TO:
Krasna Researchers
From:
Ted J. Becker and Rosemary (Ternes) Mack
Village Research Coordinators
Krasna, Bessarabia,
Russia
Emmental, Bessarabia,
Russia
Karamurat, Dobrudscha,
Romania
Date:
Fall, 2005
Krasna Web Site:
http://14ushop.com/krasna
The last Krasna Newsletter was sent to you this past
winter. A lot of snow has blown
over the prairies of
Saskatchewan and
North Dakota and a
lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then! Several Krasna-related projects have
been completed and Ted took a memorial trip back to “Heimat”.
In the last Krasna Newsletter, mention was made of
translated newspaper articles.
Faustina (Dirk)
Chandler has completed
her work of indexing them and of placing the indexes and articles onto a
CD. That CD is now available to
researchers. It contains translated
(into English) items, articles and letters to the editor, which are all
associated with Krasna, Emmental, Karamurat as well as the areas in South
America, the USA, and Canada in which former Krasna, Emmental and Karamurat
residents settled and lived. These
items were extracted from the Dakota Rundschau newspaper for the years
1917-1932 and the Der Staats Anzeiger newspaper for the years
1909-1932. There around 1,000 such
items. The indexes, which Faustina
developed, make it easy to find specific people, if that is your wish. The items are a mini-history of these
villages, and should be a must read if you have an interest in expanding
your knowledge of these villages and the lives and times of their people, our
ancestors and relatives. There is
no doubt that items written by your ancestors and/or relatives may be found
among them. As previously
mentioned, Ted found several letters to the editor written by his maternal
grandfather, as well as his maternal great-grandfather. Some of the writers were very prolific
writers and knew what was happening in their surroundings as well as in the
world. Some of them had very
definite opinions about issues, both controversial and non-controversial. (But then, we are opinionated people,
aren’t we?) Oftentimes letters to the editor were the
only way some families kept track of each other. Quite a number of letters to the editor
contain pleas for help in trying to find a long-lost relative. Others vividly describe the hard life,
during the hard times in the “old country”, of residents of Krasna, Emmental,
Karamurat, as well as life on the prairies of North and
South Dakota as well
as
Saskatchewan. You can acquire a copy
of the CD from Ted at P.O. Box
1524, Williston,
ND
58802-1524 USA. To cover costs and time to prepare the
CD, send him $25.00
U.S.
funds, if you would like to have a copy of the CD. It will contain items from the
following:
Dakota Rundschau Index, 1917-1932
Dakota Rundschau Letters, 1917-1932
Staats Anzeiger Index, 1909-1932
Staats Anzeiger Letters, 1909-1932
Please make checks or money orders payable to Ted J.
Becker. All of us owe Faustina a
debt of gratitude for her hard work in organizing the newspaper items and her
extraordinarily hard work in developing the valuable indexes of the items. An interesting comment she made to Ted
recently is that she often finds herself reading through the hundreds of items
to better give her a picture of what life was like in the village in which her
ancestors lived. She feels, as Ted
does, that they provide a picture into a period of history of the village to
which all of us have ties, and our roots.
Thank you, Faustina, for your hard work. Also, we offer our thank you once again
to Ambrose and Sybille Leinz for their hours of work in translating them into
English. Such dedicated and
unselfish work on their parts is what makes their parents and grandparents so
proud of them.
For those researchers who are trying to find their
Braun and Matery/Materi roots in
Germany,
may we direct you to the following web site:
http://216.239.37.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://pierre.bertrand.free.fr/
outre-foret/neewiller.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%Draymond%2Bschwengler
%26hl%Den%26ir%3D%26ris%3DGGLD,GGLD:2004-41,GGLD:en
The above URL takes you to an English translation (of
sorts) of some chapters in the book Les Familles de Neewiller by Raymond
Schwengler. It was published in 1982 in
Heiligenberg,
Germany. This book is cited on the web site of
AGAWE, the Alsatian web site, which was mentioned in a previous Krasna
Newsletter. Ancestors of the Krasna Braun’s and Matery’s immigrated via
Franzfeld, Kutschurgan,
Russia, to
Krasna from Neewiller circa 1843.
Our database, “Krasna Master Census, 1814-1940”, contains much background
information about the Braun’s and Matery’s of Krasna. Note that Neewiller is identified
as
Neewiller, Weissenburg,
Alsace,
France.
For those of you who do not know, “Elsass” is the German
equivalent of
“Alsace”.
On a related subject, Ted wishes to let you Krasna
researchers know that progress is being made on the question “From where in
Poland
did my ancestors come?” He is
collaborating with several Krasna researchers who are finding answers to this
question. Of course, answers to
this question help lead to answers to the following question: “From where in
Germany
did my ancestors come?” These are
indeed exciting times for those Krasna researchers who are trying to determine
from where in
Germany
and
Poland
their pre-1814 ancestors originated.
No doubt, there will be much more to report on this most important
subject in the future.
In the last Krasna Newsletter mention was made of a film,
which one of Ted’s relatives shared with him. A very special thank
you to Josef Tuchscherer for sharing the film on DVD with us. Josef acquired the film indirectly from
the resettlement camp’s director.
The film (an 8 mm film) has been placed onto a DVD for preservation
purposes. The twenty-minute film is
of former residents of Colelia,
Dobrudscha,
Romania, as
they spent their first days in
Camp
VIIIb at Missionary
Seminary, St. Ludwig, Schweinfurt,
Germany. It was made in the camp by the Nazi
government on and about 27
December 1940, at the height of the Resettlement. It is obvious that the film was made for
propaganda purposes. The former
residents had just arrived at this resettlement camp and were still wearing the
clothing they had worn in Colelia.
What a glimpse we have into how our ancestors dressed! The way babies were bundled up and
carried shows us a custom that was already decades old in the 1930’s. The film, among other things, shows the
former Colelia residents doing some of the dances they did in Colelia. If you would like a copy of the film on
DVD, let Ted know and he will have one made for you. Send him $20.00
U.S.
funds, at
his address given above to cover costs and time to prepare the DVD, for a copy
of the DVD. As a side note, the
trip that Ted was on this past summer took him, among other places, to the site
of the town of
Colelia. The trip there was a very emotional one
for Ted. The town is gone; no
buildings are left, that is, except the ruins of the magnificent church. Ted took many, many photos of the ruins
of the church. Words cannot
describe the scene! One would have
to personally see the ruins of the church, or at least photos of it, to fully
appreciate what Colelia must have been.
The town site today is totally overgrown with shoulder-high
thistles. A local resident warned
of snakes among the thistles. He
also said that the cemetery has no grave markers left. Thistles are taking it over, too. Mother Earth is slowly reclaiming the
cemetery and town site. A local
sheepherder used to keep his sheep inside the church. Manure built up to about 4 feet high
before local residents had him remove them. They then went into the building and
cleaned out the manure. However, by
then the damage to the plaster on the walls, at least four feet up, was already
done. Some of the original tiles
still remain on the floors and there are visible remnants of the paintings,
which were on the walls and arches.
The roof is gone, however.
We hope that the work we do to gather and preserve our common ancestry
will not let Colelia be forgotten.
Ted felt honored to have traveled there and to have walked the soil where
the former Colelians lived. By pure
luck, he had the good fortune of being shown the town site by a former teacher,
who once taught in the school there.
He is now director/principal of the grade school in Ramnicul de Jos, a
neighboring town. He shared with
Ted two teacher grade books for the Colelia grade school for the years 1921-1922
and 1926-1927. Ted was allowed to
photograph each page of these books.
The names of the students and the grades they received are given. Although Ted was once a schoolteacher,
he does not understand the grading system used by the teachers of Colelia. These two books are extremely
valuable. The director/principal
felt that if Ted photographed them, they would be preserved, for he could not
guarantee that when he retires that the books would survive. Ted has placed the photographs of these
books onto a CD for preservation purposes.
While Ted was in
Romania,
he spent several days at the Arhivele Nationale ale Romaniei (a branch of the
Romanian National Archive) in
Constanta, Dobrogea
(Dobrudscha). With the very
gracious help of a film producer for Romanian Public Television, who acted as
intermediary, he was informed that church books for some of the former German
Dobrudscha villages are held at this archive. Ted traveled to
Constanta for the
express purpose of making copies of church books for Karamurat and Gross
Mandshapunar. Prior to his trip to
Constanta, he had been
assured by the director of the archive in
Constanta that he
could photograph them. However,
when he met with him, he was informed that no photographing or copying is
allowed of any materials, which are 100 years old and younger as stipulated by
federal law. Interestingly, when
Ted was at the archive, he was told that the archive’s photocopier was not
working. Thus any copying he was
planning to do had to be done by hand. The following
church books associated with Germans from the period 1870-1940 are at this
archive:
Births/Baptisms, 1896-1906 –
Constanta
Kirchenbuch der Evangelischen Gemeinde Constanta – Anadolkieu,
1883-1897 (This book contains entries of births,
marriages and
deaths.)
Kirchenbuch, 1934-1940,
Costinesti and Gross Mandshapunar
Marriages, 1934-1940, Gross Mandshapunar
Deaths, 1931-1940,
Karamurat
Marriages, 1905-1922,
Karamurat
Marriages, 1922-1940,
Karamurat
Taufregister des Pfarrbesiks Der Deutsch Evangelischen Kirche zu
Constanta,
1895-1936. (This book contains
only birth/baptism entries
for 2,912
infants. Villages represented
include Constanta,
Coschali,
Cobadin,
Sarighiol, Mamusli, Fachria, Cogealac, Osmanfac, Anatolkoi, Tariverde, Horoslar,
Ebenoi, Mandschapunar, Osmanschi, Palas, Tuzlar, and
Sofilar.)
Ted was told that these are the only church books the
archive holds for any of the former German villages in the Dobrudscha
region. Ted was able to hand copy
two of these books and also extractions from a third. The data and information he copied will
become part of our database, the “Krasna Master Census, 1814-1940”.
While at
Constanta, Ted took a
side trip to Mihail Kolgniceanu (formerly Karamurat). The Catholic church there, St. Anthony’s, is being restored and
refurbished. The exterior has been
completely restored and looks beautiful.
Work continues on the interior.
He had the good fortune of meeting and visiting with the young man, Mr.
Hartwig Thomas Laschon, who is doing the restorations. His work is superb. The former grandeur of the church is
once again showing forth in all its splendor. The gold-leaf work he is replacing adds
so much to the restoration. The
original painting of St. Anthony, painted in 1888, is scheduled to be
professionally cleaned. Ted took
photographs of the grave stones in the German section of the cemetery in Mihail
Kolgniceanu. Many of the grave
stones have names and dates obliterated.
He took photographs of all of the grave stones in the German
section. Those, which have legible
names and dates, provide us with an added verification of data for those who are
buried there. It is unfortunate
that so many of the grave stones are overturned and the names and dates
obliterated. It is apparent that
this damage was deliberate.
While in
Constanta,
Dobrogea,
Romania, Ted
visited the Casa de Cultura Germana (House of German Culture). This building, formerly the “Erhardt
Luther” School, is now a center for the study of German culture in the Dobrogea
region. While there he met Mr.
Erhardt Fraymayer, who volunteers his time to help tourists and
researchers. The “center” has a
small, but growing library. Mr.
Fraymayer has taken many photos of the various (former) German villages in the
Dobrudscha/Dobrogea. He made copies
of photos of 15 churches in these villages and gave them to Ted. They have been included in the Krasna
Photo Collection. His photographic
talents border on the professional, and the photos are
a most valuable addition to the Collection.
Ted’s trip took him to
Ukraine,
also. Aside from the time he,
Ambrose Leinz and Joann (Erker) Baroh spent in Krasnoe (Krasna), a visit to the
Odessa
State Archive in
Odessa proved to be
most informative. For those of you
who are familiar with the genealogical data for the former residents of Krasna,
mention must be made of the original church books for Krasna for the years
1918-1940. These church books,
which had been in the archive in
Ismail,
Ukraine,
until recently, have been transferred to the
Odessa
State Archive. He was shown two of the 22 books. For him it was an honor to hold and read
original books, which contain the most valuable of information, the data of the
former German residents of Krasna.
Those of you who are genealogical researchers will know by now that Ted
did acquire copies of all of these church books a number of years ago, when they
were held at the archive in Ismail.
As you may also know, all of the information from these most valuable
church books has been entered into our database. Of course, the data and information from
these, and all other church and civil books, is available to researchers. The previous Krasna Newsletter spoke at
length about this. We stand ready
and willing to help you with your research as it relates to Krasna and its
daughter colonies, Emmental and Karamurat.
Feel free to contact Ted for help at his e-mail address: tbecker@nemontel.net or his snail mail
address:
P.O. Box 1524,
Williston,
ND
58802-1524
USA
or his telephone number 701-572-5715.
For those of you who have not had the opportunity to visit
Krasnoe (Krasna), let me just say that, to use June (Steinkey) McDonald’s word,
a visit there is indeed a “pilgrimage”. The depth of feelings of kinship
experienced by Ted (and Ambrose) cannot be fully described as each stood in the
middle of the cemetery late at night, in the dark. In addition to the spirits of Ambrose’s
ancestors, those of his two brothers buried there touched his heart. Tears of joy came to his eyes in the
knowledge that he was back “home”! The “spirits” were truly out and about! Those feelings will never leave anyone
who goes to Krasnoe (Krasna) and “meets the spirits of his/her ancestors.” Ambrose Leinz was particularly moved,
for he was born there, and stood on the exact spot where the house in which he
was born stood. The time he and Ted
spent with current residents of Krasnoe (Krasna), with the “Burgermeister”/mayor
of Krasnoe (Krasna), and the experience of being treated to the fantastic
hospitality of the Ukrainian people there, all lend themselves to many fond and lasting memories. Joann (Erker) Baroh expressed her
feelings with deep emotions and joyful tears, for her Erker ancestors’ spirits
were also alive and well in Krasnoe (Krasna)! Just the simple fact that our feet trod
the same soil on which our grandparents and our ancestors walked on their way to
and from work, church, social activities, etc., filled the three of us with
feelings of “belonging”. Just the
simple fact that our eyes were seeing the same Kogalnik Creek and Valley, the
same “Baschtan” (watermelon patch), the same hillsides on which used to be acres
and acres of vineyards, the same threshing stone that a former German resident
of Krasna used, all deeply touched our hearts.
This past June Ted had the honor and privilege of
addressing the “Kulturkreis der Bessarabiendeutschen” at Wernerseck-Halle in
Ochtendung,
Germany. This group, once headed by Maximilian
Riehl, meets regularly to make Maistub, to renew old acquaintances, to
eat a little kuchen, to sing the old songs, to dance the “old” dances, and to
just enjoy each others company.
This group consists primarily of former Krasna residents. If you would like to learn more about
this group, and have Internet access, you can find information about them at
http:www.bessarabien.info. A
special thank you to Eduard Volk who interpreted for Ted at the gathering, and
who showed him where in Herxheim am Berg to buy great wine and to get great food
at the “Becker Woistub”. Eduard’s
personal touch brought great meaning to Ted’s trip to this region in
Germany
from where a branch of his paternal ancestors originated. Also a special thank you to Max and his
wife Franziska, Alois Speicher and his wife Hannelore, and Paul Wingenbach and
his wife Margarete, for each couple shared a day and meals in their homes with
Ted and Joann. The times spent
together were memorable times and will remain with Ted always. Their friendship has a special place in
Ted’s heart. The singing of Paul
and Margarete took Ted back to another time and another place. Their singing reflects the singing our
ancestors did in Krasna! What
fantastic singing voices they have.
Even though Ted did not understand the words of the “Krasna songs”, which
they sang, he totally understood the spirit they evoked. Thank you to Margaret (Ternes) Cremer
for her hard work in making certain that Ted and Joann would not be left
stranded at the train station in the middle of the night. This “young lady” still dances up a
storm and sings like a bird! Her
passion for and dedication to the preservation of the Krasna heritage is so
strong. Joann (Erker) Baroh, Ted’s
traveling companion, felt reassured that she would be taken care of and watched
over. The hospitality of Adolf and
Gertrud (Seifert) Wagner for letting Ted and Joann stay at their home will never
be forgotten. German, which Ted
knew as a five-year old child, started coming back to him as the hours passed in
trying to communicate with his friends in
Germany. Ted knows little or not German. Adolf and Gertrud know little
English. Yet the fun they had in
trying to understand each other is a memory, which remain with him throughout
his life. Ted also enjoyed the time
spent at Adolf’s home with his sons and his sister Maria (Wagner) Budean. Even though Adolf and Maria are related
to Ted, a deep, abiding friendship also bloomed between them. God is good!