Active at various schools.

Wilhelm Schumacher had an extremely harsh, rough voice and used a military command tone. The pitch of his voice was affected by a metal part in or on his windpipe. It is not known whether this was the result of an operation or a war injury.

There is a tracheotomy in which a metal or silver cannula is inserted. If the metal or silver cannula is held shut, the person can speak with a very raspy voice.
Valve attachments are also available so that the cannula does not always have to be held shut. Something like this was probably already available in the 1930s. Perhaps he had a corresponding injury from the war.
Another explanation would be an injury to a nerve in the chest that supplies the larynx and vocal cords. Of course, this could also have been caused by a metal splinter. In this case, patients also have a hoarse voice.

First Spiritual Assistant at the boarding school of the Archbishop's Aloysianum in Opladen. First Spiritual Assistant at the Aloysianum boarding school means that he had the leading position among the priests who accompanied the pupils on their way through the boarding school. The assistant is supposed to review the material in the individual subjects with the pupils and is also there for spiritual guidance, such as confession and spiritual discussions.
The assistants, today also known as "repetents", often devoted themselves to their own studies.

Schumacher Wilhelm, from Cologne-Mülheim, Rhineland, professor of natural history at the Gymnasium and the French language in the 1st secondary class (1). «The number given for each professor indicates the number of years he or she has worked at the college»
In Austria and Switzerland, teachers are sometimes also called "Professor". In Germany, the title "Gymnasialprofessor" was used. The holder of the title did not have to be habilitated. At that time, the degree of "licentiate of theology" was already sufficient for ecclesiastical teaching qualifications, but this is an academic title that is rarely seen on business cards.

This was a voluntary service offered to the Bishop of Iasi (Romania). The trigger for Schumacher was an article on the Priestly Arms area in the Bukovina in the weekly "Schönerer Zukunft" published by Joseph Eberle, Vienna.

In a letter (# 386 269 Par. Ro. Cath. 52/37)
TO: St. Bonifacius Mission (St. Bonifaziuswerk) Paderborn
Crasna (Krasna) 12. Februar 1937 Datei # 10856/36W

I could not deny the request of His Excellency, the Bishop of Jasi, and went to Crasna (Krasna), where I would have wanted to serve six years ago. (See letter from Berlin to Venice.) At that time the situation in Crasna (Krasna) had become difficult. Now, when it is almost impossible, I was transferred there.

He lived in Paffendorf with his sister in the old Vikarie.

So entered in the death register of St. Pankratius, Paffendorf.
Buried in Paffendorf-Erft (DE-NW), where he worked most recently.

Pader Prof. Wilhelm Schumacher worked as a priest at the Catholic Church of St. Joseph in Krasna, Akkerman, Bessarabia from March 14, 1936 to November 1940.

Due to the isolation from the surrounding Protestant and Orthodox villages, it was difficult to introduce new knowledge of the time in Krasna. They continued with the knowledge they had brought with them from the time before 1814. Anything new had to be checked first to ensure that it would not damage the existing order. In Krasna, great importance was attached to preserving the order that had been brought with them and countless disputes were fought over this. The result was that the Protestant settlers gave up their place in Krasna in 1824 and moved to Katzbach.

The Polish-speaking group gave up their language "for the sake of peace" and adopted the German language, as they were in the minority when Krasna was founded. The Krasna dialect contains words from various parts of Europe, only Polish words, for some inexplicable reason, are not included.

By adhering to the old customs, Krasna became a purely Catholic village. After a few years, the Poles were regarded as Germans.

After the appointment of Prof. Wilhelm Schumacher as village pastor in 1936, the rethinking of the church in more modern times was given a rapid boost. It began with youth work, the expansion of the church choir, the adoption of new church hymns, the establishment of a music band and a theater group. Other clubs were founded, bringing variety to the everyday lives of the growing youth. They embraced the new opportunities with enthusiasm. The boring winter evenings were increasingly used to strengthen the village community through singing and drama. After a short time, the need for a community center was addressed. The individual groups should not always have to beg the principal when they wanted to meet to rehearse plays, practice the brass band or learn new songs. The administration was not enthusiastic about the revival of the groups, which were under the supervision of a Reich German pastor. At times, the pastor was regarded as a spy for the German Reich and was threatened with deportation on several occasions.

With the construction of "Unser Heim", the aim was to create an opportunity to organize events as they wished. The new undertakings introduced by Pastor Schumacher did not come for free. It was therefore inevitable that opponents were found who were strongly supported by the authorities. The opponents made Pastor Schumacher's work more difficult or tried to prevent it.

The attempts to prevent youth work and the construction of the home failed due to Pastor Schumacher's stubbornness. In some cases, it was only possible to push ahead with both to a limited extent and with delays. The vicar made a piece of the church garden available as a building site. This meant that the civil authorities had no way of preventing the home from being built. Schumacher put a lot of pressure on the opponents in Krasna. To change their minds, he began to clear the site for the construction of the home.

He used the boys who were willing to help so that the home could be built soon to clear the trees in the garden. Encouraged by the enthusiasm of the young people, construction began before the money was raised.

The money available was not even enough to buy the most necessary building materials. Therefore, the construction work had to be carried out by self-help.

When the home was inaugurated, a manageable amount of unpaid bills remained. With the income from the inauguration, plays, folklore evenings, a lottery, the hussar ride and collections for the home, the remaining bills were gradually paid off.

Krasna had a beautiful home for young people, which could not be used much due to harassment from above. Krasna's home was all the more envied by the surrounding villages. Pastor Schumacher wanted to lead Krasna into the modern age with many new ideas. Pastor Schumacher also had other plans: Electricity, water pipes from Tarutino, instructions for preserving meat and vegetables, etc.. In all his projects, he had to fight against the authorities and against the resistance of many from Krasna. Over the years, many of his projects were forgotten. The projects were later not talked about readily or were presented as untrue.

Krasna was well on the way to awakening from its slumber, against the will of a few.

Koblenz-Güls, 22. 02. 2010

Maximilian Riehl, *24.12.1927 in Krasna