My trips to the old home

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Shanna Spencer
6 years ago
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1 The book Erinnerungen an die deutschen Kolonien des Großliebentaler Rayons bei Odessa by Eduard Mack, originally from the village of Alexanderhilf, offers an insightful look into life in the Grossliebental colonies. It begins with the founding and settlement times, to life aspects such as church, school, work, customs and more. It also includes information on repression times, persecution and banishment during and after World War II, and into the situation of the former German colonies fifty years after the War. Below is an excerpt from this book translated by Ted Weisenburger. Alexanderhilf 50 years later Since I had decided to write the memories of our home village, Alexanderhilf, I decided in 1994 to join a tour group, which was led by Mr. Frey, of the Germans from Russia in Baden-Württemberg to Odessa and also to Alexanderhilf. It was the month of May. Even though the round trip through Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Ukraine, starting from the Carpathian Mountains to Odessa, was very interesting, I cannot here explicitly describe the trip because that involves a particular theme and takes a lot time to write. I have already written about that trip and I think most people from Alexanderhilf have already read the report because I sent copies of the manuscript to many fellow countrymen. My trips to the old home We visited four former regions of the Odessa district Grossliebenthal, Kutschurgan (formerly Selz, 50 to 60 km from Odessa), Beresan (formerly Landau, 80 to 100 km from Odessa) and Zebrkow (formerly Landau, 80 to 100 km from Odessa). Altogether we drove through 30 to 40 former German villages, all of which at that time looked alike. All big farm houses, which earlier had reeds on the roofs, now have slate roofs. The change was not expensive and not difficult since the necessary wood was already under the reeds. In Alexanderhilf the tour group stopped about two hours, but unfortunately one could see very little in that time. Therefore I later rented a car for a whole day and went there again. Since I had met my former student (from 1941 to 1943) Ivan Sadoy (son of Gregory Sadoy), I now drove to him. He is the only resident of our former village who still lives in Alexanderhilf. Together we drove through the streets of our village. I made many openings and he talked about the changes which had been made in these 50 years. But not everything was totally changed. Eckler, Krim, and Hungarian streets remain almost the same. After that we drove to the hill where the father of Ivan Gregorwitch had a few years before still lived with his wife and five sons. From there we drove to the Mill Corner. Way at the end, to the right, in the back yard, there still

2 stands Uncle Wanga Woitsche s little house with a clay roof. It stands as though it were a museum exhibit. All other clay roofs have been torn off, such as at the Mill Corner, and also on all other streets of our village. In their place were built large, single family houses covered with slate roofs. When I asked why the mud houses had been torn down, Ivan Gregoriwitsch said, Because nearly all of them had only one room, they were not occupied from the beginning (after our departure). The clay roofs were not maintained. They cracked and in time broke down. There, where earlier stood the clay house of Philipp Esch, now stands a nice big house. The house of Jacob and Heinrich Mack is terribly neglected. It is not occupied, since a new house has been built in the yard. The mill has been enlarged. Behind my family s yard, the mill has been added onto. At first there was again wine made there, but after the vineyards and fruit trees were destroyed, it became a repair shop for farm machinery. Our house, the houses of Daniel and Anton Mack was the office of this business. In 1963 they moved the office of the business to Heinrich Mayer s house on the other side of the business. After that the houses of Daniel Mack, Friedrich Esch and the clay house of Karl Mack were torn down to make room for the farm machines brought for repairs, tractors, combines, etc. Karl Büber s house still stands, but on one side part of it has been torn down. The mill has now been made a residence. The large wine cellar beside the mill is still there and was in the early years still used as a wine cellar. But later it became a store room for spare parts for the business. Now it is vacated and very neglected, soon to collapse. All wells in the village were filled in. They were no longer needed because the whole village is supplied with water from a pipe. It is pumped from deep in the earth at four pump stations at the rate of eight cubic liters per minute. In front of the mill, where earlier the well was, there is now a nice big house. At the pond where Volodya Lizakowski, Friedrich Büber, Heinrich Schipp, and Friedrich Balliet lived, all houses have been torn down. There is a cattle pasture overgrown with tall grass. Also the little house where Reichs lived has been torn down. The two houses of Heinrich Torno and Paul Lizowski are no longer standing. In their place are other buildings, such as big storerooms and behind them the four water pump station. The curved stone bridge over the little stream in the field is still there, but has been so filled in on both sides that the hill tops appear much lower. All streets in the village, also the street to the mill and the school, are now asphalt and approximately six to eight meters wide. The flat area between the cemetery and the school buildings has been covered with asphalt. I surmise that on holidays they meet here. The school

3 building has been changed a lot. The roof has been rebuilt and now has three large sky lights on both sides. In the building there are several state institutions. On the other end, towards the field, with the door towards the street, there is the post office. In the direction of the yard there are the local council, the savings bank, and beauty salon. In front there is a nice painted fence which borders the flower plot. Between the school and the church, where there was a small kitchen, there is now a modern administration building. * * * * * Since I spent only one day in Alexanderhilf in 1994, naturally I couldn t keep all impressions in my mind and also, after returning home, it was difficult for me to remember everything I had seen. Therefore I decided to once again make the same trip in This timei spent three days with overnights at the home of my former student, Ivan Gregoriwitch Sadoy. It is very difficult to keep all thoughts in mind after a one or two day visit with the huge changes which have been made in 50 years in the village. Since I had taken pictures, I knew precisely whose house this was, because it was neighboring house of so and so. When I then looked at the individual pictures at home, there was much that I could no loner remember since they now were in the picture without the neighbor s house. Since our departure, either a part was torn down or added on. To better remember everything seen and photographed, I went through all three streets two or three times with Sadoy to again look at everything and stamp it in my mind. The cemetery is still in the old location. In 1994 the stone wall of the cemetery from the garden in the east was replaced with a concrete slab fenced. The lower wall with the big church gate is unchanged from what it was in our time. The road through the cemetery has been asphalted. Across from the culture center a gate was built so that the residents of the former church street can go through the cemetery to the culture center. Of our old family vaults and graves, I was able to find only one with Gothic script on a limestone headstone Christian Blum. It stands pretty much at the north end. I took a picture of it and gave it to one of his nephews. All other graves of our deceased parents, grandparents, and ancestors are no longer recognizable and are impossible to find. (Fifty years have passed). The church has been remodeled inside and out and rebuilt as an Orthodox church. The entrance door has been closed since; according to the Orthodox

4 belief the altar need to be in the east and the entrance in the west. Across from Richard Stumpp s house an entrance door was made. The Alexanderhilf congregation, now Dobralexandrowka, received from the German government financial help to renovate the cemetery, the church, and to build a culture center for the Germans from Kazakhstan who were to be resettled here. The culture center in Alexanderhilf, has also been completely built and is now across from the cemetery where previously there had been several deep trenches down to the lime. I think, it was built in order to get the church back, which earlier had been the culture center. It is a nice building and on the placard beside the entrance door is written: Culture Center of the Dobroalexanderowsk Congregation Built with money from the German Government The old school, which had been a storeroom beside the cemetery, is still there, but is seriously neglected. Beside the building a new, modern Kindergarten has been built. Previously the Kindergarten had been in the house of the Kònig brothers, which is why they made an entrance from the street. On the threshing place of the Kònig brothers and Johannes Kònig, a new two story school has been built. On Eckler Street, in the yard of Heinrich Kònig and Karl Schüler a new store has been built and across from there, where Jakob Kònig s house stood, also a grocery store has been built. Where the brood house stood, there is now a bath house. But the biggest change which was made in Alexanderhilf during this time is the following: They gave our little stream, Barboy, our brook, a new direction. The streambed was too shallow which caused it to flood every spring. Therefore a canal, 16 to 18 meters wide and six to eight meters deep, was dug, beginning at the Neuburg border, straight through the stream in the direction of Judendamn and from there direct through the Unergässler Garten back to the forest stream, not far from Friedrich Mayer s house. From the Unergass to the Judendamn a new way was dug so that the streambed, which previously went through the village beside Heinrich Zweigle s house. The new way now goes directly from the Unergass to the Judendamn, which was raised and a new wood bridge was built over it. At the place where Jakob Schipp s a house stood, a broad foot bridge was built over the canal. For the most part now two or more families live in the big farm houses, but most of them have deteriorated because they are not cleaned or whitewashed. The nicest and best maintained houses are those of Jakob Arnold, Friedrich Kiefer, and Emil Rot on Uner Street. The newly weds are building nice one-family houses above the Unergässler gardens and in the lowest row of the former vineyard. There two new streets have been made and a third has been begun. Further up (North) two more

5 streets are being made for German settlers, who are supposed to come from Kazakhstan. Who are the current residents of Dobroalexanderowski? Immediately after our departure, settlers were brought from west Ukraine, most of whom left again after one or two years. After much advertising, young families and single people came here from all over Russia. Many of them still live here today. Hence the residents come from various regions, but most of them are Ukrainians. The business is a government-owned business named Tschapajewtz based on vegetable gardens and dairy cows to supply the city of Odessa. Seven hundred hectares (one hectare equals 2.47 acres) are currently irrigated with electric pumps. In the middle of the field, beside the old road to Kalagleja, there is a pump station with seven electric pumps. The water comes through a canal from the Dniester River. The canal goes along the elevation between the Dnjestral west and the Barboital east. It begins in the Peterstal fields and continues through Josefstal, Mariental, Neuburg, Alexanderhilf, and as far as Owidiopal.

[Type text] Pogrebishche Ukraine 2013 [Type text]

[Type text] Pogrebishche Ukraine 2013 [Type text] In May 2013, Carol Grosh and Elaine and Michael Kipp went on a journey to the Ukraine. The trip began with a river cruise along the Dnieper and ended with a trip through their past. Carol and Elaine s