Germans from Russia

For many years, McCook's annual celebration, now referred to as Heritage Days was known as German Heritage Days, and was instigated by descendants of some of the early settlers in our area.

The celebration probably should have been known as Germans from Russia Heritage Days, and Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia, should have been named the patron saint of the festival. The journey of these people (the Harshes, the Kleins, the Uhrichs, the Klugs, the Leibbrandts, the Wackers, the Fritzes, the Troesters, the Ackermans, and the other German families who have played such an important part in the history of our community and state) from Germany to Russia and eventually to the United States is a fascinating story.

After Peter the Great, the very strong Czar of Russia, died, his son, Peter, inherited the throne. Son, Peter, was a weak ruler. His wife, Catherine II (1729-1796), a German Princess, was anything but weak, and in a very short time she assumed the power of the throne, and eventually had her husband murdered.

Catherine was progressive and promoted education and improved trade conditions for the merchants. She conquered Poland, drove the Turks away from the Black Sea, and the Mongolians away from the Volga River. But she recognized very early in her reign that she had problems, for example:

Russia had large areas of land, which were not being farmed.

Russia needed expertise from other European countries to advance Catherine's reforms.

Catherine needed buffer zones around the Black Sea and the Volga to keep the Turks and the Mongolian hordes from retaking their territory.

She felt that she could accomplish all these goals in one fell swoop. In 1763, Catherine issued the Catherine II Manifesto, which invited people from all the countries of Europe to immigrate to Russia.

Among other things, the Manifesto promised

1. Guaranteed freedom of religion

2. That settlers would pay no taxes

3. Settlers would be exempt from military service

4. Lands would be given to colonies of settlers "for eternal time."

5. Colonists could buy land and hold property

6. Land could be passed down to heirs

7. Colonists would be free to leave at any time.

Although there were eventually some settlers from most of the European countries, Catherine sent out agents to recruit heavily in Germany. They were successful for four reasons;

The Germans were being oppressed, not only by foreign powers, but by local princes, who were often harsh and unjust.

Germans were being pressed into military service at home and for foreign powers.

Germany was undergoing a period of heavy taxes, crop failure and scarcity of land to farm.

Religious freedom was being curtailed in Germany.

Eventually more than 1,700,000 Germans, 73 percent Lutheran, settled in Russia, mostly along the Volga River and along the Black Sea. Most of these settlers were farmers.

At first, times were hard, but Catherine kept her promise to help, and as the 19th century went on, the German farmers proved their worth. With hard work, rotation of crops, and introduction of new crops, the settlements flourished. For 100 years, the German settlements in Russia lived apart from the Russian population. They engaged in commerce, but paid no taxes, spoke their own language, married within the German community, and practiced their own religion.

By 1871 the Germans, although a minority, were regarded as a dangerous economic and political threat and the freedoms, which Catherine had promised, were systematically taken away.

About this time, the United States Congress introduced the Homestead Act, which was designed to open up the Midwest for extensive settlement. This act attracted a great many of the Germans in Russia. A great emigration movement began which continued until the beginning of World War II.

The Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas became home for many of these Germans. The Volga Germans were the developers of the sugar beet industry in Colorado.

The Germans who remained in Russia between the World War I and World War II suffered greatly. The German language was forbidden in the schools, in the press, and in church. The Germans were forbidden to acquire land. Germans near the western border were sent to Siberia. Stalin began a ruthless confiscation of crops and livestock. Reserve stores of grain were taken by force and there was widespread famine. German men were banished or killed.

When Hitler invaded Russia during World War II he counted on the large population of Germans to come to his aid. They did not. Speculation has it that the German families were so decimated that aid was not possible. However, to decide between Hitler and Stalin could not have been a very attractive choice.

For the immigrants coming to Nebraska, Lincoln was the starting point. Lincoln, in the early days of the 20th century was almost 40 percent German, most of those arriving from Russia. From Lincoln the Immigrants followed the RR west. All the towns along the Burlington have heavy German populations, Sutton, Hastings, McCook, Benkleman.

Most of these families were farmers, though after arriving many took jobs on the railroad.

To follow just one family -- in the early 1890s Jacob and Anna Klein, the grandparents of Richard and Don Klein and Nadine Friehe, arrived in the United States with two small daughters.

Soon after their arrival the little girls died of Diphtheria. Mr. and Mrs. Klein first settled in Culbertson, where Jacob worked for George Wacker for four years. In 1896, they resettled in McCook, on South Street, which was the home of many of the railroaders. It was here that they started their second family. The street past Terry's Auto Shop was once called Pretzel Street because of the many German residents. Many of the other Germans from Russia lived on West Third and Fourth Streets, near their home church (Westside Congregational), and the Westside School.

The Germans from Russia were serious-minded immigrants and from the beginning they set out to build a community. They worked hard, whether that work was farming, the railroad, or business. They supported the schools. They founded churches; Trinity (School Creek), St. Johns (Ash Creek), White, Peace, Westside Congregational (McCook), St. Johns (Culbertson), Zion (Imperial), to mention but a few.

The Germans from Russia in Nebraska were primarily Protestant. In Kansas and North Dakota there were more Catholics.

Jacob became a carpenter for the railroad, a position he held for the rest of his life. In McCook, the Kleins had 12 children, each with a biblical name. Mr. Klein was a strict moralist. He monitored the City council closely and led the fight against houses of prostitution, which were in abundance at the time. Like the rest of the Germans from Russia, the Kleins were hard workers. They were frugal, and they prospered. Of the boys who stayed in McCook, Jake, was the builder of many homes and business buildings in town. Sam built a number of the motels in town. Ben was the founder of Klein's Motor & Electric.

At every turn, in McCook, we see evidence of the work these immigrants have done in our community and we say thanks. Unlike their experience in Russia, these Germans have not isolated themselves from the community at large.

They have become an integral part of the United States, and of McCook, and we are proud to count them as good neighbors and friends.