Khortiza, March 2, 1920

We arc strangers in this country. He who did not know that before the war has learned this lesson a thousandfold during and after the war. Our Russian neighbors look upon us as upon cursed and damned “Nyemtze” who, in their land, have become wealthy. They completely ignore the fact that our ancestors, one hundred and twenty years ago, had been invited to settle here in order to cultivate these vast steppes which lay idle at that time. They do not want to recognize that these colonists, only through industrious and persistent work as well as through their own wise economical organization, and in no way through politics, have, in whole communities, arrived at better economic conditions than the Russian peasants. The colonists, who never had any political domination whatsoever, are surely not to blame for the fact that the Russian peasant remained in serfdom until 1861, and that he, after his liberation, had to find his poor crust of bread in the narrow furrow beside the giant estates of the noblemen.

Most of the colonists earnestly begin to meditate whether they can find another and better land to make homes in. It is surely enough what they have had to suffer. During the war they were regarded as step-children who often were treated worse than enemies. No other State would protect them either, for they were Russians. They were loyal, and for over a hundred years always had been loyal to their adopted country, without caring for politics, for Russia was not a democratic country where they were permitted to have political rights.

The Tzar government began to persecute them. Panslavists used all means of power, under the disguise of patriotism, to take from them their land and to exile them to Siberia.

Then broke out the revolution of 1917. This event saved the colonists from being expelled to Siberia. But after a while the October revolution came and with it civil war and anarchy.

No, we have no home, no protection, no prospect in this country. We want to leave. The watchword “Emigration” goes like a fire from place to place, kindling the hearts of men and women. Wherever you see two or three colonists together you may be sure they are talking about emigrating. That thought keeps us going, this idea only still gives us hope.

But how to accomplish it? Where to go? By what means? Will our hopes meet insurmountable hindrances? We are very anxious to know the answer to these questions and live in feelings of hope and doubt …