Headline: Norka, November 30, 1921
To the association "Volga Relief Society"
Highly Esteemed, Valued Fellow Comrades:
Some three weeks ago I finished my first report to you and sent it to Mrs. Repp. I said that I would from time to time write about the work of the Food Kitchens brought into being by your loving donations.
On the 7th of November, Mr. Georg Repp organized a local committee here whose purpose I described in my first report. Here are some corrections: With the additional selections it was not Georg Hoelzer but Georg Weidenkeller, Row 3, Unterdorf who was chosen. Instead of Georg Schleuning, who could not take part in the work because of other responsibilities, it was Ludwig Hohnstein, Row 4, Oberdorf, who was selected, and instead of Adam Voegler it was Georg Schleucher, Row 4, Unterdorf, who was selected.
Initially we intended to open on the 10th of November, then on the 12th of November, both times it had to be put off. The entire list of children had to be gone through 3 times until it was finally completed. Some evenings a special commission sat deep into the night seeking to select, to the best of their knowledge and certainty, the neediest from among the many suffering children. Finally the work was finished and the list divided into 3 sections according to the count assigned to each Kitchen.
Now passes were made up and taken by committee members to the homes, where the committee saw many scenes of terrible misery. Houses in which 5, 6, 7, to 8 people were seriously ill and laid low with Typhoid Fever, many of these unfortunates on beds of straw that were rigid with filth. Many had no clothes but only tattered rags on their bodies or were completely naked. In one house they met a 1 1/2 year old child as naked as the day it was born. Much was discussed about the lack of clothing being an obstacle? keeping the children from the Food Kitchens but when we insisted they could take no food home (for the children) but had to bring the children to the Food Kitchens, everyone relented and promised to fashion clothing in some way or other, for the children.
In the meantime the Kitchens and eating halls were furnished. We waited impatiently for their opening. Each morning 8 year old Greth asked her "aunt," who was appointed as a cook, whether she could come along or not and was always and again told, "No, not yet." Finally the day came that was longed for in the hearts of hundreds of children. On the morning of 14 November, smoke rose from the stone chimneys of the Kitchens, up into the winter sky.
Each child who possessed a pass sought to arm themselves with a little dish and a spoon. Although the meal was planned for 12 noon, at 10 o'clock the kitchens already resembled a fortress about to be stormed. Rattling and clattering, the armed crowd approached the fortress where they could count on getting rich booty. Finally the gates were opened. Everyone flowed inside in confused disorder. The committee members worked hard to carry out the task of bringing order to this chaos, but they were the right men for the job. With a firm authority they went out and brought forth order. Everyone got to their places. The undersigned visited all three Kitchens.
About 11 o'clock I came to Kitchen No. 1. It is a new stone School (Row 4, Oberdorf). It was finished by the Land Office in 1913. From a distance the building looks respectable but when one gets near one sees many traces of decline, countless gaps in the window panes. The School stands empty, partly from a lack of remodeling materials and also partly from the lack of heat. When I entered everything was wreathed in thick smoke. Through this impenetrable fog came the sounds of the voices of the children and the women in a multicolored tangle, louder yet however, the voice of the committee member creating order.----(a large portion of the article is illegible)----------...The bread portions didn't want to divide correctly, the pieces soon were about 2 grams too heavy and soon again 2 grams too light. But gradually I got the hang of it. The bread dazzled one with its whiteness. Such bread we hadn't seen for years, yes for the children it was something completely new.
Then I went into the actual kitchen area. There the 2 cooks stood with sweating faces, powerfully stirring the mixture of rice mash which was being cooked in large, about 10 to 12 bucket capacity, boilers. It was Monday and in accordance with the American Program it (the meal) should actually have been cocoa but this and some other products, unfortunately, still had not arrived from Schilling because of the bad roads. Thus on Monday and Tuesday the children got rice mash twice in a row and cocoa on Thursday and Friday. (Now the balance has been restored). A committee man stood in charge of the feeding hall arranging and directing everyone to their places. The school benches served as food tables and one can say they were suitable for the little urchins.
Everything took too long. They had to wait until their names were read off in order to finally get a seat and the others who were already seated moved impatiently to and from on their benches in expectation of the things they would receive there. Many examined their dishes again and again, inside and out, as if to be certain they had not lost anything of value from their contents.
I would have happily waited until everything was in order but time was pressing and I wanted to also look into the other kitchens. I provided a moment of peace and held the attention of the children by having a short conversation with them. (I repeat some of it at the end of this letter). I left after saying a short farewell and an "enjoy your food," on the way to Kitchen No. 2.
Kitchen No. 2 is in the central village. The food was cooked in the Schoolmaster's cookhouse and eaten in the School Chapel. The venerable old walls of the Schoolhouse have seen everything in the many decades of their existence. Those who were baptized here, the benches that schoolchildren slipped into for years, now sit quietly, like old men and women listening to the message of their their Heavenly Home, to which they wish to go to with their tired steps. Yes, they can tell some tales, these walls, of noisy community meetings, of endless debates and of quiet devotional hours in which souls breathed the air of eternity.
These walls saw a frightening picture on Sunday evening, the 11th of August, 1918. Outside, in front of the village, seven young men lay dead in their blood. In the school building the words of the Commander of the Execution Squad were threatening. They had come to punish those who, in their political stupidity and naivety, had taken part in a strike movement. In the altar area is a pile of confiscated weapons of various calibers. I negotiated life and death here. Even the most determined men choked on their words and stilled them in their throats.
And this peaceful counterpoint: Smaller and larger children with dishes and spoons. To me, it was as if these gray altar walls smiled at this sight. The children were mostly all orderly when I arrived. Here the crowd was smaller and on the whole, made a satisfying impression, both in clothing and appearance. Among the many children, a strange pair of siblings immediately stood out. Small brown haired Simeon and his sister are true children of Israel "in whom I find no fault." They sit peacefully among the German children. Then we find a tiny Soviet Citizen on one of the last benches. He sits on a bench however, that was not made for him because his nose barely reaches to the desk top. Oh, ouch! What's going to happen? He takes the dish down and thinks to hold it in his lap so he can eat. In one hand a dish, in the other a spoon...but no other free hand for the cakes. Now he tries kneeling and standing on the bench to get at his meal but this too is unsuitable. The problem was solved to every-one's satisfaction when his mother took him on her lap. And now he is happily looking around. Nothing could more pleasant.
I also hurried away from here in order to visit Kitchen No. 3. It is also a 1913 stone built Provincial Schoolhouse. Years ago, half the School was damaged by fire and is no longer used and its window openings are boarded over and nailed shut. The Teacher's room had been made into a kitchen and the one intact classroom into a dining hall. When I arrived the prayer had already been said and Bread was being carried around and distributed from a large basket. A little girl of about 3 years refused to accept the bread. Was it childlike shyness or was it something inexplicable: She had always heard of the strange men who had come and take the Bread and now there are strange men giving the Bread. And what kind of bread was it: not bread made of bran and Schlagkuchen (plant residue left over from oil presses--translator), or coarse flour mixed with cooked pumpkin, (to which she was accustomed--translator), but individual, wonderfully smelling cakes.
Eventually though, she took the bread.
In the meantime the cooks came with buckets of steaming rice mash. They consumed the sweet rice mash with relish. There, in front of the stove stood a small white haired boy, looking almost like a skeleton. He had just come through a bad illness and his recovering body had paid a heavy price. He ate his meal nearly in a trance, with eyes directed toward Heaven.
Everywhere I had asked the children whether they knew who, except for God, they had to thank for these meals?
"The friends in America," rang the answer.
"What am I to write to the good friends in America?" I asked.
"Thank them and ask them not to forget us."
To this I must add that many other children and also the elderly still wait for assistance from their German-American brothers. The Kitchens have been functioning now for 2 1/2 weeks and I can see their success among the children with whom I am acquainted. Color is coming into the pale faces of the children and their eyes begin to shine and show expression.
May the Lord God continue to bless this work of rescuing the people's children from bodily and spiritual extinction.
In my next letter I will write about the obstacles and challenges which get in the way of our common work.
In German Evangelical Faith,
F. Wacker, Pastor
PS: The products arrive here mostly intact and in good condition, despite many loadings.
Some three weeks ago I finished my first report to you and sent it to Mrs. Repp. I said that I would from time to time write about the work of the Food Kitchens brought into being by your loving donations.
On the 7th of November, Mr. Georg Repp organized a local committee here whose purpose I described in my first report. Here are some corrections: With the additional selections it was not Georg Hoelzer but Georg Weidenkeller, Row 3, Unterdorf who was chosen. Instead of Georg Schleuning, who could not take part in the work because of other responsibilities, it was Ludwig Hohnstein, Row 4, Oberdorf, who was selected, and instead of Adam Voegler it was Georg Schleucher, Row 4, Unterdorf, who was selected.
Initially we intended to open on the 10th of November, then on the 12th of November, both times it had to be put off. The entire list of children had to be gone through 3 times until it was finally completed. Some evenings a special commission sat deep into the night seeking to select, to the best of their knowledge and certainty, the neediest from among the many suffering children. Finally the work was finished and the list divided into 3 sections according to the count assigned to each Kitchen.
Now passes were made up and taken by committee members to the homes, where the committee saw many scenes of terrible misery. Houses in which 5, 6, 7, to 8 people were seriously ill and laid low with Typhoid Fever, many of these unfortunates on beds of straw that were rigid with filth. Many had no clothes but only tattered rags on their bodies or were completely naked. In one house they met a 1 1/2 year old child as naked as the day it was born. Much was discussed about the lack of clothing being an obstacle? keeping the children from the Food Kitchens but when we insisted they could take no food home (for the children) but had to bring the children to the Food Kitchens, everyone relented and promised to fashion clothing in some way or other, for the children.
In the meantime the Kitchens and eating halls were furnished. We waited impatiently for their opening. Each morning 8 year old Greth asked her "aunt," who was appointed as a cook, whether she could come along or not and was always and again told, "No, not yet." Finally the day came that was longed for in the hearts of hundreds of children. On the morning of 14 November, smoke rose from the stone chimneys of the Kitchens, up into the winter sky.
Each child who possessed a pass sought to arm themselves with a little dish and a spoon. Although the meal was planned for 12 noon, at 10 o'clock the kitchens already resembled a fortress about to be stormed. Rattling and clattering, the armed crowd approached the fortress where they could count on getting rich booty. Finally the gates were opened. Everyone flowed inside in confused disorder. The committee members worked hard to carry out the task of bringing order to this chaos, but they were the right men for the job. With a firm authority they went out and brought forth order. Everyone got to their places. The undersigned visited all three Kitchens.
About 11 o'clock I came to Kitchen No. 1. It is a new stone School (Row 4, Oberdorf). It was finished by the Land Office in 1913. From a distance the building looks respectable but when one gets near one sees many traces of decline, countless gaps in the window panes. The School stands empty, partly from a lack of remodeling materials and also partly from the lack of heat. When I entered everything was wreathed in thick smoke. Through this impenetrable fog came the sounds of the voices of the children and the women in a multicolored tangle, louder yet however, the voice of the committee member creating order.----(a large portion of the article is illegible)----------...The bread portions didn't want to divide correctly, the pieces soon were about 2 grams too heavy and soon again 2 grams too light. But gradually I got the hang of it. The bread dazzled one with its whiteness. Such bread we hadn't seen for years, yes for the children it was something completely new.
Then I went into the actual kitchen area. There the 2 cooks stood with sweating faces, powerfully stirring the mixture of rice mash which was being cooked in large, about 10 to 12 bucket capacity, boilers. It was Monday and in accordance with the American Program it (the meal) should actually have been cocoa but this and some other products, unfortunately, still had not arrived from Schilling because of the bad roads. Thus on Monday and Tuesday the children got rice mash twice in a row and cocoa on Thursday and Friday. (Now the balance has been restored). A committee man stood in charge of the feeding hall arranging and directing everyone to their places. The school benches served as food tables and one can say they were suitable for the little urchins.
Everything took too long. They had to wait until their names were read off in order to finally get a seat and the others who were already seated moved impatiently to and from on their benches in expectation of the things they would receive there. Many examined their dishes again and again, inside and out, as if to be certain they had not lost anything of value from their contents.
I would have happily waited until everything was in order but time was pressing and I wanted to also look into the other kitchens. I provided a moment of peace and held the attention of the children by having a short conversation with them. (I repeat some of it at the end of this letter). I left after saying a short farewell and an "enjoy your food," on the way to Kitchen No. 2.
Kitchen No. 2 is in the central village. The food was cooked in the Schoolmaster's cookhouse and eaten in the School Chapel. The venerable old walls of the Schoolhouse have seen everything in the many decades of their existence. Those who were baptized here, the benches that schoolchildren slipped into for years, now sit quietly, like old men and women listening to the message of their their Heavenly Home, to which they wish to go to with their tired steps. Yes, they can tell some tales, these walls, of noisy community meetings, of endless debates and of quiet devotional hours in which souls breathed the air of eternity.
These walls saw a frightening picture on Sunday evening, the 11th of August, 1918. Outside, in front of the village, seven young men lay dead in their blood. In the school building the words of the Commander of the Execution Squad were threatening. They had come to punish those who, in their political stupidity and naivety, had taken part in a strike movement. In the altar area is a pile of confiscated weapons of various calibers. I negotiated life and death here. Even the most determined men choked on their words and stilled them in their throats.
And this peaceful counterpoint: Smaller and larger children with dishes and spoons. To me, it was as if these gray altar walls smiled at this sight. The children were mostly all orderly when I arrived. Here the crowd was smaller and on the whole, made a satisfying impression, both in clothing and appearance. Among the many children, a strange pair of siblings immediately stood out. Small brown haired Simeon and his sister are true children of Israel "in whom I find no fault." They sit peacefully among the German children. Then we find a tiny Soviet Citizen on one of the last benches. He sits on a bench however, that was not made for him because his nose barely reaches to the desk top. Oh, ouch! What's going to happen? He takes the dish down and thinks to hold it in his lap so he can eat. In one hand a dish, in the other a spoon...but no other free hand for the cakes. Now he tries kneeling and standing on the bench to get at his meal but this too is unsuitable. The problem was solved to every-one's satisfaction when his mother took him on her lap. And now he is happily looking around. Nothing could more pleasant.
I also hurried away from here in order to visit Kitchen No. 3. It is also a 1913 stone built Provincial Schoolhouse. Years ago, half the School was damaged by fire and is no longer used and its window openings are boarded over and nailed shut. The Teacher's room had been made into a kitchen and the one intact classroom into a dining hall. When I arrived the prayer had already been said and Bread was being carried around and distributed from a large basket. A little girl of about 3 years refused to accept the bread. Was it childlike shyness or was it something inexplicable: She had always heard of the strange men who had come and take the Bread and now there are strange men giving the Bread. And what kind of bread was it: not bread made of bran and Schlagkuchen (plant residue left over from oil presses--translator), or coarse flour mixed with cooked pumpkin, (to which she was accustomed--translator), but individual, wonderfully smelling cakes.
Eventually though, she took the bread.
In the meantime the cooks came with buckets of steaming rice mash. They consumed the sweet rice mash with relish. There, in front of the stove stood a small white haired boy, looking almost like a skeleton. He had just come through a bad illness and his recovering body had paid a heavy price. He ate his meal nearly in a trance, with eyes directed toward Heaven.
Everywhere I had asked the children whether they knew who, except for God, they had to thank for these meals?
"The friends in America," rang the answer.
"What am I to write to the good friends in America?" I asked.
"Thank them and ask them not to forget us."
To this I must add that many other children and also the elderly still wait for assistance from their German-American brothers. The Kitchens have been functioning now for 2 1/2 weeks and I can see their success among the children with whom I am acquainted. Color is coming into the pale faces of the children and their eyes begin to shine and show expression.
May the Lord God continue to bless this work of rescuing the people's children from bodily and spiritual extinction.
In my next letter I will write about the obstacles and challenges which get in the way of our common work.
In German Evangelical Faith,
F. Wacker, Pastor
PS: The products arrive here mostly intact and in good condition, despite many loadings.
Sources
Die Welt-Post, 2 February 1922, page 8.
This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.
This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.
Last updated July 6, 2016.