Bessarabian Germans: Set of Two volumes
Book 1: Homeland Book of the Bessarabian Germans by Albert Kern (with personal name index)
Translation published by the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries, 1998
Original Publisher: Aid Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bessarabia, 1976
ISBN: 0962977780
Hardcover
Page Count: 356
Book 2: Bessarabia German Colonists on the Black Sea by Ute Schmidt, translated by James T. Gessele, edited by Dr. Elvire Necker-Eberhardt, Dr. Nancy Herzog and Alexander Herzog
Publisher: Desktop Publishing by Marcie A. Franklund
ISBN: 1891193775
Hardcover
Page Count: 432
These books were published separately but combine as a perfect unit. They are a history and a lament for a complex and ultimately doomed settlement. When Catherine the Great’s Russia seized the lands north of the Black Sea from the Ottoman Empire, she resisted settling them with Russian peasants who at that point were mainly serfs—i.e. slaves. Instead, she invited in several nationalities to establish ethnic colonies loyal to Russia that would be more economically productive than the traditional Russian methods. The Germans arriving under this invitation thrived and thus met every hope of Catherine and her successors.
The Bolsheviks largely tolerated them until they didn’t. Given their ethnic affinity with the invading Nazis and their conscription into the German War machine, they were a natural target for Soviet rage and persecution. Those that didn’t die in the war were exiled or fled abroad. One of the volumes has page after page of names of those who were killed in the war, largely while serving in the German forces. The community as it was no longer exists.
These volumes are a great example of ethnic history. They are abundantly detailed, and the photos and descriptions of lifestyle etc are fascinating. North Dakota State is to be congratulated for salvaging this history with the cooperation of the community members.
Condition: Like new, both books. Almost no evidence that they have been opened or read.
Book 1: Homeland Book of the Bessarabian Germans by Albert Kern (with personal name index)
Translation published by the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries, 1998
Original Publisher: Aid Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bessarabia, 1976
ISBN: 0962977780
Hardcover
Page Count: 356
Book 2: Bessarabia German Colonists on the Black Sea by Ute Schmidt, translated by James T. Gessele, edited by Dr. Elvire Necker-Eberhardt, Dr. Nancy Herzog and Alexander Herzog
Publisher: Desktop Publishing by Marcie A. Franklund
ISBN: 1891193775
Hardcover
Page Count: 432
These books were published separately but combine as a perfect unit. They are a history and a lament for a complex and ultimately doomed settlement. When Catherine the Great’s Russia seized the lands north of the Black Sea from the Ottoman Empire, she resisted settling them with Russian peasants who at that point were mainly serfs—i.e. slaves. Instead, she invited in several nationalities to establish ethnic colonies loyal to Russia that would be more economically productive than the traditional Russian methods. The Germans arriving under this invitation thrived and thus met every hope of Catherine and her successors.
The Bolsheviks largely tolerated them until they didn’t. Given their ethnic affinity with the invading Nazis and their conscription into the German War machine, they were a natural target for Soviet rage and persecution. Those that didn’t die in the war were exiled or fled abroad. One of the volumes has page after page of names of those who were killed in the war, largely while serving in the German forces. The community as it was no longer exists.
These volumes are a great example of ethnic history. They are abundantly detailed, and the photos and descriptions of lifestyle etc are fascinating. North Dakota State is to be congratulated for salvaging this history with the cooperation of the community members.
Condition: Like new, both books. Almost no evidence that they have been opened or read.
Book 1: Homeland Book of the Bessarabian Germans by Albert Kern (with personal name index)
Translation published by the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries, 1998
Original Publisher: Aid Committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bessarabia, 1976
ISBN: 0962977780
Hardcover
Page Count: 356
Book 2: Bessarabia German Colonists on the Black Sea by Ute Schmidt, translated by James T. Gessele, edited by Dr. Elvire Necker-Eberhardt, Dr. Nancy Herzog and Alexander Herzog
Publisher: Desktop Publishing by Marcie A. Franklund
ISBN: 1891193775
Hardcover
Page Count: 432
These books were published separately but combine as a perfect unit. They are a history and a lament for a complex and ultimately doomed settlement. When Catherine the Great’s Russia seized the lands north of the Black Sea from the Ottoman Empire, she resisted settling them with Russian peasants who at that point were mainly serfs—i.e. slaves. Instead, she invited in several nationalities to establish ethnic colonies loyal to Russia that would be more economically productive than the traditional Russian methods. The Germans arriving under this invitation thrived and thus met every hope of Catherine and her successors.
The Bolsheviks largely tolerated them until they didn’t. Given their ethnic affinity with the invading Nazis and their conscription into the German War machine, they were a natural target for Soviet rage and persecution. Those that didn’t die in the war were exiled or fled abroad. One of the volumes has page after page of names of those who were killed in the war, largely while serving in the German forces. The community as it was no longer exists.
These volumes are a great example of ethnic history. They are abundantly detailed, and the photos and descriptions of lifestyle etc are fascinating. North Dakota State is to be congratulated for salvaging this history with the cooperation of the community members.
Condition: Like new, both books. Almost no evidence that they have been opened or read.