Emmons County Record, Linton, North Dakota, August 20, 2020.
Michael Miller, graduate of Strasburg High School in 1961, has donated an extensive collection of books to establish a Germans from Russia Learning Resources Collection, at the Strasburg Public School Library. Miller is Director of the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, North Dakota State University Libraries, Fargo, and has worked at NDSU since 1967.
He writes, “The Strasburg area is rich in the heritage and culture of the Germans from Russia. It is my hope the book and media collection will enrich student’s knowledge and give the community the opportunity to read and study the impact these immigrant’s lives had on this area of south-central North Dakota. Like many other immigrant families, my Baumgartner grandparents came in 1889 from Strassburg, Kutschurgan District, South Russia (today near Odessa, Ukraine) to settle in Strasburg. And, my Miller grandparents emigrated in 1893 from Krasna, Bessarabia, to settle west of Strasburg in the Krasna area.”
Gloria (Volk) Odden, Superintendent and School Counselor at the Strasburg School, and a Hague native, shared: “The generous donation of books on Germans from Russia will allow our students to have this rich cultural information at their fingertips. I personally, can’t wait to dive into the books and see what information I can learn.”
Brian Grove, history teacher at the Strasburg School, comments: “This collection will help preserve and strengthen the German-Russian heritage which thrive so well in our county and help the new generation to understand where they came from.”
Pictured with some of the donated Germans from Russia Resources Learning Collection at the Strasburg School Library are, left to right, Strasburg Public School Superintendent, Mrs. Gloria Odden; SPS student, Rose Baumgartner; SPS History teacher, Mr. Brian Grove; SPS students Blake Odden, Xavier Volk and Jacob Odden; Director of the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection at NDSU Libraries, Michael Miller; and SPS students Haven Grove and Sebastian Ell.