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en:krasna:j-07-08-00

7.8 State and community offices of administration

The Welfare Committee had played such an important role in the life of the colonists that the names of their presidents and village members should be mentioned. The Welfare Committee consisted of a president and two members, who had working for them 1 secretary, 1 chancellery manager, bookkeeper and helper, journalist (and archive keeper), 1 interpreter, clerks for special tasks, 1 surveyor, 1 doctor, 1 veterinarian and chancellery employees according to the budget.

The inspectors of the settlements (colonies) worked under the auspices of the Welfare Committee.

The Presidents of the Welfare Committee

  • General Ivan Insov 1818–1845
  • Staatsrat Eugene von Hahn 1845–1848
  • Baron von Rosen 1848–1853
  • Baron von Mestmacher 1853–1856
  • F. Islawin 1856–1858
  • Alexander von Hamm 1858–1866
  • Th. Lysander 1866–1867
  • Vladimir von Oettinger 1867–1871

District Office (Inspector) Tarutino

The inspector was the go-between for the Welfare Committee and the district administrations, whose seat for Bessarabia was located in Tarutino. As far as can be established the following inspectors (also called supervisors, Smotritel in Russian): 1)
Mendelsohn, Olofsohn, Kotowitsch, Kossowsky, Tscherkes, Lagorio, Baron von Geismar, Paternowsky, Schulz und Emanuel.

The inspectors Mendelsohn and Kossowsky were not especially like by the settlers. Mutschall gives a fairly detailed report about these colonial officials. 2)

The Self-administration of the Communities of the Colony

Mayors and their Assistants in Krasna (as far as could be determined) Based on mentions in old documents, as extracted by Ted J. Becker:

Year Mayor (Name) Associate (Name)
1814 Math. Müller Roving mayor Peter Becker Roving mayor
1819 Franz Bietsch (Petsch) Nikolaus Lauterbach, Nikolaus Dürk (Dirk)
1835 Jakob Krams Christoph Lauterbach, Mateas Miller
1839 Christoph Lauterbach Johann Baldus, Michael Bonokowsky
1840 Christoph Lauterbach Johann Baldus, Michael Bonokowsky
1841 Christoph Lauterbach Johann Baldus, Michael Bonokowsky
1842 Christoph Lauterbach Johann Baldus, Michael Bonokowsky
1846 Johannes Bachmeier Müller, G. Steiert
1847 Johannes Bachmeier Müller, G. Steiert
1848 Mateas Müller Söhn, Bonokowsky
1850 Weber Becker, Nagel
1853 Leintz Wuitschik, Habrich
1856 Ternes Heinz, Ternes
1857 Georg Habrich
1858 Habrich Ternes, Müller
1863 Söhn Riehl, Steiert
1864 Söhn Jakob Küss, Müller
1869 Peter Ruscheinsky Ternes, Seifert
1870 Peter Ruscheinsky Ternes, Seifert
1871 Peter Ruscheinsky Ternes, Seifert

After 1871 when Krasna received a district office and with its own chief mayor, mayors were no longer necessary. The village then only had the Wolost as administration and no longer its own. The chief mayor handled village administration duties.

Chief Mayors and District Secretaries for Krasna

District office Wittenberg/Alt-Posttal

Until 1871 Krasna belonged to the district office of Witttenberg/Alt-Postttal (See also 4.8, The Administration) The chief mayors were 3)

1815 – 1839 Widmer, Johann Jakob
1839 – 1851 Dölker, Johann
1851 - 1852 Heller, Konrad
1852 – 1855 Krause, Ferdinand
1855 – 1862 Hammel, Wilhelm
1862 – 1865 Weiß, Andreas
1865 – 1867 Gäckle, Johann
1867 – 1869 Weiß, Andreas
1869 – 1871 Kämmler, Simon

During the time Krasna belonged to the district office of Wittenberg/Alt-Posttal there were no Krasna colonists serving as the chief mayor.

District Secretaries of Wittenberg/Alt-Posttal

1823 – 1832 Ey, Georg
1832 – 1839 Reich….
1839 – 1845 Baumann, Johannes
1845 – 1851 Levi, Matthäus
1851 – 1859 Raugust, Karl
1859 – 1871 Laeger, Heinrich

District Office of Krasna

Since 1871 Krasna had its own district office (until 1918). Eduard Ruscheinsky relays:

Peter Ruscheinky 1869 als Schulz gewählt,
bis 1871 im Amt
Karl Haag 1872-1874
Christian Dressler 1875-1877
Philipp Leinz 1878-1880
Gottlieb Leinz 1881-1883
Matthias Ruscheinsky 1884-1886
Gottlieb Leinz 1887-1889
Matthias Ruscheinsky 1890-1892
Lorenz Müller 1893-1895
Joseph Krams 1896-1898
Anton Gedak 1899-1901
Maximilian Hein 1902-1904
Gottlieb Leinz4) 1905-1910
Joseph Krams 1911-1913
Matthias Ruscheinsky 1914-1917

District Secretaries/Community Secretaries of Krasna

The community secretaries 5) during the Russian times as determined by Eduard Ruscheinsky:

Engel, Vorname unbekannt
Zerr, Vorname unbekannt
Kaspar Gedak
Arthur Erdmann
Andreas Krämer
Dürck

The Head of the Village in Rumanian Times

Under Rumanian government the Primar had roughly the same position as he former chief mayor.

Primars of Rumanian times were:

Mattias Volk 1918-1921
Peter Leinz 1922-1925
Maximilian Marte 1926-1929
Alexius Riehl 1930-1933
Timotheus Fenrich 1934-1937
Otto Schreiber 1938 (for 4 months)
Joseph Volk Sohn von Matthias 1938 (for 4 months)
Joseph Volk Sohn von Gabriel 1938-1939
Magnus Wingenbach 1940

District Secretaries (Notaries) in Rumanian Times

Tataru, Vorname unbekannt
Pantelica, Vorname unbekannt
Stoika,Vorname unbekannt
Heinrich Müller
Lewitzki, Vorname unbekannt
Mursa, Vorname unbekannt
Eugen Gansky

Members of the Communal Council in Rumanian Times

(As far as can be determined)
At first the community assembly functioned as the most important decision making body of the village. Under Rumanian government this function was in the hands of an elected communal council. The term of service was eight years, but whenever the government changed in Bucharest, which was frequent, the communal council was up for a vote, as well. It has not been possible to obtain a complete list of the composition of the body over the entire length of its existence. Some of the members are known from newspaper reports.

  • Die Eureka Rundschau – Das Nordlicht reports on September 12, 1928, that the following men belonged to the communal council of Krasna: Viktor Nagel, Sebastian Koch, Maximilian Hein, Erasmus Schreiber, Johannes Harsche, Lazarus Volk, Adolf Furch.
  • According to the Dakota Rundschau of March 28, 1930, Krasna was elected into the communal council on January 31, 1930, with these members:
    Thomas Volk, Johannes Schäfer, Peter Müller, Joseph Wingenbach, Joseph Söhn, Semfor Dirk, Albert Gulewitsch, Korbinian Leinz, Johannes Herrschaft, Valerian Furch, Joachim Boot and Peter Bachmeier
  • On the election of January 21, 1931, the following members were elected for the communal council: Eustachius Wagner, Eduard Ruscheinsky, Isidor Leinz, Lazarus Volk, Joseph Neumann, Viktor Nagel and Maximilian Martha. The latter was also elected as the representative of Krasna to the peoples’ council.

1)
Gäckle, Herbert, Geschichte der Gemeinde Alt-Posttal (Bessarabien) History of the community of Alt-Posttal page 202
2)
Mutschall, Wilhelm, Geschichte der Gemeinde Tarutino von 1814 bis 1934 (History of the Community of Tarutino from 1814 to 1934), pages 20, 46-47
3)
Paul Rath: Wittenberg Bessarabien; die Geschichte eines Dorfes in der Steppe, (Wittenberg, Bessarabia, History of a Village on the Steppe) 1987
4)
Tsar Nikolaus II presented him with a gold medal of honor (St. Stanislaus) in 1908 when he visited Bessarabia.
5)
Presumably until 1871, community secretaries were from Krasna. Only the Wolost handled district administration. It is interesting that judgements were written in Russian, but beginning in 1871, Russian held sway and was the official language for all state activities.
en/krasna/j-07-08-00.txt · Last modified: 2019/05/23 16:00 by Otto Riehl Herausgeber