Alsace, France
Article by
Professor Jean Schweitzer, Strasbourg, France
Translation
from French to English by Michele LeBoldus, Ottawa, Ontar
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Emigration
to Russia at the Beginning of the 19th Century
Following
Austro-Hungary’s lead, Russia under the Czars tried to attract settlers to
clear the vast territories of the Steppes- land formerly under Turkish control.
Once again, Alsatians responded to the lure of a foreign land. But as in the
past, they were part of a grander migration scheme which would once more affect
all the Rhine provinces.
Using the same
tactics as the Vienna Court several decades earlier, the Czarist government-now
at the dawn of the Napoleonic era- delegated agents to the Rhine to recruit
colonists for the Ukraine area. Highly praising the new country in a bid to
recruit new settlers, the immigrant agents sold more lots than were available.
As a result, success was a long time coming. Thus at the dawn of the 19th
Century, nearly every village in the North of Alsace lost dozens of families-
in search of a better life whether in Podole, Tauride or the Crimea. But rarely
were they aware of their final destination.
The
Original Villages
It has been
established that Alsace at this time experienced two waves of mass migration
which essentially affected a specific region:
a) Between 1804 and
1810, the arrondissement (district) of Wissembourg, in particular the cantons
(townships) of Seltz and Lauterbourg, were the most affected. Curiously, this
geographical area covers roughly the same locations as the Great Flight of
1793. These poor catholic peasants found themselves excluded from the
Ecclesiastical tenant farms and the erratic national social programs thus
losing their limited means of existence.
Of all the
communities hurt by this emigration were the cantons (townships) of Seltz with
a loss of fifty families and Neewiller-Lauterbourg with forty-five families
leaving for Ukraine. Other close areas affected were the outskirts of Landau
and Bergzabern and the region of Rastatt on the opposite side of the Rhine.
b) In 1817 however,
a year of misery and poverty, departures essentially occurred in the Protestant
villages of the Saverne district which a few decades earlier had already lost
entire families- now firmly ensconced in Danubian countries.
A difference in
time and space but also in the administration’s attitude to those leaving
caused some changes. In the first decade of the 19th century, because of the
official decree forbidding departures from France, they took place
clandestinely. During the restoration however, emigration was authorized by
request.
As to the global
outcome of these two chaotic time periods, over a thousand families- 3,500
Alsatians, mostly from the Lower Rhine-leave for Russia.
By a unique
paradox, the established colonies of the clandestine emigres of the first wave
of departures are well documented. But the precise destination of those emigres
of 1817- who left with official authorization- is still a perplexing enigma for
historians.
Routes and
Stopover Points
From 1804 to 1809,
the departure route started on the Danube to Vienna. After crossing the Rhine
secretly at Seltz, the Alsatian emigres were assembled at the small gathering
centre of Steinmauren. Those leaving Baden- in equal numbers to the
Alsatians-were from the Rastatt district. At Ulm, the travellers were put under
the charge of the Russian Immigration Officer. Barges had been hired for the 10
day voyage to the Austrian capital of Vienna.
There, heads of
families were presented to the Russian Ambassador and obtained official
entrance visas. Then the journey resumed via the Austro-Hungarian postal route-
which crossing Gallicia then ran along the border of the Czarist Empire. This
was a considerable detour because the political map of the day once again saw
Bessarabia under Turkish domination.
During the
1808/1809 massive immigration departures, new routes were needed- another
consequence of the changing political times in Central Europe. Napoleonic troops
occupied part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and thus cut off the Danube route.
Officials were resigned to a rerouting via northern Austria.
Passports were
obtained from the Russian Consul Bethmann - a rich banker in
Francfort-sur-le-Main. The lengthy convoys destined for the Black Sea area
trudged through Thuringia, Saxony and Silesia. In Poland, west of Krakow, they
rejoined the transverse arterial route beyond Brody to the Russian border.
After a trek of
several weeks, our future colonists finally step onto Russian soil. Upon their
arrival at the outpost of Radzivillov, they are quarantined and spend 3-4 weeks
in makeshift huts. At the end of this forced halt, the immigrants are once
again en route. The seemingly endless journey then extends along Central Europe
and shifts abruptly beyond the border to descend directly to the Black Sea
coast.
In all, three
months are spent travelling the 2500 kilometres ( about 1500 miles). Appalling
circumstances are their constant companions: non-existent basic comforts,
unhygienic conditions and dwindling supplies. Even personal safety was at risk.
More than one person never sets eyes on Russia.
Settlement
Areas in Russia
After a
particularly arduous journey, our immigrants have arrived.There they discover
one of their own illustrious countrymen- the Duc de Richelieu (1766-1822), an
émigré of the (French) Revolution and now Governor of new Russia since 1805.
Upon their arrival
in Ukraine, the immigrants were parcelled out between the 4 cantons (townships)
of the Odessa Province.The Russian Immigration Office based their settlement
areas on a proven formula. A successful agricultural village made up of various
ethnic backgrounds should have as a common element a common religion. This
would then cement an atmosphere of cooperation among rural centres without
forgetting completely the origins of these new nationals.
One of these
cantons (townships) had Selz as its’ seat of government- a designation taken
directly from the Alsace region. And for a very good reason: of the 100
families settled in this village, 90 had left this northern area of Alsace.
Also significant were the designations of two other settlers’ villages in the
same township- Elsass and Strassburg- which followed the same place names as in
the Palatinate and Baden.
Besides their
common faith and customs, they had brought to this Slavic land their Frankish
Rhine dialect from the Wissembourg area- which some of their descendants
wonderfully speak to this day.
The settlers first
years were very arduous given the fact they were mainly cast to the four winds
on the vast steppe. But after a long and strenuous beginning, many descendants
of these Alsatian pioneers have become renowned in their larger community. In
the religious community, two illustrious descendants would rise to the highest
ranks in the Roman Catholic Church of southern Russia. Msgr. Anton Zerr, the
third Bishop of Tiraspol, had his ancestry from the Neewiller-Lauterbourg area.
Msgr. Alexandre Frison, martyred for his faith, had his ancestors come from
Seebach.
It didn’t take long
for there to be a shortage of land given these young dynamic families had many
children. This led to new immigration by the third generation. Little by
little, new communities were founded in the East-even as far away as Siberia.
However, at the end of the 19th century, there appears a unique migration
movement towards North America. This became a providential exit route for the
sons in large families cramped by the exploitation of their fathers. Added to
this lack of new land was the increasing abolition of privileges the immigrants
had flourished under for so long.
Slowly opening up
the west of North America, the great transcontinental railways found it hard to
be profitable in these huge, deserted tracts of land. An understandable worry
which led to the bringing of settlers to the North Central Plains. Not long
behind were the immigration recruitment offices in Odessa, praising the vast
territories overseas.
As such incredible
access to new lands was offered to the colonists in Ukraine, sons and
great-grandsons of our Alsatian pioneers leave in substantial numbers. Leaving
their native Russia, they generally travel via Hambourg to board ships for
North America. It was a curious exodus that saw certain villages in Ukraine literally
transplanted to the vast expanse of the Prairies straddling the Canadian and
American border.
But in the Czarist
Empire, families still loyal to Russia continued to scatter far and wide even
to present-day Siberia.
After 1870, the
legal status of these immigrant descendants will change completely. By an edict
on 4 June 1871, St.Petersburg retracts the laws given the colonists. This act
hastens the departure to North America which is then at the ready to welcome
new immigrants. The Russian Revolution of 1917 would sound the death-knell of
the autonomous enclaves- not an unpleasant thought for the moujiks ( Russian
peasants ?) who constantly envied the German colonists prosperity.
For these
German-speaking kulaks, history will not be kind to them. The Second World War
will provoke the annihilation of these once flourishing communities, causing
the survivors to be cast to the fours winds of the earth.
Copyright
translation: Michele LeBoldus, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Our
appreciation is extended to Michele LeBoldus for translation of this article.