Project keeps memories alive: Prairie Public will air oral history tales of Germans from Russia

By Bob Lind, Neighbors Column

The Forum, Fargo, North Dakota, April 22, 2007, page B10

Marvin Fiechtner, Wishek, N.D., remembers that day well: the day he and his siblings were told by their mother to quit playing in the yard and get into the house.

I said, Why?, and she said, Well, look over there, Marvin says, and here they were coming: grasshoppers, in the Dirty 30s, coming, Marvin says, like a big cloud. They shut off the sun. They would devour our crop in a matter of hours.

These recollections of Marvin and of about 150 others are on permanent record now, thanks to the Dakota Memories Oral History Project.

Jessica Clark is the Coordinator of the Oral History Project, and her husband, Will, is the videographer.

The project, sponsored by Prairie Public Broadcasting, the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection at North Dakota State University, the NDSU Libraries and the North Dakota Humanities Council, gathers such memories as those of Alice (Miller) Buck, Streeter, N.D., who says, The scariest thing was the prairie fire.

We were still in school that day, Alice says, and we saw a big cloud of smoke to the south of our farms and our school.

I remember them hitching the horse to the plow and plowing the fire break around the farm, and I remember them getting singed from the flames.

Canada, too

Jessicas teams have interviewed people in many North Dakota communities: Knox, Venturia, Gackle, Strasburg, others.

Thanks to a grant from the Canadian embassy, theyve also done interviews in Saskatchewan.

The interviews are videotaped and digitally recorded.

Because much has already been done on first generation Germans from Russia, the teams are concentrating on second and third generations, leading them to such memories as those of Marvin Hartmann, Fargo.

In the early years in the 30s, Marvin says, even as a child I remember the whistling wind and the dirt blowing and all that. It was kinda bleak and the roads werent good, (but) I didnt concern myself with those hardships.

The smell of earth alfalfa fields lilac blossoms in the spring, its just, you know, beautiful.

Our neighbors lived about a mile away and sometimes in the evening when things quieted down we could hear them talking in their yard.

A lot of fun

The videographer on Jessicas team is somebody special: her husband, Will Clark.

Jessica is from Washington state and Will is from Utah. Both are in graduate programs at NDSU, Will in zoology, Jessica in history.

Jessica, although not of German descent, bubbles with enthusiasm over the project because she is fascinated by German history; her masters degree thesis focused on a part of it.

Besides, she says, I love to talk to people; I love dealing with memories; this is just a lot of fun.

Long ride

Prairie Public Radio will carry the recorded narratives this summer, with the specific dates to be announced.

Meanwhile, the teams will be conducting interviews in four North Dakota areas: Devils Lake/Rugby, Richardton/Dickinson, Bismarck/Mandan and Edgeley/Fredonia. Eventually they hope to conduct interviews in other states and provinces, also.

Jessica is always seeking more people to interview. If youre of Germans-from-Russia descent and are open to this, call her at (701) 231-8419 or e-mail her at Jessica.Clark@NDSU.edu.

Maybe youll have a story such this, given to the teams by Adam Boschee, West Fargo:

I think it was my brother Clarence, he had this John Deere tractor and here again Im not very big, and he said, Now you take this tractor here and I will put it in gear for you and you drive it home and when we get home, you just pull the clutch out and stop.

Well, those little tractors at that time had the clutch with the lever and didnt have the foot flops. So I drove it home and I got onto the yard and I pulled the clutch out and it wouldnt. It got stuck.

I think I drove around that yard for about three or four hours before I finally wedged my feet up and put both hands up and I got it to pop.

If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, N.D. 58107; fax it to 241-5487; or e-mail blind@forumcomm.com.

Alice (Miller) Buck, treated the clarks to a few songs on the accordion during her interview for the Dakota Memories Oral History Project.	Adam Boschee, in dark suit poses with his family in 1953.	Marvin Hartmann, right, remembers that his mother made him go to town and buy a new suit. The suit he purchased however is too large and really uncomfortable. He couldn't wait to change his clothes.

Printed with permission of The Forum, Fargo, North Dakota.