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From: Patrice Miller <>
Subject: January 2005 column of In Touch with Prairie Living
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2005 21:12:58 -0800


I am forwarding this message from Michael Miller at
Patrice Miller
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In Touch with Prairie Living

January 2005

By Michael M. Miller
Germans from Russia Heritage Collection
North Dakota State University Libraries, Fargo

The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection (GRHC) at the NDSU Libraries
in Fargo reaches out to prairie families and former Dakotans. In various
ways, it affirms the heritage of the Germans from Russia as an important
part of the northern plains culture. Special holiday regards to readers of
this column! I want to extend my best wishes in the new year. The year
2005 begins the ninth year of this monthly column to appear in North
Dakota and South Dakota weekly newspapers. I am most grateful to the
editors of these newspapers and to the many readers for their positive
comments about this column.

The new "Music of the Germans from Russia" CD of the Jamestown College
(ND) Concert Choir is available. The choir performs: Grosser Gott, Wir
Loben Dich (Holy God We Praise Thy Name); Schoenster Here Jesu (Beautiful
Savior), In Dem Garten, and other songs.

The music, which defined the faith and culture of the German-Russian
population, traveled with them when they left Russia to settle the North
American prairies and plains. This unique collection from the Jamestown
College Concert Choir honors those ethnic Germans from Russia.

Music, especially singing, was central to village life in South Russia.
Their hymns traveled with them from their native Germany as did the
hymnals. Church elders and teacher-deacons lead services when a pastor was
unavailable. Choirs were formed, and pipe organs became common at the end
of the 19th Century. Folk music also flourished, which were brought with
them from Germany, while variations and new songs developed in their new
Russian homeland.

For many, their history does not end in Russia but continues on the plains
and prairies of Canada and the United States. The colonist freedoms, which
originally brought them to Russia, were being revoked during a period of
Russian
nationalization. Spurred on by the Homestead Act and other promises of free
land,
many German Russians sailed for America with few possessions, enormous hope,
and their enduring "Hymns of Faith" in a faithful God.

For further information, go to
www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/order/tapes/JChoir.html. The Jamestown College
Concert Choir will be part of the forthcoming Germans from Russia music
documentary (now in production at Prairie Public Television) to premiere
on Sunday, April 24, 2005 on PPTV, while later on other PBS stations
throughout the USA.

Information about this music documentary is available at:
www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/media/documentaries/index.html. The
documentary will be the fourth in the "Germans from Russia Series" of
Prairie Public Television: 1) The Germans from Russia" (1999); 2)
"Schmeckfest: Food Traditions of the Germans from Russia" (2000); 3)
"Prairie Crosses" (2002).

The videotape, "Germans from Russia on the Canadian Prairies: Then and
Now" provides an excellent visual story: covering medicinal remedies
(Brauche), cookery, games, religion, immigration, folkways, and music. The
documentary is available at:
www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/order/tapes/canadianprairies.html.

Prairie Public Broadcasting has produced a new DVD which includes these
two award-winning documentaries: "The Germans from Russia: Children of the
Steppe, Children of the Prairie" and "Prairie Crosses, Prairie Voices:
Iron Crosses of the Great Plains. For further information, go to
www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/order/tapes/dualdvd.html.

A new book is available: "Danzig: North Dakota: 1906-2000: Gone But Not
Forgotten" by Geneva Roth Olstad. Danzig is located in McIntosh County, ND
near to Wishek and Ashley. Families include Baumann, Brinkman, Dockter,
Donner, Eszlinger, George, Gohl, Groszhans, Helmer, Hetzler, Joachim,
Kemmet, Mertz, Pudwill, Roth, Salzer, Stroh, Walz, Weber and Wolf. For
further information, go to:
www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/order/nd_sd/danzig.html.

The 11th Journey to the Homeland Tour, sponsored by the NDSU Libraries is
scheduled for May 26 - June 6, 2005. The tour includes Budapest, Hungary;
Odessa, Ukraine and the former German villages; Stuttgart, Germany; and
Alsace, France.

For further information about Germans from Russia heritage, donations to
GRHC including books, documentaries, CDs, DVDs, cookbooks and tours,
contact Michael M. Miller, NDSU Libraries, PO Box 5599, Fargo, ND
58105-5599 (Tel: 701-231-8416; E-mail: ; GRHC
website: www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc).

January, 2005 column for North Dakota and South Dakota newspapers

[For past columns of In Touch with Prairie Living, go to:
www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/media/newspapers/index.html]



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