From: Raleigh, Morton County, ND
29 January 1915

Honored Editorship!

I am enclosing a letter from Russia, which arrived here on 27 January. It was addressed to my father-in-law and originated from his parents and my grandparents. Since we had not received any letters from Krasna for three or four months, this letter will be of interest to the people from Krasna in the New World. Of course, it brings us sad news, but through it we find out how things are in Russia.

The newspaper subscription for my Uncle Romanus Dressler has probably expired. But I am prepared to pay for it for another year as soon as I receive a reply to my letter telling me that he is still alive or if he was killed in the war, as I have not heard from him for a long time. Now here is the letter:

Krasna, Bessarabia
11 December 1914

Dear Children! - We received your letter and noted that you are healthy. You are asking about your brothers and brothers-in-law and if they were killed in action in the theater of war.

Yes, dear children, be grateful to God that you are no longer in Russia, a place of misery. Yes, all of them are off to the war. Four times men from Krasna were inducted and only a few remained behind. Wherever you look, you will see deeply distressed women with their children.

Your brother-in-law, Romanus Gedak, was already under fire four times. He was always lucky and made it through until the last time. That is when they had to spend a whole day and night lying behind mounds of earth in extremely cold temperatures. He suffered frostbite on his feet. He is in a hospital and according to the doctor will lose his toes. He stated that the Germans and the Austrians maintained a murderous fire, and that the bullets came in as dense as raindrops during a rainstorm. They caused many casualties. It is a misery!

Your brother-in-law, Raphael Volk, although being sick, had to leave home and go to war. He too was already in the line of fire, but now he is down sick in a hospital in Moscow.

Your brother is also a soldier and is stationed in Odessa. Rumor has it that by 22 January they will have to leave for the front.

Dear children, to sum it up, it is bad. As far as one knows, no one from Krasna was killed in the war, but wounded were many. Joseph Speicher, son of Nikolaus, and Peter Söhn, son of …unreadable… are both prisoners of war in Austria.

Yes, dear children, we too are in a terrible situation, because one hears everywhere that the Germans and the Austrians will come over through Romania. Just now, in one night 100 men had to ride out to the village borders and to Paris and Elft, because it was reported that the Turks were there. And really that is the way it was. But they were already on the steppes of Tarutino. There were only 25 men and they were captured. Two officers and one sergeant were among them. The officers spoke German. They all had lances and sabers one and a half fathom long (1 Fathom = 6 Feet), and revolvers along with 300 bullets. They were not on horseback. It was assumed that they were spies who wanted to reconnoiter how many troops were around and where these were stationed.

Supposedly, the Turks had come from over 90 wersts (1 werst = .66 miles) from the River Danube, I believe. I am not permitted to write more about this. We are also not certain if we will be allowed to stay here or not. Everything is in turmoil.

Dear children, we Germans are not allowed to speak German any more, neither in the village, nor in the market. Should three or four men stand together and speak German, they will then be severely punished. Also, you now cannot get a glass of Schnapps any more, even if you offered to pay 1,000 rubles (Russian currency) for it.

Three times they have taken horses from our village. We always have to deliver them to Akkerman. Many of the animals from other villages have died, and many had to be returned because of sickness.

We have to close now, because we are not sure if letters that contain something about the war will be forwarded by the post office. Into all eternity we will remain your parents Ternes.

This is the end of the letter. It must be very sad over there.

The weather here is nice. We do not have any snow. I send greetings to my friends in Krasna, South Russia and especially to Aunt Elisabetha Erker.

Lorenz Löb,
Son of Peter