Objekt des Monats
Jedes Objekt in der Sammlung des Deutschen Auswandererhauses erzählt eine ganz persönliche Auswanderungs- oder Einwanderungsgeschichte. In dieser Rubrik stellen wir Ihnen jeden Monat ein anderes Objekt vor – eine Fotografie, ein Dokument oder ein persönliches Erinnerungsstück.
November 2021
Hymnal “Spiritual Song Box” from the year 1912
Historical Context
On November 29, 1813, the Emperor of Russia, Tsar Alexander I, issued a manifesto promising privileges to German settlers in Bessarabia. The area, which today is largely part of the Republic of Moldova, changed hands after the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-1812. The Russian Empire aimed to develop the steppes, which until then were inhabited by Turkic-speaking nomads, Nogai, and Budjak Tatars, for agriculture. While the nomads flee or are expelled, the Tsar invites the German population from the Wartheland in the Duchy of Warsaw to settle in the steppe, which also belonged to his empire. Colonists are promised land grants, interest-free loans, ten years of tax exemption, self-governance, religious freedom, and freedom from military service. By the following year, around 9,000 settlers arrive. Soon, emigrants from southwestern German regions also come to Bessarabia.
After the collapse of the Russian Empire, Bessarabia becomes part of the Kingdom of Romania. In 1940, the Soviet Union issues an ultimatum to Romania, after which Bessarabia is surrendered without a fight. Prior to that, almost the entire German population of Bessarabia — about 93,000 people — returned “home to the Reich” as so-called “contract resettlers.” They are settled in “Warthegau” in occupied Poland, from where they must flee in 1945.
Short Biography of Melitta Klein
Melitta Klein, née Kehrer, was born on December 27, 1928, in the village of Marienfeld, in present-day Moldova, to a family originally from Wittenberg. Her parents were among the founders of the daughter colony. In the autumn of 1940, she left Romania as a contract resettler, and in April 1945, she fled without her family from the Hela peninsula into Denmark, which was occupied by the Wehrmacht. The repatriation of German refugees from Denmark lasted until 1949.
Significance of the Object
Religious freedom was an important motivation for Protestant Germans who left the Duchy of Warsaw, dominated by Polish-Catholic population. Religious identity remained significant for the group until resettlement. The hymn book “Spiritual Song Box for the Glory of God, consisting of twice 366 odes on as many biblical verses, arranged for the service of God’s children” was written by Pastor Philipp Friedrich Hiller (1699-1769) in 1762. This copy was printed in 1912 in Tarutino and accompanied the family in the Russian Empire, in the Kingdom of Romania, in the German Empire, and finally in the Federal Republic.
Do You Also Have …
… a story of emigration or immigration in your family that you would like to share with the German Emigration Center together with the related objects and documents for its collection? Then please contact Dr. Tanja Fittkau by phone at +49 471 / 90 22 0 – 0
or by e-mail at: t.fittkau@dah-bremerhaven.de