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.
ZVA Executive
Unfortunately, COVID-19 has again prevented us from holding our spring meeting, at which we elect our executive. I did an email poll of our local regulars and many of our long-term supporters from elsewhere and the proposed executive members were acclaimed. Unfortunately, Miles Dormuth, our Secretary-Treasurer of many years, has had to retire for health reasons. The acclaimed executive is: Glenn Schwartz, President; Mary Ann Hueser, Treasurer; and Elisabeth Hugel, Secretary.
Obituaries
Some long-time members might have known John Molter. John was born in Regina, SK, Canada, but his family returned to Zichydorf before WWII and he spent the war years there as a teenager. John returned and built a career in Regina before moving to Kelowna a few years ago in his retirement. John was an early supporter of and inspiration to our association. He passed away in February. You can find his very interesting story at the link below.
https://zichydorfonline.org/genealogy/112-history/400-john-molter
Another early supporter was Trevor Harle. Trevor was an adopted Zichydorfer through his marriage to the former Betty Hasenfratz. Trevor and Betty joined all four of our group tours to Zichydorf. Trevor passed away after a short illness this past winter.
Emigration from the Hungarian Banat 1900-1920
This 87-page 2018 thesis project by Kathleen Winters examines the social, political, and economic drivers behind Banat emigration during this period. While parts are academically dry, other parts are quite illuminating. It incorporates statistics from various sources, including Dave Dreyer’s ship lists. For a one paragraph summary, jump ahead to the first paragraph of the Conclusion. One factor that struck me was the unfair position of the nobles who owned most of the land and paid few taxes, leading to discontent among farm workers and small farmers. This, in turn, led to political tension among the minorities and fears of violent conflict ahead.
On the Trail of the Danube Swabians in Vojvodina
Most of the stories we know of the post-WWII treatment of the Danube Swabians are from personal accounts of those very people describing their suffering. However, in recent years there has been increasing inquiry into those events by Serbian academics. More and more official documents from those times are surfacing to validate the stories we have heard. This publication is one of the most recent (2015) of this research. It first describes the pre-war situation of the DS and then details their post-war trials with recollections of the victims as well as Yugoslavian government documents and finally describes the hardships and stigma of the very few Germans who remained and their descendants and also those DS who relocated to Germany.
https://nenasilje.org/publikacije/pdf/On_the_Trail_of_the_Danube_Swabians_in_Vojvodina.pdf
Lost Homeland Georghsausen
If anyone knows of a copy of this book for sale, please let me know at the contact info at the end of this newsletter. One of our members would dearly love to obtain a copy.
German Settlement in Canada
I came across this short article about the German Catholic community in Toronto. I was struck by the similarity between their situation and what I know about the German Catholics in Regina. You can read more here:
https://zichydorfonline.org/canada/404-settlement-in-canada
Banaters in Benson County, Montana
Dave Dreyer of San Mateo, CA conducted this research and published it in the Donauschwäbische Familienkundliche Forschungsblätter (DFF) #175-176, June 2020 of the Arbeitskreises donauschwäbischer Familienforscher (AKdFF). Dave was kind enough to share the English text at the link below.
https://zichydorfonline.org/usa/405-banaters-in-naturalization-papers-in-dawson-county-montana
New Books in the Library
I briefly describe below four books new to our library collection. These books must be borrowed in person, but I can do limited lookups. See our total collection at
https://zichydorfonline.org/resources
Donauschäbisches Ortsnamenbuch by Isabella Regényi and Anton Scherer was donated by Anita Paré. Look up any place name in the Donauschwaben settlement area in any of the area languages and find cross-references to its name in other languages with country (as of 1980) and postal code. Includes several maps in a pocket at the back.
Erinnerungen eines Donauschwaben is the autobiography of Georg Basch, born in Zichydorf in 1908. It is in German, but we are attempting to have it translated. This book was also donated by Anita Paré
Triebswetter im Banat 1901-2000 by Helga and Anton Hornung is the third Triebswetter work, bringing the series of Familienbucher to the near past.
Familienbuch der katholischen Pfarrgemeinde Johannisfeld im Banat und ihrer Filialen 1806-1988, also by Helga and Anton Hornung, adds another volume to our collection of Banat Familienbucher.
Hatzfeld, Deutsch Zerne, and Ofsenitza
The Deutsch Zerne web site at the link below has information on all three of these villages and more. There are translations of Hans Tabar’s History of Zerne and Nikolas Kampf’s Chronicle of the Kampf Family. The latter is the story of a pastor who led his flock to settle in Hatzfeld. It is primarily about the Kampf family but lists the other villagers who accompanied the pastor and settled there in 1766. There is also a Familienbuch for Ofsenitza.
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~deutschzerne/genealogy/Files/page2.html
Gross Kikinda
Thanks to David Preston and Anni Lorenz for the following link to the Gross Kikinda Ortsfamilienbuch.
Tschakowa
If you are interested in Tschakowa, paste the link below into Google Translate.
https://www.tschakowa.de/literatur/familienbuch-tschakowa/
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: gschwartz@accesscomm.ca