Poems, Letters and Stories

6 Dec 97

Dear Donald E. Walter,

Greetings. Thank you for answering my letter. Thank you, also, for the photos, the Walter family sheets, and the street map of Walter as it was in olden times. I remember the village much larger than the map covers. After the revolution, much of old Walter was dismantled and destroyed. A new village was built about 40 klm from old Walter because spring floods and ice jams occurred annually. In 1921-1922 a terrible famine came over the land. When the communist government began implementing the policy of collectivization, farms were ruined , and buildings were torn down. Lumber from dismantled homes was used to build houses elsewhere. Fieldwork suffered because all effort was put into rebuilding houses. People were in debt and installments couldn’t be met. Payments couldn’t be made to the church. The village storehouse was built in 1905. Collectivization people tore more and more houses down. The big house of uncle Peter and aunt Eva was dismantled. The Peter Walter house was a big house. I can still see it in my mind, standing on a high foundation. The people of the village became poorer and poorer. With homes and adjoining buildings torn down it created squalid living conditions. Everyone lived in hope that the future would soon be better and rebuilding could take place. In 1941, the beginning of World War 2, more sorrow was heaped upon the people. Hardships hit the German ethnic people especially. Many were sent to Siberia. All Germans of the Volga region were depicted as enemies of the people, as spies, and as ts. Every right was taken from us. The children were severely affected. Fathers were deported first, then mothers were taken away to the high north and the Urals. 70 to 80% of the children were left without provisions. And so the years went on.

Yes, Donald, I recognize the names on the village Walter street map. I don’t know the many relationships because I was too young at that time. My parents would have known. In the Soviet time, my time, we couldn’t talk about the past. We couldn’t talk about those who left our village and emigrated to a foreign country, we were told, “the walls have ears.” In 1934, all persons who have relatives in foreign lands were required to sign a document which declared those who emigrated as “not longer related” and as “enemies of the state”. All correspondences were cut off. I’m sure we have many relatives in foreign countries that we haven’t been able to contact.

Getting back to the subject of your great-grandfather Peter Walter, I don’t think he was ever a shoemaker. I heard that he was an outstanding tanner (a maker of leather). His leather got the highest praise. Peters son Jakob was a very good shoemaker. Whether Peter and Eva Walter ever got letters from their children in America, I cannot say. Correspondence was carried on among the village Walter residents. My mother corresponded with my brother Jakob. In 1934, mother received a letter with $25, which created great joy, but the joy was short lived-- the $25 was taken away from her. If you resisted in any way, you were liable for arrest.

On the Upper street of the village, 3rd house from the end, lived an Adam Walter whose father was also Adam. The father Adam was arrested and vanished. I never heard that these Walters received visitors, however, if visitors did come to your house, visitors and you were subject to arrest. When visitors came, one had to be silent, and not even let the nearest neighbor know. The men most often, just vanished. My family lived some distance from the Walter, We lived on “Mill Mountain” Most of my memories are based on conversations I overheard, especially between my parents. The Walter you mentioned who had business in Moscow may have been a grandson of Peter Walter. I don’t know the parent of Peter and Eva. Walter families were numerous and lived on all the streets. Many of the first names were similar. I saw the elderly Peter and Eva often when they visited my parents and older sister. Our houses were so close that there was only room to make repairs and whitewash. Peter and Eva were so helpful to others. It’s too bad that the times were so difficult.

Dear Donald, you want to know more about my grandparents, but I know little of them and even less about the greatprandparents. They were all farmers. My grandfather had two sisters. Ann Katharina who lived with the Walters, and Elizabeth lived in Saratov. Elizabeth visited Walter in the summers. My father’s grandmother was born a Schoessler. My father took in three orphaned nephews until collectivization changed that. The Schoesslers lived on the Upper Street and in the back half of the village.

Dear Donald, I’ve tried to answer your questions. Forgive me for my poor handwriting. I will work on improving the street map of Walter as I remember it.

I’m Lydia with my husband, children and grandchildren. I think of you alot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(I received this letter from Lydia Alles Hohn in response to an ad I placed in the German Newspaper “Volk auf dem Weg.” In the ad I requested a desire to correspond with persons who were born and lived in Walter, Russia. To date I have received responses from seven individuals telling their stories of survival.)

Donald E. Walter,
4929 Morgan Drive,
Blaine, WA 98230
dawalter1@comcast.net

The following story and poem was shared with us at the 1994 AHSGR Conference:

"The Village of Alt-Walter (old Walter) lay on the hilly side of the Volga, surrounded by woods, meadows and hilly county - a fairyland, beautiful land. That is where Alexander Butherus was born in 1906. He too suffered the terrible disaster which befell all Germans under Soviet Domination. He had a creative spirit and a shrewd head on him. In the years of 1966 and 1975 he visited his former homeland and village, returning with mixed feelings. He knew that he would never be able to return to his homeland anymore. In 1986, he disappeared....vanished. After he was declared dead, his widow Mrs. Butherus discovered the following verses of poetry among his papers. She sent them to Theod z and the publication New Life. They are verses filled with sadness and hopelessness.

So saw I my homeland,
I know, for the last and final time.
The once lovely, blooming.
And now deserted meadows
of my homeland valley.

Contributed by Jean Roth

Good day Mr Donald E. Walter,

I, Wilhelm Buterus was born on July 10, 1913 in the village of Old Walter, in the Wolgarepublic along the river Medwediza. In the bode (magazine?) by the name of "A people on their way" from April 1997, by the association of Germans from Russia, I read an advertisement in which you are looking for people who lived in the village of Walter.
I lived in the village of Walter until 1930. I attended the village school, my teacher's name was Alexander Benner, his wife's name was Amaha. Their children's names were Leo(pold), Alexander, and a daughter named Awaha.

Alexanger Sr. had a brother named Konrad who worked as a teacher in the village of Kolb. From 1930-32 I attended the country school in Frank.

In the village of Walter lived:
1) The Beka family: 3 brothers by the names of Konrad, Jakob and Lenhard, they owned an [oil mill] (possibly the manufacturer of i.e. sunflower oil, linseed oil, ect.)

2) Bokel, Jakob, and Johannes. Jakob was married to my aunt Leisbeth and worked in the village mill as "sasipke" - (russian term)

3) A lot of people by the name of Schossler lived in Walter. The wealthiest farmer by that last name had the nickname "Vaterchen" (little daddy)

4) Konrad Schossler had two sons, Konrad jr. was a teacher and Adolf a bookkeeper.

5) Heinrich Schossler lived next to the summer church (chapel). He had two sons, named Heinrich and Friedrich, five daughters, of whom three live in Germany: Emma, Frieda and Amaha. Amaha is married to my brother Johannes. They live in Augustin and have five children: two girls and tree boys, who came to visit us for two days.

The old large village of Walter was torn apart. The first forced emigration after WW1 led people to the area of Baranda (Baranova, Baranoka?) By the beginning of WW2 the village of New Walter was larger than the village of Old Walter.

In 1926, 120 families were emigrated from Old Walter to the area of Krutor (Kruton?)

In 1928, 200 families were emigrated to the area of Kurnawa.

In 1941 all Germans from the Wolgarepublic were sent to Siberia and Kasachstan.

In October of 1941 also all Germans living in Kuban, Aserbeidschan, Armenia, Georgia (Frusia), Ucraine, the Krim and other parts of Russia were sent to Siberia and Asiatic areas of Russia.

After the forced emigration all men age 16 to 65 were drafted into the so-called "Work army" (Forced Labor)

After the war, less than 50% returned home. In 1942-1943 all women whose children were older than three years also were forced to work in business and industry. Many people died of hunger.

My grandfather, Heinrich Konrad Buterus died in 1933 at the age of 93. He had three sons: My father George, born 1867, died 1933. My uncle Heinrich died in 1934.

My uncle Jakob was drafted for WW1 in 1914 and was taken prisoner of war in Germany in 1915. After WW1, he emigrated with his wife to America. Until 1932 our large family, Grandfather, tow brothers, and five sisters corresponded by mail with uncle Jakob. By the end of 1932 correspondence with America was forbidden.

Through the forced emigrations and the tearing apart of our family his address was eventually lost. My uncle lived in California in his own home. Since 1994 I live in Germany. I wrote to the American Red Cross twice, but was unable to receive assistance in locating my relatives. Please help me search. Maybe somebody by the name of Buterus is still alive. The name of my uncles oldest son was Karl Friedrich (Charles Frederick). My brother Johannes was born in 1902 and died in March 1995 in St. Augustin, Germany. Here in Germany live a lot of people who come from the village of Walter.

Common last names are: Schossler, Alles, Buterus, Gies (Giess), Macht, Lechtenberg, Bokel, and others. Please pardon writing. I have learned and worked with the Russian language for many years. Writing in German is difficult for me.

I am looking forward to hearing from you, soon,

Sincerely,

Wilhelm and Galina Buterus

contributed and translated from German by Donald Walter

The following notes are from interviews by Edythe McGrath Roth and Jean Roth of Seattle with Christian Schessler from Mt. Vernon, Washington. Chris was born in Walter, Russia on February 29, 1896 and came with his family to the United States in 1909. Other members had come earlier and had settled in both Nebraska and Eastern Washington. The Schoesslers settled in Ritzville, Adams County, Washington. Since Chris came at the age of 13, he has many memories of his life in Walter. In 1921 - he married Katherine Roth, daughter of Jacob Roth and Catherine Magdalena Hill who also came from Walter and Walter-Chutor.

Chris’s grandfather Johannes Schoessler, from the stage coach from Walter to Saratov and back on a regular basis. It was a two-seated “Troika” rig drawn by three horses. He carried the mail and sometimes passengers as well as bringing back staples like salt, sugar, tea and coffee to the small store at Walter.

It was a distance of about 80 miles to Saratov and took 4 days in each direction. Johannes would rest overnight in the city and them make the return trip. He would spend about 2 days in Walter - then start back for Saratov. In winter - a “Troika” sleigh was used. Chris’s father, Heinrich Schoessler, would also go along so that there would be two people in the troika - Chris’s father to drive the sleigh and his grandfather to fight off the wolves that would attack. One of the reasons for the use of the three-horse troika was that if one horse was taken down by the wolves - it could be cut loose and the other two horses could still continue on.

Once - Johannes Schoessler caught a whiff of tobacco smoke in the air as he drove the coach toward a small bridge. It was well that he stopped to cautiously investigate - for there was a small band of bandits waiting to waylay him and who were hiding underneath the bridge.

The Schoessler family had a big red cow that they wanted to sell because it didn’t give much milk so they took it to the market at Kiev. They tied the cow behind their wagon and Chris had to walk behind it and hit it with a little switch to keep it moving. It was a 3 or 4 day journey. At the marketplace, they were asked why they wanted to sell the cow. Chris’s mother (Barbara Klippert Schoessler) very honestly said “because it doesn’t give much milk” Then nobody would buy the cow, so they had to walk it clear back to Walter where they finally butchered it for the meat.

(Edit. note: this seems to be another Kiev that the large town which is quite far away. This is supposed to be a medium-size town in the opposite direction from Saratov that served as an area market place. Has anyone else heard of this village?)

When the Schoesslers left Russia - they sold all of their stock and household goods - but did not sell their land. Johannes Schoessler felt that he wanted the security of keeping his property in Russia in case they didn’t like America and decided to go back. Of course, the land was later confiscated by the Russians so it was lost. All of Johanneses’ children also came to America except for his youngest daughter, Marie, who remained behind in Walter with her husband, Henry Kechter, and her two small sons. They corresponded for awhile - then were never heard from again. It is believed that she died in childbirth at a very young age.

Chris remembers that during the wintertime in Walter - the men would go down and cut blocks of ice from the frozen river. The ice was then stored in straw-filled dugouts where the ice blocks provided refrigeration nearly through the entire summer.

He also remembers the mill on the outskirts of Walter that was located on the river. The townspeople brought their wheat to the mill where it ground the grain into flour. The inhabitants of Walter were fortunate to have the river so close - as some villages had to take their grain elsewhere. As a young lad, Chris and his friends would play on the mill wheel until they were chased way from the dangerous place.

The Medwediza River was also used by the women of Walter and Walter-Chutor for their laundry. They went down to the river in groups - it was not safe to travel anywhere outside of the village by oneself because of the animals, the bandits, and the marauding tribes. They had big tubs and would boil water in which they washed their clothes - often pounding the clothes on the rocks. Then they would rinse them in the river and spread their laundry on the nearby bushes to dry. Drinking water was hauled from the river to the town.

There were two sides of Walter - the “Heinerdorf” and the “Federdorf” with the church in the middle between the two dies. Some small shops and the one store were also in the middle. Chris and his family lived on the east side of town which was the Federdorf. There was really only one store in Walter. It sold sugar, coffee, tea, drygoods, and liquor. There was also a blacksmith in the middle of town (as well as others who had shops outside of their houses). Chris’s father had to get a load of blacksmith’s coal by going into Saratov - and then going across the Volga on a ferry which had 3 or 4 oarsmen on each side. He would have to go to a coal mine on the Wiesenseite of the Volga.

There was a tailor who had a shop in town - he was a deaf - mute and he made coats for the men out of sheepskin. (George Baum?)

Many of the small shops were out of peoples homes including a woodworking shop, carpenter shop, tanner, bootmaker, etc.

The houses in Walter were all made of wood logs that were split and chinked with clay used to seal and insulate between the boards. The only stone building was the church. Heating in the homes was by a centralized wall oven. Cow dung chips were gathered and burned for fuel. A clay-brick foundation was also used for the houses.

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