Headline: Norka, the July 7th 1923
To: Carl Krieger
Hastings, Nebraska
Dear brother-in-law:
I am sending this as a sign that we are still alive. But our people have suddenly all become sick. Konrad and my Johannes just this week were laid low with fever and chills and could not work. I myself have so far been exempt from it. The reason I took so long to write is because things were so difficult here and I had to wait for some time before I was able to get to Saratov and post this letter.
Dear brothers David, Heinrich, son David, Johannes and Karl: you sent us Food Drafts and we received them all. In Karl's letter he wrote that 8 Pfund of 72 Pfund of clothing that he sent was to go to Konrad Urbach; but everything was lost by our Pastor Wacker and his agents here in Norka. They ______ them. (intentionally left blank by the writer or editor - translator). They did not see the names on the packages. They were Ludwig Hohnstein, Row 9, Conrad Spady, Row 2, Peter Weber, Row 3, Georg Schmer, Row 7; They were the distributors, they are either ________ or the ________ occurred in America before they got to Norka. (once again the use of blanks is intentional by the writer or editor - translator).
Since then other people have gotten letters. I went to Pastor Wacker with the letter that brother-in-law Karl had written and after he read it he said: "No, for you there is nothing, and if there is nothing, you can't get anything." I went home. After 14 days a woman came to me and said:
"In Row 9, in Kildau's old place, lives Johannes Sinner, the Karamysch Miller, the wife of his son Johannes found a tag with your name, house number and row number on it."
My wife went to this woman and she said "yes", she had the tag and said she had found it. I then went to the distributors but they said: "No, that cannot be, it cannot be." I said to them: "This tag did not get here on the wind of someones fart; this tag was affixed to something, it is what it is." Then we went went walking back and forth between the Pastor and the Schoolmaster looking but unable to find anything. They they gave us 2 coats, 2 small jackets and 2 dresses as a bribe. The 13 pairs of shoes are lost and their value was not less than 3 billion Ruble. It was their doing and everyone knows it. All the people received their things, only we did not.
Konrad Blum in Row 5 died on the 2nd of July. He was 78 years old. His brother Heinrich also lives in Hastings; his wife was born a Jost.
The harvest has turned out badly. We did not get any great amounts of rainfall. Your crop is better than ours. You built new houses; that is a good thing, but if you wanted to build here you would have to haul the money in with an oxcart. Here a plank 4 Wershock wide (7 inches) costs a hundred million Rubel.
Johann Weidenkeller has left Norka and is traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska, he can tell you how things are going here. I have been trying to buy a horse all summer and still haven't got one.
Your brother-in-law, Johannes Blum
EDITORIAL REMARKS on the above letter---The letter-writer makes a harsh judgment of Pastor Wacker and the other distributors because someone found a tag. However he does not want to clearly state that these men have willfully stolen the items. We are inclined to believe that the items were stolen en-route by the Russians, as our friend Jacob Volz has stated that many other things have been stolen and that the rascals likely stuffed the tag between the other bundles and thus it surfaced after the bundles of things were opened in Norka. It is easy to rush to judgment, but to prove a thing is an entirely different matter----editor.
Webmaster note: Rev. F. Wacker wrote a strong reply denying the accusations of Johannes Blum in a letter published in Die Welt-Post on November 15, 1923. Another strong letter from the Norka Distribution Committee refuting the accusations of Johannes Blum was published in Die Welt-Post on December 27, 1923.
Hastings, Nebraska
Dear brother-in-law:
I am sending this as a sign that we are still alive. But our people have suddenly all become sick. Konrad and my Johannes just this week were laid low with fever and chills and could not work. I myself have so far been exempt from it. The reason I took so long to write is because things were so difficult here and I had to wait for some time before I was able to get to Saratov and post this letter.
Dear brothers David, Heinrich, son David, Johannes and Karl: you sent us Food Drafts and we received them all. In Karl's letter he wrote that 8 Pfund of 72 Pfund of clothing that he sent was to go to Konrad Urbach; but everything was lost by our Pastor Wacker and his agents here in Norka. They ______ them. (intentionally left blank by the writer or editor - translator). They did not see the names on the packages. They were Ludwig Hohnstein, Row 9, Conrad Spady, Row 2, Peter Weber, Row 3, Georg Schmer, Row 7; They were the distributors, they are either ________ or the ________ occurred in America before they got to Norka. (once again the use of blanks is intentional by the writer or editor - translator).
Since then other people have gotten letters. I went to Pastor Wacker with the letter that brother-in-law Karl had written and after he read it he said: "No, for you there is nothing, and if there is nothing, you can't get anything." I went home. After 14 days a woman came to me and said:
"In Row 9, in Kildau's old place, lives Johannes Sinner, the Karamysch Miller, the wife of his son Johannes found a tag with your name, house number and row number on it."
My wife went to this woman and she said "yes", she had the tag and said she had found it. I then went to the distributors but they said: "No, that cannot be, it cannot be." I said to them: "This tag did not get here on the wind of someones fart; this tag was affixed to something, it is what it is." Then we went went walking back and forth between the Pastor and the Schoolmaster looking but unable to find anything. They they gave us 2 coats, 2 small jackets and 2 dresses as a bribe. The 13 pairs of shoes are lost and their value was not less than 3 billion Ruble. It was their doing and everyone knows it. All the people received their things, only we did not.
Konrad Blum in Row 5 died on the 2nd of July. He was 78 years old. His brother Heinrich also lives in Hastings; his wife was born a Jost.
The harvest has turned out badly. We did not get any great amounts of rainfall. Your crop is better than ours. You built new houses; that is a good thing, but if you wanted to build here you would have to haul the money in with an oxcart. Here a plank 4 Wershock wide (7 inches) costs a hundred million Rubel.
Johann Weidenkeller has left Norka and is traveling to Lincoln, Nebraska, he can tell you how things are going here. I have been trying to buy a horse all summer and still haven't got one.
Your brother-in-law, Johannes Blum
EDITORIAL REMARKS on the above letter---The letter-writer makes a harsh judgment of Pastor Wacker and the other distributors because someone found a tag. However he does not want to clearly state that these men have willfully stolen the items. We are inclined to believe that the items were stolen en-route by the Russians, as our friend Jacob Volz has stated that many other things have been stolen and that the rascals likely stuffed the tag between the other bundles and thus it surfaced after the bundles of things were opened in Norka. It is easy to rush to judgment, but to prove a thing is an entirely different matter----editor.
Webmaster note: Rev. F. Wacker wrote a strong reply denying the accusations of Johannes Blum in a letter published in Die Welt-Post on November 15, 1923. Another strong letter from the Norka Distribution Committee refuting the accusations of Johannes Blum was published in Die Welt-Post on December 27, 1923.
Sources
Die Welt-Post, August 23, 1923, page 3.
This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.
This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.
Last updated March 6, 2016.