South Dakota Oral History Center

Resources (60)

• A. C. Rossow (MS 1013)

  1974. Family background, father homesteaded in Campbell County; ethnic groups in area; German-Russians excellent farmers; present use of German language; German attitude toward draft and World War I; reading material in childhood home; description of sod house.

• Abraham V. Tieszen (MS 050)

  1970. Low German Mennonite settlement around Marion, South Dakota; description of farm life in German-Russian home, Russian oven.

• Albert and Alma Hauffe (MS 1120)

  1974. German-Russians are Republicans.

• Andrew Stoebner (MS 1038)

  1974. German-Russian emigration; homesteading and farming; anti-German feeling in World War I.

• Anonymous (MS 1041)

  1974. German-Russian family settlement in McPherson County; influx of German-Russians, exit of English-speaking people; feelings toward German-Russians by outsiders in World War I; ethnic feelings.

• Art and Ramona Ruede Weishaar (MS 1127)

  1974. Family emigrated from southern Russia; Hutterite colonies in McPherson County; antiGerman sentiment, 1917–18; German-Russian families and land settlement among children.

• Art Kluckman (MS 1014)

  1974. German-Russian settlers in area (Mound City); German spoken in childhood home.

• Arthur Bickel (MS 1019)

  1974. Family background: parents emigrated from Russia; courtship customs; use of German language.

• August Wessel (MS 1015)

  1974. Reasons for family's emigration from Russia; parents homesteaded near Mound City; German-Russians in area; reading materials in childhood home.

• Calma Schamber Rettstatt (MS 1040)

  1974. Explanation of why English settlers left Eureka and were replaced by German-Russians.

• Carl D. Anderson (MS 1057)

  1974. Russian-Germans near Newell and Vale, South Dakota.

• Charles Rossow (MS 1020)

  1974. Father emigrated from Germany, homesteaded in area; lived in sod house, description; relations between Germans and German-Russians; anti-German sentiments in World War I.

• Christian Flemmer (MS 1039)

  1974. German-Russian family.

• Christian Gutjahr (MS 1116)

  1974. Trip from Russia to U.S. in 1907; use of German language; explanation of clearing land of rocks.

• Christian J. Fischer (MS 1042)

  1959. Tape in German dialect; see under David Fischer.

• Christian Schumacher (MS 1119)

  1974. Born in southern Russia, emigrated to U.S. at age 3; family homestead and sod house; arranged marriage; purchase of war bonds encouraged among German-Russians in World War I.

• Conrad Wenzel Renz (MS 1011)

  1974. German first language, learned English; education; relations among ethnic groups in area; father's homestead; German-Russians excellent farmers; German-Russians predominantly Republican.

• David Brosz (MS 1125)

  1974. Reasons for family emigration from Russia.

• David Fischer (MS 1043)

  1959. Translation of tape by Christian J. Fischer. German emigration to Russia; farming; education; conscription; Russian-German relations; religion; money; songs; service with coast artillery at Odessa, training; description of a state funeral; Lord's Prayer in Russian, song from church service; emigration to Eureka, South Dakota, in 1889; translator's comments.

• Dr. John Tschetter (MS 207)

  1971. History of Hutterites in Austria and Russia; Hutterite settlement in South Dakota, 1870s; Mennonite revival meetings.

• Ed Gall (MS 1010)

  1974. Father emigrated from Russia.

• Edward and Rose Hoffman (MS 1113)

  1974. Family emigrated from Russia; description of "Russian lignite"; arrangement of marriages.

• Emil Loriks (MS 005)

  1970. Relations with Karl Mundt; anti-communist crusade in 1950s.

• Eva Berndt (MS 1004)

  1974. Emigrated from Odessa, Russia, at age 14, in 1905; reasons for emigration; childhood recollections of Russia and Germany; ill feelings between Russians and Germans.

• Fred and Rosa Jundt (MS 1129)

  1974. German-Russian immigration to South Dakota; use of German language; taking rocks out of soil.

• Fred Odenbach (MS 1035)

  1974. German-Russian family background; homestead established and area described; building sod house; farming, flax and wheat.

• Gottlieb Trautman (MS 923)

  1973. Family's trip to Clay County from Russia, late 1880s; methods used in building sod houses; methods used to provide water, early 1900s; farm methods and machinery, early 1900s.

• Henry G. Heib (MS 1033)

  1974. German-Russian parents; sod house; education; discipline of children; feelings of other settlers toward German-Russians.

• Herbert J. Liedle (MS 1044)

  1974. German-Russian emigration to South Dakota; reading, schooling, parents' attitudes toward education; music education, self-teaching, love of classical music.

• Irene Gerdes Treick (MS 1123)

  1974. Father was a doctor; German-Russian immigration; English families in Eureka and why they left by 1910; antiand pro-German sentiment in Eureka.

• Isadore Pitts (MS 1187)

  1974. Family background, came to western South Dakota from Russia to homestead; other Jewish homesteaders.

• Jacob Hohenecker (MS 1122)

  1974. Born in Russia, served in Russian army during Russo-Japanese War, 1904–1905; reasons for emigrating; problems experienced by Germans in Russia, 1940–41.

• Jacob M. Goehring (MS 1023)

  1974. Family emigrated from Russia, 1890s; description of sod houses.

• Jacob Mayer (MS 915)

  1973. Family came to U.S. from Russia; reasons for leaving Russia.

• Jacob Schuetzle (MS 1009)

  1974. Recollections of life in Russia; reasons for emigration to U.S.; comparison of military life in Russia and United States.

• Jeanette L. Agrant (MS 1108)

  1976. Father came from Russia in 1880s.

• John A. Schick (MS 1037)

  1974. German-Russian homesteading in McPherson and Campbell counties; German language at home; father drafted into Russian army; German-Russians liked Crimean weather better than that of South Dakota.

• John Ottenbacher (MS 1036)

  1974. German-Russian family background; homesteading; German-Russian neighbors, language problems; father came to U.S. to escape conscription.

• Jonathan Miller (MS 084)

  1956. Trip from Russia to South Dakota, 1880s; Mennonite settlement in Hutchinson County, 1880-present; songs, etc.

• Josef D. Lacher (MS 1095)

  1974. Catholic German-Russians east of Ipswich.

• Judee Epstein (MS 1111)

  1976. Family background, came to U.S. from Russia.

• Karl Goehring, Sr. (MS 1024)

  1974. Recollections of village life in Russia; Russian-German relations; brother in military service, taken out of Russia by mother; trip to U.S. in 1905; anti-German sentiment during World War I; depression; farm work and machinery in Russia; family members sent to Siberia.

• Karl Wolfer (MS 1007)

  1974. Emigrated from Russia, age 15, father homesteaded in Dakota; lived in sod house, description; recollections of Russia.

• Leslie M. Lindley (MS 1128)

  1974. German-Russian settlement in county.

• Louise Huber (MS 1012)

  1974. Family background, German-Russian immigrants; grew up in sod house, description and construction.

• Mildred Light (MS 1365)

  1975. Childhood in Russia; Jewish life in Russia; trip to United States.

• Mr. and Mrs. Abe Rye (MS 300)

  1971. Recollections of and description of building sod houses; "Russian" brick houses.

• Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Renz (MS 1005)

  1974. Use of German language in childhood homes; German-Russians good farmers; grandparents' trip from Russia to U.S.; homesteading in the area.

• Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Haas (MS 1300)

  1975. Migration of family from Germany to Russia to the Dakotas.

• Mr. and Mrs. August Thorstenson (MS 279)

  1971. Discussion of "Russian" bricks and house built thereof.

• Mr. and Mrs. Christian Grenz (MS 1017)

  1974. Many German-Russians settled in area; antiGerman sentiment in World War I.

• Mrs. Elizabeth Kessler, Mrs. Magdalen Kline, and Miss Anna Stephan (MS 1126)

  1974. Parents came to South Dakota from Russia in 1886; homesteading and farming in McPherson County.

• Nathan Kaplow (MS 1198)

  1974. Came to U.S. from Russia; life in Russia.

• Nellie May Christensen (MS 1112)

  1974. Relations with German-Russian settlers in area of Leola; anti-German sentiment in World War I.

• Paul O. Kretschmar (MS 1032)

  1974. German-Russians: separate seating in church, schooling, class system, arranged marriages, changing social mores, male-female role.

• Sara Moos (MS 774)

  1973. Story of her family's move from Sicily to Odessa, Russia, thence to South Dakota via Quebec, early 1880s.

• Solomon Bailin (MS 1189)

  1974. Personal background, came to U.S. from Russia; pogroms in Russia; opportunities in the U.S.

• South Dakota Project

  Oral history interviews, ongoing, ca. 1,970 interviews to date, with ca. 250 new interviews added each year. They cover such topics as homesteading, politics, history, agriculture, ethnic groups, the Rapid City flood and other natural disasters, and the role of women in the state. The following selected listing from published catalogues includes primarily those interviewed with a Russian-German or Russian-Jewish background. The cited Russian-related portions of the interviews may often be minimal. Tape recordings (and some transcripts) available for interviews.

• Theodore F. Straub (MS 1034)

  1974. German-Russian funerals and marriage arrangements.

• William Shapiro (MS 1368)

  1975. Personal background, early life in Russia; trip to U.S.; Jewish community in Sioux Falls.