1.3 The origins of the German settlers of Bessarabia

The colonization of Bessarabia was virtually the last link in the settlement of Germans in South Russia.

• Catherine II ► settlement of the Volga Germans - manifest of July 22, 1763
• Alexander I ► settlement of the Black Sea Region to the South Caucasus manifest of February 20, 1804
• Alexander I ► settlement of Bessarabia Edict of November 29, 1813

In conclusion one can note the following settlement movements to South Russia (South Caucasus, Black Sea Region, Bessarabia)

• result of the Manifest of February 20, 1804
  • ⇒ 1st wave 1803-1804 Krim, Glückstal Colonies, Großliebentaler Colonies and others
  • ⇒ 2nd wave 1807-1810 Kutschurgan, Beresan-Colonies and others
• Result of the Manifest of 29.11. 1813
  • ⇒ 3rd wave 1814-1820 Bessarabian Immigrants from the Duchy of Warsaw / since 1815 Congress Poles
  • ⇒ 4th wave 1817-1842 Bessarabian Immigrants, directly From South West Germany

One can conclude: The colonists of Bessarabia came from all four of these immigrantion waves, whereas the third wave had the largest contingent of them.

• The first Germans arrived in Bessarabia in 1814, the so-called Warsaw Colonists (residents of the Duchy of Warsaw). In the following years more famlies followed from this area and a total of 1,500 families came.
• There was an additional influx from Southwest Germany in the years 1817-1834. (See detailed information about the origin in the colonies)
• Around the year 1840 several major migrants came from the earlier founded colonies in the Odessa region (from the first and second immigration wave to South Russia).

The immigrants to Bessarabia/South Russia usually took the following routes:

1. The Warsaw colonists came to Bessarabia from Warsaw and other areas of Poland through Radziwil and Tiraspol.
2. Bessarabia-colonists from Württemberg, who formed so-called immigrant harmonies came either
   • over the land route via Lemberg, Radziwil, Tiraspol to Bessarabia, or
   • over the water route in small boats, called the ulm boxes, down the Danube to Ismail, where a quarantine camp had been established.
3. Migrants from the south Russian colonies of the Odessa region, where German settlers from Southwest Germany had migrated due to the manifest of February 20, 1804, on the routes described in note 2, founded Hofnungstal in 1842 and arrived in already existing colonies of Bessarabia, Krasna amongst them.

⇒ (See 7.5 Fluctuations among the Krasna colonists)

Image 6: The routes of the Bessarabian colonists from Wikipeda, author Hartmut Reule

We know the immigrant families of Krasna relatively well. (See 7.3, Immigrant Families of Krasna) Looking for their origins they are handily divided into for groups:

1. Germans from the Duchy of Warsaw (Warsaw colonists)
2. Polish nationals traveling with the first group coming to Krasna
3. Migrants from other Bessarabian colonies
4. Germans coming to Krasna from colonies near Odessa

They themselves or their predecessorss came mostly from the southwest and south of Germany and had migrated to the terrirtories of the later formed Duchy of Warsaw (created by Napoleon in 1807) at the end of the 18th century and during the first decade of the 19th century.

⇒ (See map 1.2 The Russian colonization of Bessarabia)

At the time of the migration these areas belonged to Prussia or Austria, because Poland had been divided amongst Russia, Austria and Prussia in three divisions (1772, 1793, 1795). It had ceased to exist as an independent state. ¹⁾

There were immigrants to

• The Austrian part of Poland, called Galicia (the so-called Josephine settlers, migration period 1782-1785) and the so-called French colonization (ca 1801-1805), and
• to Prussian Poland (ca 1799-1806)

When one begins with the list of the Krasna immigrant families, the literature contains a number of emigrants bearing names common to Krasna, who migrated to Galicia between 1783 and 1785. Many of them came originally from the Saarbrücken area - the former county of Nassau-Saarbrücken - and they were Catholic.

Until the end of World War I, the major part of Galicia belonged to Austria. Some Krasna family names appear as settler names in villages there, for instance Arnold, Brandt, Brück-ner, Damm, Fischbach, Haag, Hartmann, Heidrich, Krams, Riehl, Ritz, Rückert, Weis. There was no immediate major exodus to Bessarabia at this time. It cannot been excluded that they arrived in Krasna by way of remaining at other places along the way for a time, but there is no evidence of this.

The area around Zamosc in eastern Poland became territory of the Duchy of Warsaw. The Austrians handled a majority of the so-called private settlement in Galicia. The Josephine private settlement contained two settlement groups, separated by geographical area.

• One at the later border between Austria and the remainder of Galicia, with the colonies of Korchow, Roguszno, Rozaniec, Snyatycze, Zamch and
• a group around Zamosc with the colonies of Bialobrzegi, Brod, Horiszow Ruski, Hrubieszow, Huszczka, Myazyn, Myazyn Ruski, Ploski, Szczebreszyn, Sitaniec, Zamosc.. ²⁾

It is most likely, and almost certain, that Sitaniec is the place the Krasna residents called Schitonitz, as it is pronounced Schitanitz in Polish. Sitaniec is located roughly 5 kilometers north of the town of Zamosc.

At the Hofkammer Archive in Vienna is an official settlement list of the Josephine private colonies. This list (called Identification) lists the domains and villages where people were settled.

In this Identification we find a number of Krasna family names: Albrecht, Albinger/Alwinger, Balten/Baldus, Baker/Becker, Dokendorf/Tokendorf, Dressler, Gross, Frank, Harth, Haupt, Henz, Hermann, Kus/Kuss, Leib/Leeb/Löw, Maas, Mathieu/Mathi, Müller, Oberlin, Paul, Petsch/Pietsch/Pitz/Petz, Schäfer, Schmid, Schreiner, Schulz, Sehn/Soehn, Speicher, Thernes/Ternes, Türk/Dirk, Wagner, Weber.

More or less, all of these names of private settlers appear in church records from the Zamosc region. Unfotunately, the church books are no longer completely preserved, in parts are large gaps. For instance, for Sitaniec the years 1808-1809 are completely missing. We have only records for the years 1810-1815. For this time we have found a few Krasna names (births, marriages, deaths). Often the names of parents and godparents are listed, therefore, we can reconstruct the data for several persons. Church records of other colonies are preserved for either all or the largest part of the time frame relevant to us (1784-1814).

Up to now there seems to be only one source evident, giving concrete information about the onward migration of later Krasna families from the duchy of Warsaw to Bessarabia, the so-called Hopf List. ³⁾ It lists a total of 2,600 families of German descent, who immigrated from Poland to Russia between 1813 and 1866. The immigrants found in the Hopf List under Zamosc and Hrubieszow show remarkable similarities to Krasna families in their family compositions, and in several cases they are identical. They are families, which are also listed in the settlement list: Albinger, Kuss, Leb/Loew, Matys, Mueller, Oberle, Paul, Peker/Becker, Schaeffer/Schaefer, Schayner/Schreiner, Schep, Schmidt, Schpeicher/Speicher, Sehn/Soehn, Ternes, Togendorf/Tokendorf, Tuerk/Dirk.

Hopf does not say where these immigrant went in Russia, but in a number of cases his data of people coincides with the data we have for families of Krasna.

Thus we can document the migration from the Palatinate/Saar (Pfalz/Saar) to Krasna for some families without any gaps. With others this is less complete or fragmented at best. In one case we have a backtrace. We can follow the Paul family from Obersalbach/Saarbrücken to Vienna and Husczcka/Zamosc ⁴⁾ to Krasna. Ted J. Becker ⁵⁾ has a document pertaining to Krasna colonists, which points toward Zamosc. The colonists Nikolaus Oberling/Oberlyn/Oberle (and his wife Juliana) as well as Johann Paul (and his wife Elisabetha and their two daughters Margaretha and Gertruda) have made a petition to the colonist office (ca 1820/1822) with the goal to go back to their home in Poland. It can be almost certainly assumed that this refers to the village of Husczka in the district of Zamosc.

The sources for German settlement history in Southeastern Europe (Quellen zur deutschen Siedlungsgeschichte in Suedosteuropa) lists several southwest German names for the so-called Franziszeisch Colonization (ca 1801-1805) which are synonymous with Krasna settler names, (for instance Both, Fleckenstein, Habrich, Hittel, Mers). However, a concrete documentation for the immigrants to Galicia at the beginning of 1800 has not yet been discovered. This comes as no surprise, since the time frame for their stay in Poland was extremely short (about ten years). Data are scarce there.

Among the family names of the initial immigrants to Krasna there are several, which are listed as immigrants to the Banat (1750-1780) (for instance Arnold, Buchart, Grünwald, Lauterbach, Marte, Neumann, Novak, Oberle/Oberlin, Ressler, Riehl, Schlick, Seifert, Ternes, Winter).
Up to now it has not been found out whether these are our people. It is certain that some initial Banat settlers soon moved on to other areas of the Hapsburg domain, even to Russia. It is not out of the question that people from the Banat moved on to Galicia and later from there to Krasna. We have two instances where the names listed in the transport lists (consignation lists) are only identified as Banat emigrants: Oberle/Oberling and Ternes.
On the other hand, families with these names also appear as private settlers in the Zamosc region.

There was also some direct migration from the Banat to Bessarabia, but inasmuch as how this is relevant to Krasna colonists has not been discovered yet. Karl Stumpp mentions Bessarabian migration places in lists of names of people moving on from the Banat. Krasna is not mentioned there.

Aside from Galicia, there is hardly any literature with concrete documentation for the migration of later Krasna families to Prussian Poland. There is only one relevant item in the Krasna community report of 1848: In the years 1800-1803 many Germans left their home land…a call from the King of Prussia invited colonists to Prussian-Poland. The current Krasna people followed the call and came to the Duchy of Warsaw, where they were settled in a colony ⁶⁾ not far from the city of Warsaw until 1814.

One can assume that the authors of the text received their information from people of the immigrant generation. Since we have localized one of the places of origin of Krasna people in Poland (Schitonitz) near Zamosc, the text could possibly refer to the second place of origin (Orschokowin).

A search for later Krasna people in Prussian Poland points toward colonies near Warsaw and the region around Lodz and Plock.

In South Prussia the six colonies at the gate of Warsaw best meet the criteria stated in the Krasna community report of 1848 [Alt- and Neu Ilvesheim, Ludwigsburg, Schwenningen, Kanstadt (Katy) and Szopy].

These criteria from the community report also are met by the colonies founded between 1801 and 1805 in the domain of Zakrozym. One of them is called Orzechowo, which sounds a bit like Orschekowin. It is located 30 kilometers north of Warsaw.

In Neuostpreussen (new East Prussia) (area of Plock), the majority of the settlers came from Württemberg, but among them were documented 13 families from the Pfalz (Palatinate). They were settled in the colony Günthersruhm near Plons and a smaller group of them in the colonies of Luisenau and Wilhelmsdorf.

Within south and new east Prussian colonies several Krasna family names are evident, for instance, Arnold, Brandt, Damm, Deichert, Fendrich, Haag, Hartmann, Hüttel, Kahl, Ritz, Riehl, Rückert, Sept, Seifert, Weis.

Is it just coincidence or can one suspect a connection here?

Only in single cases can Krasna-relevant names be traced back to Southwest Germany (Damm, Deichert, Seifert).

One cannot establish a connection with Krasna as a certainty, but there are parallels in some cases.

With several family names of the Hopf List (See above) from parts of the former Prussian area of the Duchy of Warsaw, especially from the colonies of Luisenau, Koenigshuld, and Wilhelmsdorf in the department Plock, there are certain similarities with Krasna families evident: Braun, Brandt, Tajchert/Deichert, Chinz/Hinz?, Martin, Merz, Ryhl, Rytz, Sept, Wager, Weis. Up to now there is nothing concrete whether they actually went to Krasna. According to the information on hand the identity with Krasna families cannot be entirely excluded.

Among the initial Krasna settlers there were several families with Polish sounding names Bogolowski (Bogatowskisz/Bogztowskisz/Bokalowski/Bogolowskich), Bonjakowski (Bonakowski) Bruschinski (Brzesinki), Ciosek, Ganski (Gancki), Gedak (Gdak), Kagovski, Kletki, Plotzki (Plocki/Plotcki), Ruscheinski (Ruscheinsky, Rosanzki/Rosanzkisz/Rozynzki), Schulkowski (Szulkowskich/Ziolkowski), Tschischmak (Czyzmak/Czyzmic), Wuitschik (Wyucik/Woycick/Woycik)

We do not know in every instance whether they have Polish roots, for instance it is conceivable that the names Ganski could have been Ganzke and Kletki could have been Kletke and of North German origin. ⁷⁾ At least a dozen seem to be of Polish origin. One can also assume that they came from the same areas, from where the German Warsaw colonists migrated to Krasna, since according to our current information, both groups came to Krasna together.

In the first 20-30 years of the existence of Bessarabian colonies there has been a certain fluctuation among the colonists, often for religious reasons. Colonists from neighboring colonies came to Krasna. We know this definitely, for Leinz came from Borodino, Steinke from Alt-Elft and Taschner from Arzis.

Since about 1804 colonies with German settlers were established in the Odessa region. These settlers immigrated based on the Manifest of the Tsar of 1804. Due to the many children the families had, there soon was a scarcity of land in these colonies. This was a major reason for colonists to move on to other places in Russia. In the 1840’s more than 25 families left the Odessa region especially from the Kutschurgan area and the Groβliebental area for Krasna.
(See 7.3, Krasna Immigrant Families)

Poverty and misfortune at home led the people to leave their native land, in short, economic reasons, aside from the Lindl followers and a few other people from Württemberg, where religious reasons were the main factor.
People familiar with the situation have the following to say:

• Karl Stumpp says ⁸⁾ Nowhere was there a single reason responsible for the immigration, there were often several reasons combined.
• Albert Kern points out ⁹⁾ One has to be careful not to try to find a common denominator for the reasons for the immigration, there were always several reasons working together. Settlers, who had left Germany from several places in Germany, including Prussia and Württemberg and immigrated to Poland after the first division of the state, left there again because of the willy-nilly government practices of the Polish landowners there.
• In Southwest Germany the reasons differed. The economical hardships brought about through failed harvests, the forced measurements of military and economic nature during the Napoleonic Wars and the situation of the farmers, which bordered on slavery, played an important role here.
• Eckert ¹⁰⁾ There were many reasons for leaving Poland. The armies of Napoleon went to Russia via Poland, pillaged and plundered and caused hardships to the residents there. There was also intolerance of a religious and national nature on the side of the Poles. Additionally, economic reasons mattered. On the other hand the favorable migration conditions of Russia beckoned.