A Time for Reflection: The First One Hundred Years PDF
Preview A Time for Reflection: The First One Hundred Years
A Time for Reflection The First One Hundred Years Germans from Russia in Sheboygan, Wisconsin Russia Colonies on the .·· Volga A Time for Ref le ct ion The First One Hundred Years Sheboygan. Wisconsin 1892-1992 Reprint and Update of The lOOth Anniversary of the Germans from Russia in Sheboygan, Wisconsin Front cover image: This limestone statue, called Volga German Family, is located in Victoria, Kansas. It is meant to be a testament to the first twenty-three families of Volga-Germans who arrived in Victoria on April 8, 1876. The immigrant families established the Village of Herzog in the area north of this point. ISBN-13: 978-15304 73250 Published by Sheboygan County Historical Research Center 2016 schrc.org 2 w A few of the Volga-German men who settled in Sheboygan. All but one were from the village of Schaefer. Picture taken between 1912 and 1920 at Kuether Studio, located on the southeast corner of 8th and St. Clair. Front row: left to right: Henry, Herman, lived on North 11th Street, Fred Hubert from Rosenheim, Christian Hermann, Gottlieb Hermann, **Herber and John Hermann ran a grocery store. Back row, left to right: Phillip Hermann, lived on North 17th Street, Gottlieb Rekling, Gottfried "Schoene" Kober, •• Herber, Gottlieb, Emma ll's father, and Henry Hermann. 0 5 10 15 30km Flnland Russia Estonia *Moskow Latvia Lithuania SA•RAT OV Belarus Ukraine Kazakhstan 4 A Time for Reflection 1892-1992 This booklet was prepared for a centennial celebration of the arrival of the first Volga Germans in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. That small group of seven, unsure of their destination or what they would do when they arrived, was followed by many other relatives and friends. Today, thou sands of people who live in Sheboygan - or who lived there at one time - are descendants of German Russian immigrants. "A Time for Reflection" is our anniversary theme, for now is an appropriate time to reflect on our ancestors' lives and to count the many blessings we have received as a result of their courage and sacrifice. With a new government in power, many Russian people of German de scent will be searching for relatives and acquaintances in the West. Many Americans, too, want to be reunited with lost kin. We want to be ready to help each other. The history, chronology, and maps in this booklet represent only a small part of our unique heritage. Here is a brief look at the Volga Deitsch, how they got to Russia and why they came to America, and then to Sheboygan. It is a tale of more than 200 years of travel, hardship and joy endured by our ancestors. Older generations might recall the good times as well as the not so-good when they read about old customs and practices. Younger people may learn a history they did not know existed. Those of us who live in freedom are numerically the smaller of the German-Russian people. We are in a position to give testimony to our traditions, ethnic character and Christian way of life. This is our story. So come, join us as we celebrate 100 years of Unser Leif in Sheboygan. My sincere thanks to all who have helped with this booklet, dinner and dance. especially Emma Thieme, who with relatively short notice. prepared the history you are about to read. Fred Zitzer President, Greater Sheboygan Area Chapter American Historical Society of Germans from Russia May 3. 1992 5 MAP OF GERMAN SETTLEMENTS IN THE VOLGA DISTRICT 2 6 A History of Sheboygan's German Russians by Emma Hermann Thieme When seven tired travelers ended their journey at a railroad depot near the Sheboygan River in 1892, there was no fanfare. Like other immigrants before them, these three men. three women and a boy from half a world away simply got off the train and set out to find a new place they could call home. By and large. the city of Sheboygan did not notice that the first Germans from Russia had just arrived. Now, one hundred years later, members of the local chapter of the American Historical Soci ety of Germans from Russia celebrate that arrival and pay homage to the hundreds of Volga Germans who followed that first small group - Unser Leit or the Volga Deitsch. Those terms and others. like Germans from Russia. Volga Germans, German Russians, and G.R., are well known in Sheboygan, especially to second and third-generation descendants of German-Russian immigrants. American German Russians are people descended from the hardy souls who Jell several are as of Germany to settle in Russia during the eighteenth century, and whose offspring later came to the United States. The German settlers became known as Volga Germans or Volga Deitsch, because they lived along Russia·s Volga River. The term German Russians (or Russian Ger mans. which is used in some parts of the United States) reflects the fact that their background, speech and way of life was Germanic. although they arrived in America with Russian passports. G.R. is an abbreviation of German Russian. Volga Dietsch and Unser Leif arc German-Russian dialect and the way the immigrants described themselves. The proper German words are Deutsch and Unsere Leute (our people). Our people·s history before and after they arrived in Sheboygan is an absorbing story that bears repeating. Russian Settlement From 1764 to 1767. at the same time people from all over Europe were settling British colonies in America. 23,000 Gem1ans emigrated to a small area of Russia along the Volga Rivcr.1 They came at the invitation of Russia's German-born princess, Catherine II. often called Catherine the Great. This ambitious woman, a daughter of Prince Christian August of the Duchy of Anhalt, a tiny state in central Germany, was born in 1729 and baptized Sophia Augusta Fredrica. When she was fourteen. she was brought to Russia by its ruler, Empress Elizabeth. In 1745, she married Peter lll, Elizabeth ·s nephew and heir to the throne. Rechristened Catherine when she converted 7 to Greek Orthodoxy, she became empress of Russia in 1762 following a palace revolution. Catherine II sought to modernize Russia, continuing the task begun by her husband's grand father, Peter I (Peter the Great), who reigned from 1682 to 1725. During the reign of Catherine the Great, Russia continued to expand territorially. In order to industrialize, settle and cultivate her growing empire, the empress needed hardworking farmers and skilled artisans. These could be found in more progressive European countries, mainly in Germany, she decided. On Decem ber 2, 1762, Catherine the Great issued a royal manifesto calling for German immigrants. Colonization The December manifesto did not bring the results she wanted, so the empress issued another. Her manifesto of July 22, 1763, was a detailed document filled with lofty promises, including offers of free transportation to Russia and a settlement site, freedom to settle anywhere in the new country, freedom to practice any trade or profession, free land to futme farmers, freedom from customs duties for imported property, interest-free loans for ten years, tax exemptions for up to thirty years, local self-government, freedom of religion, exemption from military service for immigrants and their descendants, and in case anyone had a change of heart, the freedom to return to one·s native country.2 This enticing proclamation was circulated throughout the various states and principalities of Germany, and it reached the eyes and ears of many a common peasant and artisan who longed to own land and who was tired of high taxes, religious persecution, and war (the Seven Years' War, 1756-1763, had just ended). The privileges and promises held out by the Empress of Rus sia - a sort of landsmann, or fellow countryman - were alluring. Thousands accepted the offer of freedom and the challenge to start a new and more prosperous (or at least a more contented and strife-free) life. From 1764 to 1767, a total of 104 colonies were founded along the Volga River near Sara tov. Immigrants to the Volga region came from the German duchies of Hessen, and the Rhine land, and from the southwestern German states of Baden, Wi.irttemberg, Alsace and the Palati nate.3 Additional colonies were established in other regions of Russia. A difficult journey, often taking a whole year, brought colonists to Saratov, a frontier out post of about 10,000 inhabitants, located on the western shore of the Volga River.4 Catherine the Great's manifesto had offered immigrants the option of city living while working at trades or professions, but that choice was denied to all but a very few. Most became farmers whether they liked it or not.5 Later this was recognized as a blessing in disguise, for the farmers taught artisans how to plow and plant, while the artisans helped farmers make their own equipment and tools, so that the German-Russian villages eventually became self-sufficient. At first, times were hard. The newcomers were outfitted with a few supplies in Saratov, then taken to designated areas on either side of the Volga River. They expected to find houses await ing them, as had been promised. instead, the by-now disappointed Germans were forced to seek temporary shelter underground, in Erdhurten (earthen huts) or in dugouts called zemlyanky 8
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