Research in the Polish archives has discovered that the earliest Wagners known to us were linen weavers, spinners and knitters by trade and likely lived in the traditional textile centres of Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic. As the Industrial Revolution began to sweep across Europe in the early 19th century, a mass migration of people formerly employed in small cottage industries began. The Wagners, probably seeking a better standard of living, left their places of residence and headed east into Poland as thousands of other ethnic Germans were also doing at the same time.
In and around the town of Lodz in central Poland, a textile industry began to develop about 1820. Craftsmen from Silesia, Bohemia and parts of western Germany came to Lodz, Pabianice, Zgierz and Zdunska Wola where mechanized textile mills were being built. Families tended to arrive in groups with relatives following (chain migration), settling together in the same area. Prior to about 1822 there were no German names appearing in this area. The first Wagner, Gottfried, appears in 1823. Did he come with his brothers, sisters and cousins from Bohemia seeking a better living? Records also indicate that Antoni Wagner was a factory owner with a small weaver's manufactory - the family business.
The Second Polish Revolution of 1863 to 1864 prompted an exodus of ethnic Germans from Poland. Two years earlier, Russia had abolished serfdom creating a significant drain on the workforce in that country. Returning to Bohemia was out of the question and Russia now seemed an attractive prospect for making a fresh start. Many Germans had settled there over the previous 100 years and had grown prosperous with the numerous concessions granted to them by the Russian government. Russia wanted to attract more German settlers, known for their skills and hard work to farm the huge expanses of fertile and uncultivated land around the Volga River. The Wagners made their decision and prepared to leave their home of only forty years to make the long and arduous trek further east into Russia.
The Volga Colonies (1864 to 1900)
The predominantly Lutheran colony of Kaisersgnade ("Emperor's Grace") was located very near the Volga River in the Russian province of Samara. The colony had been created several years earlier and was one of the last of the Old Samara settlements to be established in the region. In a 1912 census, Kaisersgnade was listed as having a population of 376 residents.
We must presume that the parcel of land the Wagners arrived to here was bare and devoid of any buildings - only the endless Steppe. Eduard of course was a weaver by trade and would have known nothing about farming making the adjustment to their new home that much more difficult.
The colonists usually arrived in the new territories in groups. The residents of Kaisersgnade, who were accustomed to receiving new arrivals, would have organized accommodation for the newcomers and their meager possessions. Houses for the new arrivals had yet to be constructed and so in the meantime they would have had to lodge with their new neighbours. Since this was an established colony, building materials must have been readily available. Newly arrived settlers sometimes received a little money from the government but not enough to purchase the necessities required to begin farming. The generosity of neighbours therefore was always available and most welcome. More detailed information on the conditions faced by the colonists may be found in the books From Catherine to Khrushchev, The Story of Russia's Germans by Adam Geisinger and Paradise on the Steppe: A Cultural History of the Kutschurgan, Beresan and Liebental Colonies, 1804 - 1972 by Joseph S. Height.
As the sons married and started their own families, the land held by their father was required to be subdivided amongst them. At the rate of 30 to 40 dessiatines (1 dessiatine = 2.7 acres) per son, over time each family's holdings eventually became too small to adequately support themselves. This was one of the primary factors driving the abandonment of the Samara settlements and resettlement further east into Siberia or, for some, emigration to North America. A 1912 census of the village of Kaisersgnade records a total population of only 376 inhabitants.
Siberia (1900 - 1930)
Life in the Samara colonies was becoming more and more difficult. Resentment towards the Germans amongst the local Russian population was growing. The Russian government was also rescinding laws and that had been put in place many years earlier to encourage German settlement and safeguard the rights of the colonists to preserve their language and customs. This, in addition to more frequent droughts in the region forced the family to reach a decision about their future. After forty years of relative prosperity the family became divided into those who chose to pursue their future elsewhere in Russia and those who would seek a new life in Canada.
According to Josef Wagner (b. 1924), his grandfather Eduard (b. 1857) and wife Maria Moser left Kaisersgnade for Ozernoi (approx 35km NW from Kustanay, Kazakhstan) in the year 1900.
One of Eduard's sons, Reinhold (1872-1922) remained in Samara for another thirteen years until choosing Canada over Siberia. He and his wife Mathilde (nee Weiß) along with their children arrived in Canada in 1913, settling in Jansen, Saskatchewan.
That left the following Wagners who chose to find their future in the east in Siberia:
Eduard Wagner (1833-1915)
Adolf (1861-1926) & Eleanora Weiß (1869-1950) and their children:
Rudolf (1889)
Herman (1891)
Matilda (1894)
Agate (1898)
Alexander (1900)
Maria (1902)
Colonization of Siberia had begun as early as 1862 (see Catherine to Khrushchev p.138). For example, the region west of Kustanay in Kazakhstan from Ufa to Orenburg had 36 German villages by 1914. The Trans Siberian Railway had been extended as far as Irkutsk by 1898 enabling the Wagners to make the 850 mile trip almost entirely by rail, likely an extremely harsh journey even by the standards of the time. Upon arriving in Ozernoi they would have encountered endless tracts of uncultivated prairie which appeared to stretch forever.
Presumably they would have brought with them the household goods and agricultural implements required for farming, a business which they had now been in for almost two generations. The first priority would be to construct shelter for both the animals and themselves. Buildings were normally one-story structures constructed of adobe mud block as trees were a scare commodity here.
How they managed is beyond belief. The land was prairie and had to be ploughed and worked many times in order to seed a crop. Eduard was 71 years old in 1904 and men of that age did not have the stamina required for the amount of work necessary. That left Adolf, his wife Eleanora and the children to manage the farm. Somehow they survived and carried on as they had in Kaisersgnade. As the years passed, some members of the family passed with them; Ida in 1908 and Eduard himself in 1915.
The political situation in Russia combined with more frequent droughts caused Herman at the age of 18 to leave for Canada; his uncle Bill Briske of Jansen, Saskatchewan paid for his passage. Herman's brother Rudolf left for Canada in 1917. We do not know how much land the family had in Russia or if this was a factor in the brothers' decision to leave for Canada.
In 1911 Ferdinand was born to Adolf and Eleanora and, as with all children he joined in the labour at an early age. At the age of fifteen in 1926 an accident claimed his life when a wagon into which he was loading reeds overturned and crushed him.
Luxemburg, Kyrgyzstan (1930 - 1992)
The following narrative was provided by Mr. Heinrich Moser.
In 1927 and 1928 the Soviet Union began the creation of state farms, known also as collective farms. About 40km from the city of Frunze in Kyrgyzstan, 1800 hectares (approx 4800 acres) was designated as the Rosa Luxemburg State Farm named for the prominent German communist of the same name (later the name was shortened to just "Luxemburg"). Several Russian bureaucrats from Frunze were appointed to manage the farm.
Karl Moser, his wife Agate (Wagner) and their son Heinrich, aged 5 years, left their own farm in the village of Ozernoi for Luxemburg in the early morning hours one day in 1930. Karl had been told by a friend in Ozernoi that they were on the list of the District Commissioner to be dispossessed because, as a private landowner Karl was considered a "Kulak" making him an enemy of the Communist government. The friend told him to leave during the night because he would lose the farm and its contents and he himself would be taken away should he still be on the premises. Karl knew this to be true because it had happened already to other members of the Wagner family.
The family quickly sold a few possessions, turned the animals loose, packed some articles of clothing and food for themselves and the two horses that they would hitch to the wagon. They nailed down the door to the house and left behind everything for which they had worked so many years. It is difficult to imagine the feelings of the broken-hearted couple.
After several weeks of traveling, the horses had become exhausted and so they were sold along with the wagon. Karl found work as a blacksmith to earn some money to purchase a train ticket for the rest of the journey to Luxemburg.
What a disappointment when they arrived at Luxemburg. The collective had only about thirty hovels - not even houses. They stayed for a few days with Karl's brother whose dwelling was a hole dug into the side of a small hill covered with reeds or something similar. Karl's brother found a neighbour who offered them their hole in the hillside where they could live for the winter. Somehow the three of them survived and, for Karl, living this way was better than living in a 'slave' camp.
Over time the people began building shelters with adobe bricks and families helped one another to survive. The government supplied machinery and grain to grow crops. Government officials and members of the local Kirghyz population supervised the collective and graft was rampant. Men and women alike worked in the fields seven days a week from sunup to sundown. While their mothers worked in the fields, babies were supervised in nearby tents where the mothers were to nurse the infants. The responsibility of the women was to weed the fields by hand. When Gandolph Wagner visited Germany in 1999, his relatives showed him how they could still bend at the hips at the ripe old ages of sixty-five and seventy years.
In the mid-1930's the other Wagner group reached Luxemburg with their own horror stories. They had wanted to go to Canada because Eleanora had two sons there, Herman and Rudolf. However, when they reached the port and she saw the immense ocean before her, Eleanora panicked and decided not to go. They spent some time in the Ukraine and possibly in Samara also. There they saw staggering poverty and decided to go to Luxemburg. They arrived malnourished with only the clothes on their backs. What they saw in Luxemburg shocked them - many hovels and some adobe shelters that could not really be called houses. The Wagners were now together in the same place again: Eleanora (Weiß) Wagner, Matilda (Wagner) and husband Heinrich Rabek, Maria (Wagner) and Adam Wetschtein (who was thrown out by Maria for refusing to work, hence her second child is named Wagner), Alexander Wagner and his wife Emilie Rabek and all of the children. They remained here because it was a state-run farm and they felt secure.
In 1942 the government of the USSR required more slave labour due to the war and so they came to Luxemburg. Because the Soviet Union was at war with Germany, anyone of German ancestry was suspected of being a potential spy for Germany. Heinrich Moser and his father Karl were sent as prisoners to a place called Molotoy near the city of Perm about 1400 mile from Luxemburg. The double-bunked freight train loaded full of prisoners took about one month to reach Molotoy. The local people had been told that the prisoners were fascists and would grow horns like a cow.
They were emaciated upon arrival but were put to work immediately. Their food ration was a very meager nettle soup with one or two potatoes and about 500 grams of bread per day. After several weeks Heinrich's father Karl was very weak and dying of starvation. He told his son to run away because only death awaited them there.
Heinrich Moser and a friend forged documents using a homemade stamp and false Russian names. They ran away and were not apprehended. The two separated along the way and afterwards Heinrich was captured but the officials could not find his name in their documents. They told him to go to the front lines of the Red Army and fight for the Fatherland. Heinrich did not head for the front lines but kept going, working along the way until he somehow reached home at Luxemburg, arriving at his mother's home virtually skin and bones.
Heinrich Rabek, his wife Mathilda and her sister Maria were also taken prisoner. Heinrich Rabek was never heard from again but the two sisters returned home to Luxemburg after serving time in the salt mines.
In 1948 Heinrich Moser married Selma Besse who had been adopted by Heinrich Rabek and together they had four children. Reinhold was born in 1949 but died in an accident at Luxemburg in 1972. Emilie was born in 1952, obtained a degree in physics and taught in the university. Lydia, born in 1958, became a doctor and Irina who was born in 1972 studied German as a second language.
The Luxemburg state farm grew and became a typical Soviet collective farm eventually growing to 450 families, 80% of whom were ethnically German. From 1960 onwards the farm had an ethnic German as its President. Alexander Wagner became Secretary and Heinrich Moser the bookkeeper.
After 1960 the economic situation improved and everyone received a monthly wage but still they were far from rich. The farm now had paved streets and street lighting and the residents were allowed to travel outside of Kyrgyzstan. The farm became one of the richest in the USSR.
Some facts about the Luxemburg collective:
In 1991 the Soviet Union disintegrated and Kyrgyzstan became an independent republic. One of the first requirements of the new government was that all non-Kyrgyz speaking persons must learn the language and become citizens within 5 years. The German families could not believe that something so drastic could happen to them.
After many sleepless nights and consultations between family members, the Mosers decided that enough was enough. The family had grown over the years and the children of Heinrich and Selma had had children of their own. To have to become citizens of another country was too much. The decision to leave was a very difficult one as this had been their home since 1930. They had built a community, knew everyone in it and were friends with all. They sold their house, which they had built themselves as well as everything else they could.
In the fall of 1992, the Moser family along with many others from Luxemburg began the trip to resettle in Germany. Along the way in Moscow, however, where the old Soviet bureaucracy was still in place, they were told that could not take any currency out of the country. They gave their money to a friend who was with them and asked that it be given to a relative back in Luxemburg. They arrived in Germany without any money, not even enough to make a phone call.
Heinrich and Selma are now citizens of Germany and live on a pension. They are happy to have all their children with them as well as other relatives living within 200 to 300 kilometers. Their children, who were educated in the USSR, were obliged to find new work in Germany. Emilie, who holds a degree in physics along with her husband, who is an electrical engineer, both sell real estate. Lydia, who was a doctor in Luxemburg works as a doctor's assistant.
The Wagners in Canada
Although the Adolf Wagner family had only been in Ozernoi for six years, son Herman would leave for Canada in 1910 at the age of eighteen. Herman arrived in Quebec City aboard the ship Laurentic on July 10th, 1910. His uncle, Bill Briske had paid his fare and Herman worked for him for one year to repay him.
Herman applied for two homesteads, one in 1911 and another in 1912 but gave them both up because the land was unsuitable for farming. He later purchased two quarters of land about 3 miles from Jansen, Saskatchewan. In 1916 Herman Wagner married Barbara Kram who had just arrived from Poland the year before. They were married in St. Ignatius Church in Kendal, SK on February 17, 1916.
Herman and Barbara lived on Herman's farm at Jansen. Their first two children Eleanora and Adolf died in infancy and were buried adjacent to the church that their parents attended. The church later burned but the graves now have markers after being discovered by a local historian. Bill Wagner was responsible for putting markers on the graves themselves.
In 1922 or 1923 the family sold the Jansen farm and moved to Kendal, about 55 miles southeast of Regina. Barbara appreciated the move because she was now near her kinfolk from Poland. Several years later, Barbara's mother and another daughter Mary arrived from Poland.
The crops were fairly good until the Great Depression and drought in the late 1920's and early 1930's. The local population suffered very much and everyone in the Kendal district was on Relief. The government had to supply feed for the animals as well as food for the people.
The following children were born to Herman and Barbara:
Adolph (1919)
Eleanora (1925)
Mathilda (1929)
Magdaline (1931)
Alma (1934)
Henry (1936)
Anton (1940)
All of the children followed their choice of careers - marriage, the convent or the priesthood. William passed away in 1998 and Anton (Tony) in 2000. Barbara passed away in 1960 after a lengthy illness and Herman in 1972.
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