Germans From Russia

On this date in 2000, the generous gift of half a million dollars by Roger Haas to the Germans from Russia Heritage Society was announced. Roger had come a long way from being a motherless farm boy who spoke German at home. Now a successful businessman in Portland, Oregon, Roger wanted to give back to the community he came from by honoring his roots.

Germans from Russia faced some rough hardships during the Bolshevik Revolution, including death. A song brings it back.

A traditional funeral song.

Germans from Russia talk about why their ancestors came.

Ladies and Gentlemen… Mylo Hatzenbuhler!On this date in 1994, came the debut of “I’m Big-Time Now!” a CD by Mylo Hatzenbuhler – who is known as the…

Folk songs sung in the Germans-from-Russia dialect continues in the heart and mind of traditionalists like 94-year old John Gross, patriarch of the Young…

Lawrence Welk was, in some ways, North Dakota’s first celebrity. The famous bandleader was born on his German-speaking family’s homestead near Strasburg…

Here are a couple of things that seem far apart, but in my mind, there is a connection.We are recently returned from a research expedition to the high dry…

My friend Ron Vossler, in Wishek, says some of his neighbors consider him a Judas. I think he is, rather, what is known historically as a…