New Beginnings
The word ‘beginning’ brings a feeling of
refreshment: untainted and pure. No mistakes made in a hazy world of
hopes and dreams. Flowers, mountains, rivers, valleys, stars,
planets- everything in the universe began at some point, bursting
forth in new life and into the will of God and fate. In the same
sense, humans are brought into the world in innocence and into the
unsteady tide of existence. For small waves and big waves may change
the course of life; but, it is what we do in these situations that
determine who we are. In many parts of the world, in every decade of
its existence, people have found their beginnings in a new family,
culture, belief, or country. The Germans from Russia, my ancestors,
found a door to an abundance of land and economic opportunity in the
land of Russia in the 18th century.
Catherine the II issued a manifesto in 1763
which resulted in the immigration of many Germans into the region
along the Volga River. Then, the proclamation was reissued in 1803
by Catherine’s grandson Alexander the First. Between 1804 and 1818,
an even greater number of immigrants from Southern Germany made
their way into the area along the Black Sea, hence the name the
“Black Sea” Germans. These colonists suffered at the hands of
disease and hardship during the journey and, because of this,
thousands did not make it to the land others would soon call home.
Those who did founded many colonies along the Black Sea and began
their new lives.
At this same time, my ancestors founded the
colonies of Landau, Speier, Sulz and Rastadt in the Beresan area of
Ukraine, Russia. Just as the other immigrants, they moved from
Germany to this new land to find perhaps a better home, or maybe
even a better life.
Almost seventy years passed, and in 1871,
some of the founders of these new colonies would live to see the
deterioration of the promise that Catherine the II had made one
hundred years earlier. The Imperial Russian Government repealed the
manifestos, and as a result of this, many Germans were forced out of
their homes. Many chose to immigrate to the United States: a vast
country of unclaimed land. And in 1891, the first of my ancestors
arrived in America. Through toil and strife, pain and struggle, even
when all hope seemed gone, the Germans from Russia persevered, and
finally arrived in a place of promise and freedom: a newly laid
foundation for generations to come.
There is so much rich, colorful history in
that of the Germans from Russia. They struggled with the hardships
that came across their path- hardships that led to where I am today.
If it wasn’t for their journey I wouldn’t be in America or even
sitting in this chair right now. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t
be living the life I am so blessed to have. A wise person once said,
“If history does not live in the present, there is no future.” The
Germans from Russia are my ancestors, my roots, my beginnings: part
of who I am and will be for the rest of my days.
