Die Welt-Post, Thursday, 11 October 1923
Page 3, "From Kansas and Russia"
Ramona, Kansas
1 October [1923]
Dear friend L.:
I am sending along a letter from the old country which confirms the receipt of $20 that Mr. Bal. J. Peter sent for me to Margreta Weber in Norka, Russia. As you can see from the letter they safely received the money and were very happy about it. Put the letter in the Welt-Post so that people learn how bad it still is in Norka.
With best wishes, yours
John Schnell
The Russian Letter
Norka
27 August [1923]
To: Johannes Schnell, Ramona, Kansas
Dear brother Johannes and family:
We safely received your dear letter of 31 May of this year which had inside a receipt for 20 dollars. We waited for some time before we got the news from Beideck (to pick up the money) but the wait only served to increase our joy. We had already told the widow Schnell and her son rode along with us to Beideck to pick it up but it was a single 20 dollar bill and thus we had to wait a while longer before we could share (divide) it. A neighbor of widow Schnell had also received some dollars and changed the 20 dollars for us so that we got 10 dollars and widow Schnell got 10 dollars. We herewith say our heartfelt thanks to all of you and "God Repays!" In this difficult time that has come upon us you have proved your brotherly love and thus we can say as the poet: "Love is not just a thing spoken, it flames and flows deep within the heart. Then its fruit matures on the tree of life into truth and action without ceremony." God bless you for the love you have shown us, and to sister Katrinliess we also send heartfelt thanks that she still thinks of our people and contributes so that we receive assistance during this time of great inflation that oppresses our country. We have to say that it was God's doing, it was He who stirred your hearts to remember us and for this we are thankful unto high heaven and say: "God is great and praiseworthy; His greatness is inexpressible. Lord, all your works and your Saints are to be thanked and praised."
We have heard from the letters of relatives that sister Katarinliess has been sorely afflicted. Her husband was thrown from his horse and died. We herewith express our condolences. She will be wringing her hands and asking; "Why?" When one says this with a heart full of fear, it is the Lord who will come and bring you peace. This was our experience when our papa was taken from us. Thus you lead those who are yours, right blessedly; yes, blessedly and even most wonderfully! How could you be angry with us and ours, who cannot deny your truth? The paths down which you lead your children are often crooked but yet straight; often accompanied by miraculous sights until at last, triumphantly achieving your higher purpose.
We heard that the bibles recently arrived but that they are in the Russian language. Anyhow, Johannes Deines will soon write to you about it.
We are, God be praised, all still well except for sister Gret who has a fever which keeps coming back and completely exhausts her; we are now giving her Quinine as a remedy and hope that she gets better. This illness is strongly prevalent here, nearly every house is afflicted.
We wanted to send you our letter together with the widow Schnell's but now we have a convenient opportunity to send it to Saratov and we didn't want to delay any longer in telling you that we received the dollars. My wife was also very happy because she had written to you in the spring and since she had not received an answer she believed her letter had gotten lost. Now that your answer has come completely unexpectedly she has become like a refurbished roof support. She and her children are still well and she will write you a detailed letter later.
The harvest was weak among most groups [after land reapportionment people were assigned to plots of land by groups----translator] so there is not only a shortage of grains but also straw and fodder.
The livestock situation was not as it had been before among the farmers and now most of them must again endure another fodder shortage. There was little rain in our area and the Wiesenseite was more afflicted than the Bergseite; there the harvest was even weaker. What God does, is done well! He often shows us His blessings and before He can grant them we must put our hope in Him; because He alone must be the treasure, thus He creates bitterness through the loss of other goods.
We wish you all the best of health and all of the things necessary for your work, and give our affectionate greetings to your dear wife and all family members from your Weber brothers and sisters. We also ask that you affectionately greet sister Katarinliess for us and we would like to know of her husband's family name and if they are there with you in Kansas or elsewhere. Hopefully you will write us after you receive this letter. God grant us His grace and keep us through joy and suffering until we come home and join with all the Saints in the rejoicing sound of God's beautiful harps, where Hosannas resound so beautifully from choir to choir, their Hallelujahs echoing up in Heaven!
Your Weber brothers and sisters
This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.
Page 5, "Letters from Russia"
Franker Chutor
20 August [1923]
To: Conrad Leonhardt, Billings, Montana
Dear nephew and niece and your children:
Be affectionately greeted and kissed in spirit by your uncle and aunt in the old country. We have a large family, our children and their children are 19 in number. We received your letter and it made us very happy. We hope that things always go well for you for as long as you live. Would to God that we could say that things are also going well with us, because then we wouldn't have to seek help from you. We must yet patiently abide our fate and also not lose hope that it will once again become better here.
With joy we inform you that we received the 25 dollars that you sent us. We exchanged it for Russian money and received four billion, four thousand two hundred and fifty million rubles. That sounds like a lot but with such a large family one cannot make it reach very far. Nonetheless we thank you a thousand times for it. In this time of inflation one needs all the help one can get. How can we repay you this great generosity? God bless you for all time and eternity.
Now some details about our family. Our son Georg died 4 years ago and left 4 children. Adolph died 7 years ago and left a daughter behind. We still have 3 sons, Johannes, Jacob and Karl. Johannes has 4 children, Jacob married this passed winter and Karl is now 17 years old. We still have 2 daughters with us, the two eldest have married. The eldest married Jacob Strassheim, son of Konrad, 2 years ago. The second married Friedrich Löbsack, son of Georg (Löbsack's eldest).
Now I will hurry and close. Greet your sons Heinrich and Konrad and their wives and children; they should also write to us. Give our greetings to "Vetter" Heinrich and "Wes" Lotte Kissler and their family. Further we greet Mrs. Friedrich Strassheim and Mrs. Karl Sitzmann and their families.
We often think of you because blood is not like water, on the contrary, the bond of blood kinship holds fast. We thank you for the gift. Keep well and remember your uncle and aunt. Write again soon and with my best greetings I remain,
Your uncle, Johannes Löbsack
This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.
Page 5, "Letters from Russia"
Shcherbakovka
20 October ((this letter appears to be over a year old--translator))
To: Friedrich Haffner, Okeene, Oklahoma
Dear Friedrich:
We greet you and your family and inform you that we are still well. We are all busy with threshing and will soon be finished with it. Today Mrs. Hoff leaves here to go to America and she will come to you in Okeene. She will tell you everything that is happening here and how things stand. The money that you sent us we received with great joy. With it we bought a 2 year old Bullock for our oxen which we badly needed. Every time we Yoke him up we think of you. Receive our deepest thanks for it.
We exchanged the money in Saratov and for every American dollar we received a hundred and thirty million rubles. We paid half a billion rubles for the Bullock. The dollar has already risen in price but livestock is also more expensive. We also wanted o buy a cow but there was not enough money for it. For now we can only thank you for your great help. Should things later get better here and less so for you, then we will repay you.
We have already written many letters to you; have you received them all?
Now we want to close with many greetings and we remain, with grateful hearts,
Your relatives, Mariakath. Haffner and children
This translation provided courtesy of Hugh Lichtenwald.