In the Shadow of Time
by Alfred Opp
For nearly a century, the German colonists in Bessarabia were under
Russian rule, Then in 1918 the territory was handed over to Rumania
and we carried on our life as Rumanian citizens for 22 years, until
1940. The world around us moved on in time and in development. The
history of the world continued to be written. We knew of events
taking place outside our country, but viewed these things as not
affecting us. This also seemed to be the viewpoint of Rumania at
large, not recognizing that events in Europe and elsewhere in the
world could impact us. We were accustomed to a life that we had
inherited from our ancestors. We maintained our customs and way of
living without consideration of the possibility of imminent change.
The life of our people changed gradually. From a lack of education
back to the pioneer days, we caught up to a pace where most of our
people could read and write. That in itself had an impact on our
economy and our ability to participate in the trades, in commerce
and marketing. We must ourselves take some
responsibility for not pushing ourselves further to reform to modern
ways.
My dad had a wagon-making shop and my grandfather Zacher had a
smithy shop. The workshop (Werkstatt
)was part of the
Einheitshaus, the all-in-one German
longhouse that was the family home with extensions for storage, work
and barn areas. The work in the family shops of Teplitz was done
entirely manually, using long outdated tools and equipment. Labor
was plentiful and cheap. We had a lumberyard in town and a
mechanical sawmill of which the trade made little use. The method my
dad used was typical of how others performed their work. To make the
wagon wheels, my dad would buy steam-bent oak rims from the local
lumber dealer. Spokes he made from oak wood stock shaped by hand
with a pull-knife and plane. To save money on precut lumber, Dad and
his men split hardwood logs manually with a longsaw. The log was
positioned with one end on the work bench and the other end on a
stand. The men went to work, one standing on top of the log pulling
the longsaw up, the other man laying on his back pulling the saw
down. In this manner they split the log into boards. Each log was
good for five boards - these were again cut to size with a
narrow-blade saw to get wood pieces with the required curvatures.
All the pieces were later cut into their final shapes with a
pull-knife and plane. To make the wheel hubs, Dad first shaped a
chunk of the wood with a shave ax, then put it on a lathe that was
activated by a six foot wheel and rope belt connecting the lathe
pulley. This apparatus was run by human power. It took a strong man
or two females to power the wheel and pulley mechanism that turned
the lathe. Drilling and chiseling were also done manually. To keep
the hubs and spokes from splitting, the wood had to be completely
dry before the wheel was assembled. For this purpose, the warm bake
oven in the kitchen was used whenever Mom's bread was finished
baking. An oven full of wood parts went a long way to supply Dad
with the inventory he needed.
The wagon and all needed accessories were produced in the shop.
This included the undercarriage, the wagon box, the seat, high and
low sideboards, the extension beam to make the wagon longer, the
shaft and an inside tool-box for each wagon. These items were made
from various types of solid wood, not from plywood or laminated
materials. The finished wagon went on the market without a
paint job unless so ordered.
In Grandpa's smithy shop, things were no different. To shape an axle
from a 3" x 3" by 6-foot iron stock required the efforts of three
men. One end of the stock was suspended by a wire loop, the other
end was on the anvil. After the stock had been heated on one end,
two men pounded it with a large hammer to shape it, with
Opa working on finer details with a smaller hammer.
Drilling, filing, and making nuts, bolts and threads were all done
totally manually. Cabinet makers worked the same way. So did tailors
and shoemakers. There were no power tools or power machinery to work
with.
Once we were back in our ancestral homeland in Germany, we noticed
that trade-work followed similar steps, but the work was done using
power-assisted equipment. This had been the state of things since
the turn of the century -- nearly 50 years! Fewer men and less time
were needed to get the job done. In Bessarabia it took us a month
or more to build one wagon. In Germany, the same work was done in
about a week! In Teplitz, due to land shortage, half the population
was employed in the trades. One could easily see how the trade had
its struggles to stay competitive. Prior to World War I,
Teplitz did well by selling their wagons to the Russians in the
East. But after WWI the trade took a dive. Shops in Teplitz had to
work literally day and night to make any headway. As can be seen, a
change was needed in the entire system. Our ancestors hung onto
their methods as long as they could, and even at the end were
reluctant to let go and make changes. The only life we knew was one
of hard work. Nothing was handed to us to make life easy. Only God
gave us the strength to survive that type of life.
Even with the differences in equipment used, the basic process in
the trades was the same whether in Teplitz or in Germany. Once we
arrived in Germany in 1940, our tradesmen were immediately employed
in the work force. Our people fit right into the German system with
remarkable ease. They found that a trade once learned is an asset
- to change tools is not a handicap.
Wherever the Germans lived in Russia, the fruits of their labor
shaped the land and society. They left a legacy that enriched the
lives of many people, Germans and Russians alike. The history of the
lives of the Germans in Russia cannot be ignored by us or by the
world. We know the sweat, blood and tears of our people left a
permanent mark in Russia that is there forever. God knows, and so do
we. Our remembrance of this history provides a bond with our
ancestors that remains with us today. We thank God for the feelings
of pride and dignity our ancestors passed down to us.
Alfred Opp
Edited by Connie Dahlke
____________________
Alfred Opp is the author of "Pawns on the World Stage" - the memoirs
of his childhood in Teplitz, Bessarabia and the experiences of his
family in war-torn Europe (Poland during 1941-1945 before they fled
to East Germany in 1945, then the reconstruction of West Germany
1945-1955).