Bessarabia Germans
Encyclopedia
----
The Bessarabia Germans are an ethnic group
who lived in Bessarabia
(today part of Moldova
and Ukraine
) between 1814 and 1940. Between 1814 and 1842, 9000 of them immigrated from the German areas Baden
, Württemberg
, Alsace
, Bavaria
and some Prussia
n areas of modern-day Poland, to the Russian government of Bessarabia at the Black Sea
. The area, bordering on the Black Sea, was part of the Russian Empire, in the form of Novorossiya; it later became the Bessarabia Governorate. In their 125-year history, the Bessarabia Germans were an overwhelmingly rural population. Until their moving to the German Empire
(Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
), they were a minority consisting of 93,000 people who made up some 3% of the population. They are distinguished from the Black Sea Germans
who settled to the east of Odessa
.
The most prominent person of Bessarabian ancestry is German President
Horst Köhler
. Before emigrating in 1940, his parents lived in the German colony Rîşcani
in Northern Bessarabia, being moved to Poland
, which was by that time occupied by Germany
, where Köhler was born.
of the Bessarabia Germans (created after the Second World War) symbolizes the homeland at the Black Sea, left at 1940. The coat of arms consists of a shield as the main component of the heraldic
emblem. On four divisions, the crest symbolizes the country's colors and other properties.
Bessarabisches Heimatlied was created in 1922 by Albert Mauch, the director of the Werner-Seminar, a German university
in Sarata
.
was conquered by the troops of the Russian Czar Alxander I in the Russo-Turkish War between 1806 and 1812. In this Moldavian region, he established the Bessarabia Governorate
, the smallest of the Russian Empire. The capital was the central Bessarabian Chişinău
.
Nomadic Tatars
from the southern region of Bessarabia, Budjak
, were banished or emigrated voluntarily after the Russian conquest, leaving the area almost deserted. Russia tried to entice foreign settlers to populate the area and work the farms, since her own farmers were mainly serfs
. The aim of this was to re-establish agriculture on the rich black soil. Tsar Alexander I issued a manifesto
on 29 November 1813, in which he promised German settlers the following privileges:
The agents of the Russian crown went with these promises to Württemberg
, the northeast German area (Mecklenburg
) and into the Duchy of Warsaw
, where German settlers had established themselves only a few years before.
, Baden
, Alsace
, the Rhenish Palatinate and Bavaria
, the peak occurring in 1817.
After the distribution of passports by German authorities they began the journey in larger groups, known as Kolonnen (lit. "columns"). The time taken for the c. 2,000 km journey was between two and six months, depending upon travel route. Many of those emigrating due to religious reasons formed Harmonien (harmonies).
For the emigrants from South Germany, the journey usually followed the course of the River Danube, which they followed as far as Ulm
(about 100 km south-east of Stuttgart
and 130 km north-west of Munich
). There they boarded Ulm boxes, a sort of one-way boat. Many emigrants fell ill and died while travelling on these boats. The journey carried them downriver to the Danube delta shortly before the Black Sea
. Upon arrival at Izmail
, the migrants were quarantined for weeks on an island in the delta which claimed further victims. About 10% of the emigrants are thought not to have survived the voyage.
Emigrants from the northern and eastern German regions, as well as from Poland, travelled by horse and cart. They were the first Germans to arrive in Bessarabia, in 1814, and were known as Warsaw Colonists because of their origins.
were:
Reasons for emigration from South Germany were:
Tsarist Russia settled the German migrants in Bessarabia according to plan. They kept land in the southern region, on assigned far, treeless steppe surfaces in the Southern Bessarabia (Budjak; germ. Budschak). In the first settlement phase, up to 1842, twenty-four main German colonies developed. The settlements were put on usually in a valley with gently sloping hills. The farms were up to 50 m wide, and bordered by acacias. While properties were only 20 metres wide at the roadside, they extended up to 250 metres in depth. The elongated, single-storey houses always stood with the gable
facing the road. The whitewashed buildings were built of loam
bricks or natural stone. On the farmyard were stables, threshing-rooms and a stockroom and wine cellar. In the rear part of an estate lay fruit and vegetable gardens and vineyards.
, later in Odessa
. The official language of the department, to which belonged one president and approximately 20 co-workers (an official translator, a physician, a veterinary surgeon, a land measurer and so on), was German. Their presidents were:
The Committee protected the rights of the settlers and supervised their obligations with regard to the Russian government. Underneath the Fürsorgekomitee there were seventeen offices for those approximately 150 German municipalities, with one selected area chief (Oberschulz). Its tasks, among other things, included the administration of the fire service.
, Beresina, Dennewitz
or places of origin of the settlers Arzis, Brienne, Paris
, Leipzig
, Teplitz and Katzbach. Later, after 1842, the settlers began naming their own villages after their own aspirations - Hoffnungstal (hope valley), Friedenstal (peace valley) - or religious motives - Gnadental (grace valley), Lichtental (light valley). Numerous German establishments of village took on Romanian
or Turkish-Tatar origins, such as Albota (white horse), Basyrjamka (salt hole) Kurudschika (drying), and Sarata
(salty).
and cholera
, crop failures and swarms of grasshoppers
obstructed reconstruction work. The early dwellings were usually earth houses with reed roofs. Only in later generations a regulated and independent life in economic, cultural and religious areas prevailed in the German settlements. The colloquial language was German, the official language was Russian. Characteristic of the settlers were diligence, religious devotion, large families and thriftiness.
The first twenty-four villages of German emigrants were called "mother colonies". They still developed in the context of the national Russian Colonisation. Those settlements developed after 1842 developed were called "daughter colonies". They were mainly due to the private settlement of native Bessarabians already living in the country. The first 24 colonies were:
and corn
. In some colonies wide viticulture
was operated (see Moldovan wine
), but most farms only produced enough wine for their own needs.
The Germans operated animal husbandry
only to a small extent, because the resulting dung
was not required due to the high soil fertility. Therefore, it was usually dried and used in the winter as fuel. Shepherding
was more widespread, especially the fine-wooled Karakul
sheep. The men's traditional black skin caps were made from the wool. Poultry
farming for self-sufficiency was a matter of course on each individual farm. Unlike other farming people, the Germans used horses instead of oxen for ploughing.
In 1920, two years after the union of Bessarabia with Romania, began the Romanian agrarian reform, in which large land owners with more than 100 hectares were expropriated of the land in excess of that. Their property was distributed to the peasants, who each received 6 hectares. Hektardörfer, or hectare-towns sprang up on the free land. Approximately 150 German settlements resulted during the presence of the Germans in Bessarabia between 1814 and 1940.
Actually approximately 800 Ukrainians claim to be descendants of German settlers in the area, mainly in order to get visas to Germany
.
in use in the Bible
and in the Hymn books. In newly founded villages, places of worship were the first communal facilities to be created. In larger municipalities this was a church for up to 1,000 visitors, in smaller municipalities this was a praying house, in which the dwelling of the Sexton
and the village school were included as well. The colonists paid for the maintenance of the church, school, Sexton and teacher (usually a Sexton-teacher in dual functions).
The majority of the approximately 150 German settlements were organized in 13 Kirchspielen (parish
es) and three Pfarrgemeinden of Lutheran
denomination. Each parish had a minister, who was responsible for several villages within the parish. Besides there was Reformed
parish (Schabo) and a Roman Catholic church district with four municipalities (Balmas, Emmental, Krasna, Larga). These belonged to the diocese Cherson, which was created on July 3, 1848. The name of the diocese
was changed to Tiraspol
shortly after. The seat of the diocese was relocated to Saratow by the first bishop Ferdinand Helanus, where it remained until 1918. Bishop Josef Alois Kessler
relocated the seat to Odessa
to escape the Bolshevik
, but after their victory he fled to Germany in 1921 and the diocese was disbanned in the Soviet Republic
.
. In Sarata
the Werner school for teacher training was located.
The Bessarabia Germans are an ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
who lived in Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
(today part of Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) between 1814 and 1940. Between 1814 and 1842, 9000 of them immigrated from the German areas Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
and some Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
n areas of modern-day Poland, to the Russian government of Bessarabia at the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. The area, bordering on the Black Sea, was part of the Russian Empire, in the form of Novorossiya; it later became the Bessarabia Governorate. In their 125-year history, the Bessarabia Germans were an overwhelmingly rural population. Until their moving to the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
(Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
), they were a minority consisting of 93,000 people who made up some 3% of the population. They are distinguished from the Black Sea Germans
Black Sea Germans
The Black Sea Germans are ethnic Germans who left their homeland in the 18th and 19th centuries, and settled in territories off the north coast of the Black Sea, mostly in southern Ukraine...
who settled to the east of Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
.
The most prominent person of Bessarabian ancestry is German President
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler
Horst Köhler is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on...
. Before emigrating in 1940, his parents lived in the German colony Rîşcani
Rîscani
Rîşcani is a city in Moldova, the capital of the Rîşcani District. It is located along the Copăceanca river, about 22 kilometres from the station in Drochia...
in Northern Bessarabia, being moved to Poland
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
, which was by that time occupied by Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where Köhler was born.
Coat of arms
The coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
of the Bessarabia Germans (created after the Second World War) symbolizes the homeland at the Black Sea, left at 1940. The coat of arms consists of a shield as the main component of the heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
emblem. On four divisions, the crest symbolizes the country's colors and other properties.
- AzureAzureIn heraldry, azure is the tincture with the colour blue, and belongs to the class of tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of horizontal lines or else marked with either az. or b. as an abbreviation....
symbolizes the blue sky over the steppe. - OrOr (heraldry)In heraldry, Or is the tincture of gold and, together with argent , belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". In engravings and line drawings, it may be represented using a field of evenly spaced dots...
stands for the golden fields. - GulesGulesIn heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation....
is taken out of the Romanian flag - the state whose citizens the Bessarabia Germans were. - The well symbolizes the importance of water.
- The cross is a symbol for the Church and religion.
- The horse symbolizes the dearest friend of the farmer.
Anthem
The Bessarabian anthemAnthem
The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...
Bessarabisches Heimatlied was created in 1922 by Albert Mauch, the director of the Werner-Seminar, a German university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in Sarata
Sarata
Sarata is a town in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Sarata Raion , and is part of the Bessarabian historic district of Budjak....
.
Origins
Eastern part of the Principality of MoldaviaMoldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
was conquered by the troops of the Russian Czar Alxander I in the Russo-Turkish War between 1806 and 1812. In this Moldavian region, he established the Bessarabia Governorate
Bessarabia Governorate
Bessarabia was an oblast and later a guberniya in the Russian Empire. It was the eastern part of the Principality of Moldavia annexed by Russia by the Treaty of Bucharest following the Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812...
, the smallest of the Russian Empire. The capital was the central Bessarabian Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
.
Nomadic Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...
from the southern region of Bessarabia, Budjak
Budjak
Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this multiethnic region was the southern part of Bessarabia...
, were banished or emigrated voluntarily after the Russian conquest, leaving the area almost deserted. Russia tried to entice foreign settlers to populate the area and work the farms, since her own farmers were mainly serfs
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
. The aim of this was to re-establish agriculture on the rich black soil. Tsar Alexander I issued a manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
on 29 November 1813, in which he promised German settlers the following privileges:
- Land donation
- Interest-free credit
- Exemption from taxes for 10 years
- Autonomy
- Freedom of religionReligionReligion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
- Exemption from military service
The agents of the Russian crown went with these promises to Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, the northeast German area (Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg
Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...
) and into the Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
, where German settlers had established themselves only a few years before.
Emigration
Between 1814 and 1842 over 2,000 families consisting of approximately 9,000 people migrated to the Russian Bessarabia. Most came from the South German areas of WürttembergWürttemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
, Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, the Rhenish Palatinate and Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, the peak occurring in 1817.
After the distribution of passports by German authorities they began the journey in larger groups, known as Kolonnen (lit. "columns"). The time taken for the c. 2,000 km journey was between two and six months, depending upon travel route. Many of those emigrating due to religious reasons formed Harmonien (harmonies).
For the emigrants from South Germany, the journey usually followed the course of the River Danube, which they followed as far as Ulm
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...
(about 100 km south-east of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
and 130 km north-west of Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
). There they boarded Ulm boxes, a sort of one-way boat. Many emigrants fell ill and died while travelling on these boats. The journey carried them downriver to the Danube delta shortly before the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. Upon arrival at Izmail
Izmail
Izmail is a historic town near the Danube river in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Izmail Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast....
, the migrants were quarantined for weeks on an island in the delta which claimed further victims. About 10% of the emigrants are thought not to have survived the voyage.
Emigrants from the northern and eastern German regions, as well as from Poland, travelled by horse and cart. They were the first Germans to arrive in Bessarabia, in 1814, and were known as Warsaw Colonists because of their origins.
Reasons for emigration
Reasons for emigration from the Duchy of WarsawDuchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
were:
- objection to PolishPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
foreign rule. - A worsening economic situation.
Reasons for emigration from South Germany were:
- Compulsory military service.
- serfdomSerfdomSerfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
- The oppressive regime.
- Crop failures and famineFamineA famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
. - High taxes.
- Land shortages
- Religious
- PietismPietismPietism was a movement within Lutheranism, lasting from the late 17th century to the mid-18th century and later. It proved to be very influential throughout Protestantism and Anabaptism, inspiring not only Anglican priest John Wesley to begin the Methodist movement, but also Alexander Mack to...
- Protestant ReformationProtestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
movement for practical pietyPietyIn spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.- Etymology :...
. - MillennialismMillennialismMillennialism , or chiliasm in Greek, is a belief held by some Christian denominations that there will be a Golden Age or Paradise on Earth in which "Christ will reign" for 1000 years prior to the final judgment and future eternal state...
- Belief in a Golden AgeGolden AgeThe term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
where "Christ will reign" for a thousand years.
- Pietism
Settlement
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
facing the road. The whitewashed buildings were built of loam
Loam
Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...
bricks or natural stone. On the farmyard were stables, threshing-rooms and a stockroom and wine cellar. In the rear part of an estate lay fruit and vegetable gardens and vineyards.
Autonomy
The autonomy of the German settlers promised by the Tsar during the recruitment took place via a Russian special authority by the name of Fürsorgekomitee (Welfare Service Committee), previously Vormundschaftskontor. It was concerned with the settlement of all German settlers in south Russia, with its location initially in ChişinăuChisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, later in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
. The official language of the department, to which belonged one president and approximately 20 co-workers (an official translator, a physician, a veterinary surgeon, a land measurer and so on), was German. Their presidents were:
| Name | Term of Office |
|---|---|
| General Ivan Insov | 1818–1845 |
| Staatsrat Eugene von Hahn | 1845–1849 |
| Baron von Rosen | 1849–1853 |
| Baron von Mestmacher | 1853–1856 |
| Islawin | 1856–1858 |
| Alexander von Hamm | 1858–1866 |
| Th. Lysander | 1866–1867 |
| Vladimir von Oettinger | 1867–1871 |
The Committee protected the rights of the settlers and supervised their obligations with regard to the Russian government. Underneath the Fürsorgekomitee there were seventeen offices for those approximately 150 German municipalities, with one selected area chief (Oberschulz). Its tasks, among other things, included the administration of the fire service.
Place names
Originally, the plots of land given to the settlers carried only numbers, e.g. "Steppe 9". In the early years of the settlement, the Fürsorgekomitee began renaming the villages. These designations were reminders of the places of victorious battles against Napoleon such as Tarutino, BorodinoBorodino
Borodino is a rural locality in Mozhaysky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located west of Mozhaysk.The village is famous as the location of the Battle of Borodino, which occurred in what is now known as the "Borodino Battlefield" . The State Borodino War and History Museum and Reserve is...
, Beresina, Dennewitz
Battle of Dennewitz
The Battle of Dennewitz took place on 6 September 1813 between the forces of the First French Empire and an army of Prussians and Russians of the Sixth Coalition. It occurred in Dennewitz, a village of Germany, in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, near Jüterbog, 40 km. S.W...
or places of origin of the settlers Arzis, Brienne, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Teplitz and Katzbach. Later, after 1842, the settlers began naming their own villages after their own aspirations - Hoffnungstal (hope valley), Friedenstal (peace valley) - or religious motives - Gnadental (grace valley), Lichtental (light valley). Numerous German establishments of village took on Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
or Turkish-Tatar origins, such as Albota (white horse), Basyrjamka (salt hole) Kurudschika (drying), and Sarata
Sarata
Sarata is a town in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Sarata Raion , and is part of the Bessarabian historic district of Budjak....
(salty).
Settlement development
Despite the incentives granted early on, the living conditions in the colonies were tough. Unusual climate and diseases extinguished whole families. Cattle disease, floods, epidemic diseases such as plagueBubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
and cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, crop failures and swarms of grasshoppers
Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers are insects of the suborder Caelifera.Grasshoppers may also refer to:* Grasshopper , a Hong Kong-based musical group* Grasshopper Club Zürich, a Swiss football club...
obstructed reconstruction work. The early dwellings were usually earth houses with reed roofs. Only in later generations a regulated and independent life in economic, cultural and religious areas prevailed in the German settlements. The colloquial language was German, the official language was Russian. Characteristic of the settlers were diligence, religious devotion, large families and thriftiness.
The first twenty-four villages of German emigrants were called "mother colonies". They still developed in the context of the national Russian Colonisation. Those settlements developed after 1842 developed were called "daughter colonies". They were mainly due to the private settlement of native Bessarabians already living in the country. The first 24 colonies were:
| Settlement | Established | Settlement | Established | Settlement | Established |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borodino Borodino Borodino is a rural locality in Mozhaysky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located west of Mozhaysk.The village is famous as the location of the Battle of Borodino, which occurred in what is now known as the "Borodino Battlefield" . The State Borodino War and History Museum and Reserve is... |
1814 | Alt-Elft | 1816 | Neu-Arzis | 1824 |
| Krasna Krásna Krásna is part of the city of Košice, Slovakia.The first written mention of Krásna dates back to 1143. It was an independent village until 1945, when it was connected with Košice. Krásna is home to approximately 3,500 people and it has a rural character.... |
1814 | Paris Paris Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region... |
1816 | Neu-Elft | 1825 |
| Tarutino Tarutino Tarutino may refer to:*Tarutino, Russia, a village in Central Russia*The Battle of Tarutino in the 1812 French invasion of Russia that occurred near the village*The town of Tarutyne, Ukraine, called Tarutino in Russian... |
1814 | Arzis Artsyz Artsyz is a city in Odessa Oblast, Ukraine. Population is 16,370 .... |
1816 | Gnadental | 1830 |
| Klöstitz | 1815 | Brienne | 1816 | Lichtental Lichtental Lichtental is a part of the district of Alsergrund, Vienna. It was an independent municipality until 1850.- Notable people :* Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein lived here.* Caterina Cavalieri , opera singer, was born here.... |
1834 |
| Kulm Kulm The name Kulm is a German language toponym which is derived from the Latin culmen, meaning hill. It may be used as follows:-Places:Austria* Kulm bei Weiz, a municipality in Styria* Kulm am Zirbitz, a municipality in Styria... |
1815 | Teplitz | 1817 | Dennewitz Dennewitz Dennewitz is a village of Germany, in the federal state and old Prussian province of Brandenburg, near Jüterbog, 40 km. S.W. from Berlin. It is part of the municipality of Niedergörsdorf, Teltow-Fläming district.-History:... |
1834 |
| Wittenberg Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000.... |
1815 | Katzbach | 1821 | Friedenstal | 1834 |
| Beresina | 1815 | Sarata Sarata Sarata is a town in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Sarata Raion , and is part of the Bessarabian historic district of Budjak.... |
1822 | Plotzk | 1839 |
| Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing... |
1815 | Alt-Posttal | 1823 | Hoffnungstal Hoffnungstal Hoffnungstal, sometimes spelled Hoffnungsthal, , generally refers to the town of Tsebrykove in Odessa Oblast in Ukraine. The name means "hope valley" in German and expressed the millenarianist beliefs of the original settlers.... |
1842 |
Agriculture
As ordered by the Tsar during his recruitment, almost all newcomers worked as farmers. Each German family received 60 desyatinas (about 65 hectares) from the state. The settlement area lay in the Bessarabian black earth belt, whose earth is considered among the best farming land in Europe. As such, fertilisation was not needed. The main crops grown were wheatWheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
and corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
. In some colonies wide viticulture
Viticulture
Viticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
was operated (see Moldovan wine
Moldovan wine
With a production of 124,200 tons of wine , Moldova has a well established wine industry. It has a vineyard area of of which are used for commercial production. The remaining are vineyards planted in villages around the houses used to make home-made wine, or "vin de casa"...
), but most farms only produced enough wine for their own needs.
The Germans operated animal husbandry
Animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock.- History :Animal husbandry has been practiced for thousands of years, since the first domestication of animals....
only to a small extent, because the resulting dung
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
was not required due to the high soil fertility. Therefore, it was usually dried and used in the winter as fuel. Shepherding
Shepherding
The term Shepherding has a number of uses:* The work done by a Shepherd* Shepherding Movement, a style of Christian discipleship within Charismatic churches...
was more widespread, especially the fine-wooled Karakul
Karakul
See also: Karakul Karakul or Qaraqul is a breed of domestic sheep which originated in Central Asia...
sheep. The men's traditional black skin caps were made from the wool. Poultry
Poultry
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...
farming for self-sufficiency was a matter of course on each individual farm. Unlike other farming people, the Germans used horses instead of oxen for ploughing.
New settlements
With the establishment of the last colony (Hoffnungstal) in 1842, the influx of emigrants from Germany ended. Afterwards, a self-colonisation began by private settlement within the country. The boundaries of the twenty-four Mutterkolonies had become limited due to increase in the population. Bessarabian Germans bought or leased land from large Russian landowners and created new villages.In 1920, two years after the union of Bessarabia with Romania, began the Romanian agrarian reform, in which large land owners with more than 100 hectares were expropriated of the land in excess of that. Their property was distributed to the peasants, who each received 6 hectares. Hektardörfer, or hectare-towns sprang up on the free land. Approximately 150 German settlements resulted during the presence of the Germans in Bessarabia between 1814 and 1940.
Actually approximately 800 Ukrainians claim to be descendants of German settlers in the area, mainly in order to get visas to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Church
Church and religion intensively shaped the life of all Bessarabian Germans, because many of their ancestors had once left their German homeland for religious reasons. Abroad they kept the German languageGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
in use in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and in the Hymn books. In newly founded villages, places of worship were the first communal facilities to be created. In larger municipalities this was a church for up to 1,000 visitors, in smaller municipalities this was a praying house, in which the dwelling of the Sexton
Sexton (office)
A sexton is a church, congregation or synagogue officer charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard. In smaller places of worship, this office is often combined with that of verger...
and the village school were included as well. The colonists paid for the maintenance of the church, school, Sexton and teacher (usually a Sexton-teacher in dual functions).
The majority of the approximately 150 German settlements were organized in 13 Kirchspielen (parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
es) and three Pfarrgemeinden of Lutheran
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
denomination. Each parish had a minister, who was responsible for several villages within the parish. Besides there was Reformed
Reformed churches
The Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...
parish (Schabo) and a Roman Catholic church district with four municipalities (Balmas, Emmental, Krasna, Larga). These belonged to the diocese Cherson, which was created on July 3, 1848. The name of the diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
was changed to Tiraspol
Tiraspol
Tiraspol is the second largest city in Moldova and is the capital and administrative centre of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic . The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River...
shortly after. The seat of the diocese was relocated to Saratow by the first bishop Ferdinand Helanus, where it remained until 1918. Bishop Josef Alois Kessler
Josef Alois Kessler
Joseph Kessler was the last bishop of the Diocese of Tiraspol and the last Volga German bishop.-Biography:...
relocated the seat to Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
to escape the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
, but after their victory he fled to Germany in 1921 and the diocese was disbanned in the Soviet Republic
Republics of the Soviet Union
The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
.
Educational facilities
On the lowest level there were elementary schools in the German villages. In the first years usually someone from the village taught the school children, until 1892, when only graduate teachers were allowed to teach. A gymnasium (grammar school) for boys and girls was located in TarutinoTarutino
Tarutino may refer to:*Tarutino, Russia, a village in Central Russia*The Battle of Tarutino in the 1812 French invasion of Russia that occurred near the village*The town of Tarutyne, Ukraine, called Tarutino in Russian...
. In Sarata
Sarata
Sarata is a town in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Sarata Raion , and is part of the Bessarabian historic district of Budjak....
the Werner school for teacher training was located.
People
- Johann Friedrich Rempfer (1782-1856)
- Christian Friedrich Werner (1759-1823)
- Ignaz Lindl (1774-1845) (de)
- Alois Schertzinger (1787–1864) (de)
- Johann Gottlieb Gerstenberger (1826-1900)
- Gottfried Schulz (1853-1916)
- Andreas Widmer (1856-1931)
- Heinrich LhotzkyHeinrich LhotzkyHeinrich Lhotzky [lotski] was a German-born protestant author .He acted as a pastor for German settlers in Bessarabia ....
(1859-1930) - Daniel Erdmann (1866-1942) (de)
- Immanuel Wagner (1870-1946)
- Daniel Haase (1877-1939)
- Karl Rüb (1896-1970) (de)
- Dr. Otto Broneske (1900-1989)
- Immanuel Baumann (1900-1974) (de)
- Edwin Kelm (born 1929)
- Arnulf Baumann (born 1932) (de)
- Horst KöhlerHorst KöhlerHorst Köhler is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on...
(born 1943)