p. 10: “The Colonization”

The main focus of the enlightened and progressive Kaiser Joseph II was on the improvement of internal conditions in his country. The high goals of his government were enlightenment of the common folk, religious tolerance, breaking the chains of slavery and freeing the immutable rights of all humankind from the fetters of the old privileged [classes]. With the sharp eye of a connoisseur he realized that agriculture, industry, and trades were the leaven for the common man’s wealth, comfort, and well-being.

The monarch personally visited Batschka and gained thereby the impression that this fertile province, laying partly fallow and poorly cultivated, could be converted into a blooming, fruitful future only through zealous, industrious, and productive hands. Also, a higher living standard for the impoverished subjects could only be achieved after having completely refreshed and inspired them by means of a  thorough reversal of their social, economic, and cultural condition. In this regard, the remaining original inhabitants should provide excellent instruction and noble example for the improvement and rebuilding of the neglected land. The Kaiser knew that such reconstruction could only be achieved through the creative genius of the West, through  tireless German industry, and by culturally enlightened men.

Apparently an experience on his trip through Southwest Germany to Paris in 1771 had a decisive effect on the execution of the Kaiser’s plans for settlements (in Batschka). The monarch became acquainted with these countries and their people on his trip. He observed their economic prosperity, their industry, their creative efficiency. In the Rheinpfalz he became acquainted with the philosophy that agriculture is the source of well-being for a people. These experiences made a deep impression on the Kaiser. Therefore he decided to settle only aspiring farmers and accomplished tradesmen in his poorly managed lands. The men of France, Württemberg, Hessen, Baden, Elsaß-Lothringen, and the Rheinpfalz seemed to be the best candidates for this great pioneering work.

The colonization was thoroughly prepared, well organized, and followed through with intelligent conscientiousness. The Kaiser himself stood at the head of the great work and kept an eye on every detail. At his side stood eager officials...

All the while, in the Batschka, borders were measured, inhabitants counted, and horse carts branded, laying the foundation for the colonization. Preparations for transportation, places for gathering and passing through, necessary sheltering. lodging, feeding, nursing, and financing of the settlers were put in place. In the meantime Joseph II sent the following patent of colonization to the peoples of the above mentioned countries:

“We, Joseph the Second, by the Grace of God Chosen Roman Emperor, at all times Perpetual Enlarger of the Empire, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Galicia, Volhynia and so forth, do hereby notify every man that We own in our kingdoms of Hungary, Galicia, and Volhynia much unoccupied, empty, and desolate land which We propose to colonize with German members of the Empire, especially those from the Upper Rhein District.

“To this end We promise by Our Connate Imperial and Royal Parole (Word of Honor) to every family of the Empire which migrates to us, among whom we need many thousand husbandmen (farmers):

“1) to provide most absolutely an entirely complete, unrestricted freedom of conscience and religion, including also each religious faction along with necessary clerics, teachers and everything appertaining thereto,

“2) to furnish each and every family with a proper, new house, as spacious as is customary in that country, along with a garden.

“3) to present the husbandmen (farmers) with the acreage necessary for each family, consisting of good acres and meadows, along with the most necessary draft animals and breeding cattle, as well as tools and equipment necessary to field and household.

“4) The tradesmen and day-laborers, on the other hand, may look forward to the furnishings necessary to their own domestic economy, while the tradesmen will additionally be issued 50 Rhein Gulden in cash for the acquisition of the tools of their trade.

“5) The oldest son in each family is, and will remain, free from the military draft.

“6) Each family will receive free transportation from Vienna (Wien) to  (their assigned) location for colonization, for which the necessary travel money will be distributed; after which, maintenance (and support) will continue until the family is able to feed itself. However, even after this period of support, should a family through no fault of its own, fall into misfortune,  they will be aided with up to three more years’ assistance.

“7) Hospitals will be established in order to attentively and without cost restore, as quickly as possible, new-comers, who during the trip or because of changes in the climate, or for sundry other reasons might become ill,  to their former robust health.

“8) Finally, to these Imperial immigrants, from the day of their settlement on, will be secured for a full ten years freedom from all land-taxes and sovereign taxes, tributes, duties, and impost, as well as the privileges to hold title, and to be entirely free (Bürger), and shall remain so. However, after the course of the aforesaid ten years they will be required to pay what is normally due in tax assessments, which are also customary to other inhabitants of the country.

“Which Resolve and Expression of My Will and Pleasure We, for the sake of truth, in witness thereof, endorse this document with our affixed Imperial Seal as stated:  (Signed: Joseph II) Vienna, 21 September 1782.”

Such propitious terms for colonization were considered sensational by those enthusiastic about emigrating. Printed on handbills, they circulated into the countries. Recruiters were sent out and extolled the promises for colonizing in small and large gatherings and convinced any willing person from village or city to emigrate. A feverish desire to “emigrate and undertake” gripped freedom-loving men when it came to moving to a new and promising land. Towns and villages, even whole districts, became agitated such that the ruling princes, fearing the loss of their serfs, vetoed the offer and suppressed the mass emigration with military force. Nevertheless, many thousands emigrated to the East,  to establish themselves a homeland among strange folk and those who had different religious beliefs.

It was, indeed, the over-population, vassalage, the lack of work, the social misery, religious tensions, and at the same time, the political uncertainty in consequence of the wars of succession among the various countries’ princes, which caused the Rheinpfälzer, Schwaben, and Franken to leave their beautiful homelands on the banks of the Mosel, the Rhein, the Mains, and the Neckar and to emigrate into the (at that time) poor Batchka.

Note: These editors were also not aware of the horrendous weather suffered throughout Germany just prior to Kaiser Joseph’s offer.
Economic ruin and starvation still haunted the immediate memory of the families in the target regions.

 In that regard they wanted to live on their own piece of sod as free men. Thus, for them, no risk was too great. With documents from their parish office and discharge papers, they presented themselves at the offices of the Emigration Commissioners in Frankfurt-am-Main, in Koblenz, and in Rothenburg am Neckar, where the inspection took place. The unfit were sent back. The able received a safe conduct pass to Vienna and set out on the difficult colonization journey that lasted from six to seven weeks. In spite of that, many families and individuals left their homeland illegally in order to emigrate. Once they had left the province of their sovereign they were materially abetted in their intent by the Imperial agents.

The  travelers went overland by foot or with wagons to Ulm am Donau. Burdened with only their most necessary possessions, they climbed aboard the “Ulmer Schachteln” (wagons that looked like bandboxes) and rode to Vienna where their name, origin, age, religion, occupation and cash assets were recorded in the registry of immigrant settlers. After the registration they were issued a passport and 2 Gulden travel money for each person. They then embarked on ships to Ofen where they  received yet another Gulden travel money. They disembarked at Apatin. From there they traveled sometimes on foot, sometimes in rented conveyances to the provisional lodging place.

During the long ships passage and in the transit accommodations one found laughing and weeping, happiness and sadness, health and illness, hope and despair, striving for peace and belligerence, praying and cursing, procreativity and dying, all mixed in together because of their shared circumstance. The Imperial colonists were disheartened because of the exhausting trip, the privations, and that which they experienced during the trip. Complaints and doubts, disputes and hopelessness gripped the cowardly. Overcome with homesickness, they wailed for their beloved, precious homeland. Others were convinced that they would not survive the trip, so exhausted were they.

The first Tscherwenka immigrants arrived in Batchka in late summer, 1784. They found quarters for the coming winter in Apatin, Hodschag, Prigl. - Sentivan, and in other villages. Many of them made their home in the cemeteries and never saw their journeys destination.

The majority of the settlers arrived in the year 1785. The families halted in neighboring villages awaiting the completion of their own new  homes. Those able to work, of both sexes, participated in the construction of the village.

The surveying and planning of the colony was entrusted to Engineer Joseph von Kiss, Director of the offices of Finance, Colonies, and Construction. Tscherwenka was laid out on the plain south of the Teletschka River, midway between the Hanfwasser River  and Breemertal. The plans for the place show a symmetrical chess board-like village of streets with five long streets running parallel from east to west and crossing five opposing streets running from south to north. The main street was 45 meters and the other streets were 25 meters wide. The long streets were 2 km. and the cross streets 1-1/2 km. long. Surrounding the settlement lay the animal pasturage and the  treading places for threshing grain. Once the village was measured out and the streets, house lots, and gardens designated, construction  got underway in the Spring of 1785.

The house lots were 15 Klaften (1 Klafter = 1.90 meters) wide and 50 Klafter long. The number of homes needed was approximately 500. The homes, constructed of stamped loam or mud,  were according to regulation: 11 Klafter long, 3 Klafter wide, and 8 feet high. The arrangement of the house was simple but purposeful: facing the street was a room with a window overlooking the street and another overlooking the yard. Then followed the kitchen, through which one entered a room to which was attached a bedroom and an outhouse, all under one roof. The draughts for smoke were fashioned of brick and tile,  the floors were loam (mud), the ceilings in the rooms were wooden, and the walls were whitewashed with lime. The construction of a house cost the rounded sum of 200 Gulden. The building timber, the boards, and the lattice came out of the forests of the Karpathians, the lime from Cerevic in Syrmien, and the reeds were harvested from the Donau tributaries which watered the meadows. Every ten houses had a collective draw-well (bucket-well) on the street. The settlement of a family cost the State about 500 Gulden.

The end of August 1785 when the collective houses of the colonists were livable in the interiors, the settlers moved in, provided with the implements necessary to household and  trade as signified in the colonization patent.

The village was surrounded by a jungle of sedge, bulrushes, bent grass, and water grasses in which gnats and other tormentors had their breeding grounds. The frogs gave their concerts during the summer. On the brown steppe of the Teletschka river thrived hedges, thorns, and thistles, and, in the valleys, succulent willows.
 

In the beginning, because the settlers were not used to the muggy, damp, malarial climate and the completely new lifestyle, numerous fatal illnesses set in. In order to prevent this evil, the Finance Ministry erected a hospital at the end of the 5th street in which a doctor tenderly ministered to the sick.

At the beginning of the settlement came still another disastrous plague.  A year of unending, truly torrential rains poured down upon the colony preoccupied with construction. The fields, meadows, streets, construction sites, and gardens were flooded with ground water. The water was standing even in the dwellings and outhouses.  Demonically, maliciously, destructively and relentlessly it maintained its might. The water drowned rooms, meadows, and gardens, caused  house walls to collapse, peevishly overflowed the village, the fields, and poisoned the springs (wells). The wind blew malarial, foul odors with disease spores into the village from the “Wasserdell” (slough) and the sea water swamp.

“The groundwater is poisoning our lives,” complained the colonists. Food was scarce as a consequence of the poor harvest. The discouraged and dissatisfied lamented, plagued by homesickness. Also in the years 1786 and 1787 the groundwater continued to inflict immeasurable damage.

The industrious, aspiring, tenacious, willing colonial pioneers remained in spite of all catastrophes, true and steadfast at their difficult posts, The new homeland must be sternly acquired in spite of all the maliciousness of nature. Nothing was spared the settlers, nothing gifted to them. God didn’t protect the settlers’ forefathers  from misery, so they would rely on Him, not expecting privilege. With unrelenting tenacity, with an indomitable will to establish themselves, and with an admirable  willingness to sacrifice, they continued the fight for their existence. Only a few cowardly, disappointed, and desperate left the young colony in order to try their luck elsewhere. None of the good-timers, the lazy, the ne’er-do-wells, the shirkers, and adventurers remained. The Lord of this World sifted the colonists. He who wanted to survive had to work hard and steady, resigned to privation and hardship. In the heart of the faithful burned the belief that “With God’s help better times will come!”

Pages 69:

The many deaths which occurred during  the first years of colonization serve as proof that the colonists were not able to quickly accustom themselves to the damp, humid climate and to the many privations in their living circumstances. From the 4th of May 1785 until the end of December - therefore within eight months - 253 deaths were registered. If one deducts the 15 deaths in the months of May, June, and July when most of the settlers were being housed in neighboring locations, one still tallies a total of 238 deaths during the last five months of the year 1785. During the month of October 1785 death claimed 80 colonists.

In 1786 183 settlers were succumbed to death; a year later 85. In the year 1788 fifty one deaths occurred.
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When, in the year 1795 the ten years of freedom from taxation had expired, the Tscherwenker were supposed to pay the prescribed taxes in kind. However, they were unable and unwilling to do so. The settlers had suffered  much damage to their fields through natural disasters. Loss of crops was the result. They scarcely harvested sufficient food for their own use and feed for the livestock. Therefore they refused to give up the “Tenth”, that is, every seventh portion of all crops and animals, to the state. Repeated dunning and exhortation had no affect. Uproar, bloody demonstrations, and arrests were the consequences of the revolt. The village was occupied by armed military forces. The colonists’ slumbering reserve of strength awakened to renewed effort and increased productivity so that they soon were able to pay the requisite taxes.

p. 81: For the Tscherwnker  it was a splendid holiday when the monarch came to visit. On the 7th of December 1786 Joseph II visited Tscherwenka, to observe for himself the progress being made by the colonists.

Joseph II, the great friend and champion of agriculture invited into his land efficient farmers, who should promote a purposeful agriculture and supportable cattle breeding. Of the 515 families settled in Tscherwenka, 351 were “Bauern”, but not farmers in today’s sense.

There were only a few genuinely vocational farmers among the colonists whose immigration should have meant a great economic improvement for the community and its environs.  Since farmers were especially favored in the Colonization Patent, most of the immigrants represented themselves as farmers. Actually the designation was not entirely accurate. After the colonization registrations in Vienna and Ofen many immigrants began to declare two,  many even three and four vocations. Thus, for instance,  Bauer and Shoemaker, Bauer and Smithy, Bauer and Stocking Weaver, Bauer and Dyer; but also Bauer, Weaver and Miller; Bauer, Master Teacher and Accountant; Bauer, Carpenter, Cabinet-maker, and Veterinarian, and so forth. Each of these settlers was certainly only a Half-Bauer, who may have helped in field work back in the old homeland, or may have occasionally  wielded a plow, but for all that could still not be characterized as a genuine Bauer. Certainly not very many could claim to have been raised in a farmhouse, nor to have aided in agricultural fieldwork from childhood on. They had themselves no farming establishment, only a small field, a small acre and tiny meadow or perhaps no land at all. Some of them had indeed worked at a farming establishment over summer and pursued a trade during the winter. Really, only those  men who signified themselves as solely “Bauer”, without any other occupation, in the chancery lists which postdate the immigration protocols, can be characterized as “Genuine Farmers”.
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Note: The film  went on to talk about the difficulties experienced by the tradesmen who immigrated to the Imperial lands. Their only customers in the undeveloped villages were the other immigrants, most of whom had no means to purchase ready-made goods and services, but had to “make-do” on their own. And the trades people were not issued tracts of fields and meadows on which to practice farming, but were issued homes in the village and a cash allotment for the acquisition of tools fro their trade. They had garden space and room for the cow that was also provided, but suffered great economic hardship.

The book also talks about the settlers not having a church building for 3 - 4 years and worshipping out in the open. A very comforting and inspiring sermon is quoted as well. There’s also a section on the establishment of a school and what it was like to seek an education in Tscherwenka.

There was quite a lengthy section on “neighborliness”. The colonists suffered much and it became a cardinal principle that aide and sustenance was to be afforded one’s neighbors no matter where they were located in the village, without regard for one’s own circumstances, and with no hesitation if the needy family or person was not considered a friend. Not that friendships didn’t develop - they ran deep and long - but the survival of the community depended on trust and reliance on one’s fellow colonists.