The colony of Tariverde in Dobrudscha, officially known as Dorothea in 1932, was founded in 1878 by German farmers who left Bessarabia in search of land and freedom from the changing Russian government.
In 1932, Tariverde had 214 German families with a total of 873 residents, and by 1940, the population had reached almost 1,000.
According to Allen E. Konrad's translation of the History of Tariverde, Dobrudscha, the German colonists' approach to farming in their new home was still the "old Russian way of doing things." A few farmers had tractors – notably three American-built International tractors and one German-built Grossbuldogg-Lanz – along with two threshing machines.
They grew wheat, barley, oats, corn, rye, rapeseed and beans, although at the time, according to the recorded history, their methods of crop rotation was unknown.
Great value was put on education in Tariverde. Some children were sent to school back in Bessarabia to the boy's high school in Tarutino (Knabengymnasium) and to the Werner School in Sarata.
There was also a municipal library with 239 books and several newspapers that were popular among the colony's residents: Das Bukarester Gemeindeblatt, Bukarester Tageblatt, Banater Tageblatt, Arader Zeitung das Blatt der Deutschen in Rumänien, Deutsche Zeitung Bessarabiens, Dakota Freie Presse, Der Staats Anzeiger.
The last two were American German language newspapers. Subscriptions were often sent as gifts by relatives who immigrated to America. These newspapers became a very important conduit for communication between those who left and those who stayed behind through letters to the editor. The letters included updates on the lives and living conditions in both the new towns in America and the homeland villages back in Romania. The Germans from Russia Heritage Society has a very large collection of these letters in the original German with English translations in their Letters from the Homeland and Sons of the Homeland archive.
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| Plat map of Tariverde Source: Heimatbuch der Dobrudscha-Deutschen 1840-1940 Map courtesy of the Black Sea German Research plat map collection, where you can find a larger version of this map. |
According to Allen E. Konrad's translation of the History of Tariverde, Dobrudscha, the German colonists' approach to farming in their new home was still the "old Russian way of doing things." A few farmers had tractors – notably three American-built International tractors and one German-built Grossbuldogg-Lanz – along with two threshing machines.
They grew wheat, barley, oats, corn, rye, rapeseed and beans, although at the time, according to the recorded history, their methods of crop rotation was unknown.
Great value was put on education in Tariverde. Some children were sent to school back in Bessarabia to the boy's high school in Tarutino (Knabengymnasium) and to the Werner School in Sarata.
There was also a municipal library with 239 books and several newspapers that were popular among the colony's residents: Das Bukarester Gemeindeblatt, Bukarester Tageblatt, Banater Tageblatt, Arader Zeitung das Blatt der Deutschen in Rumänien, Deutsche Zeitung Bessarabiens, Dakota Freie Presse, Der Staats Anzeiger.
The last two were American German language newspapers. Subscriptions were often sent as gifts by relatives who immigrated to America. These newspapers became a very important conduit for communication between those who left and those who stayed behind through letters to the editor. The letters included updates on the lives and living conditions in both the new towns in America and the homeland villages back in Romania. The Germans from Russia Heritage Society has a very large collection of these letters in the original German with English translations in their Letters from the Homeland and Sons of the Homeland archive.
The Tariverde cemetery is still located on the west side of the village, and the Grabstein-Projekt, included as a part of CompGen, includes a few photos of the cemetery and of some of the headstones. Thanks to Axel Eichhorn for passing that link along.
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| Location of the Dobrudscha colony of Tariverde. |
Learn More:
- Black Sea German Research, plat map collection
- Germans from Russia Settlement Locations, Bessarabian Colonies, Dobrudscha Colonies maps
- Grabstein-Projekt
- Heimatbuch der Dobrudscha-Deutschen, 1840-1940. Otto Rösner, Albert Stiller, Landsmannschaft der Dobrudscha un Bulgariendeutschen. WorldCat
- History of Tariverde, Dobrudscha. Original source, Deutscher Volkskalender für Bessarabien – 1932. Translated by Allen E. Konrad. 2015. Published online by Black Sea German Research.
- Newspapers known to have been read in Tariverde:
- Das Bukarester Gemeindeblatt (some issues digitized and online at the Family History Library; also bound volumes at the Library of Congress)
- Bukarester Tageblatt (published daily between 1926-1944, available on microfilm at LOC)
- Banater Tageblatt (unable to find anything about this publication)
- Arader Zeitung das Blatt der Deutschen in Rumänien (published 3 times per week between 1920-1943, available at the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek)
- Deutsche Zeitung Bessarabiens (available at LOC and Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften (ZBW).
- Dakota Freie Presse (WorldCat list of libraries near you with this publication)
- Der Staats Anzeiger (List of libraries with this publication from LOC's Chronicling America)
- Tractors: Grossbuldogg-Lanz, International Harvester
- Werner School, part of the history of Sarata. Original source, Deutscher Volkskalender für Bessarabien – 1922. Translated by Allen E. Konrad. 2014. Published online by Black Sea German Research.
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