Bessarabia History & Culture

History quick links:  General, Bessarabia, personal stories, foreign terms

Culture quick links:  General, village, church & school, birth/marriage/death, social, language, agriculture, crafts & trades, medicine, military

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History

 

General history:

• Chronological timeline of Russian events from about 550 AD to 1977

• Timeline of key events in German-Russian history 1533-1934

• Privileges of the Colonists Who Settled in Russia, signed 20 April 1804

• Records of Imperial Russian Consulates in the U.S. 1862-1922

• Records of Imperial Russian Consulates in Canada 1898-1922

• Access to Holocaust records

• Translated articles from the Mitteilungsblatt (published by the Bessarabiendeutsche Verein)

 

Bessarabian history:

• Background and history of Bessarabia

• History of Bessarabia by the Bessarabiendeutscher Verein (in German)

• What Did Our Ancestors Find?
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Dividing the Bessarabian Colonies into Two Parishes 1818-1819 (archive file 6-1-1245)

• Treaty Between the Principal Allied Powers and Roumania Regarding Bessarabia, signed 28 October 1920
  The transfer of Bessarabia from Russia to Rumania after WWI

• Resettlement history & records, translated by Allen Konrad

• Russification and Ethnic Consciousness of Romanians in Bessarabia (1812-1991) from a Case Study trip to Moldova

• Moldova and Romania: The Broken Engagement from a Case Study trip to Moldova

 

Personal stories:

• My Experiences in the Lutheran Parish Rectory of Russia by Anna Schrenk (DAI film T81-634)
  These experiences take place primarily in the Odessa area in the early 1900s.

• Biography of Daniel Netz, from the Bessarabian Newsletter issue 5-2
  Emigrating from Neu Elft to North Dakota

 

Foreign terms:

• Glossary of Russian terms

• Topographical Terms Used in Russian Gazetteers by Thomas Edlund (Do you know what a kishla or a yazy is?)

 

Culture

 

General sources of information on Bessarabian culture

• Der Gottlieb, a poem in German dialect. From the Dale Wahl Collection. (added May 2010)

• Kulm, Bessarabia Heimatbuch, translated by Allen Konrad. This book includes about 200 pages of stories about how our Bessarabian ancestors lived.

• History of Alt Posttal, written in 1923 for the 100th anniversary of the village. Includes a lot of information about village life and customs

• Folklore Collection of the Maraslienfeld Resettlers, translated by Allen Konrad. (Includes info about many different aspects of life in the village.)

• The Bessarabian Newsletter, published 1997-2008, has many articles on Bessarabian culture

• The Heritage Review, published 1971-present, has many articles on culture both in Bessarabia and other Black Sea German-Russian villages

• The Heimatkalendar (index), published by the Bessarabiendeutscher Verein, has many great articles on Bessarabian culture although they are in German. The Heimatkalendars are available in the GRHS Library in Bismarck.

• Allen Konrad's Korner includes translations for many articles on culture and history and info on history & life in specific villages

• Typical Bessarabian family photos

• Translated articles from the Mitteilungsblatt (published by the Bessarabiendeutsche Verein)

 

The Village

• My Hometown
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Village Administration
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

 

Church & School

• The Church
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Sunday Customs
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• The Schools
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Church and Religious Life of Germans in Russia, translated by Allen Konrad

 

Birth, Marriage, Death

• Birth, Baptism, Confirmation
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Engagement & Marriage
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Death and Burial
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Bessarabian Marriage Customs
  From the Golden Prairie history book and the Dale Wahl Collection

 

Social Activities

• Social Activities, Clubs, and Organizations
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Bessarabian Literature
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Festivals & Holidays (including Christmas, Pepper Day, New Year, January 6, Easter, May Day, Pentecost, Church Dedication, Corn Husking, Superstition)
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

 

Language:

• Language of the Bessarabian Germans
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Swabian dialect note

 

Land & Agriculture:

• Grain Production in the Early Bessarabian Mother Colonies, from Dwayne Janke's Korner

• "Locusts! Winged Invaders of South Russia's Steppes" by Dwayne Janke (from Heritage Review issue 39-1)

• Agriculture - Farming & Tree Plantations
  Agriculture - Spring
  Agriculture - Summer
  Agriculture - Fall
  Agriculture - Winter
  All from Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Land purchase and inheritance customs note

• Moldovan Vines and Their Polluted Environment from a Case Study trip to Moldova

 

Crafts, Trades, Business

• Crafts and Trades
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Business and Land Reform
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).

• Request Permission to Build a Soap Factory in Tarutino, 1825 (archive file 6-1-1830)

 

Medicine

• German-Russian Folk Medicine by Dale Lee Wahl, based on the writings of his grandmother, Katharina (Scheuffele) Wall

 

Military

• The Draft Lottery
  From Wie’s Daheim War—Der Schicksalsweg der Bessarabiendeutschen by J. Becker, part of the Social History Translation Project (see Dwayne Janke's Korner and Elvire Necker Eberhardt's Korner).