Posts Tagged ‘ukraine’

This is part 4 of 6 blog posts on my grandfather’s home village of Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia (now Ukraine). Celebrations Memories of life in Hoffnungstal include much hard agricultural work. But there are also many stories of dances in the fall on the empty threshing areas with the musicians playing “zippy” dance music, the young men…

This is part 3 of 6 blog posts on my grandfather’s home village of Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia (now Ukraine). Education and the legendary teacher, Leopold Roßmann Until 1858, there was no schoolhouse or teacher in Hoffnungstal. Children attended school in a farmhouse and the teachers were those farmers who were knowledgeable in reading and writing. Once…

This is part 2 of 6 blog posts on my grandfather’s home village of Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia (now Ukraine). Prospering through agriculture The land available for farming also expanded. The village was initially granted about 14,000 acres of land. In 1897, they purchased 675 acres, and in 1899, they purchased another 1,100 acres from Countess Tolstoi.…

This is part 1 of 6 blog posts on my grandfather’s home village of Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia (now Ukraine). Founding of Hoffnungstal The village of Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia, (Nadezhdivka, Ukraine), was the last German mother colony created in Bessarabia. It was initially founded in 1842 by 25 families from the estate of Karlstal, part of the Freudental…