HISTORICAL RESCUE OF ROMANIAN FAMILIES: KUNZ

By MATIAS KUNZ and MARIA HARSCHE

DREAMS THAT CROSSED THE ATLANTIC

MATIAS AND MARIA KUNZ - THE DREAMERS

They arrived from overseas, crossed the Atlantic, bringing hope and a new brightness in their eyes, to sow the ground for the harvests of the future and thus, transcend immigration.
Matias and Maria Kunz, my maternal grandparents, came with their hands ready to sow in the bountiful land, and in their arms, two little children Clementina and Rufina, the latter my mother.
They left beyond the sea only the memories, whose longing formed wrinkles on their faces, which time never erased.
In the midst of a dense jungle, they sowed the land, with their firm and strong hands, they traded difficulties with joys and conquests, showing on their countenances a handful of tenderness.
A wide horizon opened up, the integration of the peoples for the colonization was evident, and the construction of the communities started, from the immigrants' shed cradle. The Romanians integrated the peoples of the colonization of the Far West of Santa Catarina.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Matias Kunz is the son of Cristoforus Kuntz and Juliana Kaal. He was born in Krasna, Akkermann, Bessarabia, Romania on 16-08-1901, baptized on 17-08-1901, in the Sto Josef Catholic Church in Krasna, (image 3), where his marriage and the baptism of his daughters Clementina and Rufina also took place.
Maria, born Harsche, daughter of Filipp Harsche and Mariana Bonjakowsky. She was also born in Krasna on February 9, 1903, and baptized on the same day.
The marriage took place on 20-11-1924 and their first child, Aunt Clementina was born on 30-09-1925 and the second, being my mother, was born on 09-02-1928.

THE IMMIGRATION

As registered on Passport # 63629, released and stamped in Bucharest, Romania on March 1, 1930, the long trip to America began. The embarkation took place at the Port of Hamburg in Germany, on the steamship called CAPITANO NORTE and the disembarkation took place at the Port of Rio Grande in Rio Grande do Sul, with the visa stamped and signed by the U.S. Consulate of Brazil on March 29, 1930.

THE INTERNAL IMMIGRATION

After landing, the family moved by train to the city of Santa Bárbara do Sul, RS. From there they headed to SC, attracted by the Porto Feliz (Mondai) colonizing company. Aunt Clementina told in her conversations in the smallest details, that in Porto Feliz, they disembarked at the ravine of the Uruguay River, the grandfather carrying on his back a few bundles and the grandmother carrying the two little girls and being pregnant with her third child. Aunt Maria was born. Due to the difficulty of survival and work, out of necessity, grandfather Matias became the first shoemaker in Porto Feliz. After a brief period, they moved to the city of Porto Novo (Itapiranga), due to work, religion, and education. The grandfather continued with his activities in the shoemaking shop and the grandmother with the household chores, and the daughters, helping in the housework and going to school in Itapiranga.
Later, due to financial difficulties, they migrated once more. This time, to the interior, in the Ipê Popi line, where, with hard work, they managed to acquire their little piece of land, although it was very mountainous, but now in the condition of a dream come true. There they built their first property, their first wooden house, shed, stable, in short, all the necessary improvements for the development of agricultural activities.

THE FAMILY

Matias and Maria Kunz raised their family in the community of Popi, with intense community, religious, social and educational participation. Thus, they had 9 children:

• Clementina married to Jorge Muller (both in memoriam)
• Rufina married to Nicodemus Muller
• Maria married José Kessler (both in memoriam)
• Hilda married Claudio Ely (both in memoriam)
• Aloísio married Celita Flach (both in memoriam)
• Olga married Mario Flach (Mario in memoriam)
• Rosa Religious Sister of Divine Providence
• Tereza married Silverio Flach (both in memoriam)
• Tarcísio married Inez Kummer.

THE LIFE OF MATIAS AND MARIA KUNZ

The grandparents left us a great legacy of faith, tenderness and perseverance, always gentle, delicate and affectionate. The grandfather, very playful and humorous, told us the stories he lived in Bessarabia. The grandmother, more focused on the kitchen activities, making delicious sponge cakes and cookies.
On the property they built two houses. The last one impressed us a lot, we knew it as the YELLOW HOUSE. As they got older and with the limitations that their age imposed on them, they could no longer live alone. They sold the property and moved in with their children. First with daughter Rufina and son-in-law Nicodemus, in our house. Later on, at the property of daughter Clementina and son-in-law Jorge. And, for the last time they moved, this time to Tunápolis, at Aunt Olga and son-in-law Mario's house, where they stayed until the end of their lives.
By this time they had already lost their daughters Maria and Tereza.
Grandfather Matias died on June 8, 1995, at the hospital of Tunápolis, and was buried at the same city's cemetery. He reached the age of 94.
Grandma died at her home with her dearest caregiver, Aunt Olga, on October 3, 1998, at the age of 95, and was buried with Grandpa Matias.
Soon after Grandma's death, we also lost Uncle Aloisio, Aunt Hilda in 2011, and in 2019 Aunt Clementina.

THE RELEVANT FACTS OF THE GRANDPARENTS' LIVES

The grandparents performed the weddings of all their children in the Popi community. They were blessed with the ordination of their daughter Rosa as a Religious Sister. The children were involved in agricultural activities, except for Uncle Tarcísio, who became involved in educational activities in São João do Oeste, which had already begun in the Popi community.
The grandparents managed to celebrate several wedding anniversaries: 50 years of marriage - Golden Anniversary; 60 years of marriage - Diamond Anniversary; 65 years of marriage - Platinum Anniversary; 70 years of marriage - Wine Anniversary; always surrounded by many relatives and descendants.
The grandparents were the only living couple as immigrant parents in the act of founding the Association of Romanian Bessarabians of the Far West of SC, being honorary founding members, in memoriam.
Currently, 04 children are still alive among us: my mother Rufina, aunt Olga, aunt Rosa and uncle Tarcisio.

GRATITUDE

Dear grandparents Matias and Maria, we are eternally grateful for your existence and for so many teachings.
Dear uncles and mother, we are grateful for being our light, our horizon.
Dear cousins, we are grateful for being a numerous and warrior family, gifts that we inherited through the generations.
Finally... thanks to all the uncles, aunts, cousins who got involved in this story and were kind enough to share photos from the family archive, so that our story became more intense.

Gratitude to all
Florentina Muller Gruhlke
24.10.2022