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Zichydorf Village Association News
- ZVA -
- ZVA NEWS Volume 6, Number 1 -
September 2001 -

© copyright 2001 by ZVA and FEEFHS; all rights reserved
First Posted: 18 September 2001

ZICHYDORF VILLAGE ASSOCIATION NEWS

Volume 6, No. 2 ................................................................................... September 2001

CHURCH RECORDS FROM 1850-1945

Twenty-three people requested research in Yugoslavia through Laszlo Rudolf at one-third of his normal rate. Laszlo made three trips to complete the research, but was delayed by a computer crash. We hope to have results from him soon. We will arrange another group research at reduced rates in the future.

NEW AT THE LIBRARY AND ON THE WEB

The ZVA web site now has an index of surnames from the Georghausen history book. If your ancestors may have immigrated through New York try the Ellis Island site at http://www.Ellisislandrecords.org. Try this site posted by the author of the Georghausen history http://www.drei-doerfer-im-banat.de/englisch.htm Here is a site with a number of links to Banat info http:www.geocities.com/glogoncousins. Try the Sask. Archives site at http://www.saskarchives.com/

There are three new books in the library. See the reviews that follow.

COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE

Glenn made a presentation to the committee supervising the development of the park. It was received positively and we remain encouraged that EVENTUALLY we will be included in their plans. They have discarded the idea of four ethnically themed entrances, apparently due to an inability of various parties to agree. Also, the City of Regina is developing a policy on signage, plaques, and monuments that will have to be finalized before they approve any new projects. Once again, we continue to follow the slow progress.

RESEARCHER LIST

Please add the following people to your copy of the researcher list: Please update the following: Betty Harle postal code is S0G 1S0 John Molter email is jmolter@sk.sympatico.ca, Roberta Harris email is rjharris@farmerstel.com, Theresa Franks email is tefranks@sk.sympatico.ca, Josie Devine email is josie.jack@sk.sympatico.ca, Barry Anwender email is bjanwender@mac.com

SASKATCHEWAN CENTENNIAL BOOK PROJECT

Several people have volunteered as family group leaders for this project. We eased up on the accelerator for the summer, but will begin moving forward again in the fall. Liz Hugel has compiled a contact list for Saskatchewan local history books. We will be contacting them in the fall for permission to use already published material. Glenn still has some more media possibilities to follow up on to publicize our project. Family Group Leader volunteers should receive their information packages soon.

BOOK REVIEWS

Genocide of the Ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia is a condensed and translated version of the five volume Verbrechen an den Deutschen in Jugoslawien 1944-1948 (Crimes against the ethnic Germans in Yugoslavia 1944-1948). The German version was published by the Donauschwäbische Kulturstiftung (Danube Swabian Cultural Foundation) to document the post-war tragedy of the Donauschwaben people. It included hundreds of first-person accounts of events. The English summary, published by the Danube Swabian Association of the USA, condenses this vast collection into 130 pages of commentary and personal accounts. We have collected several books that tell the post-war stories of individuals and a few that tell the broad story of eastern Europe, but this is the first English book we have obtained that focuses on the overall Banat during and after World War II.

Particularly interesting is the insightful analysis of the politics, motivations, and actions of the Nazis, the Donauschwaben, and the Partisans. Armed with this background, the tragedy of the Donauschwaben after the defeat of Germany is quite predictable. This is an excellent analysis and description of the downfall of the Donauschwaben reinforced by many first-person accounts.

The latest addition to the library is Werschetz - Kommunale Entwicklung und deutsches Leben der Banater Wein- und Schulstadt and Erganzüngen (roughly translated: Werschetz - Community Evolution and German Life of a Banat Wine and School City & a supplement) by Helmut Frisch. This large volume is 785 pages of text, including a 40 page index of surnames, plus another 270 pages of pictures. The supplement adds 90 pages of text and 45 pages of pictures. This monumental work is very thorough, covering all aspects of life in Werschetz in great detail, from its founding right up to the NATO bombing in 1999.

It includes a very detailed Banat history. The author includes songs and poems, and backs up his text with first person accounts, contemporary newspaper accounts and analysis, and other miscellaneous sources. Based on a quick scan and my limited grasp of German, he provides a balanced account of events before, during, and after World War II, explaining the harsh treatment of the Serbs and Jews by the Nazis as well as the mistreatment of the Donauschwaben by the Partisans. Although some Zichydorfers had connections to Werschetz, most researchers will not find this pair of books very useful unless they are searching Werschetz itself. As you may have guessed from the title, these books are in German.

CD-ROM PROJECT

CD content will include pictures, family trees in GEDCOM or text format, stories, indices that we have created for the web, etc. Those who contribute a certain level of content will receive a free CD in return. Those who do not contribute will be able to buy them for a nominal fee. The only limits are our imaginations. You may submit your scanned pictures and files on disk or via email if you do not want to risk regular mail. Please scan at 240-300 dpi; greyscale; 4" or 9" wide; .tif preferred, .jpg acceptable. Include details to help differentiate people from different generations or branches with the same name: include names and maiden names, dates of birth, date and location of picture, other details of interest.

ACHTZEHNER'S ZICHYDORF HISTORY BOOK TRANSLATION

Order from Liz Hugel, 22 Dalhousie Way, Regina, SK, Canada, S4V 0A2; Phone: (306) 761-0656; Email: bhugel@cableregina.com. $32.00 CDN plus postage.

PROJECTS

Shirley & Glen Gibbard volunteered to fill in for John Hugel on the St. Mary's Church microfilms and have been plugging away at this project over the summer. So far they have extracted baptisms 1893-1905, marriages 1899-1909, and deaths 1893-1899. They hope to be done by the end of November. I hope we will be able to post the extractions on the web. John Molter is leading a project to sort the indices of Zichydorf and Georghausen householders into family groups.

Frank Dornstauder is converting a handwritten translation of a Rudolfsgnad account into digital format. Glenn Schwartz has almost finished entering the 1944 householders from Achtzehner's Zichydorf book into the database. Glenn also completed an index of surnames in the Georghausen book and had it posted to the web.

ZICHYDORF DATABASE

I now have about 15,000 names in my database. Have you sent me your family tree? I may be able to link you with others and save you a lot of work.

MEMBERSHIP AND DUES

We welcome all members, dues paying or not, for the knowledge they share with all of us. However, we hope members will voluntarily contribute to the cost of maintaining the group (web site, mailings, etc.). We suggest an annual donation of $10 to run the association's affairs plus a one-time donation of $25 CDN to the library fund. Canadian members will receive a tax receipt for the library donation from the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society. Please forward your 2001 and/or 2002 dues soon.

Paid for 2001: J. Mayer, F. Andreas, C. Ortman, K. Niedermayer, B. Petz, D. Connelly, A. Ritter, R. Borschowa, J. Devine, N. Stetner, K. Lambrecht, C. Noll, A. Roesslein, D. Halliday, B. Anwender, M. O'Brien, E. Parker, B. Daniels, J. Hayhurst, L. Grzyb, S. Kragh, V. Simaluk, M .Kainer, J. Molyneaux, J. Shenher, J. Miller, M. Rist, G. Schwartz, B. Harle, J. Molter, T. Novak, F. Dornstauder, S. Gibbard, E. Flichel, D. Fleury, S. Schultz, J. Hugel, J. Busch, F. Koenig, A. Busch, J. Rick, M. Hasenfratz, S. Herold, P, Eichhof, M. Borkan.

Paid for 2002: M. Kainer, J. Shenher, J. Miller, L. Grzyb, G. Schwartz, B. Harle, F. Dornstauder, E. Flichel, A. Busch.

REGINA BRANCH MEETING

Regina Branch will meet at 2pm on Sunday, September 23, at Access Communications (Cable Regina), 2250 Park St (north door by the ball diamonds). Mark your calendar and bring some Zichydorf friends.

Zichydorf Village Association News
edited by: Glenn Schwartz
2274 Baldwin Bay, Regina, SK, S4V 1H2
Internet: http://feefhs.org/zva/frg-zva.html
email: gschwartz@accesscomm.ca




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