The scouts in Dobruja

We know that, due to the high birth rate, arable land became scarce in Krasna from around 1850. Due to this scarcity of land, the abolition of privileges for colonists and the subsequent Russification policy¹, Krasna residents also sought land abroad. A strip of land that was not too far away from the home town, offered open spaces and where people from Krasna's neighborhood had already found what they were looking for: the Dobrudja².

The Dobruja region today: yellow in Bulgaria, orange in Romania.

Dobruja is a historical landscape in south-eastern Europe between the Danube and the Black Sea (Danube delta with steppe areas bordering on both sides).
The German colonies in Dobruja are not the result of targeted state measures, but of a disorderly influx, primarily from Bessarabia and the Odessa region.

They had also heard in Krasna that there was enough land available across the Danube in the then still Turkish Dobruja. As a result, in February 1876, four Krasna farmers traveled across the frozen Danube to Malcoci to speak to Pasha Soleiman Bey in Tulcea.

They were:

• Sebastian Kreis,
• Karl Müller (Christians Karl),
• August Söhn and
• Karl Ternes.

The data of the four scouts

• Sebastian KREIS * 4.07.1855 Krasna, † 28.05.1940 Karamurat
  ⚭ Rosina SÖHN * 27.07.1857 Krasna, † 1896 Karamurat,
  
• Karl MÜLLER * 1844 Krasna, † 17.10.1923 Karamurat
  ⚭ Marianna TERNES * 1848 Krasna, † 24.09.1927 Karamurat,
  
• Augustin SÖHN * 07.01.1833 Krasna, † 1912 Karamurat
  ⚭ Margaretha MÜLLER * 12.03.1839 Krasna, † Mär. 1916 Karamurat
• Karl TERNES * 24.07.1856 Krasna, † 10.01.1940 Karamurat,
  ⚭ Theresia MÜLLER * 10.03.1864 Krasna, † 09.11.1934 Karamurat

The scouts' negotiations with Pasha Soleiman Bey in Tulcea

Through the mediation of the mayor of Malkotsch, the four Krasna peasants were received by the Pasha and were able to present their case. The Pashalik approved the immigration of the German colonists, on the condition that they did not settle in the north of Dobruja (for fear that settlers might work into the hands of Russians). Otherwise, they were allowed to settle in any village in central Dobruja. They were promised as much land as they could cultivate.
With this message, the four farmers returned to Krasna.

The emigration to Dobruja in 1876

Due to the positive reports of the four scouts, around thirty Krasna families left their home town in May 1876 and moved to Dobruja with all their belongings.
Among them were conscripts who had been subject to general conscription since 1873 and who could expect to be called up in the following years.
Michael Ternes (*11.1854) from Krasna was one of the first recruits who should have become a Russian soldier after the expiry of the charter from Emperor Alexander I of Russia. The recruits of his year - there were seven of them - decided to emigrate rather than serve the Russians as soldiers for five years.

The four scouts also went to Dobruja themselves, all of them lived in Karamurat.

These thirty families tried to settle in various places between 1876 and 1878. The Turkish village of Kara-Murat³, a large Tartar village, was of great interest to many.
However, the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 forced Tatars and migrating Germans to flee. But seven families remained in Karamurat; they were the families:

1. Christian Fenrich,
2. Sebastian Kreis,
3. Johannes Müller,
4. Josef Müller,
5. David Ruscheinski,
6. Johannes Ruscheinski and
7. August Söhn.

The other families went to Malkotsch, Caraibil, Taschaul, Fachri and Kodschalie.

After peace was concluded in 1878, the villages slowly continued to rebuild where they had been interrupted by the war. Many families who had previously lived in the surrounding villages reunited in Karamurat, and so 1878 is regarded as the year in which the local Catholic parish was founded.

The following families, among others, were added to the seven mentioned:

1. Peter Arnold,
2. Thomas Gedack,
3. Kaspar Götz,
4. Michael Götz,
5. Josef Kuhn,
6. Matthias Müller,
7. Thomas Müller,
8. Martin Politzki,
9. Mathias Ternes and
10. Michael Ternes.

When word spread in Krasna that the emigrants had found favorable settlement conditions, a few more families followed in 1878 and later (exact numbers are not available).
There was no shortage of free land, and the Romanian government was also quite generous in surveying until 1883-1884. However, those who arrived after 1884 did not receive any more land. If they did not find the opportunity to buy, they had to rely on leased land.

The year 1878 was not only the founding year of Karamurat, but also the year in which Dobruja fell to Russia in accordance with the Peace of San Stefano and then to Romania through an exchange with southern Bessarabia.
Under Turkish rule, the German school, church and community system had been able to develop relatively freely. This changed under the new Romanian rulers; exemption from military service was also abolished.

In 1884, around 50 German families were already living in Karamurat, the main village of the Krasna people in Dobruja. In the following years, settlers from Krasna kept coming to the village. In 1890, there were already 130 families with 720 people.
Krasnians also went to other places in Dobruja. From the first settlements, they spread not only to the six purely Catholic villages, but also to others. The Krasna local family register lists people with Krasna roots who lived at least temporarily in various places.

The known emigrants from Krasna to Dobrudja are listed in the following list: Emigration from Krasna, website in Krasna Photo Collection
The close connection between these colonists and Krasna remained.

You can read their story at Florian Müller: "OSTDEUTSCHES SCHICKSAL AM SCHWARZEN MEER, 1840-1940; Dr Johannes Florian Müller, 1981"

Further sources (excerpt):

• HEIMATBUCH DER DOBRUDSCHA-DEUTSCHEN 1840-1940; Albert & Gerlinde Stiller; 1986,
• Die deutsch-katholischen Dörfer in der Dobrudscha Von Prälat Prof. Dr. Hieronymus Menges , erschienen im Jahrbuch 1972 der Dobrudscha-Deutschen, Seite 143
• Petri, Hans 1956: Geschichte der deutschen Siedlungen in der Dobrudscha. Hundert Jahre deutschen Lebens am Schwarzen Meere. München (= Veröffentlichungen des Südostdeutschen Kulturwerks. Reihe B - Wissenschaftliche Arbeiten, 4).
• Traeger, Paul 1922: Die Deutschen in der Dobrudscha. Zugleich ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der deutschen Wanderungen in Osteuropa. Stuttgart (= Schriften des Deutschen Auslands-Instituts Stuttgart. A. Kulturhistorische Reihe, 6).

Eduard Volk
Neuwied, Oktober 2024
Eduard's ancestor is Klemens VOLK

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1. In 1871, the government abolished land allotments and tax exemptions for foreign colonists. In 1873, compulsory military service also became obligatory for German farmers' sons.
2. Träger writes in "Die Deutschen in der Dobrudscha": "In the summer of 1872, emissaries from the Bessarabian colonies visited Dobruja in search of suitable land."
3. Located northwest of Constanta, the town, which is now called Mihail Kogälniceanu, has recently become known primarily as an airport and NATO base.