When the settlers arrived in the Kogälni valley in November 1814, a poor little hut stood on the empty steppe, away from the road. The shepherds Iskro, Loto & Carp lived in it.

The little money they had brought from Poland had been used up. As far as individual colonists had brought animals, many had died, many a wagon was broken. They were entirely dependent on state aid. At first, it was simply a matter of getting through the winter somehow. It was not until the next spring that the first work on developing the colony could begin: ploughing, sowing, harvesting, building houses. A makeshift shelter had to be created as protection against the inclement weather of the upcoming winter.

The area around the hut was overgrown with tall reeds on wet ground that was not suitable for digging in for the winter.

In the direction of Tarutino, about 600 to 800 m from the Kogälnik, on an elevated plain, the settlers dug themselves in for the winter. Earth huts. A rectangular depression in the earth replaces the walls. The ground-level roof above consists of supporting beams, covered with shrubbery and/or reeds, sealed with earth and/or mud. These shelters were very primitive and unhealthy. The earth pits were used to wait for spring with the animals under one roof.

There were no trees and consequently no firewood. People made do with “burian”, according to a 19th century encyclopaedia a tall steppe plant similar to grass; the word comes from Ukrainian. Several of the arrivals did not survive the first winter in the damp and cold earth pits filled with maize meal. The settlers who survived the winter made a cross from the first wood supplied for building houses and erected it next to the poor dwellings in the triangle between Katzbacher Weg and the road to Tarutino.

The special shape of the cross is known as the Arma-Christi-Kreuz described. Did our ancestors bring the special design of the cross from their homeland or did the first priest give influence? It must have pleased someone to erect such a cross. It is said that in 1940 the original cross of the first settlers still stood by the wayside.

In the early years, until the first church was built (1818), this was the place where people sent their worries, requests and needs to heaven in prayer.

After the houses were completed, the huts were dismantled and the place was turned back into farmland. The cross, which stood on a mound, was kept in memory of the first winter until the resettlement in 1940. After the harvest (end of September), the base of the cross was whitewashed every year and the cross was painted with linseed oil to protect it. On the last Sunday in September, a procession walked to the decorated cross to say thank you for the harvest and to remember the beginning and the hard winter of 1814 to 1815 with the many dead.

There were 8 wayside crosses, like the one on the roadside to Tarutino (picture), around Krasna along roads and paths.

They were the destination of processions on the so-called petition days. Eduard Ruscheinsky (teacher in Krasna) explains: “On the day of St. Mark on 25 April and on the three petition days, the petition processions were organised, but without carrying the Blessed Sacrament. The destinations of these processions were the village and field crosses. …The ecclesiastical acts were performed by the clergy at the field crosses. After visiting some of the crosses at one end of the village, the procession returned to the parish church in the same order. On the other two petition days, the crosses at the other end of the village and in the centre were visited with the procession in the same order.

The first priest of Krasna was Lukas Paschkowski. He accompanied the settlers' procession from Poland to Bessarabia. It is not known which order he was from. The following priests, sent from the Kamenetz diocese in Padolia, were of the Dominican Order or the Trinitarian Order.

Source:

From the book “Krasna” by Eduard Volk, born in Krasna in 1937.

From the book “Erinnerungen” by Max Riehl, born 1927 in Krasna.

From the essay “126 years of church life in our old homeland Krasna” by Eduard Ruscheinsky, born 1896 in Krasna.

• Lat. arma = “weapons, tools”; term for the instruments of Christ's suffering: cross, scourge, nails, crown of thorns, ladder, sponge, tongs, scourge column, rods, fetters, lance, inscription on the cross, hammer, drill, three dice, rope, board with 30 pieces of silver, robe, loincloth and shroud were venerated in the Middle Ages as symbols of Christ's sovereignty and majesty.
  Arma-Christi-Kreuz
• And of mediation, reflection, thanksgiving and even sometimes (indirect) worship.
• In addition, sometimes also of counter-reformation or as an alternative to the veneration of saints.

Around 1930 - Cross on the main street in the lower village in front of the church

Wanderer, you come here to a God-fearing village.

Around 1820 - wayside cross on the road to Tarutino

There were eight such wayside crosses, like the one on the road to Tarutino, around Krasna before 1940, along roads and paths.

The first wayside cross is said to have been made by the colonists with beams from the first delivery of wood for building houses. So after 1815, I cautiously estimate 1820.

2012 - Memorial cross (reproduction) in the centre of the village
Photo: Kristina Mladinova

A reproduction of the memorial cross was erected in the centre of Krasna in 2012. Initiative of Olga Mladinova and Dmitry Bratan Senior.

The memorial crosses remind and admonish of the common roots.

Locations of the memorial crosses...

1940 Map of Krasna, Bessarabia

The standing crosses were

West

Antschokraker-Weg corner Herrmanns-Weg
- The village was later extended beyond this old edge of the village.

On the road to Tarutino

north

Hinterdorfstraße Oberdorf at the end of the village towards Beresina

Main road Oberdorf at the end of the village to Berezina

East

Kanzleigasse in front of the village

after the bridge at the end of the village to Friedenstal

South

Hauptstraße Unterdorf at the end of the village towards Alt-Elft

Main road Unterdorf in front of the church

1938 Emmental

1938 Detail
Lance, tongs, hammer, stick for vinegar sponge and ladder

Emmental - Pervomaisc, Causeni, Moldova

Most of the Catholic population in Emmental came from Krasna.

Cross in front of the Catholic church “Zum Heiligen Kreuz” in Emmental.

Built: 1924 - 1933
Inaugurated: 1937

1938 Kirche “Zum Heiligen Kreuz” in Emmental

Ölbild von Antonia Casap

before 1940 Karamurat

Cross at the Catholic cemetery of St. Anthony, Karamurat, Constanta, Dobruja, Romania.

Entrance to Karamurat cemetery ca. 1960

Most of the Catholic population in Karamurat came from Krasna. The standing cross was erected before 1940.

Photographer ca. 1960: Josef Speicher, born 1927 in Karamurat
Source: Rev. Johannes Florian Müller, born 1910 in Karamurat

Memorial Cross

Entrance to the cemetery

Holy Trinity Krassna Cemetery

Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery, Krassna, southwest of Strasburg, Emmons County, North Dakota, USA.
Founded in 1912.
However, the church's death/burial book shows the first burials in the cemetery in 1900.
Administration in 2022 at the Catholic Church of Sts. Peter & Paul in Strasburg,US-ND.

There is a large cross in the entrance area.
Created: unknown

Photo: 2012 Jim Schumacher

Bilder by Michael M. Miller on flickr

1952 Blankenrath

Memorial cross in Blankenrath/Hunsrück, district Zell, DE-RP
left of the road to Walhausen
in memory of the old homeland.

Erected in 1952 by

• Josef Seifert, *1903 in Krasna.

The height of the base is 1.00 m, on it a 2.75 m high cross, width of the crossbeam 1.50 m.

Photo: Ernst Schäfer

1980 Mendig

Memorial cross in Mendig, Hospitalstraße 16, County Mayen-Koblenz, DE-RP in memory of the old homeland.

Erected in 1980 by

• Martin Riehl, *1920 in Krasna,
• Josef Marthe, *1910 in Krasna,
• Alois Leinz, *1918 in Krasna, concept.

The height is approx. 3.50 m with plinth, width approx. 2.30 m.

Photo: Albert Wingenbach

1994 Itapiranga
Photo: Douglas Orestes Franzen

Igreja Linha Santo Antônio

A copy of these wayside crosses from Krasna also stands in Itapiranga, Santa Catarina, Brazil, in front of the Saint Antonio Catholic Church there.

The cross is the symbol of the Landsmannschaft der Bessarabiendeutschen in Santa Catarina.

The cross was donated by

• Arabella Kuss, née Kopp, *1915 in Krasna.

Erected 17.04.1994.
Carpenter Pedro Muller, son of Jorge Muller, *1921 in Krasna.

The cross is 3.00 m high, 2.00 m wide and 18 cm thick.

• José Müller, *1919 in Krasna.
• Jorge Müller, *1921 in Krasna.

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