Background to the Correspondence Text

This text was translated by GRHS member Allen Konrad from German text on a microfilm of documents originally gathered by the Deutsches Auslands-Institut (DAI). 3 In translating the text, Allen says it appears that the Institute received the original 1818 document in 1939 and an official made a typed-written transcript of it (with carbon copies) in German.

There is some uncertainty about whether this text represents one or two documents, and whether both are complete. What I am calling the first section of text (before "Arzis Colony 29 August 1818)" seems to finish with a definite closing paragraph (i.e. "In closing. . . ."). What I call the second section opens with a list of names and doesn't make much sense. As Allen explains it: "It's almost as if we have page one and page three, but page two is missing; as if the writer was commenting about individual happenings which started on another [missing] page and concluded on this last page."

I believe there are a number of possibilities to explain this:

a) all the text is from one continuing letter, or

b) this text is from two separate letters.

In either case, there does seem to be some missing text in the middle from.the-DAI typed transcript, for several possible reasons:

1) DAI received the original 1818 documents with a portion missing, or

2) the entire original document was intact, but the person typing the text missed including the middle portion, or

3) the entire document was intact, the person typing the text included the middle portion, but those preparing the microfilm of this type-written pages missed including the middle segment.

One thing is more certain, however. Allen says the DAI official typing the transcript included the title, "Letter from Arzis [Bessarabia] - 1818". Even if we assume the text "Arzis Colony 29 August 1818" belongs only to the first section of text (i.e. did our ancestors place the date of letter at its conclusion?), we can still be reasonably sure that the second section, even with a missing portion, is also from Arzis, since it concludes with an apparent return address: "Col. Christoff Griep, Colony Arzis, Bessarabia."

In any event, for the purpose of this article, and based on the above factors and some of the contents, I will be treating this text as coming from two separate letters, both from Arzis, sometime around 1818. We cannot say with the same certainty that one person wrote both sections of text. I am suggesting that "Christoff Griep" (sic) wrote only the second section. I will be calling the writer of the first section "the Arzis letter writer."

Having said all this(!), let's look more closely at the interesting contents.