From: Agua Limpa, Brazil
2 February 1927

Valued Staats-Anzeiger!

In Brazil, January is the first month of summer in which the temperature is very warm, and the sun has reached its’ highest point, so there is no shade at noon whatsoever. Yet the heat is bearable because the sun is not visible at that time. It is mostly cloudy with cool air. On some days the heat around noon is unbearable, so that one has to look for shade under the coffee trees; there too one cannot last barefoot on the sandy soil. This does not happen too often, since we have had an abundance of precipitation in January.

It is cloudy and we have rain. These are mostly general rains, rarely downpours. Unusual heavy rains have caused great damage, since most beans rotted in the field, and the ones that were brought home turned black. In the case where the second bean harvest also is meager, the price for beans will rise very much. Although 20 January (Fabian and Sebastian) is not a legal holiday here, we still celebrated it. But on most plantations where the German-Bessarabian colonists are the majority, work continues.

I took a walk again to Mondobela [Montebello] where my brother-in-law, Dinisius Nagel, and the German-Bessarabian colonists were in the field. So I went on out. What a magnificent view these coffee, corn, and rice plantations are! Everything neatly cultivated. Some are figuring to harvest 500 to 600 aroga (pud) (1 aroga or 1 pud equals 16.4 KG) Welsh corn. Welsh corn is only a minor trading commodity. Rarely does the colonist succeed in selling a load, and then only at a very low price. It has to be used up by feeding it to the hogs. If I am not mistaken, Anselmus Riehl already has 15 hogs together, but brother-in-law Dinisius had bad luck and………………………text missing……hogs.

The important thing here is not the capital, but the work force. Whoever has a lot of workers, will also have big crops coming. Once one has one’s own plantations, then everything is more easily accomplished.

Jakob Gruber (son of Jakob) who hails from Bukovina, Rumania sends his hellos many times over to his brother Thomas in New York. He is grateful for the letter and check that he received on 17 January. However, Jakob asks that his brother please pay the Staats-Anzeiger for him for one year. The $3.50 surely will not make him poor. (*Editor: The brother is not a subscriber. However, as requested, we will send him the edition.)

Also, Jakob Gruber and his wife Hermina nee Zlobner would like to receive a sign of life from their Uncle Wilhelm Lang and schoolmate Viktor Hinger in Canada. Should they not be readers of the paper, then neighbors are asked to please bring these lines to their attention. They too ask their friends to please send the Staats-Anzeiger, which is read so eagerly by all of us here. When it arrives, then everybody wants to read it first. At no time can I ever read the paper completely. Barely have I received an edition, then two, three, or more stand there in line waiting. The Germans from Bukovina and Austria who reside here say, “In the old homeland we have read various newspapers, but a newspaper like the Staats-Anzeiger we have never found before.”

Several individuals here would like to subscribe to the paper, but I do not know how to remit the money and what the annual cost of the newspaper would be in local money. The annual cost for a Brazilian paper is 36,000 reis (36 milreis), and by my estimation with the current exchange rate 21,000 reis, or not much over half for the Staats-Anzeiger. I ask the editor, Mr. Brandt for information on this. (*Editor: The Staats-Anzeiger to Brazil costs only 7,000 reis (7 milreis) per year. Just forward paper money in a registered letter.)

I give the following information to the question dated 15 November from Mr. Anton Gedak in Krasna, Bessarabia. Last year I lived together with 22 families from Krasna. However, now there is only Heinrich Ternes (son of Michael Ternes). He and his wife say hello too. Mrs. Ternes is of the opinion that your wife should send her onion and cabbage seeds.

Their people from Krasna are now scattered all over. Christoph Nagel, Wendelin Bonakowsky, Korbinian and Peter Winter, Phillip Söhn, Isador Krenzel, Alexius Fenrich, and Eustachius Meer moved to the State Rio Grande do Sul on 17 November. Rasmund Meerspacher and his four brothers, Peter Klug and his sons, Raphael Seifert, and Georg Schäfer all reside on the Plantation Palmyra. Sebastian Meer, Jakob Schlick, and brothers Timotheus and Michael Winter are on Plantation Santa Elisa. Egidius Herrscher resides on Plantation Laurero. The others from Krasna, like Adolf Paul, Herrschaft, Herbura, and Drefs are on Plantation Saoschoa. Hopefully, you have received letters from them, for the folks from Krasna are not lazy when it comes to writing. Best regards and thanks.

I want to inform Mrs. Rosa Roth nee Schwengler in Kandel that her friend Juliana Dutenhöffer nee Bleile received her letter. About her brother Franz Schwengler, I cannot submit anything pleasant. He was very poor and in big need when we left Larga in Bessarabia on 8 February 1926. He told me at that time that should he not receive his passport for Brazil, then he would move to the Banat. For him it would be good over here also. He and his children would not go hungry here.

Friendly greetings to everyone.

Joseph Föth

From: Karamurat, Dobrudscha
18 February 1927

Dear Staats-Anzeiger!

Although I have not been a reader of the valued paper for very long, I still feel obligated to submit a few lines.

At this time I want to sincerely thank my brother Alfons Menges and my comrade Peter Fenrich for the subscription to the Staats-Anzeiger for me. I also thank the editor Mr. Brandt a lot for the beautiful calendar for the year 1927, which I also received. (*Editor: The first editions were dispatched from here at the end of November. The paper has been paid until 18 November 1927. Best greetings!)

Last year’s harvest here was average. The yield of the Welsh corn however, was very good. The vintage was not one of the better.

The weather overall is fairly good. It has rained quite a bit this winter, and now we also have a little bit of snow. In fall it was too dry. That is also the reason that we couldn’t sow much winter wheat. But we do not want to lose hope because of that. Hope is part of man’s life.

The health conditions are not satisfactory. You can hear the funeral bell almost every day. Many children are dying from German measles.

Further, I kindly greet Mr. Anton Gedak in Krasna, Bessarabia. May he often write nice stories! I greet all friends in Krasna, especially Peter, Joachim and Anton Kuss along with their families, as well as my comrade Peter Fenrich and my brother Alfons Menges in America. The latter is informed that I have received his letter and answered it right away.

I say hello to all the people from Karamurat in America and would like to ask them to order the Staats-Anzeiger for their friends here. In doing so you would make them very happy. From now on I will write more often in the Staats-Anzeiger, that is if the worthy editorship is fond of it. (*Editor: Certainly, your reports are always welcome.)

Respectfully,
Alexander Menges