Brian Phillip Propp, son of the Rev. Reinhold Propp & Margaret Jabusch, was born 15 February 1959 in Lanigan, Saskatchewan. He played professional hockey with the NHL from 1979 to 1994. He played for the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, Minnesota North Stars, HC Lugano, and Hartford Whalers. He was one of the most prolific scorers of his generation with 1,004 points in 1,016 games.
Brian's Volga German ancestors come from the colony of Hussenbach.
Paul Rau, the son of David Rau, was born 10 February 1897 in Alt-Weimar. He was a Russian archaeologist, folklorist, and artist. He attended the Central School in Grimm and became a teacher.
Following considerable harassment from authorities and accusations of anti-Soviet behavior, he committed suicide on 10 August 1930 in Engels.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth, an international archeaological conference was held in Saratov-Engels in 1997.
Today, Harpertshausen is administratively part of the Babenhausen Parish.
Georg Heinrich Willmann, son of Johann Georg Willmann & Anna Catharina Zimmermann, was born 16 October 1736 in Harpertshausen near Babenhausen. He married Magdalena Sophia Bössler from Umstadt on 24 June 1766 in Büdingen.
The couple, along with his sister Anna Margaretha (also born in Harpertshausen on 7 January 1748), immigrated to Russia arriving from Lübeck at the port of Oranienbaum on 14 September 1766 on a ship under the command of Skipper Reders.
Today, Niedermittlau is administratively part of the municipality of Hasselroth.
Church:
The church in Niedermittlau is called Laurentiuskirche (St. Lawrence). The square church tower dates back to 1030. The building was heavily damaged during the Thirty Years' War. It was not until 1780 that the community was able to reconstruct the sanctuary from the ruins. The bell tower is capped with an eight-sided spire that houses the belfry and a clock. The balcony dates from the re-construction period.
According to a publication by the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia titled "File on Those Colonists Departing in 1773; also about their dispatch to Saratov under escort of Kontora Cavalry Seargeant-Major Gomolka and the discharge of several colonists upon payment; No. 25882," the Michael Hohweiler family was from the German village of Hailer.
Today, Hailer is administratively part of the municipality of Gelnhausen.
Dr. Brent Mai, director of the Volga German Institute at Fairfield University in Connecticut, and Dr. Mila Koretnikov from the Cooperative University of Baden-Württemberg in Karlsruhe, Germany, will be leading a tour to the Volga German colonies August 10-19, 2018. Please consult the Tour Website for additional information.
Dr. Brent Mai, director of the Volga German Institute at Fairfield University in Connecticut, and Dr. Mila Koretnikov from the Cooperative University of Baden-Württemberg in Karlsruhe, Germany, will be leading a tour to the Volga German colonies May 18-27, 2018. Please consult the Tour Website for additional information.
Amelia "Mela" Meisner was born 20 December 1903 in Kindsvater Khutor, near the Volga German colony of Kratzke. Her parents were David Philipp Meisner from the Volga German colony of Shcherbakovka, and Eva Elisabeth Dietz from the colony of Kratzke. She immigrated to the United States in 1905 and spent her early childhood near WaKeeney, Kansas, and married James Edward Lindsay in 1927, and they raised three children. For most of her adult life, she lived in the Denver, Colorado, area.