From: Balmas, Bessarabia
20 December 1926

Dear Editor Mr. Brandt!

With my lame hand I wrote a report to your worthy newspaper a few weeks ago. In that report, I had mentioned that my working years were over and that my condition is getting worse from day to day. Today I can report that there is no improvement in sight, and that my health is constantly going down. However, since I am tied to the paper with flesh and blood, I continue to reach for pen and ink and report something.

The poverty here is indescribably enormous. But the moment the dear paper arrives, the lame and tired body becomes a little more alive and sadness changes into gladness.

I am asking my dear children Daniel and Zachaeus Dirk and their wives in South Russia to send me a sign of life through the Staats-Anzeiger. They should also let me know where they are living now and how they are doing.

Dear children, for now I cannot write too much because of my stiff joints, but I am hoping that my condition will improve this winter and that I will be able to work again in the spring. The poverty as I mentioned is huge here with us and there is no one here to help us.

Further, I am also greeting my brother Jakob Dirk and his wife Marianna, nee Gross. They live near Selfridge, North Dakota. Likewise, I greet Korbinian Kahl and his wife, who is my brother’s daughter. Dear friends, let yourselves be heard from in the Staats-Anzeiger.

I have many friends in America, but none of them will write to me and comfort me in my illness. But I am hoping that when my friends in America read this report they will send me their comfort and assistance. (*Editor: In the meantime, you should have received our letter dated 14 December and also the $10 we sent you as well as the money from relatives who have sent it through us to you. Many greetings.)

I wish everyone lots of luck, health and peace for the year 1927.

Respectfully,
Romuald Dirk

From: Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada
6 January 1927

Worthy Editor Mr. Brandt!

So that my friends will know that we are still alive I will forward a few lines from here.

The local farmers are completely satisfied with the outcome of last year’s harvest. Wheat was harvested at 20 to 25 bushels per acre. Oats amounted to 50 to 60 bushels per acre.

Now I greet my brothers Thomas, Alexander, Paulus and Emanuel Deichert, as well as my mother in Krasna, Bessarabia. I wish them a lot of luck for the New Year. Whoever is the first among them to write will receive the Staats-Anzeiger paid by me for a whole year.

I also greet the Uncle Anton Gedak in Krasna and ask him to please give these lines to my siblings so that they can read them. Hopefully, Mr. Gedak will write often in the Staats-Anzeiger about the old homeland. (*Editor: Received the amount for the new reader. The newspaper and the calendar were promptly forwarded to him. Thank you very much and we are greeting you.)

Respectfully,
Fidelis Deichert