8.1 Preparation for the resettlement and transportation to Germany

The German-Soviet “Agreement about the resettlement of the German national population from the areas of Bessarabia and the northern Bukovina into the German Reich” ¹⁾ and an additional protocol regulated all phases of the resettlement: such as:

• The numbers, structure and quarters for the German resettlement command,
• Isolation of the affected persons and the registration process,
• Permitted baggage, estimate of the value of German property left behind,
• Transportation routes, border crossings and shipping ports.

All the details of the resettlement process were noted in the resettlement agreement. The leadership was the “Soviet and German Resettlement Commission” comprised of one German and one Soviet delegation. Under these delegations were one Soviet and one German Resettlement Command.
The German Resettlement Command ²⁾ had one headquarters and four district commands (areas): Albota, Beresina, Kischinew and Mannsburg.
The areas themselves were ordered into village districts; there were 36 of them. The Soviet structure almost mirrored this organization.

The German Commission, under the leadership of SS Commander Horst Hoffmeyer was ordered to:

1. Register the persons wanting to resettle,
2. To assess and tax the property left behind by mixed commission, comprised of Soviets and Germans
3. Organize the transport of the Germans into the Reich.

The German Resettlement Command (SS troops in uniform but without insignia of rank) ³⁾ arrived in Galatz (Rumania) on September 5 and crossed the border into Bessarabia, after a thorough Soviet control and inspection of the soldiers and their vehicles at the border (Soviet Union) on September 14, 1940.
Soviet Radio had alerted the national group of the arrival of a German resettlement command. There was no German radio reception in Bessarabia to speak of.
The command began its work on September 15, 1940, in Tarutino. At the same day or one day later, the district and village staff could begin their work.
At the top of the four district commands was a district commander in charge. Krasna belonged to the Beresina district, which was divided into 10 village areas. Aside from Krasna, these were Beresina, Borodino, Hoffnungstal, Klöstitz, Neu-Klöstitz, Paris, Arzis, Teplitz and Katzbach. The district commander was Alfred Karasek.

In the records of the resettlement commission Krasna was called Be 10, derived from Be for Beresina and village number 10). The leader of a village area was a village commander and locals were employed by every village area to assist the resetlement effort. For Krasna, these people were teacher Eduard Ruscheinsky and Wendelin Volk.

According to E. Ruscheinsky, ⁴⁾ the Resettlement command came to Krasna on September 15, 1940. It consisted of three Germans: The commander Albohn, his representative Baumann, the taxator (taxing official) and two Russians.
Beginning September 15, 1940, proclamations in German and Russian were made in Krasna and other German villages, that the German national population was free to move to Germany, if it so desired. The text of the announcement was sanctioned in Moscow.

Image 96: Call for resettlement

Announcement: The government of the German Reich and the government of the Union of the Socialist Soviet Republics have agreed that the German national population may move to Germany unhindered and freely, if they so desire.
We ask all German nationals to report to the authorities appointed in the described locations and register for this move.
All Germans, 14 years of age and older must personally appear before the German representative and ask for permission to resettle, orally or in writing.
For children under the age of fourteen, the submission of the head of household will suffice.
People registering for resettlement has to adhere to the conditions pertaining to goods to be transported as outlined by the German representative and other rules pertaining to the move. There is unrestricted access to the registration office for all resettlers. There is no charge for this service.! Resettlement will commence on September 15,1940. The German authority for resettlement

Image 97: The local Resettlement Committee of Krasna men, from left to right:
Anton Gedak, Gottlieb Riehl, Alexius Riehl, Josef Volk, Philipp Hinz, Kaspar Ruscheinsky, Mr. Baumann, Mr. Albohn (village representative), Alois Volk, teacher Eduard Ruscheinsky and others.

The Resettlement Committee was established at the chancellery. Beginning September 16, 1940, people wanting to resettle could register there. People ages 14 and up had to personally voice their desire to resettle and the entire family had to come together. Their personal records were established and each resettler was given an identification card to be worn on a string around the neck. Together with the identification card, each resettler also received a resettlement number, which was composed for Krasna like this: “Be” for Beresina district, a number for the community (Krasna was Be 10), Be for Beresina, and a personal number for the resettler himself. The Resettlement numbers for Krasna were Be 10-101001 to 107000. According to E. Ruscheinsky Krasna villagers received 2,852 resettlement numbers. Normally, this resettlement number remained with the resettler until he arrived at his destination. Each piece of luggage was also marked with this number.
Tax teams ⁵⁾ consisting of German and Soviet Resettlement Commission workers went from farm to farm and made property estimates (buildings, livestock, inventory, money and valuables) for compensation later. This led to tension within the Commission because the German and Soviet partners came to different conclusions.

The sum of the property values was to be settled in an accounting between the USSR and the German Reich and to be compensated by the Soviets in fuel oil and grain. Due to the events in and after World War Two, this exchange never took place.

Image 98: Sample of a Property Assessment

The property listed remained in Bessarabia, but the settlers could take a limited amount of luggage containing clothing, shoes, underwear and food for the journey. Details are listed in Article 3 of the resettlement agreement. People traveling by truck or bus were allowed smaller amounts, about 35 kilograms per adult and 15 kilograms per child, than those taking their own wagon in a convoy. (Weight of the farm wagon plus groceries and feed up to 250 kilograms) Certain items could not be taken.

People had to carefully select the items to be taken since the allowed weight was quickly reached and the choice between necessities and mementoes was often hard. Everything had to be packed (suitcases, bags, sacks and boxes, etc.)

The staff of Dr. Broneske, the Gauleiter (district leader of Bessarabia at the time) had already prepared for the resettlement prior to the arrival of the German resettlement command: the best routes to take had been scouted, doctors registered the sick, pregnant women and babies. Poor people were given clothing. Many statistics were established and records collected.
As early as the summer before, people in the German villages had begun their preparations for the Resettlement by obtaining personal baptism documents, identification, files, etc., from the church offices. Father Schumacher had young people copy the church book entries, since the originals were to be left behind.

When the actual resettlement phase began, the individual families had to make their preparations. It is only possible to list some of these aspects here; the preparation of the luggage has already been mentioned. Many families butchered livestock before the departure and fried meat packed in lard. Smoked meat and other foods were taken. In the communities, the livestock were herded together and were supposed to be fed and milked by the Soviets.

Property and personal items that could not be taken were sold, such as furniture, household items, horses, if people had more than two, other livestock, agricultural equipment, etc. Russians, Moldavians and Bulgarians were eager buyers. The profit of the sales had to be delivered to the local resettlement commission. People received a receipt. The Soviets often obstructed the sales by intimidating the sellers as well as the buyers. The Soviets also refused to accept more than 250 rubles per family.

The wagons for the trek to Galatz had to be prepared. (See below) The best wagons were chosen and carefully prepared. The horse harnesses had to be checked and set up. In the fall there would be rainy weather and people placed covers on the wagons and loaded them with the luggage they were taking with them.

During the rush of preparations the resettlers did not realize the seriousness of the event. When the first trek assembled in Krasna on September 24, all were sad and shocked. On September 29, 1940, a large farewell celebration took place in church. Eduard Ruscheinsky describes it: ⁶⁾) On September 28 our old home community of Krasna celebrated its final church service. At the end of the service, the entire community went to the cemetery in a procession for a final visit with the departed. Our last pastor, Father Schumacher said these encouraging words: “We are only pilgrims on this earth and God’s sunlight will also shine on you in the new homeland. The same moon and stars shine there as well as here.” According to eyewitnesses, this celebration was a fitting conclusion to the eventful 126-year history of the village.
On September 29 our homeland church bells rang for thirty minutes in a farewell greeting and the horns played the song “Ade du mein lieb Heimatland” (Farewell my beloved Homeland). The sacrament was taken from the church since the church would be denigrated to a profane building and lost its status as a house of God. The doors remained open for a while, but were later nailed shut by the Soviets. The Soviet army used the church as a command post. The pastor was given the sacrament and the silver cross from the altar. There is a story about this cross.
See 3.1, The Village of Krasna, its Location and Appearance

The resettlement transport had three phases:

• To the ports on the Danube (Reni, Kilia, Galatz) with ambulances, buses, trucks and horse and wagon convoy,
• From there by Danube ship to Prachowo or Semlin,
• From there by train via Galatz and Villach to the resettlement camps in Germany.

This route was chosen since there was only a time frame of roughly two months available and transport by train was not feasible because it was not equipped to handle such a project and transport on ships on the Danube to Vienna and beyond was excluded since there was not enough capacity on those ships. The thought of taking the sea route to Italy or Hamburg had been rejected early on.

Image 99: Resettlement route

The transport of Krasna people to the ports on the Danube happened in three ways.

• First, the ill, the elderly and women with small children were taken to Reni or Kilia in ambulances or buses belonging to the resettlement command.
• Then the buses and trucks⁷⁾ of the resettlement command followed with the rest of the women and children and those who had no horse and wagon. The transport by truck was a problem because of the road conditions, so the resettlement committee had farmers take their families to the port and return with the empty wagons (so-called advanced treks).
• Finally the men followed in a trek (convoy of wagons) on established routes to Galatz. Only families who had horses of their own prior to resettlement were allowed on these treks (there were exceptions to the rule).

The carrying out of the transport was extremely difficult, first, because the roads were bad, and, secondly, because the Soviets had limited the amount of vehicles and were hesitant to supply fuel.

Even after a small amount of rain trucks could not use the roads for two to three days. The following photograph shows an example of the difficulties of vehicular transport:

Image 100: Transport to the Danube ports

It became necessary to separate the families, which the Bessarabian Germans resisted with all their might. But since the men and young adult males, and in some cases young adult females, were supposed to travel to Galatz, and whereas the elderly and women with children were transported by truck to the Danube port landing docks in Reni and Kilia, this separation was unavoidable.

The planning of the Resettlement Committee envisioned the following transports for Krasna: ⁸⁾

• Bus and Truck trips were supposed to take the route to Selioglo (42 kilometers) to Kilia (38 kilometers), where the people were to board the ships on the day of their arrival. Four transport convoys were planned from Krasna.
• Horse treks, overnighting in Wittenberg (30 kilometers), Kubej (44 kilometers), Czischme (46 kilometers) to Galatz (30 kilometers). After spending the night there in the camp, they were to board ships on the fifth day in Galatz. Two treks were planned from Krasna with 525 persons each.

Due to the actual transportation situation, the sequence was a bit different. According to E. Ruscheinsky, the procedure went as follows:

• Already on September 24, the first bus transport could be dispatched. It carried mostly the elderly and people without horse and wagon.
• The second transport left on September 29 carrying a portion of the women, children and the old men on horse and wagons to Kilia (Advanced Trek). The Krasna farmers supplied the wagons and horses, because the truck fleet of the Resettlement cCommand could not handle it all by itself.

For propaganda purposes this transport was filmed by a war correspondent for the Wochenschau (Weekly News). Alfred Karasek, the district chief for the Beresina district, to which Krasna belonged, describes the scene as the people passing by on the wagons gave the Hitler salute. ⁹⁾ Kaspar Ternes reports: En route to Kilia, a major upset happened. Rufina Ternes, wife of Adam Ternes died on the transport suddenly of heart failure and her relatives and friends had to bury her in the next cemetery.

• The third horse and wagon transport consisted of women and children again and left for Kilia on October 4.
• On October 5 the rest of the women left for Kilia on two buses.
• The men most likely - in variance of the plans - traveled in only one convoy to Galatz. The dates for the departure are contradictory. In handwritten notes by the trek participants Josef Volk and Mathias Ternes, which are in the possession of the author, Krasna was left (by the men) on October 9 at 9:00 a.m. Eduard Ruscheinsky and another note state October 13. ¹⁰⁾

The reports about the treks differ. E. Ruscheinsky speaks of one trek of 500 vehicles. According to a report of a member of the Resettlement Commission, about trek from Krasna, he saw en route consisted of only 304 wagons. According to plans of the Resettlement Command, two transports of 525 people, each, were scheduled.

A horseman of the German resettlement command led each trek. The horses and wagons were lined up in a long row on the main street of Krasna. It is reported that the trek had a length of 3 kilometers.

Voices about the departure of the trek:

• Eduard Ruscheinsky: The adult male youths and young men remained behind in Krasna and led a bachelor life for two days. It consisted of a group household with many drinking parties. The groups were formed of the males of the neighborhoods. The new wine flowed freely.
  On October 13, a trek, three kilometers in length, assembled on Main Street. It consisted of ca 500 vehicles. At 9.00 a.m., the trek moved out. The vehicles were loaded with the luggage as prescribed and the horse feed. A horseman from the Resettlement Command rode in the lead. When the first wagon reached the Heuschlager Mountain, the men of the Resettlement Command and the men of the last wagon had a farewell drink of wine.
• Kaspar Ternes: Before we left, father encouraged us with tears in his eyes, to pray an “Our Father” and to get underway “in the name of God”.
• Georg Habrich: When the trek reached Heuschlager Mountain with the many big vineyards, people looked back with an ache in their hearts for a final glimpse of the village which could be seen in it’s entirety from there.
• Josef Erker remembers: One could hear the voices of the domestic animals left behind for the distance of kilometers, cows mooed, sheep baaed and dogs howled. It was horrible.

Image 101: Krasna Trek on the Way to Galatz (from left Lorenz Müller, Josef Furch, Josef Dirk) (Krasna in background, right)

The route from Krasna went roughly by way of Wittenberg (Malojaroslawetz I)-Kubej-Czischme-Anatol (near Reni) and from there to the Soviet-Rumanian border on the Pruth River. The route was 150 kilometers in length and the journey took a total of three days.
En route rest stops had been established where man and beast could take a respite. Some of the Krasna people could not make use of these because of over crowding; one had to stop at other places or camp outside.
According to existing documents of the plans the last night before the crossing of the border in Anatol, 12 kilometers distant from the border (near the village of Girugiulesti on the Pruth Bridge). The trek leaders were asked to arrive at the Pruth Bridge (a pontoon bridge) at 7:00 a.m.

The reports keep mentioning this pontoon bridge across the Pruth. How come? When the Soviet troops advanced, (See also 2.4.2, Soviet Bessarabia, the Time until the Tesettlement June-November 1940) the fleeing Rumanians destroyed the Pruth Bridge at Galatz including the dam. A settlement of the Besarabian Germans was not conceivable without this bridge, since they had to cross there with their trek of thousands of wagons to get to Galatz. It took lengthy negotiations with the Rumanians and a large amount of bribe moneys to have the dam fixed and make a provisionary pontoon bridge.

Before getting on the bridge, the columns had to pass the Soviet customs there and they made intensive controls. This caused a considerable delay and was the reason for much trouble. Kaspar Ternes describes an incident on the womens’ transport: ¹¹⁾
At the port the Russian police conducted a control of all people. Mama was taken to a separate room and searched. She grieved over the loss of personal valuables for a long time. We found out later, that our family had already been “black listed” by the Communists in Krasna.

Image 102: Photo: A Trek Wagon on the Pontoon Bridge across the Pruth

After arriving in Galatz, the wagon and the horses, which the farmers were reluctant to leave behind, were taken by the Resettlement Commission against a receipt. The horses were in part sold in Rumania, some of them taken to the Banat and Siebenbürgen and distributed among German national farmers.

Image 103: Handing over the horses in Galatz

The large pieces of luggage and the food reserves were delivered to the reception office. The large luggage of the settlers was transported to Vienna on freighters and stored at the central warehouse of the German Shipping Company, where it was held and later shipped to the new address in the resettlement areas. Carry-ons were taken on board.

Image 104: Loading of Large Luggage Pieces onto a Freighter

Ship transport on the Danube happened on chartered ships, some of which belonged to the Danube Steam Ship Organization (DDSG) (Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft) and to Hungarian shipping companies. They stopped at the ports of Kilia, Reni and Galatz on one side and Prachowo and Semlin on the other.

In spite of making use of the entire fleet it was not possible to ship all the way to Vienna, because of the time frame this would have involved.
As explained above, the women and children, old people and people without their own vehicles were transported to Kilia and Reni and from there the people were taken to the ships. Prior to boarding, they had to pass through Soviet customs, which caused a few problems.

The men of the Trek were taken via Galatz, where a large camp had been established in case of delays in shipping, such as low water levels, fog, ships not arriving due to accidents, etc. The Rumanians had set aside an airport for this event, where in an emergency several thousand people could stay. Fortunaely no dramatic failures of ships occurred, but there were usually 20,000 people there at the time. Sometimes settlers had to spend several days in camp before they could be shipped out. Some of the Krasna men arrived in Galatz on 12 October, remained there for nine days until October 21 and shipped out during the night of October 22 to Semlin (handwritten notes by Josef Volk and Mathias Ternes).

Image 105: A Danube Ship with Resettlers

Image 106: Arrival of a Ship in Prachowo, Carrying Resettlers

Most people of Krasna had never been on a ship before; it took time getting used to this new experience.

Max Riehl relays how he experienced the journey on the Danube at age 13:
The journey on the Danube was an adventure for us children. We were awed by the experience of a world we had never seen before.
On the early afternoon, the ship blew its whistle and got underway up the Danube. The women began to sob, lament and the cry: “Farewell, dear homeland, we shall never see you again!” was shouted repeatedly. To us boys and girls on the deck all the new things we saw left and right on the banks of the Danube were exciting and filled us with wonder, like a fairy tale. We did not understand why the women were crying.
After a few hours into the journey, we were called to table. We were reluctant to go and miss the sights. Almost all the places were taken and some of the children already complained: “I will not eat this. It doesn't taste good. I'm not hungry.” When I arrived at my mother’s and siblings’ table, I saw the same long faces. I also received a plate of noodles with a sauce made of Harzer cheese with an aroma that blew the hunger away. I picked at the plate in search of a few noodles free of that sauce. In short, the noodles went into the garbage and we boys ran back up on deck.
It was already getting dark when we saw many lights blinking in the distance. We were told that this was the port of Galatz. Church bells rang in the village and we experienced the longing for home. The adult young ladies began singing the song: “Farewell beloved homeland” (Ade du mein lieb Heimatland). The singing went on until Galatz was no longer visible. Then it was time to go to bed.
Next morning we boys went back on deck before daybreak. We were called to breakfast. After missing dinner the night before, we were ready for a breakfast, but looking at the breakfast table, our hearts sank. There was a strange, dark bread, blood sausage, liver sausage, some marmelade and black coffee. We children only anted the marmelade. The adults understood. Tthey were also convinced that blood sausage was not edible and all the other things were also given back uneaten. This was no food for us.
Thus passed several days on board! Our best experiences of the voyage were always marred with the call to table. Complaints about the food never did end and all asked the same question: “Will it be the same in Germany?”

The transport on the Danube took place to either Prahovo (on the Bulgarian border), in case of a large ship or to Semlin in Belgrade with smaller ships. (Both places were then part of Yugoslavia. Today Prahovo is located in Macedonia and Semlin in Serbia.) The trip on the Danube, depending on the size of the ship and the distance to the destination ports took from 3-6 days. There were interim camps established at both places. There a number of staff, including doctors and nurses was on hand. The former Yugoslavian government had done an excellent job setting up these camps and handling the resettlement. Yugoslavian Germans who also supplied the groceries staffed the camps. Herta Karasek Strzygowski ¹²⁾ describes camp life in Semlin. Hardly anyone else has cocumented the collective camp of the resettlers any better. The author also talked with Krasna women, among others and portayed some of them. Gertrud Both (p.41) and Emerenzia Leinz (page 49). Gertrud Both nee Kunz with child Adolf Both (p.83). The single child on the Emerenzia Leinz and child Josef Leinz photo is little Josef and his mother is Elenora Müller (page 60).

Image 107: Emerenzia Leinz and child Josef Leinz

Krasna resettlers were housed in Prachowo and in Semlin. The stay lasted only one or two days. Children were born there and some people died there, some of them from Krasna.

A Krasna group of men arrived in Semlin on October 24 in the evening and remained there until October 26, before moving on to Pirna.

Image 108: Tent Camp in Semlin

Image 109: Camp Sites in a large Tent in Camp Prachowo

The journey from theere to the German resettlement camps took place via train. Trains rolled into Germany every day, from Prachowo to Villach, from Semlin to Graz and each train carried about 800 people. Villach had two trains daily and Graz two to three. In these settlements the Germans were greeted with bands and flags decorated the train stations. A banner proclaimed: “A heartfelt welcome in the Greater German Reich.”

Eduard Ruscheinsky ¹³⁾, who had remained behind with the local Resettlement Commission in Krasna to finish up the resettlement tasks, lists what remained behind in Krasna:

• 9,512 hectares of cultivated land,
• farms, schools, the churches, other buildings, shops and firms,
• many domestic animals and livestock,
• house furnishings, agricultural equipment and machinery, etc.,
• documents pertaining to the community, church books, etc.

Consulting the estimates of the Resettlement Commission, he figures the value of the Krasna properties at 17 million gold marks.

According to Eduard Ruschansky the population of Krasna on the date the last trek left (October 9 or 13, 1940) had been roughly 3,000 people with about 610 families. Almost all of Krasna’s population resettled. Only a handful remained, either if the marriage partner was not German or because of advanced age.

E. Ruscheinsky says that 2,852 resettlement numbers were distributed among the Krasna population. Added to these are the people who were not at home at the time of the Resettlement: *Young men serving in the Rumanian army met the Krasna resettlers in Galatz. *At the time of the Resettlement many young men also served in the Banat and Siebenbürgen and were brought back to be resettled. *Several Krasna families were in the Banat and they were also resettled.

After their arrival in Germany all of the Krasna resettlers were first sent to a camp established by the German National Central Command. (See next paragraph)

Note: The resettled Krasna families are listed in 7.14