5.1 The first years in the colony until about 1820

The Krasna people had to cope with a heavy disappointment at first when they arrived at their future place of residence.

• For instead of the “promised land,” the settlers now found themselves in a wasteland.
• There were no provisions for the arrival of the settlers.
• There were no houses, nor were there any other facilities promised to the recruits.

An immense area presented itself to their gaze, without boundaries on all sides. What did they find? As far as the eye could see they saw barren steppe land: only tall grass, large thistles and weeds… covered the land, there were various game, steppe wolves, snakes and other “vermin”.

Already in the first year 1814/15, the immigrant colonists faced a very cold winter. At first, it was simply a matter of getting through the winter somehow. The colonists first had to create a makeshift shelter to protect themselves against the inclement weather. The Gemeindebericht von 1848 explicitly says: “The steppe to be settled was without human dwellings.”
It is documented by Pastor Paschkowsky that he found no housing upon his arrival in November 1814; he therefore built an earthen hut in which he lived for over two years. (Source:letter from the Ministry of Interior regarding Father Pashkovsky -Odessa-Archive 6-1-1467) Such earth huts (Russian semlyanki) were very simple dwellings.
In his book "The German Colonists in Bessarabia" Wilhelm Kludt describes how such a structure looked like: “A large, deep, square pit was dug in the ground, it was covered with poles, cane, grass and earth, the whole was coated with clay on the inside, and the colonists' dwelling was ready”.

It goes without saying that these shelters were very primitive and unhealthy.

Another problem of the new colonists: they also had nothing else to live on:
no money, no grain, no meat. The little money they had with them from Poland was used up. As far as individual colonists had brought animals, many had died, and many a wagon was broken.

They were completely dependent on state aid.
In the Krasna municipal report of 1848 we can read what concrete support the colonists received:

• “For the construction of houses each settler received the necessary timber: 4 corner posts, doors, windows and a piece of wood for a bench and 8 rubles. For the other needs the settlers had to provide themselves.
• As economic tools, each complete family received a wooden cart, to which a year later some iron was received for improvement. Furthermore - a harrow, 2 scythes, two sickles, an iron shovel, a hoe, a Danish stick ¹⁾ and other small tools.
• As draught cattle each family got a pair of bulls (oxen) and a cow.
• For sowing - 4 chet worth of wheat, 2 chet worth of potatoes. (1= about 200 liters)
• Furthermore, for 1 1/2 years each soul received a pud of flour monthly from a magazine in Tarutino.

The practice, however, looked even more meager. Greedy suppliers and corrupt officials enriched themselves at the expense of the colonists. Let us again hear from those involved at the time:
Krasna Municipal Report of 1848: “Although now the Russian government spent millions for the colonies in order to provide support to the colonists, the colonists were very often cheated by suppliers, especially by one Pollner. The delivered livestock was very meager, the implements very poor, the flour spoiled, the promised 5 kopecks daily allowance was mostly not received. In this way the settlers were forced to work as day laborers in order not to let their families starve.”

Building of houses: In the spring or summer of 1815 the construction of the first primitive shelters began. They really weren't luxury houses either. The crown supplied the wood, the plan was the same for all: “They hammered 4 strong corner posts into the ground, laid beams with rafters on them, covered the beams with thin poles and the rafters with cane and grass, filled the partition walls up to the beams with a shrubbery, covered the whole thing inside and out with clay, - and the colonists' house was finished.”
Source: Wilhelm Kludt: "The German Colonists in Bessarabia".
Krons cottages were the transition to the colonist houses of later years. Compared to the latter, they were still very poor, but of course better than earth huts.

The early years were very hard. Living conditions were very primitive and unhealthy. This is especially true of the earth huts described. Father Paschkowsky says that he lived in one for over two years. When he saw that almost all his belongings and books began to rot in this hut, his health was attacked…, he decided to build a brick house with all the existing deficiencies (source: letter from the Ministry of Interior regarding Father Pashkovsky -Odessa-Archive 6-1-1467).

It will have been similar for the other arrivals. No wonder that many colonists became ill. Some immigrants had already died earlier on their grueling journey from Poland or during their stay in the Moldavian villages.
Quite a few of the arrivals did not survive the first winter in their new homeland. Also in the following years the number of sick people remained very high. For example, according to the sick list that has come down to us, 51 people were ill in Krasna from mid-August to mid-November 1819 alone.

Schulz: Franz Bietsch (Petsch); assessors: Nikolaus Dürk (Dirk), Nikolaus Lauterbach.
Source: Odessa State Archives Fond 6, Inventory 6 File 26 Pages 29-31

Diseases, epidemics, cold and emaciation, unhealthy nutrition claimed numerous lives, especially in the following three decades. Mortality was extremely high.
Medical assistance was completely lacking. Entire families simply died out, e.g. Fornwald.