Deutsches Ausland-Institute - Research Department of German Nationality in Russia Stuttgart

-S., 05 July, 1940 - Danziger Freiheit 17

Circular to Bessarabian Germans Present in the Reich

Dear Fellow Countrymen:

You will be aware of the Deutsches Ausland Institute, which has been in existence in Stuttgart since 1917. On the basis of it's scientific research of the German life-style and the German achievements in foreign countries, it provides information on all aspects of Germans living abroad. Since 1938, a Research Department of German Nationality in Russia (formally at Berlin W.35, Potsdam Street 77, since 1 June, 1940: Stuttgart-S., Danziger Freiheit 17, DAI) was newly created at the Institute in conjunction with the Association of Russians from Germans in Berlin (Berlin W.30, Martin Luther Street 97).

Dr. Karl Stumpp is the director of the Research Department of Germans from Russia. He was a teacher at the German Girls' High School at Tarutino, in Bessarabia. His assistance is Mr. Eduard Krause, a Bessarabian German from Tarutino, who was proof reader and deputy secretary of the Deutsches Volksblatt in Tarutino. You will have heard through the radio and from the newspapers that, on the basis of an agreement between the Romanian government and the Soviet authorities, Bessarabia has been occupied by Russian troops since Friday, 28 June, 1940.

Dear friends, you have close relatives and good friends in Bessarabia and will be concerned about their plight. We therefore take this opportunity to inform you that, in the process of sorting out the eastern borders of Greater Germany, the Fuehrer has considered the Bessarabian Germans.

Since the end of October, 1938, the director of the Bessarabian German Ethnic Group, Dr. Otto Broneske has already spent some time in Berlin and was able to present the wishes of the ethnic group to the departments concerned. This means that the Bessarabian ethnic group has already made the necessary preparations and is pleased with the present developments.

Since the occupation by the Russians the transport home across Soviet Russian territory will be expedited more easily. Yes, the occupation has given rise in many places that the swastika flag has been hoisted so that in this way their sentiments and their loyalty can be expressed to the National Socialist motherland. The Soviet Russian military authorities, immediately after their occupation, made contact with the German ethnic group and are negotiating with it on the most friendly of terms. Negotiations concerning the Resettlement of the Bessarabian Germans will take place soon. On the German side, the director of our Research Department will also participate.

It is hoped that the Resettlement will be completed before the start of the coldest part of the year. It will provisionally take place in Warthegau. The Soviet authorities have guaranteed the safety of the Bessarabian Germans and have already appointed ethnic Germans as commissars in various towns and have given them wide-ranging self-administrative possibilities for the transitional period.

We trust that the above explanations will be reassuring information to you and request that you await further developments and that you will trust the directive of the relevant departments of our Greater German motherland and will avoid taking any arbitrary action. We would be happy to respond to any individual questions, but ,because of the present high load of work, we ask that you only come to us in very urgent and deserving cases. We request that the above information be treated confidentially for the time being.

Heil Hitler

Research Department of German Nationality in Russia