The fate of the Bessarabian Germans was decided in 1939 without the knowledge of the people involved. In a secret protocol added to the Non-Aggression Policy between the Germans and the Soviets, the Hitler Stalin Pact of August 23, 1939, the German Reich had given Bessarabia to the Soviet Union as an area of interest.

In his programmatic speech before the Reichstag on September 6, 1939, Hitler announced that he would bring back all the German national groups on foreign soil, including Germans in Southeastern Europe, specifically. On October 9, 1939, SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler was nominated “Reichskommissar to Strengthen German Nationalism” and given the task of bringing the Germans home. Deliberations and planning of the resettlements of the national groups targeted began.

The Bessarabian Germans had figured from Hitler’s speech that they were to be resettled, too. There was no concrete information to be had and a feeling of uncertainty prevailed. No one had a clue of the where, what, when and how and the people were depressed. Based on the increased tension with the Soviet Union, the Rumanian government watched out for itself. Grain storage was blocked and the grain could only be sold to the government. Many farmers had their horses requisitioned; these were bad omens.

When Rumania agreed to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union on June 27, 1940, the resettlement problem for the Bessarabian Germans became acute.
See 2.4, Belonging to Rumania and the Soviet Union (1918-1940)

On July 22, 1940, tough negotiations between the Soviet Union and the German Reich started in Moscow, regarding a resettlement contract. These negotiations culminated in the signing of an agreement on September 5, 1940, after the German party had backed off in the question of compensation for German property. The German Soviet Agreement Concerning the German National Population from the Regions of Bessarabia and the Northern Bukovina to Be Resettled into the German Reich and the added protocol regulated the resettlement procedure.

The resettlement was agreed upon for the time frame of September 5 (signing of the contract) to November 15, 1940. Those were the two months of unpredictable weather conditions. Note: Details concerning the preparation, registration and resettlement transportation can be found under Section 8.1, Preparation of the Resettlement and Transportation to Germany.

Giving up the homeland, one’s own soil and property was especially difficult for the well-to-do, religious farmers. The Krasna people were aware of the fate of their fellow Germans from beyond the Dnjestr, who had remained with the Soviet Union in 1917. Refugees from there came to Krasna in the 1920’s quite frequently and they reported of horrid experiences with the Soviet powers. ¹⁾ The Krasna people also saw with their own eyes how the Soviets treated their non-German neighbors after occupying the region in the summer of 1940 and how their own circumstances turned radically worse.
See 2.4.2, Soviet Bessarabia, Time until Resettlement (June-November 1940)

One felt that the time of an independent cultural life had ended for the national group. We do not know what motivated the individual persons to resettlement. Certainly many of the aspects mentioned in the following quotes were contributing factors:

• Albert Rüb ²⁾ states: It was neither the influence of national socialist thoughts, nor “the voice of the blood,” motivating us to leave our homeland of our free will in the resettlement aspects. It was more the knowledge of the inhumane happenings beyond the Dnjestr we had gotten wind of in spite of the strict borders of the Soviet power’s territories. It was also the fear of being subject to the suffering and danger for the Germans within the Soviet Union, the extent of which was made evident by stories relayed by the refugees, who informed us immediately after the annexation of Bessarabia to Rumania. It was important for the Bessarabian Germans to do their utmost to escape from the territories of the Red Army.
• Hugo Schreiber ³⁾ One cannot say that the resettlement was based on force, but it was based on the force of circumstances.
• Ute Schmidt ⁴⁾ The Germans of Bessarabia knew enough from their own knowledge about the Soviet regime beyond the Dnjestr and their direct experiences with the occupational force, to see the Soviet promises of summer 1940 as the propaganda it was (to convince them to remain).
• Emil Seitz ⁵⁾ There was no doubt in any one’s mind that a strict and radical change of work and living circumstances was imminent. Would we have to part with our cultural tradition, faith and nationality, with our personal possessions? Although the Soviets left us alone initially, we all were aware that our independence of 125 years had come to an end.

After arriving in Germany, all resettlers were initially taken to the camp of the German National Central Region. Sometimes, people had to change camps several times. Krasna was housed in West and East Saxony, especially around the Pirna district. The time in the camps was not only for regulating the settlement of the Bessarabian Germans, but also to observe them through the NSDAP and their offices.

Living in camp placed serious restrictions upon the individuals. The quality of camp life was based upon the efforts of the camp personnel and the infrastructure of the camp. There were great differences.

As so-called German Nationals, the Bessarabian Germans had to be subjected to a citizenship procedure in order to become Germans of the Reich. This procedure took place during the stay in the resettlement camps. After their processing, referred to as “sluicing”, citizenship followed, complete with the receipt of a personal citizenship document.

Stay in the camps around the Pirna district lasted up to eight months for the people of Krasna, until April or August of 1941.
See 8.2. In the Resettlement Camps