Germans From Russia Just another NDSU Library weblog

Recently I received an email Silvana Rizzo of Padova, Italy. She was inquiring about the use of photographs of Bishop Dr. Alexander Frison, which appear at the GRHC website. Ms. Rizzo works with the German language magazine, Sendbote des heiligen Antonius, published in Italy. An article about the life of Bishop Frison will be published in the January, 2008 issue of this magazine.

Bishop Dr. Alexander Frison, was Apostolic Administrator of Odessa, born on May 5, 1875 at Baden, near Odessa, Ukraine.

The following information about Bishop Alexander Frison translated from German to English is taken from the 2003 calendar of the Historical Research Society of Germans from Russia (Historischer Forschungsverein der Deutschen aus Russland e.V.,) www.hfdr.de

“Alexander Frison was born the second son of the third generation of a simple farming family whose ancestors immigrated in 1808 to Baden/Odessa from the Alsatian town of Oberseebach. He finished in seminary studies in Saratov, Russia in 1897 at the age of 22. In 1902, upon the recommendation of Bishop Zerr, he was sent to study in Rome, Italy where he completed his doctorate in philosophy. In 1904, he completed his second doctorate in Rome in theology.”

“Toward the end of 1930, Stalin decided to “liquidate” the good farmers and the priests and church buildings. Church towers were toppled, bells were tossed to the ground, and priests were exile or condemmed to extreme sentences in concentration camps. Bishop Frison, during a show trial in 1930, was sentenced to death along with 32 German-Russian parish priests. Only as a consequence of solidarity protests by 30,000 demonstrators in Rome, and a written plea by the Pope himself were the death sentences of the accussed commuted to several years imprisonment.”

“On June 20, 1937, the last Catholic German-Russian bishop, Alexander Frison, was shot to death in the old cemetery at Simperofol, Crimea. Not a single trace of him can be found there today.”

Further information about Bishop Alexander Frison is available from these resources:

2003 Kalendar: Historischer Forschungsverein der Deutschen aus Russland, e.V.

Hide Me Within They Wounds: The Persecution of the Catholic Church in the USSR

Witnesses for Christ: A German 20th Century Martyrology: German-Russian Bishops, Diocesean Priests and Priests from Religious Orders

Michael M. Miller

Bishop Alexander Frison

The GRHC has a “Recipe Search Index” located at http://www.ndsu.edu/grhc/recipes/. Type in the name of a recipe (for example: kuchen), and click “Go!” Recipe results will appear containing cookbook title, recipe author, and page number for the desired recipe.

The “Recipe Search Index” is the perfect way to find out if a cookbook has the recipe you are seeking. It is also a great means of discovering family recipes. For example, search your family surname, and recipes submitted by the surname will appear. You just might find your Grandma’s knoephla recipe!

German-Russian recipes from cookbooks available for purchase at the GRHC are all indexed and searchable. You may also search through some of our archived cookbooks for recipes.

Take a few minutes and discover what our “Recipe Index Search” has to offer you. Even if you are not looking for a particular recipe, it is certain to offer some enjoyment!