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History > Famine 1921-1924 > Letters > January 12, 1922

Headline: ​Norka October 12th

To: Conrad Schleucher, Berthoud, Colorado

You Loved Ones far away:

I received your letter of 7 August and see from it that you are still well.

Dear cousin: You must know how it is with us. It is worse than it has ever been in Norka. Already a third of the people are without bread. By the end of the month, half of us will have no more. By New Years one will be able to easily count those who still have bread. There isn't a single family here that will make it to harvest time.

Right now many of the people are eating red beets and pumpkin. They cook soups made of it and this will soon be gone, and then the people will be going from house to house begging for pumpkins. Already we are burying 8 to 10 corpses daily. And with all that it has not been as bad here on the Bergseite for as long as it has been on the Wiesenseite where there was a total crop failure. In the spring the people went into the fields and picked up ears which had lain there over the winter in the fields. There was little for them to put in their sacks and less to put in their stomachs. You can't imagine how bad things stand with clothing. There are families where the children sit naked in their homes. The adults have fashioned clothing from sacks and canvas tents. On top of that there are various insects among the people causing such diseases as Typhoid Fever, Scabies, etc.

The people have already traded everything they owned to the Russians for foodstuff, clothing, horses, cows, oxen, machinery, etc., in order to keep themselves alive, nevertheless many have finally succumbed to death from hunger. Prices for food are exorbitantly high, in the hundreds of thousands and millions.

Now I want to inform you that the Americans have arrived to take on our emergency. One of them is named Repp and came here from Portland, Oregon. Our people are very grateful for this assistance.

Our son Georg, the second oldest, fell in the war in 1914.

Here everything has been changed from single ownership; 26 families are now together on 517 desyatinas of land.

I close with greetings,

Your Peter M.

The recipient of this letter, Conrad Schleucher, added the following remarks:

"I have received a magnificent Christmas present in this letter which I hereby give to the Welt-Post for delivery to the public. It comes from Norka, the village of my birth and makes me very happy because for 6 years I have heard nothing from over there. This message from such a far away country went right through my heart and I had to let my tears run freely. Thank God the price increases have not circled the earth and one can still render help. May God give us willing hearts that we may share our goods with those who are in the bitterest emergency; for it is written: Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it again after many days."

Conrad Schleucher

Sources

Die Welt-Post, 12 Jan 1922, page 7.

​This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.
Last updated March 3, 2016.
Copyright © 2002-2023 Steven H. Schreiber
  • Home
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  • Community
    • Village Life
    • Entertainment
    • Agriculture
    • Climate
    • Homesites
    • Geographical Description
    • Government
    • Social Structure
    • Health
    • Education
    • A Land of Ethnic Diversity
    • Cottage Industries >
      • Sarpinka
      • Mills
    • Language
    • Population
    • Military Service
    • Crime and Punishment
  • History
    • Timeline
    • Origins of the Colonists
    • Catherine's Manifesto 1763
    • Why go to Russia?
    • Recruitment 1766
    • Planning 1764-1766
    • Marriages Prior To Emigration 1766
    • Voyage to Russia 1766 >
      • Ship Transport 1766
    • Journey 1766-1767
    • Founding of Norka 1767
    • Early Years 1767-1769
    • Norka 1769
    • Pallas Report 1773
    • Pugachev Raid 1774
    • Norka 1775
    • Norka 1798
    • Norka 1811
    • Napoleons Soldiers
    • Norka 1834
    • Daughter Colonies 1850s >
      • Neu-Norka
      • Oberdorf
      • Brunnental
      • Rosenfeld (am Jeruslan)
      • Neu Hussenbach (Gaschon)
    • Privileges Lost 1871-1874
    • Immigration 1875-1924 >
      • To the United States >
        • Colorado
        • Ft Collins Colorado
        • Globeville Colorado
        • Mason City, Iowa
        • Culbertson, Nebraska
        • Lincoln, Nebraska
        • Sutton, Nebraska
        • Burlington, Oklahoma
        • Weatherford, Oklahoma
        • Canby, Oregon
        • Portland, Oregon
      • To Canada >
        • Duffield, Alberta
        • Ponoka, Alberta
        • Spruce Grove, Alberta
        • Stony Plain, Alberta
        • Vegreville, Alberta
        • Arcola, Saskatchewan
      • To Germany
      • To South America
    • Famine 1891-1892
    • Norka 1898
    • War & Turnoil 1904-1906
    • World War 1914-1918
    • Revolution & War 1917-1922
    • Soviet Rule 1918-1941
    • Famine 1921-1924
    • Famine 1932-1933
    • The Great Terror 1936-1938
    • Deportation 1941
    • Repression 1941-1956
    • Cultural Loss 1957-2006
    • A Culture in Peril
    • Recent Times
  • Traditions
    • Food and Drink
    • Clothing
    • Holidays >
      • New Year
      • Fastnacht
      • Lent
      • Easter
      • Ascension Day
      • Pentecost
      • Founder's Day
      • Harvest Festival
      • Jahrmarkt
      • Christmas
      • Anniversaries & Birthdays
    • Crafts
    • Games
    • Folk Medicine
    • Superstitions
    • Nicknames
    • Folk Music
    • Church Music
    • Prayers
    • Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Communion
    • Weddings
    • Funerals and Burials
  • Religion
    • Planning and History >
      • Norka Reformed Church 1767-1864
      • 1909 Norka Parish Report
    • Pastors >
      • Johann Heinrich Fuchs
      • Johann Georg Herwig
      • Johannes Baptista Cattaneo
      • Lukas Cattaneo
      • Emanuel Grunauer
      • Friedrich Börner
      • Christian Gottlieb Hegele
      • Christoph H Bonwetsch
      • Gottlieb N Bonwetsch
      • Wilhelm Staerkel
      • Woldemar Sibbul
      • David Weigum
      • Friedrich Alexander Wacker
      • Emil Pfeiffer
    • Church Practices >
      • Parochial Certificates
    • Church Buildings
    • Church Organs
    • Bell Tower
    • Brethren Movement
  • Resources
    • Family Research
    • Research Resources >
      • Arrival Records 1766
      • Descendant Charts
      • German EWZ Records
      • Soviet Gulag Records
    • Maps
    • Glossary
    • Bibliography
    • Periodicals >
      • Die Welt-Post Letters
    • Related Links