Notas para una historia familiar

NOTAS PARA UNA HISTORIA FAMILIAR….. 
LISTA DE LOS REFUGIADOS Alemanes del Volga Mariental, RUSIA ¿Quién llegó a Francfort del Oder Desde Minsk el 09 de diciembre 1822 Emma Schwabenland Haynes En el año 1921, Rusia sufrió una sequía generalizada, que fue especialmente grave a lo largo del río Volga. Por lo general una gran cantidad de grano había sido en la mano para una emergencia, pero el paísacababa de pasar por una terrible guerra civil, y toda la comida había sido requisado por merodeadores ejércitos. Como resultado, las muertes por hambre comenzó. Muchos habitantes de la región del Volga a la izquierda de la zona del Mar Negro o en el Cáucaso, en la esperanza de encontrar algo para comer. Otros viajaron a Minsk, cerca de la frontera con Polonia, con la esperanza de ir a Alemania ycontinuar desde allí hacia el Norte o Sur América. A finales de 1922, la Cruz Roja alemana firmó un acuerdo con las autoridades polacas permitir que los refugiados de Minsk de tránsito directo a través de Polonia. Como resultado, 889 alemanes del Volga llegaron a Fráncfort del Oder el 9 de diciembre de 1922. Prácticamente todos ellos tenían familiares o amigos cercanos en el continente americano,que probablemente les ayudaría a viaje al Nuevo Mundo. La mayoría de estos emigrantes habían venido de la Wiesensite (lado este) del Volga, con Marienburg, una colonia católica, que encabeza la lista con 83 emigrantes. Es interesante observar que las colonias tales como Bergseite Balzer, Bauer, Kamenka, Kolb, Messer y Norka, no tenía representantes en este grupo. Después de su llegada, losrefugiados fueron colocados en un campo en Fráncfort del Oder, donde el Dr. Valentín Rothermel, él mismo un Alemanes del Volga, se hizo cargo de sus necesidades. Los nombres de estos refugiados fueron impresas en un complemento de la primera edición de 1923 de Der Wolgadeutsche, un semanario 
Marienberg, a Catholic German-Russian village, also known as Bisiuk (Besuk), was located in the Bisiuk rivervalley some 15 to 30 miles east of the town of Seelmann which was on the Volga River, 5 miles south of what was the Catholic village of Streckerau and about 25-30 miles south of the Lutheran village of Brunnental. The village straddled the Bisiuk river and the main road, which ran north to south, crossed the river on the west side of the village and then continued on at an angle to the southeast.There was no bridge at the river, only a shallow section that wagons could use to cross the river.
The climate in Marienberg would be very similar to the climate in North Dakota or southern Saskatchewan, along the US-Canada border which is the 49th parallel. Since Marienberg was located on the 51st parallel, this would mean that the summers would be hot and dry while the winters would be cold, harshand windy.
The village had a population of 3,310 in 1912. By using 15-20 as the size of the average German-Russian family, this would mean approximately 150-200 families lived in the village. A family would include all the family members including grandparents, siblings, their wives and everyone's children. It would appear that the village extended about three or four blocks to the north of theriver and the same to the south.The main road was located on the west side and the village extended about 5-6 blocks to the east. The families each owned about two acres of property in the village. Each block consisted of approximately ten properties and would be surrounded by a small path or wagon road. There were orchards and agricultural lands to the west of the main road. A large water wheelwas located just west of the road and was used by the Reit family to water the trees in the orchard and their vegetable gardens alongside the river. The surrounding land, adjacent to the village on all sides, was the large agricultural area where the villagers grew various grain crops. Each family would have been assigned or owned sufficient acreage to support their family. There were no services...