[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Breitkreitz & Bessarabia

[Carolyn G. Schott]

Jerry's right, Bessarabia is roughly equivalent to today's Moldova.
However, there's a chunk of land between Moldova and east to the Black Sea,
between Odessa and the Danube delta that are currently part of Ukraine, and
this is also part of Bessarabia.  In fact, this area probably had the
highest concentration of German villages in Bessarabia.

Tell me about your Breitkreitz family - my many-greats-grandfather was
Johann D. Breitkreutz.  He was supposedly born in Bogonia/Brzeziny/Poland,
and came to Bessarabia (the village of Alt Elft) around 1816.  Could there
be a connection?

Carolyn Schott


> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 08:44:33 -0600
> From: Jerry Frank <jkfrank at shaw.ca>
> Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Breitkreitz/Breithrenz
> To: Delores Stevens <deloresstevens at sasktel.net>,
>   ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
>
> At 06:59 AM 14/04/2003 -0600, Delores Stevens wrote:
> >Is it possible that Breitkreitz and Breithrenz may sound similar when
> >translated from German to English?  I am unable to figure this out as do
> >not speak any german.  Also could someone please tell me where
> Bessarabia
> >was located.  Am having difficulty finding that one.
>
> Hi Delores.
>
> Gunther's response is correct.  In assessing material you find,
> you have to
> consider both translation and transliteration.  The last is the effort of
> someone, often unfamiliar with foreign surnames, to copy in some way what
> someone else wrote many years ago, often with sloppy handwriting.
>  This is
> especially a problem in such sources as the Ellis Island records and the
> St. Petersburg extractions which are on line.  When you think of the
> strokes required to write out Breitkreitz, one can easily
> visualize how it
> might have been interpreted as Breithrenz.
>
> Kreitz / Kreutz also stands alone as a surname.  Since the Germanic "eu"
> and the English / German "ei" have a similar (though not
> identical) sound,
> you often can find this as a variant spelling - with or without
> the "t" as
> Gunther pointed out.
>
> If you can find Moldavia on a modern map, on the west side of
> Ukraine, you
> will have found Bessarabia. I believe that some small portions of
> historical Bessarabia on the south and east sides might now be in Ukraine.
>
>
>
> Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
> jkfrank at shaw.ca