From: Krasna, Bessarabia
21 March 1926
Dear Friends!
I am bringing you the sad news that my dear husband Karl Harsche has died after a short illness. He had a hernia and because of a bad cold on top of it all, a volvulus (twisting of the intestine) set in, which rapidly cause the end of his life. Peace to his ashes!
His death was doubly difficult for us bereaved. We lost the mainstay of our lives; and furthermore, we are completely impoverished because of the failed harvests. Therefore, I am cordially begging you, dear ones, to open your hearts and hands and don’t let us totally perish. I was forced to sell my only cow just to prolong our miserable existence.
The following are the friends I am begging for help: Joseph Harsche; Kaspar Harsche and his wife; Appolonia and her husband Peter and Dinisius Harsche. All the aforementioned are my husband’s siblings. My husband died on 21 July 1924. He left a totally destitute wife and children.
Hoping to soon hear something from my friends, I greet them all in a kind manner.
Magdalena Harsche
From: Palmyra, Brazil
10 July 1926
Honorable Editor Brandt!
The immigration to Brazil has moved to the foreground for years now. Just a few years ago one did not hear anything in Bessarabia about this land. The older people didn’t even know that there was a Brazil in the world. Now it has put into motion the largest immigration from all European countries. But up to now the immigration from Bessarabia is the …………missing text………….a lot is written in the newspapers, but not the facts. There is much ado, but little wool. None of these writers knows anything about the local conditions. Therefore, only assumptions are being written. Only the dark sides are being described, and these are exaggerated. Only the men, who have experienced everything, can enlighten friends back in the old country with the local conditions of this country. For now, I can only say that the people here are much better off than in the old country. Therefore, our friends in North America and Bessarabia can rest at ease.
Twenty-nine German families from Bessarabia have settled on our coffee plantation. In fact from Krasna, the following: Georg Schäfer (son of Nikolaus Schäfer); Raphael Seifert (son of August Seifert); Alexius Fenrich (son of Friederich Fenrich); Christoph Nagel (son of Alexander Nagel) and his three sons-in-law, Korbinian and Peter Winter (sons of Kaspar Winter); Wendelin Bonokowsky (son of Klemens Bonokowsky); the brothers Joseph, Johannes, Reinhold, Leopold, and Martin Meersbach (sons of Joseph Meersbach); Jakob Schlick (son of Dominik Schlick); Sebastian Meer (son of Mathias Meer); Peter Klug and son Hyronimus and son-in-law Bernhard Winter (son of Joseph Winter); Gidius Harsche; Heinrich Ternes (son of Michael Ternes); Isidor Krenzel (son of Ludwig Krenzel); and the single brothers Timotheus and Michael Winter (sons of Balthasar Winter).
From Balmas: Ludwig Schmalz (son of Mathias Schmalz); further, Johann Hert and Daniel Braun from Leipzig; the widows Christina Fuchs and Wilhelmina Lux from Nikolajewka, Franz Volk, my mother Katharina nee Völler, and I from Larga.
Our colony, Leitao, consists of 41 families. Among them are Hungarians, Negroes, and Spaniards. These are accommodated in 21 homes. The homes are set up in two rows and are 20 meters apart from each other. Two families live in each home.
On our neighboring plantations, Luzia and Sanscho, there are also many German families from Krasna, Paris, Leipzig, and Albota. There is much complaining because they do not receive any letters from their friends. Only a very few letters arrive here from America. It is the people’s own fault that they do not receive any letters. Many did not provide the correct addresses, and therefore many letters are lost. From what we perceive from letters from the old country, certain people here write lies and fantasies home.
On the 4 July, Christoph Nagel received a letter addressed to his daughter Plandina. The letter was mailed from Krasna and was written by Victor Nagel’s daughter. She wrote that Father Leibham had received a letter from nine families in Brazil. He read the letter from the pulpit to the congregation. However, the letter was not signed.
Among other subjects, it is written in the letter that the sand fleas here are as big as the horse flies in Bessarabia, and whose bite causes big and painful wounds. There are many sand fleas here, especially during dry weather, but they are so small that one can hardly see them with the naked eye. They eat themselves into the human skin, but are harmless if one removes them immediately with a needle.
However, the worst of all stories is that as soon as a child dies, Negroes arrive and take away the dead child. Where these dead children are taken is unknown. But it is assumed that the black people eat them. Such and similar lies are written home by individual people to cause heartaches for friends in the old homeland. Since we have been here, three children have died in our colony. All of them rest in our cemetery……………missing text………… These are people who already were good-for-nothings back home. They are idlers and disorderly guys who cannot be believed. They must have thought that once they got to Brazil, then roasted doves would fly into their mouths. Since they have to work hard over here and cannot laze around, they write lies back home. Of course, no one could get rich yet during the eight months we have been here, because most arrived here very poor. Many were so poor that they could not even pay for their journey. By economizing and industrious work one can achieve something in time. Every beginning is difficult. … … … text missing… … …