The Schwab Sodhouse

Strasburg, North Dakota
May 3, 2003

Photographs by Michael M. Miller, Fargo, ND

Residents of south central North Dakota with Germans from Russia heritage gathered at the Schwab farmstead located northeast of Strasburg, North Dakota. Filming was completed with persons reading excerpts of letters received from South Russia which were published in German-language newspapers between 1920 to 1938. The excerpts were selected by Ronald J. Vossler, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, for inclusion in a one-half hour documentary sponsored by the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, NDSU Libraries, Fargo. The documentary will focus on references in the letters to the periods of starvation in South Russia in the 1920 and the 1930s. The documentary is scheduled to be broadcast by Prairie Public Television in 2004.

Mr. Vossler is author of the book, We'll Meet Again in Heaven: Germans in the Soviet Union Write Their American Relatives: 1925-1937 (2001).

Ronald J. Vossler was the scriptwriter for the award-winning documentary, The Germans from Russia: Children of the Steppe, Children of the Prairie, (1999) and the scriptwriter and narrator for this second award-winning documentary, Schmeckfest: Food Traditions of the Germans from Russia (2000).

Bob Dambach, producer at Prairie Public Television, explains to readers about the filming project.	Readers of the letters: (left-right back row): John Gross, Napoleon; Michael Gabriel, Strasburg; Paul Welder, Linton; Leo Gross, Napoleon; and Isadore Gross, Kintyre; (left-right front row): Kathryn Glatt Wald, Strasburg; Betty Deibert Gabriel, Strasburg; Theresa Voller Wolf, Strasburg; Barbara Gross, Napoleon; Margareta Morcinek Senger, Linton; Margaret Schaeffer Gross, Napoleon; and Kathryn Gefreh Vetter, Linton.
Theresa Voller Wolf, Strasburg, ND	Margaret Schaeffer Gross, Napoleon, ND
Margarete Morcinek Senger, Linton, ND	Betty Diebert Gabriel, Strasburg, ND
Kathryn Gefreh Vetter, Linton, ND	Kathryn Glatt Wald, Strasburg, ND
Michael Gabriel, Strasburg, ND	Paul P. Welder, Linton, ND
Leo Gross, Napoleon, ND	Isadore Gross, Kintyre, ND
John J. Gross, Napoleon, ND