NEWSLETTER

BUKOVINAFEST 2000

August 10-13 in Ellis and Hays, Kansas.  Enclosed is the program with a tear off registration form.  We have received many nice letter and e-mail notices from people who plan to attend.  It is important to send in your reservations so the board can adequately plan for a great convention.  You can view one of the attractions of the Bukovinafest and area points of interest on the web by entering www.fhsu.edu/sternberg Their site also has a picture and brief story of the Bukovina Society and a link to our website.

(Picture # 1 not available)  Michael Augustin
(Picture # 2 not available)  Erich Slawski   

BUKOVINA PEOPLE

St. John’s Lutheran Church, founded by Bukovina immigrants four miles north of Ellis, recently donated an organ to the society.  This has been placed in the Congregational Chapel next to the museum in the headquarters building.  We appreciate their support.

Dr. Sophie Welisch donated a copy of the book Anika by Anne-Marie Hilgarth.  It is the author’s true story of her experience as a child during the transfer of ethnic Germans from Bukovina to German lands during the Second World War. 

Bill Bonison wrote to Darrell Seibel, past president of the society, who chaired the board trip to Regina to visit the Bukovina settlements in that area.  Bill hosted the Bukovina Society representatives at the Canadian Romanian Club.  The Club has scheduled one of their periodic visits to Romania in August of this year and will be visiting sites in the Bukovina district.

Gerald Rein <sandra.r@sk.sympatico.ca> of Saskatoon was browsing the net and found our website.  His father, Ferdinand, was born in Bukovina about 1911 and immigrated to the Regina area.  He found a family connection to one of the articles on the site.  He wrote, “It appears as though you folks have more information on Bukovina than we ever imagined was available.”  He joined the society in hopes of leaning more of their heritage.

Rex Tauscher <RCTAUSCHER@webtv.net> found our website through Joerg Tauscher of Germany and asked about joining the society.  He is from the Lewis County, Washington colony and is looking for Tauscher connections.  He and his wife plan to visit the society museum on a trip through the country.

Wayne Neuburger <wayne_neuburger@email.msn.com> lived in Ellis until the family moved to Oregon.  His father and grandfather were named Frank.  He is learning more of his family tree from other society members on the Internet.

Helen White <hwhite@acninc.net> joined the society after she discovered it through Larry Jensen and Mary Lee Rose.  Her grandparents were Joseph Pekar “Baker” and Ottilia Schramek.  She visited her ancestral village of Paltinosa in 1979 [10 years before the iron curtain began to fall].  Although she has researched since the 60s, when she “got a computer last August and was SHOCKED to find there was a society dedicated to these courageous people from Bucovina."

Patrick Deutscher notified us of the death of William Zizi of Regina.  He was born in the Bukovina region now in Ukraine and immigrated to Canada in 1925.  The posting on Patrick in the last newsletter led to another of our members finding a common link.

Jose Szymanik in Brazil, whose father Jakob was born in Bukovina 4-11-10, is seeking information and can be reached at:  szymanik@plugnet.com.br

Werner Zoglauer and Becky Hageman spent several days copying and assembling the records of Frank Schuster.  These will greatly enhance the data base Werner keeps available to the society. 

The latest newsletter and publication exchange plan is with Palatines to America, Capital University, Columbus, Ohio, a national genealogical society of those seeking the origin of their German-speaking immigrant ancestors.  Zip is 43209-2394 and e-mail is Pal-Am@Juno.com   

PROVERBS IN POPULAR USAGE AMONG THE BUKOVINA-GERMANS

By Sophie A. Welisch

[Published in abridged form by the author as a component part of essay entitled "Faith of Our fathers: Ethos and Popular Religious Practices among the German Catholics of Bukovina in the Early Twentieth Century," Journal of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Summer, 1988), pp. 21-28.]

       Proverbs, i.e., short pithy sayings popularly known and repeated, usually express in simple terms a concrete, though often metaphoric, truth based on common sense or on the practical experience of mankind. An examination of a society's proverbs can be useful in discerning the values it holds as self-evident and the precepts by which it is guided. In the case of the Bukovina-Germans we find proverbs reflecting values shaped by religion, superstition, and agrarian, family oriented traditions. Though not limited exclusively to Bukovina, these sayings tell us what the German settlers thought about work, education and thrift, demeanor and deportment, fatalism and the inevitable. Often of a commonsense and practical nature, these proverbial sayings, some of which are listed below, contain a kernel of wisdom for the conduct of life in a society in which the spoken word took precedence over its written equivalent.

On work, education and thrift:
 1. Leicht gewonnen, schnell zerronnen. Easy come, easy go.

 2. Zu wenig oder zu viel ist den Narr sein Ziel. Too little or too much is the    fool's goal. OR--Everything in moderation.

 3. Gib den Diener einen Kreutzer und mache es dir selbst. Give the servant a tip and do it yourself. OR--If you want something done, do it yourself.

 4. Wenn es den Bären zu gut geht, tanzt er aufs Eis. When things go too well   for the bear, he dances on ice. OR--Don't become overconfident.

 5. Wann der Zigeuner zu einem Pferd kommt, reitet er es to Tode. When a Gypsy gets a horse, he will ride it to death. OR--A fool and his money are soon parted.

 6. Fleissige Mutter, faule Kinder. Ambitious mother, lazy children.

 7. Übung macht den Meister. Practice makes perfect.

 8. Zu viele Köchinen verderben den Brei. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

 9. Was das Hänschen nicht lernt, lernt der Hans nimmermehr. What Johnny has not learned, John will never learn. OR--You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

10. Langes Fädchen, faules Mädchen. Long thread, lazy girl.

11. Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt, ist den Taler nicht wert. He who does not honor the penny does not deserve the dollar.

12. Es ist noch kein Meister vom Himmel gefallen. No master craftsman has ever fallen from the skies. OR--Practice makes perfect. OR--If at first you don't succeed, try and try again.

13. Schuster, bleib' bei deinem Leisten. Shoemaker, stay at your last.

14. Ein schlechter Kreutzer frisst zehn gute auf. A bad penny devours ten others. OR--Don't throw good money after bad.

15. Arbeit macht das Leben süss. Work makes life delightful.

16. Wer rastet, rostet. He who rests, rusts.

17. Nichts gewagt, nichts gewonnen. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

18. "Morgen, Morgen, nur nicht heute," sagen alle faulen Leute. "Tomorrow, tomorrow, just not today," all the lazy people say.

On deportment and demeanor:

 1. Lieben und geliebt zu werden ist das grösste Glück auf Erden. To love and be loved is the greatest earthly happiness.

 2. Hilfe dir selbst, dann hilft Gott weiter. God helps those who help themselves.

 3. Nach der Decke muss man sich strecken. Stretch according to the size of the blanket. OR--Live within your means.

 4. Mit der Gabel bist du Herr; mit den Fingern kriegst du mehr. With a fork you act the gentleman; with your fingers you get more.

 5. Man ist was man isst. One is what one eats.

 6. Keine Antwort ist auch eine Antwort. No answer is also an answer.

 7. Weniger wissen ist ein ruhiges Gewissen. Knowing a little less leads to a peaceful conscience. OR--Ignorance is bliss.

 8. Einen geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

 9. Reden ist Silber; Schweigen ist Gold. Speech is silver, silence is gold.

10. Wenn du von einem Brunnen trinkst, werfe keinen Stein hinein. If you drink from a well, do not throw stones into it. OR--Do not bite the hand that feeds you.

11. Wer einen Hund schlagen will, findet leicht einen Stock. If you wish to beat a dog, you will easily find a stick.

12. Mitgeganden, mitgehangen. To run with the pack is to hang with the pack.

13. Mit einem anderen seine Hände kann man leicht ins Feuer scheren. It is easy to stir the fire with another's hands.

14. Mädel die pfeiffen, Hühner die krähen, tut man ihnen gleich den Kragen umdrehen. Girls who whistle, hens that crow, will soon have their necks in tow. OR--It's man's world.

15. Wenn du den Frieden im Herzen hast, wird dir die Hütte zu Palast. With peace in your heart your hut becomes a palace.

16. Geniessen macht gemein. Familiarity breeds contempt.

17. Mit dem Hut in der Hand kommt man durch's ganze Land. With hat in hand you can traverse the entire land.

18. Kehre erst vor deiner eigenen Tür. First sweep your own stoop.

19. Sag' mir mit wem du verkehrst, und ich sage dir wer du bist. Tell me the company you keep, and I will tell you who you are.

20. Kleine Kinder, kleine Sorgen; grosse Kinder, grosse Sorgen. Small children, small worries; big children, big worries.

21. Was du nicht weisst, macht dich nicht heiss. What you don't know won't set you aglow. OR--What you don't know won't hurt you.

22. Wer viel suppt, lebt lang. He who eats much soup will live long.

23. Einen alten Baum kann man nicht verpflanzen. You can't transplant an old tree.

24. Lass' schlafende Hunde liegen. Let sleeping dogs lie.

On fatalism and the inevitable:

 1. Wenn das Wörtchen "wenn" nicht wär, wär der Bettler Millionär. If it were not for the word "if," the beggar would be a millionaire.

 2. Wenn man einmal ein Stück Brot abschneidet, kann man es nicht mehr zurück tun. Once a piece of bread is severed from the loaf, it can never be restored to it.

 3. Glück und Glass, wie leicht bricht das. Happiness and glass, how easily these shatter.

 4. Das Todeshempt hat keine Tasche. A death shroud has no pockets. OR--You can't take it with you.

 5. Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei. Everything has an ending; only a sausage has two.

 6. Der Apfel fällt nicht weit vom Stamm. The apple does not fall far from its stem.

 7. Spinnen am Morgen gibt Kummer und Sorgen; Spinnen am Abend gibt freudige Gaben. Spiders in the morning portend sorrow and worry; spiders in the evening portend delightful gifts.

 8. Nicht alles ist Gold das glänzt. All is not gold that glitters.

 9. Ein Hund der bellt, beisst nicht. A barking dog will not bite. OR--His bark   is worse than his bite.

10. Wie der Stock, so der Pflock. As the stick, so the peg.

11. Der Tot ist nicht das ärgste; viel ärger ist die Not. Death is not the worst fate; much worse is misery.

12. Dem einen seine Eule ist dem anderen seine Nachtigall. One's owl is another's nightingale. OR--Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

13. Der Mensch denkt, aber Gott lenkt. Man proposes, God disposes.

14. Gibt Gott das Haaserl, gibt Gott das Grasserl. If God provides the rabbit, he will provide the grass.

15. Gott schlägt nicht mit einem Stock. God does not chastise with a stick.

16. Unkraut verdirbt nicht. Weeds don't perish.

17. Was die Erde zudeckt, kann der Mensch nicht wieder ausgraben. What the earth has covered, no man can unearth. OR--If it's over, it's over.

18. Den Kleinen hängt man, den Grossen lässt man laufen. The small guy is hanged, the big one goes free.

1999 CGSI CONFERENCE IN LINCOLN

  By Steve Parke (sparke@pcisys.net)

In October 1999, I attended the 7^th Czechoslovak Genealogical and Cultural Conference of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International (CGSI).  This four-day event in Lincoln, Nebraska was co-sponsored and hosted in conjunction with the Nebraska Czechs, Inc. Conference workshops were attended by over 600 people.  Over 800 people attended the special evening dinner programs.  Counted among the participants were fellow Bukovina Society members, Steve and Bev Augustine from Hesston, Kansas.

My interest in attending was primarily in tracing the roots of my paternal grandmother’s Czech family, the Kvasnicka’s, but I was also interested in learning more about the Bohemian culture that once impacted my Bohemian-German ancestors, the Nemechek’s and Schuster’s who migrated from the southwest Bohemian Forest to Fürstenthal, Bukovina, Austria, in about 1803 and then Ellis, Kansas, USA, in about 1900.

I was not disappointed in my Kvasnicka quest as I visited their first, 1878 American hometown, Wilber, Nebraska, also known today as the Czech Capital of the USA.  To my delight I bumped into a distant relative and later found the graves of several ancestors at the Bohemian National Cemetery near Wilber, southwest of Lincoln.  While touring the Saline County area we also visited various Sokol Halls and experienced the local hospitality.  Never before have I eaten so many Kolace (pastries) in the same day!  As we toured the countryside, I also came to understand why Nebraska is known for its corn!

On the second day we toured Butler and Sanders County’s just north of Lincoln and visited seven very inspiring old Catholic Churches that captured aspects of Czech architecture and Catholicism.  The numerous statuary, tall wood altar’s, and richly painted decors reminded me of Old World Catholicism in Bohemia as well as the fact that we were in the Lincoln Catholic Diocese!  Most memorable was the Plasi cemetery filled with tall crosses and gravestones, many of them twice as tall as the average person and creating impressive silhouettes in the setting sun.

Friday and Saturday were filled with numerous workshops.  I attended sessions on Czech history, Czech architecture, Nebraska Czech research, Czech rural folklore, Czech Internet research, Austro-Hungarian Army recruitment practices, and Nebraska Czech migration patterns.  Most interesting was the session on Czech American Freethinkers, in which I identified aspects of my inherited rural Czech culture.

Most notable were the cultural events interspersed through out the whole event.  For instance, several brass bands played polka music in the evenings.  The South Omaha Sokol presented a gymnastics routine.  The Parade of Kroje (Czech costumes) numbered about 25 participants.  And representatives from other Czech festivals spoke briefly.

As I finish this report, I’d like to close with a story of a more personal nature.  To properly conclude the Conference as it closed on Sunday, I decided to follow the Kvasnicka’s 1898 migration route from Wilber, Nebraska, 70 miles southwest to Narka, Kansas, in Republic County.  Bouncing through the back roads of Republic County, I found the Narka Bohemian National Cemetery and the graves of numerous Kvasnicka ancestors.  Later I serendipitously managed to find a small gathering of Kvasnicka’s having a re-union in nearby Belleville that Sunday afternoon.  Once I introduced myself, they asked, “Where have you been?” and I was stumped!

By this time my sense of history was at a high pitch.  Thus I drove on, 170 miles further southwest to my hometown, WaKeeney, Kansas, and then 7 miles west to the old settlement of Voda, Kansas, which had attracted my Kvasnicka great-grandparents in 1909.  During the Conference I had learned that in the late 1800’s Voda was a Czech settlement and in fact, the town name, Voda, was the Czech word for water.  After all of those years of hauling wheat down the Voda Road on the dusty high plains to the Voda Coop Elevator, I know why they named the town, “Water!”

Voda’s Czech fraternal lodge (ZBZJ), the wood elevator, some old houses, and the rickety general store were demolished in my youth.  All that remains today are the new steel grain bins and the railroad sign that reads “Voda”.  Looking at the sign and the vast surrounding farm land brought tears to my eyes as I realized how much had past and been forgotten or at least disappeared with the passing of American time and progress. 

Organizations like CGSI and the Bukovina Society of America help us remember the past and make connections with today.  Maybe we just remember the names of those who have gone before us or maybe we remember various aspects of their lives.  I passionately believe that our efforts of remembrance are worthwhile.  May we continue to explore, learn, and celebrate our heritage(s) today! 

FÜRSTENTHAL

Jakob Sint of Vienna, who learned his English skills in Israel, sent a very interesting story of his mother’s family ties to Fürstenthal.  The family lived in the Bukovina until 1914 and returned to Austria due to the military occupation.  One member of the family, Andreas Mikulicz-Radecki, was involved with building the town hall of Czernowitz and several were medical doctors.  During their “summer vacations” they traveled to Fürstenthal where they stayed in the little huts of the woodcutters in the Carpathian Mountains.  His “mum’s grandma” loved this country so much that she returned there to marry right in the woods where she had the most wonderful days of her childhood.  Jakob’s mum has never been there, but in her advanced age is homesick for this “lost paradise.”  Jakob came upon our website and is searching for names and information connected to their adopted village.  I sent pictures of the Bukovina Institut tour for his mother.

 (picture caption - picture not avaialble):
 Ray and Madeline Schoenthaler of Ellis were hosts to Ernie and Leona Sauer of Regina in March.  The Sauers were returning from a winter vacation in the southern states.  Pictured from left are Ernie, Leona, Ray and Madeline. 

 THE GERMANS IN THE STULPIKANY AREA

By Josef Talsky, "Die Deutschen im Raum Stulpikany," in Bukowina: Heimat von Gestern, ed. by Erwin Massier, Josef Talsky and B. C. Grigorowicz, translated by Sophie A. Welisch (Karlsruhe: Selbstverlag "Arbeitskreis Bukowina Heimatbuch," 1956), pp. 158-160.

       As early as when the Styrian Anton Manz gained control of the Bukovina's mining industry at the end of the 18th century, a foundry had already existed in the Sucha Valley in Stulpikany, which had occasioned the settlement of German laborers and specialists. These, however, in comparison with the Romanian population of the area, were in the minority. Only after the settlement of German-Bohemians in Schwarztal [1838] and its environs, did a larger German colony in Stulpikany and the southerly surrounding area develop into a purely German self-contained fringe settlement. The Romanian population of this southern tip of Bukovina consisted mainly of autochthonous peaceful mountaineering Romanians, who, with the progression of the Austrian era, became increasingly more loyal adherents of the Monarchy and reverently spoke of "their" great emperor.

       Stulpikany could be reached via Frassin (in the Moldova Valley) at the confluence of the Sucha and Moldova [rivers]. Following the Sucha Valley in a southerly and upward direction, Stulpikany could be reached after about ten kilometers. The valley, which here appears very narrow, divided near Stulpikany into three smaller mountain valleys: the upper Sucha Valley in the direction of Gemine - Slatioara, the Ostra Valley where lay [the villages of] Molid and Ostra, and the Negrileassa Valley with the German-Bohemian village of Schwarztal referred to above. 

       This is a lovely mountainous area well suited for summer excursions with a beauty seldom paralleled. An especial treat for courageous hikers is the climbing of the cliffs of Slatioara; here one also has the opportunity of traversing a genuine virgin forest, the Teodorescu Forest, whose wild state would bring the somewhat delicately strung friend of nature to virtual astonishment. Bears, lynxes and other rare beasts of prey here enjoyed an undisturbed preserve.

       To reach Stulpikany via Slatioara one first had to cross Gemine. Both communities with their widely separated farmsteads had been settled by German-Bohemians who primarily worked in lumbering enterprises in addition to cultivating their meager fields. They constituted no self-contained community.

       In the Ostra Valley, on the other hand, the German-Bohemians had established two self-contained settlements: Molid and Ostra. These German peripheral settlements lay adjacent to the earlier-established Romanian communities.

       The communities of the three above-mentioned valleys were economically as well as administratively dependent upon Stulpikany, which was the center of this most forested region of Bukovina and also contained some industries. Of its approximately 3000 inhabitants, some 600 were German. Romanians represented the majority. The others were Jews, who controlled virtually all the trade.

              The German inhabitants of Stulpikany were officials, craftsmen, skilled workers and farmers. Even in the Romanian era the civil service consisted almost exclusively of Germans. The trades of miller, shoemaker, tailor, barber, and blacksmith lay in German hands. The German farmers for the most part had their fields in the immediate vicinity of the village; their harvest alone was not sufficient to sustain a family. Often father and son worked as lumberers in the nearby forests while the planting of the fields as well as the care of the livestock was largely carried out by the housewife and other family members.

       At an altitude of about 600 meters above sea level, grain cultivation was not productive so that the farmer relied primarily on cattle raising.

       Those German families of Stulpikany who remain in our memories and whom we wish to mention include:

       Farmers and foresters or saw mill workers: Rudolf Borschütz, Ferdinand Caikowski and his sons Artur and Josef; Martin Danko and his sons Albert, Hironimus and Paul; Willibald Eckhard and his sons Emil, Heinrich, Josef, Robert, and Rudolf; Johann Gotsch; Albert Granat and his son Bruno; Valentin Gunier;  [?] Haas; Karl Hackl; Franz Hilgard; Johann Jakubczek and his son Wladimir; Josef Klein; Josef Kowar and his sons Hironimus and Rudolf; Rudolf Kowar; Michael Kurowski and his sons Ferdinand and Emil; Karl Kurowski and his sons Johann and Rudolf; Wenzel Kübek and his sons Franz, Hironimus, Otto, Paul and Robert; Rudolf Kübek and his sons Johann and Viktor; Jakob, Johann, Josef, Karl, Leon, and Siegmund Lausmann; Georg Sebaczek; [?] Seidl; Josef Stenzl; Jakob Weber and his sons Johann, Philip and Siegmund; Rudolf Weber; Gustav Wilhelm; Josef and Xaver Zibulski.

       Farmers in addition to flour mill and saw mill owners: Franz Kurowski and his sons Josef and Otto.

       Farmer and restauranteur: Alfred Krzemenicki and his sons Artur and Leon.

       Craftsmen: [?] Haas (barber); Wenzel Hoffmann (master tailor); Josef Kaminski and his sons Franz and Karl (blacksmith); Stefan Kowar and his sons Josef and Ferdinand (mason); Franz Kozanowski and his sons Johann and Winzenz (wheelwright); Albert Lissak (butcher); Josef Newton (mason); Josef Terschanski and his sons Adolf, Karl, Leon and Alois (mason); Anton Tenerewicz (blacksmith) and his son Franz (wheelwright); Andreas Theis and his sons Ambros and Adam (stone mason); Josef Weber and his son Anton (master shoemaker and organist); Johann Wendling (master butcher).

       Civil servants, employees and pensioners: [?] Brodner; Adolf Domarawski (pensioner); Artur Fleischer (forester); Ernst Hodel (judge); Johann Janosch (pensioner); [?] Pscheidt (master forester); Franz Markiewicz (judicial magistrate) and his sons Siegmund (tax official), Winzenz and Josef; Johann Rzeczowski and his sons Emil, Eugen, Otto and Viktor (all foresters); Viktor Semenow (judicial magistrate), Franz Talsky and his sons Josef and Max (finance civil servants); Lorenz Warik (pensioner).

       Even today all the above-named and the unnamed compatriots from Stulpikany and its environs reflect with much pleasure and at the same time with a latent nostalgia on the good times in the old homeland with its picturesque valleys as well as the Sucha and Ostra brooks. Although life was sometimes more difficult and economic need was reflected in their faces, the villagers nonetheless felt at home in their beloved native land.

       To write a chronicle of the German villages and of the cities inhabited by the Germans in Bukovina is a task for specialists and would fill volumes. Therefore, may our description of the founding and development of the German settlements in this land in the course of 165 years serve as an example for the Germanic spirit of colonization and German proficiency.

       Among many others, this cultural isle in the East also succumbed as a sacrifice in the deluge of the last world war; nonetheless, its people found their way back to their mother country and to a new homeland [referring to the 1940 transfer of the ethnic Germans of Bukovina and Bessarabia to Germany--sw].

SATULMARE, THE GERMAN BIG VILLAGE

By Christian Armbrüster, "Satulmare: das deutsche Grossdorf," in Bukowina: Heimat von Gestern, ed. by Erwin Massier, Josef Talsky and B. C. Grigorowicz, translated by Sophie A. Welisch (Karlsruhe: Selbstverlag "Arbeitskreis Bukowina Heimatbuch," 1956), pp. 137-140.

       There, where the Suczawa River meets the tributaries of the Saha and the Posina at its right bank and then continues its course along the railroad track in the direction of Itzkany, lies the village of Satulmare, in German: Big Village.  The name Satulmare is mentioned for the first time in a document from the year 1570 in the bishropic of Radautz, to which it, as well as other villages in the Radautz basin, belonged. The village area encompasses twenty-one square kilometers and borders on the communities of Radautz, Maneutz, Dornesti, Tibeni, Milleschoutz, Badeutz and Vadul Vladichei. A secondary road connects the community with the large district city of Radautz and with the Imperial Highway to Suczawa. It is four kilometers to the railroad station of Dornesti and only two kilometers to the station of Tzibeni. Along the waterways in the environs there are several [saw and flour] mills and cloth fulling mills [where cloth is cleansed and thickened to become compacted].

       The autochthonous population is Romanian with the following surnames: Andrisan, Balan, Bandas, Bodnarescu, Bordeianu, Cazac, Donisan, Colibaba, Dumitrescu, Giurgiu, Husdup, Jacoban, Lavric, Lubancu, Martincu, Popescu, Prelipcean, Sucevan, Prutean, Papuc, Teleaga, Tzibu and Vlad. For centuries the population of the village, enserfed to the monasteries of Sucewitza and Putna the requested contingent of workers for the expansive fields. The remaining uncultivated land was only to a limited extent cultivated by the inhabitants, and the people were concerned only with their barest of necessities of food and clothing.  Turkish domination, wars and famines as well as epidemics carried off the people. The land experienced an improvement in their lot of the people only after the 1775 takeover of Bukovina by Austria. In 1788 there followed the settlement of the first eight German colonists on the monastery lands of Satulmare. They included: Sebastian Hubich, Heinrich Mang, Adam Nunweiler, Christof Schmidt, Peter Schmidt, Ludwig Schneider, Johann Staudt, and Karl Weber. Their houses and farmsteads were constructed in rows. Each colonist received from the state 82 Ar [1 Ar = 120 sq. yds, or 0.025 acres] for buildings and garden and 13-l/2 hectares [l Hektar = 2.5 acres] for farmland and pasturage as well as cattle, farming and household implements, right of access to salt water, and a portion of the common pasturage of the village. Good farmland was also set aside for church and school.

       The settlers haled from the Rhine-Palatinate and the Saar area and were Lutherans for the most part. The fields of Ciotaria and Plop, assigned them in the marches, soon got German names such as Langgewann, Hirschgewann, (long land, deer land), etc.

       At this time there was still much uncultivated land in Satulmare available for the Romanian owners which was cheap and attractive enough to entice relatives and acquaintances, who indeed came, no longer at state expense but simply as "subjects" albeit as free farmers. In addition from Germany as also from the Austrian provinces there came craftsmen of all types who until about 1850 settled in this developing village.

       As a result of the established practice of dividing the inheritance, a significant emigration, particularly to Canada, set in by about 1890. Many from Satulmare settled there as farmers, as, for example Hofmann, Frombach, Galenczowski, Gattinger, Jäckle, Mang, Sauer, Schmidt, Silzer, Wagner, Walter, Weber, and Wolf, who achieved a respectable prosperity [in their new homeland].

       In the first years of their settlement the Germans of Satulmare provided privately for the education of their children. A school building with living quarters for a teacher for both confessions was not constructed until 1799 and got state recognition in 1874.

       A Lutheran church built in 1862 and a Catholic Church in 1867 were consecrated together on the first Sunday after Martini (Martin's Feast Day).

       Until 1874 the German village of Satulmare was administratively linked with the earlier existing Romanian community. Then, with the simultaneous division of land, the community was separated into a Romanian and a German-Satulmare (Deutsch-Satulmare) village. The first mayor of German-Satulmare was Karl Neher the Elder and the last in 1940 was Ferdinand Armbrüster.

       Therewith a brilliant period both culturally and economically began for the newly created German community. For this progress the Lutheran pastor, provincial diet representative Martin Decker, the teachers Mayer and Bretz, Mayor Karl Neher the Elder, deputies Johann Armbrüster and Fritz Wagner deserve much credit. To mention only a few of the achievements of this period: drainage of the wet lands, regulation of the course of the streams, bridge construction, road construction, founding of the Reiffeisenkasse (bank), and the agricultural clubrooms, introduction of agricultural machines, improvement of breeds of horses and cattle, the founding of a modern fire department, etc.

       In the midst of this economic progress, World War I broke out. The community of Satulmare became a war zone and greatly devastated by artillery fire and arson, was greatly devastated during the withdrawal of the Russians in 1917. The German and Romanian populations had been evacuated and upon returning to their villages, found gardens and fields dug up for trenches and traversed with barbed wire obstacles. The Monarchy had collapsed and the Romanian State could not offer immediate aid. Those who had sustained destruction had to absorb the losses themselves without ever being compensated for them.

       According to statistics of 1937 the Satulmare Germans owned a total of 952 hectars, averaging 3-1/2 hectares per family. According to this same source these included 255 families totaling 1,018 souls, of whom 225 were farming families. Of these, 590 people were Lutherans and 408 Catholics. An occupational breakdown shows: 72.2 percent in agriculture, 11.7 percent in crafts plus an additional means of livelihood, 8.6 percent in trade and commerce, 3.6 employees and in liberal professions, and only 3 percent as workers and day wage laborers.

       Between 1788 and 1940 one finds the following surnames in Satulmare: Armbrüster, Bäcker, Baumung, Bayer, Bessai, Bilawski, Blechner, Blechinger, Brodner, Brodt, Bundus, Brunner, Citron, Deinhardt, Engel, Feigl, Flamann, Frenger, Frombach, Galenczowski, Gattinger, Gärtel, Göbel, Göttel, Gräb, Gross, Günther, Haman, Hodel, Hoffmann, Hennig, Heuchert, Hubich, Jäckle, Kattler, Keller, Kekel, Kesch, Klich, Knoblauch, Koch, Kohlruss, Mang, Manz, Massier, Mathias, Mayer, Melcher, Mohr, Neher, Neu, Nemega, Nunweiler, Pick, Pilsner, Presser, Probst, Radetz, Reh, Reif, Roth, Ruban, Ruppenthal, Sager, Sauer, Selzer, Silzer, Schach, Schäfer, Schandor, Schmidt, Schweitzer, Schulz, Stahl, Staudt, Türmayer, Vorreiter, Wagner, Walter, Weber, Wild, Wirth, Wössner, Wolf, Zerfass and Zurowski.

       In 1940 the Germans of Satulmare were evacuated to Germany in two transport trains via Hungary. They were at first housed in so-called transition camps in Füssen/Allgäu, Ursberg and Niederraunau in the district of Krumbach (Swabia). Not until 1942 were they resettled in Lorraine only after it was ascertained that the Upper Silesian area had no room for them.  All males of military age were inducted into the SS or the German army. With the approach of the Western invasion armies in 1944 the Satulmarers fled from Lorraine into the inner Palatinate, to Rhine-Hesse and to other areas, wherever they could find a new homeland. Only a very few among them would again have their own farmland. Yielding to necessity, their posthumous sons became craftsmen or pursued a higher education.

       As the generational successors of a people [from Bukovina] they will integrate the past with the present which will lead to a new future for the coming generations in the new homeland.

For a monograph on the above village see:
Armbrüster, Christian. Deutsch-Satulmare: Geschichte eines buchenländischen Pfälzerdorfes. Karlsruhe/Baden: by the author, 1961.  226 pp. plus pictures and maps.

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