Sunday morning services zt the north Bottom's LaKmstl church: Ushers with collection phtes walk srcund Anna Giebelhsms, 99, sxd her wheelchair.
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Continued ton Page 1
What Russia offered was sweet.
Religious freedom. No taxation for 30
years. Self government. And all of this
was along an area of incredible natural
resources, the fertile Volga River valley.
Thousands of Germans settled in
self-sufficient colonies like Beideck,
Doennhof and Norka. The settlers kept
to themselves, rarely associating with
the Russian natives.
Towards the end of the 1800s,
however, things began to change for the
worse. Russia instituted compulsory
military duties for all males over age
21.
Once again the Germans moved, this
time crossing an ocean. Stirred by
thoughts of America's freedom and
prosperity, they worked their way out
of Russia to find a new life.
Jacob Giesick, 93, is one of those
who found a new beginning. Li 1912, he
left Russia to escape the compulsory
draft
They round the American Dream
"Good people came over here and
they prospered, and prospered fast,"
Giesick said. "And now I'm the luckiest
man. I've, got prosperity all my life. I
was in want for nothing."
It was true that he and many other
German-Russian people prospered
but for this they paid a high price. They
were strangers here at first, working for
less than average wages, facing an
unfamiliar language and culture. They
settled where land was affordable, in
part of the Salt Creek valley known as
the "Russian Bottoms."
"It was a damn unhealthy place to
live," said Jack LoBnk, 87, a 55-year
resident of the area. "During the winter
you saw numerous quarantine signs up
and down the streets for dipiheria,
smallpox ... In the spring we had many
Coeds down there, and raw sewage was
dumped into Salt Creek bad then."
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it wasn't too long, however, before
there were more good times than bad
for many of these people.
"I liked everything about this
country," said 90-year-old Jacob Walters.
"Sure we had some bad times, but
we had a lot of good times, too."
By working together, the German
Russians overcame their difficulties and
built churches and porched-in homes.
"They weren't suraid to work and
they took great pride in their own
home, however modest it might be,"
said Ruth Amen, the daughter of im
migrants who settled here in the late
1 800s. Miss Amen is now the director of
the American Historical Society of Ger
mans from Russia, an organization built
by and for these people to preserve
their heritage. She remembered her
parents.
"They wanted for their kids what
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they couldn't have themselves," Miss
Amen said. "They were a very saving
people, maybe too saving at times."
Over the years, the German-Russians
became known for two things; a strong
work ethic and extreme pride in property
ownership. Values like these made
weekly porch and sidewalk scrubbing
mandatory for 30 years. The same
values drive many 80 and 90-year-olds
today as they insist on having their
homes in immaculate condition at all
times.
"I try to get him to take it easy," said
Alex Walters, Jacob's 67-year-old son
"I told him, You don't have to desi the
house every week.' He said OX, he'll
wait till next week. He has to do it"
"cykaowfeepain,MsaidEharat
Surendej, a minister in the Bottoms
area. "Every immigrant has to start
from scratch. They have to learn to do
things the American way. But they are
very proud of freedom. They are very
proud of this land, and the personal
input they've had ia this nation."
They worked hard, kept their homes,
families and lives in order. And in their
own way, have found what they were
looking for: the American Dream of
freedom and prosperity.
Still, Pauline Strauch is waiting for
the Lord to take her home. She smiles
when she says it though, for she knows
it will have to wait awhile. After ail, it's
almost time for the family Christmas
dinner, and she has to make sure her
cleaning lady does ft good job this time.
"These yc-ng people, you can't get
them to work anymore. Not like we did
anyway " she said.''
by Jod So:
