Part 2: Preparing for the Resettlement of Germans in Bukovina
Willi Kosiul
Translation by Google, Needs Editing
From the Website of Willi Kosiul
Posted with permission of the author’s son, February 13, 2021
Part 1: Preparing for the Resettlement of Germans in Berlin
As the area of the Soviet-occupied Northern Bukovina – already marked as “Bu” in Berlin – and divided into 13 local areas – with the surrounding villages – was also the preparation and implementation of the resettlement of the Germans there. The individual local areas in Northern Bukovina were:
Bu 1 was Chernivtsi-West, as the western part of Chernivtsi,
Bu 2 was Chernivtsi-East, as the eastern part of Chernivtsi,
Bu 3 was Manasteriska as the suburb of Chernivtsi and the surrounding villages such as Molodia, Cahor, Korowia, Derelui, Kuczurmare, Terescheni and Franzthal.
Bu 4 was Rosch as the suburb of Chernivtsi,
Bu 5 was Klokuczka as the suburb of Czernowitz with several surrounding villages,
Bu 6 was not formed because there were too few Germans in this area. The Germans there were distributed to other local areas.
Bu 7 was Tereblesty.
Bu 8 was also not formed because there were too few Germans in this area. These Germans were also assigned to other OBs. divided up.
Bu 9 was an old hut, with Krasna Putna and Krasna Ilski.
Bu 10 was Czudyn, with Neuhütte and Petroutz.
Bu 11 was Augustendorf, with Banilla and Dawideni.
Bu 12 was Storozynetz, with Hliboka, Eichenau and Neu Zadowa.
Bu 13 was Katharinendorf, with Berhometh, Nikolausdorf, Alexanderdorf, Woloka and Unter Stanestie.
On September 13, 1940, the German resettlement area command for northern Bukovina arrived in Chernivtsi, where it had immediately started its work.
SS-Sturmbannführer (= in the rank of major) Erwin Müller from Berlin was active here as the area plenipotentiary for northern Bukovina and head of this German resettlement command. His deputy was the university professor Dr. Herbert Mayer = a beech country German from Czernowitz and his chief of staff was Rudolf Wagner, a beech country German from Czernowitz.
This German regional command consisted of a large staff of employees from various disciplines as well as several assistants assigned here from the resettlers’ population. The area command had its own vehicle fleet and local representatives with their employees and helpers who were continuously active on site in the individual villages.
The German regional command for Northern Bukovina was housed in Chernivtsi in the best and largest hotel in the city, in the so-called “City” guesthouse and in the German House there. The eleven local representatives, their deputies as well as the appraisers and drivers for the respective local areas were temporarily quartered in the German school there and also in the German Protestant orphanage. Thanks to the helpers from Buchenland, everything was cleaned up and well prepared for reception.
On the same evening of September 13th an official reception of the entire German command by the Soviet area representatives took place in the Pension “City”, with a joint dinner and the preparatory work began the next day.
The 11 local representatives for the northern Bukovina area and their employees were also able to quickly visit the local areas that had already been defined in Berlin and are therefore responsible for them, and there they could begin to record the German residents willing to relocate. Due to the local leadership of the German ethnic group in Czernowitz, in the district towns and in the communities, many preparations for the resettlement of the Germans have been made for weeks.
Together with the Soviet government representatives they formed the central mixed German / Soviet resettlement commission for northern Bukovina and had to jointly decide on all resettlement issues and manage these tasks.
This means that in the entire Czernowitz regional command a total of around 110 people from various departments were continuously employed, who were actively involved in the preparation and implementation of the resettlement of the Germans from northern Bukovina. There were also many employed helpers of the German resettlers from Buchenland, who worked here continuously.
In the 11 local areas a total of 44 Reich German forces were employed as local agents, deputies, taxators and drivers. In addition, there were around 40 representatives of the Buchenland Germans who stood by the respective local representatives as helpers and advisers. In each individual local area, three to four shop stewards from the German local residents acted as advisors and helpers to the relevant German local representative. In addition, other selected helpers who have already been selected by name, have already been known and named in Berlin and were prepared for their tasks.
The work rooms for the local mixed German-Soviet resettlement commission were selected and the billeting of the Germans who had arrived with the local German residents was regulated. Various named lists of ethnic Germans have already been prepared and created in advance, as well as other documents or materials made available to facilitate the work of the German local representatives there. So in every place of the local areas – by the people responsible there – everything was thoroughly prepared so that the German local representative who arrived there could start his work immediately based on this.
In all of these areas and locations, these Buchenland-German helpers and employees were already selected, prepared for them and set up for their tasks. They were already waiting for the arrival of the German resettlement command to start their work as helpers.
On September 15, 1940, the 11 German local representatives drove with their employees from Czernowitz in their cars to the respective local areas and took their quarters there for the entire duration of the resettlement. Afterwards they started their work there together with the local Soviet representatives. These German local representatives and their employees in the respective local area – supported by the local advisors and helpers of the resettlers – formed the local German resettlement commission. The Soviet local representative also had a deputy who usually also acted as his interpreter, a taxator and often also a driver with a car. This team formed the local Soviet resettlement commission there.
On September 16, the joint office of the German local representative and the Soviet local representative (in a school or in the house of a resettler) was set up as the registration office for the Germans there for resettlement. Here both representatives of the local mixed German-Soviet resettlement commission worked together at one table. The local registration office for resettlement was thus designed and created.
After all the necessary preparations for registering the Germans for resettlement had been made and agreements had been made with the Soviet local representative, on September 17, 1940, the Germans from the respective village were able to register for resettlement. The resettlement of the Buchenland Germans from the Romanian southern Bukovina was a direct continuation of the resettlement of the Buchenland Germans from the Soviet-occupied northern Bukovina. It followed almost the same pattern and in the same way as the resettlement from northern Bukovina. The Berlin-Moscow and Berlin-Bucharest relocation agreements were almost identical in content. Only the Berlin-Bucharest resettlement agreement was much more favorable for the German side.
On August 14, 1940, at the “Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle” in Berlin, the area of the Romanian southern Bukovina was also marked with the code letter “Sbu” and divided into two resettlement areas and again subdivided into a total of 19 local areas.
After the German-Romanian resettlement agreement was signed on October 22, 1940, the German resettlement command for southern Bukovina and Dobrudscha from the German Reich arrived on November 3, 1940 in the small town of Gurahumora in Germany. Then it started work there – together with the Romanian government commission.
This central German resettlement command in Gurahumora was under the leadership of SS-Oberführer Siekmeyer (as in the rank of colonel).
The three area plenipotentiaries and their staff were responsible for the following areas: – Radautz, with nine additional plenipotentiaries, – Gurahumora, with ten additional plenipotentiaries, and – Dobrudscha, with their headquarters in Constance, which also had such seven locations.
In the local areas, the respective German local representatives, their deputies, the taxatore and drivers stood by the side. In addition, the local advisors and helpers of the resettlers.
The city of Radautz was the seat of the German regional command for resettlement area I. This included the following nine local areas, with the surrounding villages:
Sbu 1 = Radautz as urban area,
Sbu 2 = Sereth as urban area and the localities St. Onufry, Bainze and Hadikfalva,
Sbu 3 = Alt-Fratautz,
Sbu 4 = Karlsberg and also Brodina, Falkeu and Putna,
Sbu 5 = Fürstenthal, with Margina,
Sbu 6 = Solka, plus Arbora, Glitt and Lichtenberg,
Sbu 7 = German Satulmare,
Sbu 8 = Neu Itzkany and
Sbu 9 = Suczawa as urban area.
The city of Gurahumora was also the seat of the German regional command for resettlement area II. This included the following ten local areas, with the surrounding villages:
Sbu 10 = Illischestie,
Sbu 11 = Gurahumora as urban area and in
addition the localities Bori and Buchenhain, Sbu 12 = Paltinossa,
Sbu 13 = Stulpikany,
Sbu 14 = Wama,
Sbu 15 = Kimpolung as urban area and also Eisenau,
Sbu 16 = Pozoritta ,
Sbu 17 = Mariensee, with Ludwigsdorf,
Sbu 18 = Jakobeny and
Sbu 19 = Dorna Watra with Dorna Kandreny.
In these local areas, the responsible German local representatives and their employees as well as the Romanian local representatives were continuously active. In their willingness to take responsibility, they all had to independently prepare and carry out the resettlement.