22 March 1923

Die Welt-Post, Thursday, 22 March 1923

Page 2, "Firsthand Report from Kutter"

Kutter
January 20 1923

Dear Friends:
     God be with you in the New Year! The weather is quite stormy and cold. It had been very mild up until Christmas and the poor people who had nothing to burn for heat did not require much fire; but from the way it looks today we don't know how they will manage without fire for heating. We have houses in which 3 families are crowded together (for warmth) because they have nothing for burning. Last year there was a shortage of bread, this year it's fuel for fires. So far clothing is now arriving, it is a shame that it did not come sooner. It seems that winter will pass before most of it arrives. I would like to remind some friends of their friends here. For example; Mr. Ludwig Boeckel whose sister still has small children who have nothing to eat; Jacob was sick during the Autumn and as not yet fully recovered. If your circumstances permit, then again send some more help, but only through the A.R.A. in Food Drafts and also the best way for clothing.
      Adam Wacker asks his sister Amalia if she would come to his aid. Last year he had 2 horses. To get his family through the difficult period cost him both horses. With their step-mother Anna Elisabeth Wacker, nee Ostwald, things are also going poorly. She asks her brothers Johann and Immanuel in Oshkosh, Wisconsin if they could help. Whoever it is who comes to her aid and comfort, she reminds them that they can write and send it to her at this address: Anna Elisabeth Wacker, No. 348 Popowka, Post Ustralicha, Kreis der Volga Deutschen. She is all alone and works from time to time for people, spinning and sewing.
     Gottlieb Kuhlmann and his wife Elisabeth ask Fred Herzog for help; their address is: Gottlieb Kuhlman, No. 343, Popowka (Kutter).
     Katharina Klaus and Maria Elisabeth Schenkel, nee Klaus, turn to Mr. Philipp Klaus. Things are going very miserably for the latter and she needs help quickly.
     I share with you that there was a Brotherhood Conference in Norka over New Years and next Sunday on January 28th there is a Parish Conference in Beideck. The Exaudi-Konferenz is in Dönhof.
     Mr. Volz drove to the Wiesenseite for 4 weeks to inspect the kitchens and meet with the people. it was not possible to do so up to now because the Volga began freezing over at the beginning of Christmas.
                    With greetings, yours,
                         J. Huckel

Page 2, "From Nebraska and Russia"

Hastings
Nebraska, 1 March 1923

Dear Friend Lorenz:
     I begin with greetings to you and the Welt-Posters. I recently received a letter from my father in Brunnental, Russia, that I would like to see published in Die Welt-Post so that the Wiesenseiters in America will know that the clothing that we shipped from here to the Wiesenseite has finally arrived there. Die Welt-Post is an important link between our people in America and Russia. As soon as it arrives at my home I immediately look through the various letters. Pastor Hergert's poems also interest me. I believe it to be (publishing the letters) a good and compassionate deed if done sensibly. In this vein I now release the following letter.
               My affectionate greetings to all the readers,
                         Jacob Brehm

The Russian Letter

Brunnental
14 January -----
To: Jacob Brehm Hastings, Nebraska

Dear children Jacob and Maria Kath. and your children:
     We are all still wonderfully healthy and wish the same for you. We received your letter of 21 September. We did not answer it because we hoped for news of the arrival of the things, which came through after the great New Year (6 January). Ludwig and Georg Hergert hitched a team and drove together to Schilling on the Bergseite to pick up the things. We believe everything arrived as safe and secure as your sent it. When we opened the things, such joy prevailed among us that we cannot describe, as is the greatness of your love towards us. A thousand times thanks for everything you have done for us! The dear Lord will reward you for it in Heaven.
     I, your father, dressed myself from head to foot. Other family members also received what was most needed, shirts, coats, etc. Also I should not forget to mention the shoes because there is a particular shortage of footwear here. We generally distributed the things as you had written.
     Mr. Volz has not yet been to Brunnental but our pastor recently told me that he had written that he wanted to come here soon, so we are waiting for him so we can talk to him face to face.
      We still live on our old place, still have a horse and a cow, which is not enough for farming.
     We also received your portraits; they were only 30 days en route from America to here. Everyone, including the pastor, were surprised at the beautiful pictures.
     Our mother died at the age of 67 years, 11 months and 16 days. I, your father, will soon be 65 years old. Your sister Amalia is in Germany, but Maria Kath. died in Minsk, on the Polish border along with her 3 children.
     Here we are, short of everything; I especially am in need of a pair of eyeglasses, without them I cannot read anything. Things are going for me as they were for the patriarch Jacob; I must painfully go down into the grave to my son. However, now I come with my many greetings from us all to all of you. In closing, a thousand thanks from your father who loves you,
                         Ludwig Brehm

Page 3, "Firsthand Report from Pastor Günther"

To: The families of those who work for the American Relief Administration

"The Lord is good and a strong fortress in times of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him." Nahum 1, 7.

Gott gröss Euch, Ihr starken Herzen
Weit drüben überm grossen Meer!
Zu stillen Hunger, tiefe Schmerzen
Sand't Ihr uns Eure Lieben her.

Sie brachten Gaben für die Armen,
Die man mit Freuden Schickte her,
Ach, viele hatten gross' Erbarmen --
Doch Ihr, Ihr gabt uns noch viel mehr.

     I feel compelled to send a greeting to the family members of those working in our midst. Much has been said about the sacrifices they made during the course of the last year in order to quiet hunger, to cover the naked. I feel it was also a great sacrifice when you allowed your loved and valued relatives to leave their homeland, their comfortable home, to travel half way around the globe to our country where on every side they were exposed to danger and threatened by insidious diseases. They came to us with their good, industrious, untiring hands and shared out the love they were given and had sacrificed!
     And in the receiving, we were made happy by these gifts, did we think that there were hearts over there that worried about the well-being of their loved ones here and longed for them?
     Yes, we knew it and prayed to the Lord that He help them achieve a joyous reunion. Some have happily returned home, and we are happy for them, others are still here at work and there is fear and worry still locked up in the hearts of their families -- May God strengthen your hearts and protect your beloved workers here with us and also lead them to their once happy home and your yearning hearts. Thank you, and may God bless this, your sacrifice, as He has all the others which were made (for us).
                         Herbert Guenther
                         Pastor of Beideck