Organizers of the Dakota Memories Oral History Project, in cooperation with Prairie Public Broadcasting, will air a new radio program, "German-Russian War Memories," on Veterans Day on North Dakota Public Radio.
The program will air at 3 and 7 p.m. Nov. 11 with accounts of military service from World War I through the current-day conflicts.
Rose (Boespflug) Miller, for instance, will share recollections of World War II, a time when no one of Germans-from-Russia ethnicity living in Saskatchewan or the Dakotas would admit their heritage. Rupert Kleingartner will share memories of a World War II typhoon with 160 mph winds he survived while serving in Okinawa that blew away all the tents.
When the Germans from Russia think back on wartime experiences, they don't just talk about the war, said Andrea Mott, historian and 2009 interviewer, who adds scholarly insight to the narratives.
"They discuss how the war affected their daily lives, and their heartfelt stories about family, friends, rationing, weapons, travel, language and education add to the overall German-Russian narrative," Mott said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Public interest in documenting and preserving German-Russian ethnic identity inspired the launch of the Dakota Memories Oral History Project in 2005. Since then, organizers have traveled the northern Plains gathering stories and documenting family relationships and childhood memories of second- and third-generation Germans from Russia.
Jessica Clark, recipient of the Germans from Russia History Doctoral Fellowship, coordinates the project, and Michael Miller serves as director of the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection and the project.
The North Dakota State University Libraries' Germans from Russia Heritage Collection and Prairie Public provide major funding for the program. A CD of the program will be available for $15. To order, contact Acacia Stuckle, special collections associate, at (701) 231-6596 or acacia.stuckle@ndsu.edu .
The Nov. 11 program can be heard on 91.5 FM in Devils Lake, 91.9 FM in Fargo and 89.3 FM in Grand Forks.
Germans from Russia are one of the major ethnic groups in the North Dakota. In the early 1800s, Russia's Katherine the Great invited their ancestors to leave war-torn Germany to live on the Russian steppes. They were promised land, freedom from military service and other freedoms.
By the late 1800s, those promises had been forgotten, and conditions became increasingly desperate for the ethnic Germans. Many left Russia to settle in the upper Plains, again following a promise of free land. Most who stayed were killed, transported to Siberia or starved to death under Stalin.
