Petersburg: Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1771-1776), pp. 616-18. 40. Konig, p. 212. 41. Kufeld, "Tabakbau," pp. 210-11. 42. "T'abak;'Entsiklopedicheskiislovar1,1901 ed., Vol. 32, Part I, pp. 429-30. 43. "Tabak," pp. 430-32. 44. Kufeld, "Tabakbau," p. 211. 45. German Volga ASSR. TsentraTnyi sovet narodnogo khoziaistva. Perspektivnyi plan promyshelennosti ASS respubliki nemtsev pavolzh

'ia napiatiletie 1925/26-1929/30. (Pokrovsk: Nemgosizdat. 1926), pp. 70-71. 46. J. Zorn, "Die Fruhjahrs=Gartenarbeit der 'Weibsleut,' " Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte, No. 15/16 (September 1924), p. 165. 47. Haxthausen, II, pp. 36, 38. For Paninskaia, Haxthausen explained that the winterfield contained rye, the summerfield contained wheat,

barley, oats, and potatoes, and the third field lay fallow. 48. Z. Zorn, "Der Fruhjahrs=Gartenarbeit." pp. 165-66. 49. Haxfhausen, II, p. 40. 50. Haxthausen, II, p. 38. 51. "Die sozialistische Landwirtschaft," in Autonome sozialistische Sowfetrepublik der Wolgadeutschen: Politisch-okonomi-

sc/w./l&ms,ed.D.Schneider(Engels: Deutscher Staatsverlag, 1938), p. 27; Schmidt, p. 371. 52. Friedrich Dsime, Zur Geschichte der deutschenKolonien an der Wolga, quoted by Matthai, p. 135. 53. Schmidt, p. 377. 54. Dsirne, quoted by Matthai, p. 143, 55. The University of Dorpat, founded in 1802, soon became the famed intellectual center of the Russian Baltic provinces. Except for

Finland, this university had the only Protestant theological faculty in the Russian empire. 56. Dsime, quoted by Matthai, p. 136. 57. Karl Cramer, "Zur Geschichte des kirchlichen Lebens der Wolgakolonisten," Part I: "Die Kirchspiele," Deutsche Post aus dem Osten,

No. 9 (September 1937), pp. 14-17.

37

58. D. A. Seeberg, ed., Album des theologischen Vereins zu Dorpat-Jurjew (Dorpat-Jurjew: C. Mattiesen, 1905), p. 85; Joseph Schnurr, ed., Heimatbuch (Jahrbuch 1969-1972) der Deutschen aus Russland: Die Kirchen und das religiose {.ebon der Russlanddeutschen (Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland, 1972), pp. 299, 349; "Nach-. richten aus

Russland:Generalsynode der ev-luth. Kirche," Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte, No, 2 (February 1925), pp. 51-, 52. 59. [Johannes] Stenzel, "Die wolgadeutsche Taubstummenanstalt," Deutsche Post aus dem Osten, No. 14 (November 1938), pp. 13-15;

"Protokoll der im Jahre 1897 zu Ssaratow [sic] abgehaltenen 23-ten combinirten Synode der beiden Wolga-Praposituren resp. der 63-ten Kreis-Synode der Berg-und Wiesenseiter Prapositur der Wolga." (Loose copy in AHSGR Archives, Greeley, Colo., GR.405). The reference to Pastor Keller's report on the founding of the deaf-mute institution appears on page 6; Karl Cramer, "Zur Bibliographic der Wolga Kolonisten," Deutsche Post aus dem Osten, No. 1'(January 1941), p. 16.

6p. Stenzel, p. 14. 61. Personal recollection of Jacob Eichhorn of such a presentation in the church in Bauer. •62. Stenzel, pp. 14-15. Stenzel had the

institution's annual reports for June 1904-June 1905 and June 1913-June 1914, and he cited the budget for this latter year and other statistics. The approximate figure of 4,700 roubles annual operating costs appeared in Eduard Seib, "Der Wolgadeutsche im Spiegel seines Brauchtums," in Heimatbuch der Deutschen aus ' Russland, 196711968, ed. Joseph Schnurr (Stuttgart: Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Russland, 1968), p. 197.

63. "Chleny.Gosudarstv. Dumy pervago, vtorogo i tret'iago sozyva," Entsiklopedicheskii slovar', 1913 ed., Vol. 17, p. 70; Friedrich v. Keussler, "Die deufschen Abgeordneten in der russischen Reichsduma,'" Deutsche Erde, 7 (1908), 105. ' 64. Zentral

Komitee der deutschen Wolgakolonisten in Saratow, Verhandlungen der Versammlung der Kreisbevollmachtigten der Wolgakolonien in Saratow am 25-27 April 1917 (Saratov: H. Schellhorn, 1917). For a brief discussion of this meeting in Saratov see Aleksander Mrdjenovic, "The Genesis of Volga German Political Autonomy, 1917-1918," in Germans from Russia in Colorado, ed. Heitman, pp. 26-31, 65. Schnurr, Heimatbuch, 1969-1972, p. 321; Volk auf dem Weg, No..4 (April 1963), p. 8. 66. Some of Valentin Rothermel's articles include: "Medizinisch-statistische Mitteilungen vom Heimkehrlager Frankfurt a. 0.,."

Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte, No. 1/2 (January 1924), pp. 6-7; No. 3/4 (February 1924), pp. 29-30; No, 5/6 (March 1924), pp. 54-55; "Arbeitsbericht der Delegierten des Vereins der Wolgadeutschen," No. ll/12(June 1924), pp. 134-35; "Fluechtlingslager Frankfurt a. d. Oder," Das Wolga Journal, No. 8 (December 1927), pp. 3-5, and "Grundsaetzliche Recht-Unien fuer einen Verem der Wolgadeutschen," pp. 19-20.

From The Book of Nature

Walter Klemm

38

THE GERMAN REPUBLIC ON THE VOLGA IN THE 1920's

Adam Giesinger

In the last issue of the Journal there appeared an article on the Volga German Republic by Adolf Grabowsky,2 a German visitor there shortly after the establishment of the republic in 1924. The newly established "autonomous state" aroused considerable interest in Germany and attracted a succession of German visitors in the next few years. Some of these described their impressions in German periodicals of the time. Two such were Georg Cleinow in 19262 and Oswald Zienau in 1927.3

Cleinow traces the history of the Germans on the Volga: their difficult early years, their eventual economic progress, the withdrawal of their privileges in the 1870's, and the attempts at their russification, successful in part, in the latter part of the nineteenth century. He sees them after a century and a half in Russia as a culturally deprived group, too backward for the experiment of an autonomous German republic launched by Volga German Communists in the 1920's:

The villages were on the cultural level of the second half of the eighteenth century. The Swabian spoke Swabian, the Hessian spoke Hessian and the Alsatian spoke Alsatian. They spoke their dialect not further developed as it was among their kin in their ancestral home, but with the vocabulary of the eighteenth century; they spoke no High German. What was new in their language were words and phrases which came from their Russian environment. .. . Economically the villages, with few exceptions, occurring mainly among the Men-nonites, stood little higher than their inhabitants stood culturally.. . .

* * *

When opportunities for economic advancement began to appear at the borders of their settlement area, there were Volga Germans in the front ranks developing a lucrative trade in grain and cattle, while at the same time the German villages were stagnating more and more and russification was making progress everywhere. The social and economic developments that were taking place were an aid to the russification efforts. The economically most progressive elements aspired to escape from the purely agrarian colonist milieu and found the broadest scope for their ambition and their healthy acquisitiveness in the neighboring Russian provinces and particularly in the cities of Samara and Saratov on the Volga, which had been growing rapidly since the 1890's. There they settled as grain and livestock traders, less often as-craftsmen, and some of them acquired great wealth. These German traders and owners of flour mills and grain elevators could make a success of their business only if they had command of the Russian language and could establish good relations with Russian officialdom and the Russian commercial world. They therefore not only learned Russian themselves but sent their children to Russian secondary schools outside the German colonies, Apart from business such families gradually lost touch with their village homes. . , .

* * * The strongest support of German culture in Slavic lands until the World War [of 1914] were the Protestant

pastors. ... In Russia these had their base in the Baltic provinces, where the University of Dorpat provided contact with Protestantism in Germany and with German intellectual life.. . . Not all the pastors coming from the Baltic were equal to the task facing them in the Volga villages. Many of those of Baltic German origin remained strangers among their parishioners. They found themselves more in tune with the Germans in the cities.. . . The pastors of colonist origin, educated in Dorpat after passing through the schools of Katharinenstadt, Saratov, and Samara, could more easily understand the spiritual needs of their communities. But useful as these were for local needs, their influence as carriers of German culture was only slight, for they were themselves russified, at least in their speech, and brought very little modem German culture to the villages.4

If this is a fair view of the state of German culture among the Volga Germans before the Revolution, is the building of a German Republic on the Volga a feasible plan in the 1920's? Cleinow has some doubts about it. In the first place, he does not believe that the Soviet regime actually wants an autonomous German state on the Volga. Secondly, he considers the Volga Germans too backward culturally to make it a success:

39

The greatest danger [to the new republic] is the backwardness of the Germans themselves. It prevents them from making effective use of the few concessions that the Soviet constitution has granted them. At the present time they are not even able to take advantage of the most important right that the Revolution has brought them, the use of German as official language. When you visit Pokrovsk, the capital of the Volga German Republic, and enter the government offices there, you are surprised by the fact that you do not hear a word of German. The whole judicial and administrative machinery operates in the Russian language and the proceedings are in Russian at almost all sittings of organs of government.5

Zienau sees some of the same difficulties. He is not sure that the Volga colonists, pre-occupied as they are with economic problems, have much interest in re-invigorating their German culture and building up an autonomous German state:

The German autonomy idea is to be found only in the heads of the barely five per cent of the population who are Bolsheviks, most of whom live in Pokrovsk. The Volga colonist has only the vaguest idea of the existing new orientation. Always more important to him over the years than familiarizing himself with the intricacies of the new state order, has been the struggle for existence, the worry over the necessities of life. To develop the national autonomy idea until the active participation of the colonists in the remotest village is attained, until it becomes the true expression of the national-cultural will of the Volga farmers, is not a problem that can be solved in a day, considering the cultural deprivation that the colonists suffered under the despotism of the Tsars. The men in Pokrovsk, who lead and promote this development and the participation of the colonists in it by all available means, know only too well through what difficult stages this national-cultural movement has to pass before the least successes along this line will be apparent. The Volga colonist is barely conscious of his origin. A more than 150-year russification policy, carried out with all sorts of trickery, has been successful here; national feeling has almost completely vanished; the mother language has been replaced by a German-Russian gibberish , . . .6

But Zienau sees some cause for optimism. His hopes were raised when he visited the German schools of the republic: In this connection I must deal with the most important instrument for the consolidation of a new state

ideology, the school. By decree of the Soviet government religion has been eliminated from the school curriculum. In many respects the school in the Volga German Republic is quite different from that in the rest of Bolshevik Russia, Its course of study is organized in its entirety to accomplish directly the national-cultural tasks that we have pointed out. I visited many schools in the German villages and can say definitely that education for cultural national consciousness is given wide scope. In Marxstadt and other completely German canton centers, samples of schoolwork from individuals or in class exhibitions showed me the spirit which animates this education. ... It must be remembered that most of the active teachers now are still such as were trained before the war and received their education only in the Russian language. When these are complemented and eventually completely replaced by teachers trained in the Marxstadt Pedagogic Institute, where the curriculum deals with German culture and the language used is German, the education of coming generations of children will receive an even more systematic and deeper formation in this respect.

A great deal is still in the initial stages of development towards national-cultural independence in this Volga German Soviet Republic. Presuming a reasonably good economic situation, it will take decades of undisturbed development to determine whether the Bolsheviks of German origin can accomplish their aim of re-awakening the national-cultural consciousness of the Volga colonists or whether they are merely the tools of a central government which has quite other intentions.7

The second point of interest for the visitors from Germany was the economic situation, which was far from good. After the famine of 1921, during which thousands of people died, and another crop failure in 1924, an average crop in 1925 was not enough to restore economic well-being. The government was trying to be helpful, but its panacea, the formation of co-operatives and collective farms, was not a solution in the eyes of the colonists. Cleinow describes the situation as follows:

40

In the Mennonite villages one sees the blessings of cooperative effort in the splendid black-and-white Dutch herds of cattle, kept pure through a herd book; in the condition of the houses with their near decorative gardens, their granaries and their stables; in the operation of the dairy, in the building activity, in the condition of the roads .... In the other farm villages most activity takes place only as a result of continuous pressure from the leading German Soviet officials, through their constant educational work and their tireless cajoling of the farmers. The effects of this are slow, because many farmers receive with suspicion everything that comes from the Bolsheviks. Nevertheless notable successes have been achieved from 1924 to 1926: the number of farm collectives has grown, i.e. ever more poor farmers are combining to cultivate their land cooperatively, and as a result the credits advanced to such organizations by the state are increasing in amount. In some places dairies and cheese factories have been reestablished and newly equipped with the help of state funds. Accompanying this, there is a gradual reconciliation of the farmers with the Soviet state.

The heroic efforts of the leaders suffer because of the shortage of helpers, especially of German officials, teachers, and agricultural specialists of all kinds. The German colonists need well-trained teachers, knowledgeable on cooperative enterprise, with a good scientific background and practice in livestock breeding and management. The Moscow government makes the economic progress of the farmers more difficult by its great stress on mechanization, before the necessary precondition, the elementary knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic has been attained. The government prefers to deliver tractors to the collectives, rather than oxen or camels, which have survived well during the recent difficult years and are therefore valued by the farmers. This policy is based on the desire to develop industry by creating customers for its products. But what is a farmer to do with a tractor for which he has to haul gasoline and oil for distances of 40 to 100 kilometers, for which he receives no spare parts, and which no one in the neighborhood knows how to keep in operating order. There are no tractor operators around and when one is found it is usually a Russian. The government automobile garage in Pokrovsk is served entirely by Russian mechanics. But the Russians themselves do not have too many of these specialists. The wages which such workers can command in Russian areas, where there is established industry, are so high that the poor Volga Republic cannot compete. The indications therefore are that the progress of the Volga German farmers will be very slow and that it will be a long time before they are again in a position to provide grain for export. There are a hundred large granaries in Pokrovsk unused for years, through which before the war a quarter of a million tons of wheat a year reached the Russian market.8

Saratov on, the Volga in 1908 as photographed by Samuel Reisig. Picture courtesy of Victor A. Reisig.

41

Zienau also sees the economic situation among the Volga Germans as extremely poor, except in the few Mennonite villages. Only a general resupplying of the farms with implements and livestock and the introduction of modern farming methods can restore a viable agricultural industry. The Soviet rulers have made some moves in the right direction, but much remains to be done:

To overcome the effects of the crop failures the central government in Moscow has advanced funds, which appear to have ameliorated the most extreme need. The government at Pokrovsk, on its part, has bought up a large quantity of large-scale-farming equipment and, with the help of farmer cooperatives, has put it to use. The number of farmers served by this equipment, however, is relatively small and the whole effort is quite inadequate to bring a noticeable improvement in the genera! economic situation. Very helpful in making an enlightened judgment on the situation of the colonists and on the condition of the economy of the Volga Republic as a whole is the fact that the land area under cultivation and the livestock population at the present time are still far behind those of the pre-war period. Where in 1910 there were 955,000 dessiatines (100%) of land under cultivation in the German settlement area, there was 798,000 dessiatines (83%) in 1920, 472,000 (45%) in 1923, 556,000 (59%) in 1924 and 630,000 (65%) in 1925. The numbers of livestock decreased from 1,281,917 head in 1916 to 642,722 head (50.5%) in 1924, the number of animals per farm declining from 14.6 head to 7.2 head on the average. . . .

!(; * *

The "rich farmer" of the pre-war period no longer exists among the Volga Germans. Only in those cases where the Grossfamilie [three-generation family], working together, permits the rational use of the means of

production and the labor force to carry on a mixed farming operation, are there above-average economic results attained. . . . * * *

State farms, an agricultural experimental station and large-scale remedial projects, through practical models and promotion, are to raise the standard of agriculture generally. Although the state farms are just in their infancy and thus not yet a significant factor, the accomplishments of the experimental station at Krassny -Kut are noteworthy. This institute operates under the scientific leadership of well-known and able agronomists and its practical sense and purpose is promoted extraordinarily well by its observable demonstrations of theoretical experimental results. If the German colonists on the Volga ever obtain seed grains really suitable for their soil and climate, so as to decrease the terrors of recurring natural catastrophes, this experimental station will deserve the greatest recognition for it.

To round out the economic picture of the Volga Republic there has to be mention of the textile home industry in the Canton Balzer and the industrial enterprises in Marxstadt. A factory for farm implements, now concentrating on a particular type of tractor, flour mills, sawmills, and a tobacco factory, which produces makhorka, along with the home industry in Balzer, make up the industrial establishment of the Republic. Like the Balzer home industry, the state-owned enterprises in Marxstadt are completely dependent for their success on the economic condition of the farm colonists, for their products are not suitable for export,9

This was the situation in the German Volga Republic in 1926 and 1927, as these visitors saw it. The year 1928 was to bring the beginnings of a reign of terror to force the farmers to accept the collectivization of agriculture. The most successful farmers were labeled kulaks and deported to slave labor camps in Siberia. The rest, with the same threat hanging over them, had to submit to Communist regimentation.

Notes

1. AHSGR<foywa/,Vol.2,No.3,(Winter l979), pp. l8-24. 2. Georg Cleinow, "Die Deutsche Wolga-Republik," Osteuropa 1 (1926-27), pp. 128-140. 3. Oswald Zienau, "Kultureller und wirtschaftlicher Wiederaufbau in der Deutschen Wolgarepublik," Osteuropa 3 (1927-28),

pp. 45-52. 4. Cleinow, pp. 130-132. This, and other extracts from Cleinow and Zienau, translated from the German by Adam Giesinger. 5. Cleinow, p. 138. 6. Zienau, p. 46.

42

7. Zienau, pp. 48-49. 8. Cleinow, pp. 138-139. 9. Zienau, pp. 50-51.

Editor's Note: Copies of the original German articles by Grabowsky, Cleinow, and Zienau concerning the Volga German Republic have been donated to the AHSGR Archives by Professor Giesinger.

HEIMATLAND - HOME

Christian Idler

Do you know that land where the acacias bloom, In the fields the poppies and sunflowers glow;

Where poplars tall, on vine-covered hills still loom, In broad valleys the grazing cattle low?

Do you know that land where the melons ripen Where, in winter, the wolves still wander;

And over the steppe and through the villages Go as restless as once the gypsy bands?

Do you know that land, 'tween Dniester and the Prut Under the far-off southern skies of blue;

Where far into the distance, to the Black Sea The corn and cereal-grain fields once waved?

You know it well, the land that for a hundred years Was once our homeland, arduously acquired;

That broad, beautiful, quiet steppe-land That sunny land on the distant Black Sea strand!

-Translated by Herman D. Wildermuth

Editor's Note: The author of the poem above recalls Lichtental, the Bessarabian village in which he was bomin 1893.

43

PASSAGE TO RUSSIA: WHO WERE THE EMIGRANTS?

Lew Malinowski

Translated by Hildegard Keller Schwabauer

With this issue, the Journal concludes the series of articles on the German colonization of Russia which appeared originally between 14 September and 19 October 1976 in Neues Leben, the weekly newspaper for Germans in the Soviet Union, published by the Moscow offices of Pravda, official newspaper of the Communist Party. The author is a Soviet historian whose specialty is the history of the Germans in Russia before 1917. His work draws on materials from the earliest days of colonization which have been preserved in Soviet archives not open to western researchers. For previous translations in the series see AHSGR Work-paper No. 25 and AHSGR Journal Vol. I, No. 1, and Vol. 2. Nos. 1 and 3.

Part V The Long Trail of the Poor

The most difficult question that can be raised concerning class structure among the emigrants from the German lands still remains: the problem of determining to which class the Volga German immigrants belonged.

But here too the overall picture is perfectly clear. They were poor people, victims of the economic depression following the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) that devastated many German lands. As one can easily imagine, the method of recruiting and accepting colonists in the German cities encouraged the participation of the poor and even the very poor. D. Schmidt quotes a contemporary of these events: "Everyone was accepted regardless of circumstances, the bad and the good, the clothed and the unclothed."1

This was true of the crown colonies, and even more so of those who were recruited by private "solicitors" and by the notorious Baron Caneau de Beauregard, the founder of the city of Baronsk (later Kathe-rinenstadt, now Marx).

"I consider these Beauregard colonists a singular assortment of thieves and tramps from whom the country will never gain even the smallest benefit," the Russian envoy Simolin wrote from Regensburg on 2 August 1766.2 According to Letters Regarding the Emigration of Subjects, Especially to Russia^ a pamphlet which appeared in 1768, "These new settlers are mostly the sort of people who have nothing, and have nothing to lose, and who are trying to improve their conditions because they can't get any worse" (page 7).

These letters were written by an anonymous author who was favorably disposed toward the emigration and the Russian regime and who had no good words for the German rulers and their governments. He divided the emigrants into three classes. Because they were entirely destitute, it goes without saying that they did not get to Russia by their own means. On the contrary, because of their extreme poverty everything was provided for them by the Russian crown and its agents in Germany-food, shelter, even clothing, when they took in "unclothed" persons. The rule requiring emigrants to show assets of 300 guilders came much later, i.e., in 1804 after the government had already had some experience with colonists.

But from the time of the first recruitments and the official edicts of Catherine II in 1763 until the beginning of the nineteenth century, emigrants did not have to prove solvency. In 1804 an anonymous author writing in a pamphlet opposing emigration complains that "Russia does not even think of advertising for skilled artisans, artists, manufacturers, craftsmen, or experienced farmers, but only for masses of people ... to take in ... slovenly householders .. . and lazy people whose loss to the Fatherland will not be great. "(Previously cited pamphlet of 1804, pp. 17 and 48.)

This was the opinion their contemporaries had about the colonists, the future Volga Germans who were then embarking at Luebeck. And this opinion can be doubly reinforced; first, by economic and financial records of the times, and second, by the expressed opinion of the colonists themselves. For example, in Luebeck in 1766, 240 pairs of shoes had to be provided for the colonists-90 pairs for men, 126 pairs for women, and 24 pairs for children—before they could embark. On the average, each pair of shoes cost no more than two and one half taler, but it was still up to the crown to see that these barefoot new subjects had shoes and to pay for them.3 The crown also had to provide and pay for warm clothing for many of the colonists.4

The great number of little things that had to be provided on credit for the immigrants can be illustrated by the account of the colonist Michael Lustig for the year 1772: for shoes, 57.5 kopecks; for living quar-

44

ters, firewood, straw, and medicine, twice, one ruble fifty kopecks each; advance for the purchase of "several items" 2 rubles, 631/2 kopecks, etc. A person of some means would not have had to bother about advances of this type. In this manner a total of 125 rubles was advanced to M. Lustig. Of that, 62 rubles, 71 kopecks went for food and the man and his family had to live on that for seven and one half months,5 This was certainly no festive life at government expense, but it seems that it was better than what he would have experienced in his homeland.

No wonder that upon then- arrival in Russia these poor people had nothing to show but debts. In Petersburg in 1765, for example, an inventory was made of the belongings of a weaver who had come from Germany in 1763. It was found that he possessed one caftan with vest worth ten rubles and a pair of boots and one hat worth eight kopecks each. In all, his "assets" amounted to seventeen rubles and sixty-one kopecks, but he had debts of twenty-one rubles!6

Another inventory was made in 17727 because the colonist Christopher Falk died en route to Russia. The same picture of poverty can be seen here as well: one green caftan, old boots, two tattered (so described in the document) black shirts, an old hat, a well-worn sheepskin coat. The trunk he left behind was certainly no goldmine. Only the leather aprons and the knife "with saws" indicated that he had been a craftsman. And the book indicated that the man could read—but this did not make him richer.

So we can see that the immigrants were often very poor people. They had nothing to lose at home, nor did they have any hope of building better lives for themselves in their homeland. All their hopes were tied to Russia. And actually, as soon as they obtained a horse and a piece of land in the Russian steppes, they became farmers, and not bad ones at that. But how they became real farmers is, however, another chapter in the history of the Soviet Germans.

Notes

1. D. Schmidt, "Studien ueber die Geschichte der Wolgadeutschen," M., 1930, p. 33. 2. Central Archive for Old Documents (ZGADA), Fonds 283, Rep. 1, No. 61, p. 219. 3. ZGADA, Fonds 283, Rep. 1, No. 4, p. 41. 4. ZGADA, Fonds 283, Rep. 1, No. 158, pp. 69-70. 5. ZGADA, Fonds 283, Rep. 1, No. 4, p. 2. 6. ZGADA, Fonds 283, Rep. 1, No. 47, pp. 9,15. 7. ZGADA, Fonds 283, Rep. 1, No. 47, pp. 173,315-318.

Strive and Achieve Man to Man

Paul Sinkwitz Otto Sluytherman von Langeweylde

45

AN INTERVIEW WITH LYDIA KRETZ: OBSERVATIONS OF A SOVIET-GERMAN MEMBER OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE USSR

Translated by Philippe Edel

The following article appeared last summer in a Soviet publication distributed in West Germany.1 Although it is a propaganda document which reflects the current party line about the Germans in Russia, its content will be of interest to many members of AHSGR. The translation is by Phil Edel, -with editing by Adam Giesinger, who supplied the notes and map,

In the spring of 1979 Lydia Kretz was elected as a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR by 300,000 Germans living in the Rayon Slavgorod in the Altai region. At the first meeting of the Tenth Legislative Session she met for the first time another member of German origin, Natalia Gellert, a tractor driver from Kazakhstan. These two are the only representatives of the Soviet Germans who participate in the work of the highest legislative body in the USSR. This is only small representation, but there are many German members of local Soviets, as well as of the Soviets of the individual republics. Many Germans also hold leading positions in industry and agriculture and in the Communist Party. In a word, they take part in the economic and political life of the land at all levels. The fact that a German milkmaid from a distant village in the Altai region suddenly became a member of the Supreme Soviet is therefore not surprising.

Lydia Kretz, one of two Soviet-German members of the highest legislative body of the USSR, the Supreme Soviet. Elected last spring to represent 300,000 fellow Germans living in the Rayon Slavgorod in the Altai region, Ms. Kretz is a dairy farm worker. Photo courtesy of Press Agency Novosti.

Before her departure from Moscow, Lydia Kretz granted the following interview to our correspondent. Q. Before your election to the Supreme Soviet, you were a member of your village soviet. As such, what did you do to improve life in your village? A. The people came to me with their problems and I tried to help them. For example, I saw to it that all were provided with coal for the winter, that they all had the means to repair their houses, or that an ailing woman living alone would receive a higher pension. I remember with satisfaction among other things that it was through my efforts that all houses were connected to the water system, which solved the people's water supply problem. Naturally, as a member of the Supreme Soviet, I now have to take part in the solution of much more momentous problems.

46

Q. You have been working for something like twenty years as a milker. Do you regard this activity as your vocation? A. Milking is only one phase of the work on a dairy farm. There is also the care of the cows and the calves, the feeding of the animals, and the very important work with the breeding stock. For this one requires not only dexterous hands, certain types of knowledge and skills, patience and a certain amount of endurance, but also something that is fundamental for this work, the love of animals.

Work on a dairy farm was my dream from childhood. I started when I was fifteen years old. At first I was given the task of feeding the animals; then I was entrusted with the care of the calves. Later I took over the milking brigade, although the job was given to me with some hesitancy. I proved in the first year that I could do it as well as my predecessor. 1 succeeded in increasing milk production by the brigade from 3240 liters to 3660 liters per cow annually. I don't know whether this work is my vocation, but it gives me satisfaction.

The present conditions on the dairy farm cannot be compared with those often years ago. The work is now mechanized. We have 400 cows and there are 22 milkers on the farm, divided into groups. My group, for example, looks after 32 cows. With the help of mechanization we are able to increase milk production considerably. In the past year the average production was 3300 liters per cow. That is very good under the conditions in the Kulunda steppe, where not so long ago a maximum of 2500 liters per cow was acceptable. Q. Your eldest daughter is now in the seventh grade and is probably thinking about her future profession. Will she enter her mother's occupation? A. It is too early to judge how serious her present intentions are. Her most recently expressed desire was to become a seamstress. In any event, she is not likely to remain on the collective farm, but will probably go to Barnaul for higher education. Q. Assuming she decides to take the entrance examination for a technical school or university, will her German background not be an obstacle? A. I think it's high time to stop the rumors that Soviet Germans are discriminated against. They are citizens like everyone else. Thousands of them have attended technical schools and universities and work in their professions in technical and intellectual fields. Among my neighbors there are, for example, an engineer in the security service, a construction engineer, a teacher, an agronomist, a veterinarian, and a livestock breeder, I meet them often and no one of them has ever complained about his life. They like their work and receive adequate pay. In short, their German background is no obstacle for them to live as they please. Q. Are there many Germans in your collective? Is it known when they came to this region? A. Our collective includes two villages, Konstantinowka and Schumanowka, where the central office is located. In Schumanowka2 there are Germans, Russians, and Kazakhs, but Konstantinowka has Germans only. At the present time ninety-six families live there. So far as the history of the village is concerned, you probably know that German colonists have been living in Russia since Peter the Great. In the second half of the last century a wave of emigrants from the Volga region and the Ukraine moved to the North Caucasus, to Siberia, and to Central Asia. This movement resulted from capitalistic differentiation in the German villages and the persecution of Germans by the Tsarist regime. The migrants were predominantly landless poor who hoped to improve their lot on the uninhabited steppes of the east. Some of them became the founders of Zimmertal,3 as Konstantinowka was formerly called. They built sod houses here and began to plow the virgin land. For the history of the village it is better to ask the surviving old-timers, of whom not many are left. They should be spoken to in German, if possible in their dialect, which resembles Swabian, for they do not understand Russian very well. Q. One obviously could not say the same thing about the young people in Konstantinowka, could one? A. All of us consider German as our mother tongue, but parents also speak Russian to their children. And with the children, in the spoken word, both languages hold about an equal place. Q. How does that come about? A. Probably through the fact that instruction in the village school in a number of subjects is in Russian, although German too, from the second grade onward, is taught to quite a large extent. Because in Konstantinowka there is only an elementary school, the children continue their education in the ten-class boarding school located in neighboring Schumanowka. There they learn and live five days a week, spending only Saturdays and Sundays at home. At the boarding school they continue to learn German, but naturally have more practice in Russian. Hence one hears both German and Russian in our families. The mother tongue has not been forgotten among us, but it may be that our children's children will speak only Russian.

47

Q. Do you see a certain necessity for this? A. It is obviously to be regretted when a person forgets his mother tongue. But what would be the consequence if the village school was a German school, in which Russian was taught only as a foreign language? After leaving such a school the children would sooner or later run into difficulties. There is no guarantee that they will remain forever in their native village or that they will move to another equally German village. Many of them will become scattered all over the country. And everywhere, whether it is work in a factory or mine, or university study or in learned professions, everywhere they will require the Russian language to some degree. Russian has become for the 226 million people of this land the language that has to be understood by all. Without it, it is impossible to realize the many-sided contacts required within the state. Q. If the mother tongue is not to fall into disuse, must one not cultivate it beyond everyday conversation, also in other activities, such as reading? A. Correct. In this respect there is no problem with literature in Konstantinowka. The village library has an adequate number of German books, classical works as well as contemporary literature from German-speaking countries, published by Soviet and foreign firms, and also works by Soviet-German authors and poets. The people of our village also have German-language books in their homes and the collective farmers subscribe to newspapers published for Soviet-Germans in their mother tongue, the central newspaper Neues Leben and our district newspaper Rote Fahne, which appears in four pages twice a week. We receive newspapers and periodicals also from the German Democatic Republic.4

You can hear the German language directly not only on the street and in the homes, but also in our House of Culture, where the inhabitants of the village spend their leisure hours and where amateur concerts are presented in which old and young participate. Here old German songs, as well as songs by Soviet composers are sung, some of them translated from Russian into German by our young people on their own initiative. Here too the traditional dances, passed on from generation to generation, are presented, as well as new ones which arose in the Altai region. In other words, folksongs and folkdances become entwined with folklore and with modern forms and in both cases the mother tongue plays a primary role. Q. Among the traditions surely religion also plays its part? A. In our village there arc many believers, all Catholics. But the developments of the last decades have in my view brought many corrections. The religious feasts are still celebrated and certain customs and practices characteristic of Catholicism still remain. But there have been cases of men and women entering a second marriage when their former spouses were still alive. And the believing parents among us arc quite tolerant. They react with composure when their children become atheists, as when they Join the Communist Youth organization. Our Catholics have preserved their faith but have not been orthodox in it for a long time. Q. From the second half of the fifties till today several ten-thousands of Germans have left the USSR for the German Federal Republic, mainly to re-unite families. What do you think of that? A. It is difficult for me to answer that question, for I have never met any of these people. I consider it possible that a person might have valid enough reasons to make such a decision. It is well known that the war separated many Soviet families, among them Soviet Germans. When the Hitler Fascist occupation forces retreated, they forced the Volksdeutsche, as they called the native Germans in the occupied territories, to leave their homes to go to Germany. Later the Soviet troops liberated the majority of these expelled Germans, who then returned home.5 Some, however, remained behind on the territory of the present German Federal Republic. One can understand family members wanting to join them.

So far as the Germans in the Altai region are concerned, it is unlikely that there arc people among them who want to emigrate. So far as I know, no one from our area has gone to the German Federal Republic and no one has the intention of going. We arc rooted in this region; this is our home; its progress depends upon us. We know that we are needed here. We cannot imagine giving up our homes and moving to a foreign country merely because German is spoken there. Every kind of nationalism is foreign to us. Q. In the West the view is frequently expressed that all Soviet Germans yearn for the days when they lived in their autonomous republic on the Volga. Do you think that your German constituents are likely to come to you with the request that you propose in the Supreme Soviet the reestablishment of this republic? How would you react? A. First I must say that it is unlikely that my immediate electors will make such a request of me, for the overwhelming majority of them did not come from the Volga and therefore have no homesickness for it.6

48

Their grandfathers who settled here in the Altai, founded the first villages, endured the hardships and got the farming started. Then, united in collectives, in company with Russians and people of other nationalities, they built socialism. Several generations of Germans have now succeeded each other here.

Further, it seems to me that most of the former Volga Germans, who were resettled in eastern regions at the beginning of the war and have participated in the opening up of the new land, are probably not too eager to give their life another sudden turn and resettle again somewhere else. If is my view that the restoration of the former Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of the Volga Germans in any desired variation, be it as Autonomous SSR of the Germans of Kazakhstan or as Autonomous SSR of the Germans of Siberia, is hardly possible today. The people lived scattered over a vast area of land and have put down deep roots where they are. They have no common territory. An unavoidable assimilation is taking place with their neighbors, Russians, Kazakhs, Tatars, etc. All this makes the founding of an autonomous republic more difficult.

Up to this time no one has made any proposal to me about the urgent necessity of granting national autonomy to the Soviet Germans. If such a proposal is made by my constituents. I shall see to it that the question is referred to the appropriate commission of the Supreme Soviet, which can analyze the pros and cons.

Slavgorod Hennonite < Villages

W

Notes

1. Sowfetumon Heute, Vol. 24, No. 8 (August 1979), published by the press division of the Embassy of the USSR in the German Federal Republic, in collaboration with the Press Agency Novosti (APN).

2. Schumanowka was formerly a Mennonite village. Presumably there were still Mennonites there, but apparently also many Russians and Kazakhs.

3. Zimmertal, founded about 1909, is a Catholic village close to the Mennonite settlement area in the Slavgorod region. See the map. 4. The German Democratic Republic is the official name of Communist East Germany. 5. This is a rather fanciful description of the cruel Soviet deportation of the Nazi repatriates to slave labor camps in the north and east. 6. Most (but not all) of the German villages in the Slavgorod region were founded by Mennonites and other Germans from the Black Sea

region. All of them predated the first world war. The founders of Lydia Kretz's own village, Zimmertal, came predominantly from the Catholic colonies near Odessa. The name Kretz = Gretz occurred in Kleinliebental.

49

Zlinmerta.l ^ - Schumanowka /

,-- o l-" ^ ^ Kulunda

For more details regarding the German villages in this region see the Stunpp map*

Karte der deutschen Siedlungen in den Gebieten Omsk, Sla^gorod. und Zeiinograd.

RECENT NEWS ON GERMANS FROM RUSSIA

Emma Schwabenland Haynos

Germans in the Soviet Union are seldom mentioned in American newspapers or magazines. For that reason, I am very grateful to Dr. Wilfried Schlau, a professor of sociology and social history at the University of Mainz in Germany, who for the past nine years has been mailing to me newspaper and magazine articles about Germans from Russia. In the material which came around Christmas, he included a clipping from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of 24 September 1979. It tells that in Bonn about two hundred Soviet Germans, many of whom had just arrived from Russia, held a parade to a monument erected to the victims of forced deportations in the USSR. There they laid a wreath and made speeches explaining the purpose of the demonstration.

Many people in the parade carried home-made banners on which they asked for the release of relatives from such places as Karaganda in Kazakhstan or Tolkmak in the Kirghiz Soviet Republic. Another man carried a banner saying, "USSR Communists murdered my mother, father, and brother in concentration camps. I myself was given a ten year sentence." Passing Germans who had never heard of Soviet Germans before were often puzzled by these signs and asked if Nazi concentration camps were meant. They were told in no uncertain terms that such camps did exist in Russia as well as in Naxi Germany.

Along with the parade, delegations of Germans from Russia went to see representatives of the Foreign Office. They brought with them lists of .1,782 family heads, representing 10,000 individuals who wanted to leave Russia. They also expressed concern that the number of Germans receiving permission to emigrate has declined in recent years. In 1976 nearly 10,000 Germans had been allowed to resettle in Germany, but this number has shrunk to only 7,000 in 1979. Another delegation went to the office of the Chancellor, who told them that he sympathized with their goals and would do everything in his power to support them.

Dr. Schlau also sent an article from Der Spiegel, a magazine similar to Time and Newsweek, which was dated 15 October 1979. The article begins by telling that every week airplanes arrive in Frankfurt bringing Germans from the Soviet Union. Until 1941 they had lived in such places as along the Volga and m the Ukraine, but after Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, all had been ordered deported to Soviet Asia and Siberia. Today nearly two million Germans are scattered throughout the Soviet Union. They have not been allowed to return to their former homes in the European part of the country. Neither have they been able to organize an autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic even though they exceed in numbers the Estonians and Latvians who constitute two of the fifteen major units of the government.

During recent years, Germans in the Soviet Union have sent petitions to the UN and the L'SA asking for support in their desire to leave Russia for Germany. They have demonstrated in Red Square and have broken through police barriers before the German embassy in Moscow. On 12 July 1979, a group of twenty-six Soviet Germans gathered in Frunze to ask for permission to emigrate. They were arrested on charges of "rowdyism" and two of them, Nikolaus Repp, a chauffeur, and Jakob Neuen, a kolkhoz farmer, were sentenced to two years in a prison camp. (Although Der Spiegel gives the names of the two arrested Germans as Jakob Neuen and Nikolaus Repp, the kolkhoz farmer should have been identified as Jakob Neu. Repp, whose first name was germanized in the magazine, is known to his family as Nikolai.)

Germans are prized workers in the collective farms of Siberia and Soviet Asia, but if the Russian government wants to retain their loyalty, Der Spiegel argues, they should be treated on a par with other ethnic groups. It is probably for this reason that the formerly taboo subject of a homeland for the Soviet Germans was openly discussed for the first time by Lydia Kretz, who is the German representative of Siberia's Altai region in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In an interview with a journalist of Sow/etunion Heute which is distributed by the Russian Embassy in Bonn, she responded to a question about the reestablishment of the German Volga Republic, with the words "kaum moglich" (scarcely possible). However, she did raise the possibility of an Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of the German people of Kasakhstan or of Siberia. She stated that if her constituency in the Altai made such a request, she would see to it that it be taken under consideration by the proper committee of the highest Soviet law-making body. [Editor's Note: For a translation of the full interview to which Der Spiegel refers, see "An Interview with Lydia Kretz: Observations of a Soviet-German Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR" in this issue of the AHSGR Journal.}

Der Spiegel wonders, in telling this story, if perhaps the Russians are worried about the rising tide of nationalism among the Mohammedans of Central Asia. They may hope that the Germans will prove to be a stabilizing factor there, as well as a bulwark against Mohammedans and Chinese outside the country.

50

Members of an ethnic minority forced to choose between assimilation or emigration, the Kehler family is reunited at the Friedland border transit camp near Goettingen, West Germany. The Kehlers emigrated from the Soviet Union in late September 1979 with thirteen of their children. One son and a daughter had already proceeded them to the Federal Republic. Here the family poses for a rare group portrait. Photo reprinted from the Koelner Stadt Anzeiger (11 December 1979).

A third article, again from the Frankfurter Allgeneine Zeitung describes the frustration which many Germans feel when they come from the Soviet Union to Germany. While they are still in Russia, Germany seems like a paradise to them, but when they at last get permission to come to the country of their dreams, they find themselves involved in an endless battle with the bureaucrats. The experiences of the family of Wilhelm Goetz, who was born in the colony of Glueckstai in the Ukraine, may be taken as an example. On 6 April 1978, shortly after the family had reached a temporary camp in Germany, they brought their request for "Heimkehrer Bescheinigung" (certification of being refugees) to the proper office in Giessen. They then waited and waited without receiving an answer. In September 1978 they were told that their request had been sent to Darmstadt, but when Mr. Gotz drove to Darmstadt, he was informed that the certificates should have been issued in Giessen. Around 1 October, a letter came saying that his request had been sent to Darmstadt after all. However the matter continued to drag on. Whenever Mr. Gotz appeared, he was told, "I'm sorry, but I've got too much work today. Come again next week." Finally on 25 May 1979, the father finally got his "Heimkehrbescheinigung," and based upon this certification, was given compensation for having been deported by the Russians to Central Asia after the Germans brought him to Poland in World War II. However, his wife and son, who had been deported with him and shared his eleven years in a special settlement in Kirghizia, did not receive any compensation. On 23 October 1979, the family went once more to Darmstadt to ask about this. They were then told to present proof that they had actually been deported. This made them very angry because the fact that the entire family was deported had been adequately covered in many of the papers which had already been submitted. The Frankfurt paper ends the article by urging all German people, but especially office workers, to be helpful and kind to these émigrés who suffered so much during and after World War II. The comment is made that if a native German often has difficulties with bureaucratic forms, just think how much more Wicult these papers are for people who were born outside of the country.

There was a final article from the Koelner Stadt Anzeiger of 11 December 1979. The paper repeats that the number of Soviet Germans receiving permission to come to Germany has sunk in the last three years. This is true in spite of the fact that every year the German Embassy in Moscow receives 25,000 letters from people in Germany asking that their relatives be allowed to leave Russia. If one estimates that each family has four members, this would be a figure of 100,000. The number of people wanting to emigrate does

51

riot become less in time, because every person who enters Germany leaves behind additional relatives who want to get out. The newspaper in Cologne then talks about Lydia Kretz, who is a German representative in the highest soviet, and who

recently mentioned the possibility of a new German Socialist Republic being organized. However, she used so many hedging words, that this seems an impossible goal.

The newspaper comments further that German intellectuals were virtually eliminated in the Stalinist period, and as a whole. Soviet Germans do not represent a high cultural level. There are to be sure sixteen German members of the Writers' Union, but they have relatively little influence upon the masses. On the other hand, Germans are always respected for their contribution to the working forces of the land, and for that reason alone, their requests to emigrate are often refused.

The attitude of the Soviet Germans varies from a desire to leave the country, because they see no possibility of equal treatment with other ethnic groups, to a wish to be assimilated into their Russian surroundings and intermarry with their Russian neighbors. The Soviet government hopes, of course, that the latter group is in the majority.

I had just finished writing these summaries when I received a large manila envelope from the woman whom I referred to as "Lydia" in Work Paper No. 24 (Fall 1977), pp. 4-18. Lydia and her husband Alexander were among the Volga Germans deported to Siberia in the fall of 1941. After many harrowing experiences, they were allowed to emigrate to Germany with their unmarried children in June 1975. It came as a surprise to me that Lydia is the sister of Nikolai Repp, who was mentioned in Der Spiegel as having been arrested on charges of rowdyism.

According to Lydia, Nikolai was a twelve year old child who had just finished the fourth grade when the family was deported. After they reached Siberia, he was immediately put to work on a collective farm and

Soviet German Nikolai Repp with his wife Erna and their two younger daughters Margarita and Larisa photographed shortly before his arrest. The fifty year old truck driver was sentenced to two years in a tabor camp for alleged "rowdyism" after making known his wishes to emigrate from the Soviet Union. With her husband imprisoned, Mrs. Repp is forced to support herself and four daughters on a n-.eagre ninety rubles a month. Photo courtesy of Lydia Schwindt,

52

never had a chance to go to school again. During his lifetime he held various jobs and was employed in 1979 as a truck driver for a brick factory in Frunze. He tried repeatedly to get permission for himself and his family to Join Lydia and her husband in Germany.

In her letter to me, Lydia enclosed a report from her sister-in-law which told what had happened on 12 July 1979. Nikolai, along with twenty-five other Germans who wanted to emigrate, had been asked to come to Communist headquarters in Frunze to talk to an official there. They were standing in front of the building waiting to be admitted, when a police wagon pulled up and everyone was told to get in. Mr. Repp and the others tried to explain that they had been asked to come to Communist headquarters and were doing no wrong. But in spite of their protestations, their arms were twisted behind them and they were all pushed into the waiting van. When it came to Repp's turn, he stiffened his body as hard as he could. The van then brought the Germans to a police station where everyone had to give his name and address but was then released.

A few days later, when Nikolai had some business to do in Frunze, he met a police officer who promptly put him under arrest and carried him off to jail. Here he was charged with rowdyism and of having hit a policeman under the shoulder blades before being taken to police headquarters on 12 July.

On 7 August 1979, when his trial took place, no Germans were allowed in court except Erna Repp, his wife, and three German witnesses for the defense. These men attempted to explain that they had been asked to come to Communist Party headquarters. They stated that they had been with Nikolai Repp when the incident was said to have occurred and that they knew he had not hit a police officer. However, their testimony was not accepted as being objective. The prosecution then called several witnesses whose testimony differed one from the other. Two said that they had not seen Repp hit anyone; a third claimed that Repp had stiffened his body; the fourth thought that he had hindered the police officer with his hands. However, the court accepted their testimony as being against Repp. He was found guilty of being rowdy and of having hit a police officer. His sentence was two years in a labor camp.

Mrs. Erna Repp also added that her husband had been subjected to abuse while he was in prison. On one occasion he had been told, "You are traitors, renegades, and scoundrels who can be bought. Be thankful that this isn't the year 1937. Then we would have twisted your necks immediately. You eat our bread and aren't worthy of it. We ought to hang the lot of you."

THE VOLGA GERMAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN THE GREAT SOVIET ENCYCLOPEDIA

The Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is seldom mentioned in Soviet publications after World War II. It is, therefore, interesting to note what the current edition (III) of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia has to say about the abolished autonomous republic (Bolshaya Sovietskaya Encyclopedia, IIIrd edition, vol. 17 p. 455; Great Soviet Encyclopedia, English edition, vol. 17, p. 723):

"VOLGA GERMAN AUTONOMOUS SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, a Soviet autonomous republic of the Volga Germans within the RSFSR that existed from 1918 to 1941. The Volga Germans were descendants of colonists who had settled along the lower Volga in the 18th century. On Oct. 19, 1918, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR established the Labor Commune of the Volga Germans, also known as the Autonomous Oblast of the Volga Germans. Under a decree issued by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee the oblast was reorganized as an autonomous Soviet socialist republic. The republic covered an area of 28,200 sq km and was bounded by Saratov and Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd) oblasts and the Kazakh SSR. The capital was Engels. According to the 1939 census, the republic had 605,600 inhabitants, of whom more than 60 percent were Germans.

After fascist Germany attacked the Soviet Union, the republic was abolished by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued on Aug. 28, 1941. The German population was resettled in other regions with state aid and was allocated land. On Aug. 28, 1964, a decree of Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR rescinded the sweeping accusation, unjustly made in 1941, that the Germans living along the Volga had collaborated with the fascist German invaders." Editor's Note: The above information has been provided by Alexander Dupper.

53

WE SING OUR HISTORY

Lawrence A. Weigel

"Our songs have been carried down by the oral tradition." This remark is heard many times when Germans from Russia discuss the treasured heritage of their beautiful folk songs.

It has been said that credit for preserving our songs in Russia must go to the young men who sang almost daily on street corners and at every occasion that presented itself. They were the protectors of the songs and would not let them die. As they became older and a new generation came along, the songs were taught to the youth, and because singing was enjoyed by people of alt ages, the songs were not lost.

In 1914 a fine collection of Volga German folk songs, Volkslieder und Kinderrein .e aus den Wolgakolon-ien, was compiled in Saratov by Pastor J. Erbes and Professor Peter Sinner to commemorate the 150th jubilee of the Volga Germans in Russia. Paster Erbes wrote on that occasion, "Doch unter dem Jubel des Hochzeitstages oeffnet der Wein wie ein Brecheisen den so lange verscholssenen Mund, und die affige Jugend spitzt die Ohren auf der Alten munteren Gesang." ("During the celebration of the wedding days, the wine pried open the long closed mouths of the older singers, and the youth who were quick to imitate, opened their ears to listen and learn the songs from their elders.")

Dr. Georg Schuenemann, author of Das Lied der deutschen Kolonisten in Russtand, a comprehensive collection of Russian German folk songs with notes, wrote that a wedding musician from the Volga region told him that the musicians went first to the groom's house and played three songs, "Wach auf mein Herz," "Mache dich mein Geist bereit," and "Lass mien gehen." A half hour later they went to the bride ^s house and played "Mein Gott, nun wird es wieder Morgen," "Herr Jesu leite mich," and, inside the house, "So nimm denn meine Haende."

Then the march to the church began. On the way the musicians played, "Jesu geh* voran" and other appropriate songs. If the wedding was small, the musical instruments were usually a violin, a clarinet, an accordion, and a drum. For bigger

weddings one would find two violins, two flutes, clarinets, cornets, and perhaps a bass tuba, according to an interview Dr. Schuneinann had with a Volga German musician in a German prison camp during or shortly after World War J. The man was quoted as follows: "Hier spielen einige auf Violinen und zwei oder dreireihiger Zughannonika, da hort man eine Klarinette quinquiliren, dort flimmern Toene einer Floete aus dem Gruenen empor in die Luft, und auch die Mundharmonika und Blasinstrumente wollen dabei oefters ihr Stueck behaupten." ("Here some play the violin, the two or three row accordion and one can hear a clarinet, the glimmering tones from a flute going upwards, and the mouth organ and brass instruments too wishing to assert themselves.")

It is noteworthy that the instruments the man spoke about above which were used during the period of the first world war, differed from those that were used in an earlier time period when the migration to America took place.

In 1876 many areas of the United States were settled by Germans from Russia including Ellis County, Kansas. The instruments brought from Russia and used here in Ellis County by the Volga Germans from seventy-five or more years featured the violin player as the Vorspieler or lead player. No one else dared to play the lead. Usually there were two violin players. No musical group ever played without a dulcimer. It was called a Zymbal or Hackbrett. The cello, called "Die Kuh" or Bassgei, was the rhythm instrument. The beginning of a new era took place around 1930 when instruments such as the trumpet were allowed to play with the old-timers. I played my first church picnic with the old-timers in 1935 as a trumpet player. Prior to 1930 brass instruments were not used.

As time went on the old-time musicians died, and it became more and more difficult to find good violin, dulcimer, and cello players to replace them. To this day, during the afternoon wedding celebrations however, one can still hear the violin playing and the old tunes accompanied by an accordion, dulcimer, and occasionally a piano or electric guitar. Ig Sauer of Hays, Kansas, a son of the old-timer Peter Sauer pictured, can still play the violin today as it was played by the early pioneers. He can play the old Volga German tunes for three or four hours without playing the same tune twice.

For the evening wedding dances, usually attended by crowds of up to 500 people, the orchestras feature the saxophone, trumpet, electric guitar, drums, accordion, and piano. The musicians play the old-time Hochzeits (polkas) and waltzes as taught them by the old-timers, but use the modem instruments. I played the trumpet in such a band for thirty years.

54

Typical Volga German Musical Group Ellis County, Kansas, 1903

Left to right: Felix Werth and Fidelis Sauer, the violin players. The dulcimer player is Anton Saner. (The dulcimer was also known as the Zymbal or Hackbrett On the clarinet (Flaet) is Alexander Befort; Peter Sauer on the cello (Bassgei or Kuh) The instruments used by the above group were the kind played in Russia and brought to America in 1876. Photo courtesy of Ig Sauer, Hays, Kansas.

55

The musical festivities of merriment begin after the wedding meal is eaten. Then people gather around the musicians, and the Braut Lied or "Der Braut Dusch," a toast to the bride and groom, is sung. Then a song entitled "Einsegnung der Brautleute" is sung by everyone. Then the Hausvater steps forward and asks th musicians to play "Ihr "Musikanten tut mir spielen."

IHR MUSIKANTEN TUT MIR SPIELEN

V > " ""' J^ C J 1 i iIhr Mu- si- kan- ten tut mir spielen, spielet mir ein

••V 1 \ 1 • —,* l—^——I——— F^q-^-J——t——^- ; 1 ' • » — ft J B ———ft——4———^^——^

Lied- lein vor, da ich se - he jetzt fur Au- gen eine

f\ u V)** iy J ^ Enft v •' ]

W •L M 0 « "*i <?^ tu -gend same Braut. Song from the Weigel-Pfannenstiel collection, 1956.

Transcribed for L.A. Weigel by G. Groeger

Deutsches Volkslied Archive—Frieburg, Germany

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1. Ihr Musikanten tut mir spielen, Spielet mir ein Liedlein vor, Da ich sehe jetzt fuer Augen Eine Tugendsame Braut.

2. Und der Brautigam steht da neben, Schon und zierlich angekleit, Mit ein Roeslein aufder Brust, Freulich bringt man ihn hervor.

3. Und die Mutter standt da neben, Weinet ja so bitterlich, Weil sie hat das Kind erzogen, Heut' von ihren Herzen bricht.

4. Und der Vater standt da neben, Tretet aufmit einen Bein Da wird Gott euch segen geben, Bitte, schenken sie nur ein.

I ask you musicians, Please play a song for me, I can see in front of my eyes A virtuous bride,

And the groom is standing here, So nice and elegantly dressed With a rose on his lapel; Kindly ask him to come forward.

The mother too is standing here And crying so bitterly, Because she raised this child Who will be torn from her today.

And the Father is standing here And stomps with his foot- Surely God will bless you; Please start passing out the drinks.

ADDITIONS TO THE LOAN COLLECTION

Memories of the Black Sea Germans by Joseph S. Height. Published by the author and associated sponsors, Franklin, Indiana, 1979. 380 pp., many illustrations and maps.

Reviewed by Adam Giesinger.

This is the third volume of Dr. Height's trilogy on the Black Sea Germans. The two earlier volumes, Paradise on the Steppe and Homesteaders on the Steppe, were reviewed in Work Paper No. 22 (Winter 1976), p. 33. This third book, like the earlier ones, is attractively printed and interesting to read. It deserves a wide readership among our people.

As many of our readers will know, this is the last of Dr. Height's books. He was ailing when he was seeing it through the printing process and died before the bound copies were ready for distribution.

His Foreword explains the origin and the purpose of this book. After finishing the two earlier volumes, he found himself still in possession of a considerable amount of historical and cultural material that he had not been able to incorporate into those books. Rather than consign this interesting material to the limbo of oblivion, as he puts it, he decided to publish it in a third volume, which would serve as a supplement to the other two. This book therefore contains the choice leftovers from his previous works, hence a potpourri of topics.

The contents of the book can be described under the following headings: (1) documents of the era of migration to Russia; (2) life of the colonists in the early years; (3) experiences of individuals and groups during the second world war and its aftermath; (4) customs and traditions of our people; (5) chronicles of four scattered Black Sea colonies; (6) Germans from Russia pioneering in the Dakotas; and (7) the history of St. Joseph's Colony in Saskatchewan.

The first chapter gives us a translation of Catherine's manifesto of 1763 and of the decree of February 1804 promulgated by the government of Alexander I, as well as of a number of other documents connected with the German immigration to Russia. This is followed by an interesting description, with maps, of the migration routes used by the Germans traveling to Russia in the early 1800's, the means of transportation they used, the difficulties they faced on the route, and the time taken by the journey. The disastrous Swabian expedition down the Danube in 1817 receives special attention: the chapter devoted to it in Homesteaders is repeated, as well as the Schwarz, Bidlingsmaier, and Hoehn documents that appeared in the earlier work. Also repeated from Homesteaders is the biography of the Due de Richelieu, governor-general of New Russia during the settlement era, who was a special benefactor of the early settlers in the Odessa area. A later chapter deals with a topic to which Dr. Height had given special study, the emigration from Alsace to Russia in the early 1800's; included is a list of the Alsatian families involved in this movement.

There are several accounts of the life of the colonists in the early years. Among them are a lengthy letter of 1817 from a recently arrived Swiss immigrant then living in Mariental/Odessa, describing conditions in the Liebental colonies at that time; an extract from the memoirs of another immigrant describing a visit of Tsar Alexander I to these colonies in 1821; and a whole chapter, repeated from Homesteaders, about a visit to the Liebental colonies in 1838 by the German traveler J. G. Kohl. There is also an interesting section devoted to clarifying the nature of the "Labor Services" that the German colonists were required to give to the Russian authorities, a matter which has been misinterpreted by some writers.

More recent history is represented by a detailed description of the trek to Germany in March 1944 of the colonists of Hoffnungsfeld (reprinted from Homesteaders)', a description of Christmas in a Soviet slave labor camp; experiences reported by recent emigrants from the Soviet Union now in Germany; and the reminiscences of a refugee mother now in Canada, including a description of her visit to her children in Asiatic Russia in 1977.

Three chapters are devoted to the customs and culture of our people, always favorite topics of Dr. Height. Included here are nursery rhymes, marriage customs, Christmas traditions, stories in the Kutschurgan dialect, and a number of poems in German and in English translation.

In Paradise and in Homesteaders Dr. Height had confined his attention to the German colonies in the Odessa district. Here he presents chronicles of four Catholic colonies in other parts of the Black Sea region: Rosental in the Crimea, Heidelberg in the Molotschna district, and Krasna and Balmas in Bessarabia. Included are lists of founding families and village plans.

57

It is appropriate that a chapter in this book is devoted to reminiscences of Germans from Russia who pioneered in the Dakotas. Many of the pioneers in these prairie states are descendants of the people whose story is told in Height's two earlier volumes. This chapter might well have been expanded.

As his final labor of love, Dr. Height gives an eighty-page history of St. Joseph's Colony, his home area in northwest Saskatchewan. Beginning with the arrival of the first settlers in 1905-1906, among them his father and grandfather, he traces the progress of the colony from its pioneer beginnings to the present time, His beloved Kutschurganer in the Tramping Lake and Revenue districts receive the most attention, but other parts of the colony are not ignored.

The book ends with personal reflections by the author: an account of his career as he wanted posterity to remember it and a nostalgic look back at his visits to his ancestral home in Alsace.

Although, as indicated above, there is some repetition of material that appeared in the earlier Height books, particularly in Homesteaders, Memories of the Black Sea Germans has much valuable new material that makes it an important addition to the literature on the Germans from Russia.

The printing job is excellent, but there is one annoying error, a transposition of material on page 281, which was not caught in the proofreading. Lines 17-40 on this page should precede line 1-16. A correction should be printed and distributed to the purchasers of the book.

Memories of the Black Sea Germans is available for purchase from AHSGR, 631 D Street, Lincoln, NE 68502 at $12.50 per copy for members of the Society ($13.00 for non-members) plus $1.00 for postage and handling.

Emmons County History: Compiled for the Bicentennial, by Ellen Woods and Euvagh Wenzel, editors. Linton, North Dakota: Emmons County Historical Society, 1976. 206 pp.

Reviewed by Lewis R. Marquardt.

Containing over 500 pictures and 171 pages of text-the remaining 3 5 pages are devoted to four pages of index and a table of contents, as well as the traditional advertisements characteristic of a book of this sort—Emmons County History: Compiled/or the Bicentennial is another in the long line of "jubilee" books which have proven of great interest and value to many local citizens. This hard-bound, nine by eleven inch book, written under the sponsorship of the Emmons County [North Dakota] Historical Society at the request of the Emmons County Bicentennial Committee, differs from others, however, through its abundant use of historical source material Both editors are long term residents of Emmons County: Mrs. Woods presently serves as County Treasurer and Mrs, Wenzel as City [Linton, the county seat] Librarian. Each holds an ardent interest in local history, and in preparation for the book has had access to all past issues of the Emmons County Record as well as all issues of the early Winona Times which in 1885 began as the Winona Lancette. (Winona, in the west-central part of the country and now under the stored-up waters of the Oahe Reservoir, began as early as 1873-1874 when "a small village grew up across the river, called the 'Devil's Colony*" [p. 72]. The first Germans from Russia entered and settled in the southeast corner of the young county as early as 1884.) In addition the editors have also had access to their local historical society files, certain county and state vital statistics, W.P.A. Historical Data Project forms, and various friendships and acquaintances built up over the years. The book contains many highlights and anecdotes, several of them involving the county's rather large population of Germans from Russia. Though the county reached a high of 12,409 residents in 1930, according to the latest census figures, it now contains but 7,200 people.

Unlike Nina Parley Wishek's splendid and narrative account of her county's history, Along the Trails of Yesterday: A Story of Mclntosh County, Emmons County History is compiled in the "additive" or "collective" format so typical of jubilee books. (Emmons County lies immediately west of Mclntosh County.) Being so often composed from mere memory and sketchily written accounts, jubilee books are not the most reliable nor accurate of documents. Nevertheless, Emmons County History does relate the history of the county quite factually, from its earliest territorial days through the importance placed on navigation of the (then) Missouri River, through County Government, Education, Religion, Blizzards, People, and The Early Settlers. To be sure, the work contains some 310 concise family histories of various ethnic backgrounds often taken directly from printed obituaries, as well as brief synopses of many of the villages or settlements the county has known, several of them now extinct. Since much textual material has been

58

drawn from actual newspaper and county files (though references have not been cited) and little left to personal recollection, there is an air of authenticity evident throughout the book. But it is the many old photographs and anecdotes the editors present along with their own personal humor which, to this reviewer, are among the book's strengths and highlights,

Admittedly the book is not intended as a documentary of the Germans from Russia nor do they occupy a very considerable portion of the text, but with the large German population in the county-in 1920 the county ranked third in the state's total number of foreign born, after Morton and Mclntosh counties—the book does have a certain value to members of AHSGR. Albeit briefly, and aside from the obvious genealogical interest in the family histories, the book does speak of the early settlers' problems in adapting to the various conditions in the area; it does offer insights into the role played by several of the pioneers (the book lists the county officials from 1883 through 1976); and it speaks of early customs, of washday blues, burials, and marriages, and of farming and recreation. An interesting account is devoted to "Indians" and the county's famous Spicer Family Murder Trial; and the story is related about how the county safe and all the county's records were "stolen" from Williamsport and moved to Linton, only to be returned to Willamsport and legally moved back again to Linton several days later. John J. Baumgartner, one of "the first residents" of nearby Strasburg, was one of the early settlers who influenced and participated in the first "raid."

A few copies of the book arc still available for purchase and may be ordered at the price of $ 16.00 which includes one dollar for postage and handling, from The Emmons County Historical Society, Linton, North Dakota 58552. A copy of Emmons County History has been donated to the AHSGR Archives,

Fifty Golden Years: Tramping Lake 1905-1955. Booklet prepared under the direction of Sister M. Philippine. Tramping Lake, Saskatchewan, 1955.

Reviewed by Pauline Brungardt Dudek.

The work of students who began the jubilee booklet as a social studies project, Fifty Golden Years is the history of a Russian German community on the high plains of Saskatchewan. Topics covered include the first inhabitants of the area, geography, the coming of settlers, the church, the oblates, the school, the town of Tramping Lake, recreation and social life, early pioneers, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the St. Joseph's Colony Jubilee. The colony contains 2,772 square miles of land and the village of Tramping Lake and Tramping Lake itself are situated in the eastern part of the colony.

A rather incomplete history is given in the section "Our Ancestors" of the migrations of Germans to Russia and their subsequent migration to the Dakotas m 1900 and then to central Saskatchewan. A more complete account is given of the migration from North Dakota in "Incidents of the Trip to Tramping Lake," the first Germans from Russia having arrived there 12 May 1906.

Two biographies of early pioneers, Anton Lang and Bernard Hoffart, are given. The booklet includes a brief history of St. Michael's Parish with its humble beginnings in a prairie soddy to the present brick structure in the town of Tramping Lake. A brief history of the Diocese of Saskatoon is also included. The booklet contains a number of photographs, maps, and line drawings.

A copy of the booklet has been donated to the AHSGR Archives by the reviewer.

The Folklore Forum scheduled for publication in this issue of the AHSGR Journal will be delayed. Members are invited to submit their recollections of RIDDLES popular among the Germans from Russia for inclusion in a future edition. Submissions should be mailed to Folklore Forum Editor Timothy J. Kloberdanz at the Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 506 North Fess Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47505.

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ARRIVAL DATES IN NEW YORK OF STEAMSHIPS GIVEN IN WORK PAPERS 9 THROUGH 14

Emma Schwabenland Haynes

There seems to be a certain amount of confusion over passenger lists which were printed in our Work Papers. Mrs. Gwen Pritzkau, who very graciously compiled these lists, used information obtained from Hamburg. Hence the departure date from Hamburg appears on all of these records. The arrival date in New York is not given. The reason Mrs. Pritzkau chose Hamburg rather than New York is that, in the early years, only the Hamburg lists told from what colonies people came. In order to clarify the matter, I am giving the date of departure from Hamburg and the date of arrival in New York of all ships mentioned in Work Papers 9 through 14. Remaining ships will be printed in future issues of Clues. Members of AHSGR are urged to write this information after the names of the pertinent ships.

WORK PAPER 9

S.S. Cimbria Departure: 23 July 1873 Arrival: 6 August 1873

S.S. Silesia Departure: 13 May 1874 Arrival: 26 May 1874

S.S. Hammonia Departure: 26 July 1876 Arrival: 9 August 1876

S.S. Suevia Departure: 19 July 1876 Arrival: 3 August 1876

WORK PAPER 10

S.S. Suevia - Continued

S.S, Bahia Departure: 6 August 1878 This ship was bound for Brazil. There is no information in the National Archives about its arrival there. Therefore, most future ships to South America will be omitted in these compilations.

WORK PAPER 11

S.S. Frisia Departure: 22 November 1876 Arrival; 8 December 1876 The following fourteen names were inadvertantly omitted. Mr. William Urbach, one of the founders of AHSGR, was the son of the seven year old Friedrich mentioned below. Mr. and Mrs. Christian Buderus did not sail on this ship.

From DOENNHOF (Volga)

JACOBI Heinrich, 21, m, farmer

REINHARDT Johannes, 21, m, farmer

From? Illegible

GOERLITZ Johannes, 21,m, farmer

FISCHER Heinrich, 21, m, fanner

From NORKA (Volga)

URBACH Heinrich, 29, m, workman Louise, 32, f, wife Friedrich, 7, m, child Elisabeth, 3, f, child Catherine, 11 mo., f,baby

Conrad, 21, •m, workman

SCHLEICHER Wilhelm, 23, m, workman Catherine, 19, f.wife

SCHNELL Johannes, 21,m,workman Anna, 18, f, wife

S.S. Wieland Departure: 22 May 1878 Arrival; 5 June 1878

The families of Peter Diehl, Valentine Koch, and Valentine Mueller from Kolb and George Pietz and Johann Laubach from Lisanderdorf are omitted by Gwen Pritzkau. However, she gives the complete list of names in Work Paper No. 22, p. 49.

S.S. Palatia Departure; 19 March 1898 Arrival: 31 March 1898

S.S. Lessing Departure; 1 November 1876 Arrival; 15 November 1876

S.S. Hammonia Departure; 23 May 1877 Arrival; 6 June 1877

WORK PAPER 12

S.S. Hammonia - Continued

S.S. Lessing Departure: 23 July 1874 Arrival: 5 August 1874

S.S. Schiller Departure; 20 August 1874 Arrival: I September 1874

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S.S. Holsatia Departure; 23 September 1874 Arrival: 7 October 1874

WORK PAPER. 13

S.S. Schiller Departure: 15 October 1874 Arrival: 28 October 1874

5.5'. Suevia Departure: 21 October 1874 Arrival: 6 November 1874

S.S, Lessing Departure: 12 November 1874 The Lessing was damaged shortly after it left Hamburg harbor and all passengers were transferred to the S.S. Klopstock. The following entry should be written for the families of Jacob Bender, George Holzwarth, and Johann Gall:

5.5'. Klopstock Departure date: ? Arrival in N.Y.: 5 December 1874

S.S. Schiller Departure: 26 November 1874 Arrival: 9 December 1874

S.S. Lessing Departure: 10 December 1874 Arrival: 24 December 1874

S.S. Gellert Departure: 25 May 1875 Arrival: 9 June 1875

S.S. Suevia Departure: 2 June 1875 Arrival: 17 June 1875

S.S. Herder Departure: 9 June 1875 Arrival: 23 June 1875

S.S. Cimbria Departure: 16 June 1875 Arrival: 1 July 1875

WORK PAPER 14

S.S. Frisia Departure: 28 August 1874 Arrival: 9 September 1874

S.S. Wieland Departure: 13 October 1875 Arrival: 28 October 1875

S.S. Pommerania Departure: 20 October 1875 Arrival: 3 November 1875

S.S. Ifammonia Departure: 31 May 1876 Arrival: 14 June 1876

SS. Frisia Departure: 9 August 1876 (The date of departure is erroneously

given as July 9) Arrival: 22 August 1876 The following names were omitted:

REIN Jacob, 20, m, farmer Catherine, 20, f, wife

DEINES Marie, 16, f, child (the daughter of Johann and Magdalena Deines)

Johann Jacob KRUG, age 53, and the baby Jacob KRUG, age 7 months, did not sail on this ship because they were ill at the time.

Anna MAIER, aged 1 month, died at sea.

Most of these people came from Kratzke.

5.5. Gellert Departure: 23 August 1876 Arrival: 6 September 1876 The following names were omitted:

DREHER John, 27, m, farmer Anna, 24, f, wife Johannes, 6, m, child August, 3, m, child Andreas, 11 mo., m,baby

The Dreher family came from Neu Obermonjou.

S.S. Lessing Departure: 13 September 1876 Arrival: 27 September 1876

S.S. Frisia Departure: 27 September 1876 All passengers given as coming on the Frisia actually came on the s. s. Gellert Departure: 11 October 1876 Arrival: 26 October 1876 In addition, the name of Jacob Pfannenstiel,-21, a workman, was omitted.

S.S. Gellert Departure: 28 November 1877 Arrival: 13 December 2877

S.S. Frisia Departure: 5 December 1877 Arrival: 19 December 1877

S.S. Montivideo Departure: 6 December 1877 Arrival in Buenos Aires: 7 Jan. 1878 See Kopp, Wolgadeutsche Siedein in argentinischen Zwischenstrom- land,p. 22,

61

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

An Alsatian graduate student engaged in research on the German migrations to Russia and the life of the Germans there, PHILIPPE EDEL has studied political science and history at Strasbourg University and the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. He is trilingual (French, German, and English) and is a member of the AHSGR.

Following her father's intellectual footsteps, IRMA E. EICHHORN did her graduate work in modern European history at the University of Michigan and the University of Vienna, She is a member of the Department of History at San Jose State University in California.

JACOB EICHHORN was born in the Volga colony of Bauer (Karamyshevka). He graduated from the University of Dorpat and did his graduate work in history and theology at the University of Berlin. From 1920-23 he was an officer in the Verein der Wolgadeutschen in Berlin, and from 1924-58 he served as pastor to Volga German congregations in Colorado and Michigan.

Tireless researcher and International President of the AHSGR, ADAM GIESINGER continues as the major contributor to each issue of the Journal, displaying his skills in translating, reviewing, writing, and in finding interesting materials to share with members of the Society. A Black Sea German who traces his ancestry to the villages of Rastadt and Mannheim, he lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

AHSGR Board member EMMA SCHWABENLAND HAYNES lives in Arlington, Virginia where she serves the Society with her special researches in the Library of Congress and continues to keep Society members informed about Germans from Russia outside the United States. She is the author of A History of the Volga Relief Society and an editor of The Czar's Germans.

Cartographer Dr. JOHANNES ROTHERMEL was born in Katharinenstadt in 1891 and lived in Orlovskaia from 1898-1918 and from 1923-1930. After the Revolution, he emigrated to Berlin where he was active in the Verein der Wolgadeutschen and contributed several articles to the Wolgadeutsche Monatshefte. In the 1923-1930 period he returned to Orlovskaia employed as an agronomist by the Deutsch-Russische Agrar-Aktien Gesellschaft. This Berlin-based organization leased thousands of dessiatines of agricultural land in the area of the Volga colonies. In 1933 Rothermel completed his dissertation for the doctorate at the Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule in Berlin. He produced his map of Orlovskaia in West Germany in 1971.

Retired from a career as a professional translator for several medical and import-export companies in the Chicago area, HILDEGARD KELLER SCHWABAUER has studied and traveled extensively in Germany. Although her ancestors did not come to the United States by way of Russia, Mrs. Schwabauer is a German-Russian by marriage since her husband Alex traces his descent from the Volga village of Balzer.

Musicologist LAWRENCE A. WEIGEL of Hays, Kansas is one of the founders of a Volga German study center at Fort Hays State College. An active collector and researcher, he has a volume of folksongs, two record albums, and more than two-hundred articles to his credit.

Artful translator HERMAN D. WILDERMUTH traces his ancestry to the Bessarabian villages of Lichtental and Teplitz. A retired United States Air Force Major, he has served the Society as a member of the Board of Directors and as chairman of the translations committee. He makes his home in Yucca Valley, California.

The American Historical Society of Germans from Russia solicits articles related to the history, culture, and folklore of the Germans from Russia in the Old Country and the New World. The Editor welcomes original research materials, translations, book reviews, short stories, drawings, photographs, poetry, letters, journals, diaries, recollections, and materials previously published elsewhere which may be of interest to members of the Society. Submissions will be edited to conform to the second edition of the MLA Style Sheet. Materials should be sent to the Journal Editor at AHSGR Headquarters, at 631 D Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68502.

62

WE SING OUR HISTORY

Lawrence A. Weigel.......................……………………………………………………………………...................................54

ADDITIONS TO THE LOAN COLLECTION

Memories of the Black Sea Germans reviewed by Adam Giesinger ...........……………………………………...............57

Emmons County History reviewed by Lewis R. Marquardt. .......………………………………………….......................58

Fifty Golden Years: Tramping Lake reviewed by Pauline Brungardt Dudek ....……………………………….............. .59

ARRIVAL DATES IN NEW YORK OF STEAMSHIPS GIVEN IN WORK PAPERS 9 THROUGH 14

Emma Schwabentand Haynes .......................………………………………………………………………............................60

CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ISSUE. ........................………………………………………………………............................ .62 Cover: Genera! view of Buedingen, Germany in the seventeeth century. Many Volga Germans passed through this town—numbers of them stopping to be married here—before emigrating to colonies in Russia in the eighteenth century. A document housed in Buedingen Castle dating from 1766 which gives the names of some of the original emigrants from Germany to the Volga is described by Emma Schwabenland Haynes in this issue of the Journal. Engraving courtesy of the Frankfurt am Main Historical Museum.

END OF JOURNAL of the Americal Historical Society of Germans from Russia Volume 3, No. 1, Spring 1980

Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1 Spring 1980 · A DOCUMENT OF 1766 FOUND IN BUDINGEN, GERMANY Emma...

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