Welcome to the Zichydorf Village Association
Zichydorf was a village in the Banat about 70 km northeast of Belgrade, Serbia, originally settled in the middle ages as Bioseg and later by German immigrants in 1787. Zichydorf has had many names: Bioseg, Morminz, Zichydorf, Zichyfalva, Mariolana, and today Plandiste.
This is the web site of the Zichydorf Village Association. We are dedicated to the history and family histories of our ethnic German ancestors who originated from this town and its surrounding towns lying in modern Serbia. To learn more about our town and our organization, please see About ZVA in the main menu.
Newsletter 25-2 September 2020
COVID-19
I hope all of you and those close to you have managed to avoid the health and economic hardships of these unusual times. I polled our local membership about a fall meeting. While there was a tentative willingness, there was no real enthusiasm. As there was no urgent business, we have postponed to the spring. Best wishes to all for keeping well.
Membership Renewal
ZVA keeps the memory of Zichydorf and its people alive on its web site through your generosity. It also provides information on many associated villages. Please help us keep the site alive by paying our annual membership fee of a paltry $10.
Membership is based on the calendar year. Please check your dues status on the web site. Log in and go to “Your Profile” in the user menu and scroll down to "Dues paid to the end of: ____" If you have not yet paid for 2021, please remit your dues using one of the options described on the Membership page. I will downgrade unrenewed members on the web site in April of each year to give you plenty of grace. From September on, I will credit new members for the following year. If you are not connected to the Internet, send your dues to the address at the bottom of this letter and I will update you. Thanks for contributing to our common cause.
User Profiles
When you register on the ZVA site you can list your research interests – family names, villages, etc. When you log in, you can search through the User Profiles of other registrants to find people with similar interests. You can click on the associated email address to make contact, but, for privacy reasons, no other personal information is available unless the parties agree to provide it through their email exchange. I encourage everyone to review and expand their own profiles (click on Your Profile) and to search for potential contacts with User Profiles.
Missing Library Books
Prior to the COVID lockdown, someone borrowed the following two books and, understandably, has not yet returned them. Due to an administrative error the borrower was not recorded. The library is now open with precautions. Please return these books ASAP. First, please check the precautions here: http://www.saskgenealogy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SGS-Covid-19-Re-Open-Policy.pdf
The missing books are:
Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrgemeinde Sackelhausen im Banat 1766-1844
Sammelwerk donauchwabischer Kolonisten Teil VII Buchstaben Sche-Sz
New on the Web Pages
There are several new additions on the web pages. You will have to log in to access these pages.
· Experiences of Banat Immigrants in St. Paul, Minnesota. Thanks to Marie Bibus for adding to our St. Paul content. https://zichydorfonline.org/usa/402-st-paul
· Heimatbuch der Gemeinde Kudritz – A translation of the village history book with pictures. Kudritz is about 25 km/15 miles east of Zichydorf. Thanks to Leah Ott Duda, Henry Fischer, Ray Borschowa, and Roy Shiflet for their contributions to this project. https://zichydorfonline.org/genealogy/112-history/398-heimatbuch-der-gemeinde-kudritz
· Vibank – Village history for one of the earliest concentrations of Zichydorfers in Saskatchewan. Thanks to Frank Dornstauder for contributing this translation of the 1929 work by Paul Aberle. https://zichydorfonline.org/canada/399-vibank
· John Molter story – John was born in Canada in 1929, but his family returned to Zichydorf in 1933. He grew up there before and during World War II and experienced work camps in the post-war period. He escaped and finally returned to Canada in 1951. His story is full of interesting perspectives and exciting adventures. https://zichydorfonline.org/genealogy/112-history/400-john-molter
Rootstech
Rootstech is an annual global genealogy convention, usually held in exotic locations outside the norm of the average genealogist. This February, due to COVID, it will be a free virtual event. Learn more here: https://www.rootstech.org/?lang=eng
Bogarosch
If your research leads you to Bogarosch, you will want to check out this page: https://bogarosch.eu/familienbuch.html
Obituaries
Peter Shenher who, with wife Joan, was an early member, recently passed.
Ann Morrison also recently lost her battle with lung cancer.
Some of us met Ann at the Donauschwaben Treffens at Mt. Angel, Oregon. She presented in 2008 and subsequently held a private screening of “The Forgotten Genocide, a Documentary” in 2010. Ann also produced “Millions Cried… No One Listened” and presented parts of that project in subsequent years at the Mt. Angel Treffens. We have copies of these productions in our library.
Ann was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri without any Donauschwaben heritage. She returned to college as a mature student to earn a degree in teaching. One of her assignments was to interview one interesting person.
It so happened that the person she interviewed was a Danube Swabian lady who experienced the post war camps in Yugoslavia. Her story became the seed for the documentaries “The Lost Genocide”, the “Millions Cried … No One Listened”, the “1944 Fleeing Home, Sent to Ukraine & Russia" and other related stories of Danube Swabian Genocide. Ann went from ignorance of the post-war Donauschwaben experience to a passionate recorder of this largely unknown experience.
Here are a couple of links to commentaries about her work:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/kwOBg1YfCa2S/
Banat Email Lists
You may be familiar with the two main Banat email lists. The original host, Rootsweb, decided to get out of the business on short notice, leaving both lists scrambling for alternatives. Both groups landed in the same place. Go to groups.io and click on Find or Create a Group. Search for Banat and/or DVHH.
Die Donauschwaben
This web site was published by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior in 1987. It is a very detailed and extensive examination of history and culture of Danube Schwabians that goes beyond Banat. I pasted the URL into Google translate to obtain an English version. Google translation of the original German results in some curious expressions in English.
Stefan Jäger Pictures
Stefan Jäger is renowned for his realistic depictions of life in the Banat. There is an extensive collection of his work at the link below. English speakers will probably want to paste the URL into Google Translate.
https://jaeger.banater-archiv.de/index.php?title=Hauptseite
Zichydorf Village Association Newsletter
edited by: Glenn Schwartz
2114 E Laurier Cres., Regina, SK, S4V 0P6
Internet: http://zichydorfonline.org
http://www.facebook.com/ZichydorfVillageAssociation
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Research and Travel in Banat
It is vitally important to have local expertise and a local interpretter when operating in Serbia and/or Romania. ZVA has had excellent experience with two individuals in Banat: Staša Cvetković and Sorin Fortiu.
Staša Cvetković
Staša is our go-to guy in Serbia. He has excellent contacts in archives and village offices throughout the Serbian Banat. He has an extensive personal database of the lcoations of various records. He is also an excellent tour planner, proposing detailed itineraries full of local interest. Staša can transport groups of up to seven people in his Mercedes Vito and is willing to travel in Romania. His web site is at http://www.synergia.rs/
Sorin Fortiu
Sorin is the premier and most professional researcher in the archives of Timisoara and Arad. He is also an expert historian. Sorin does not drive, but will conduct tours if you can arrange transportation. His web site is at http://www.genealogy.ro/
Find more detailed information on our site at Zichydorf Records Research (you must be logged in to view this link)