Tribute to Pastor Siegfried Albert
Paper presented at the Wendish Heritage Dinner, 7 October, 2006
by Kevin P Zwar
My first contact
On the 20th Anniversary of our Wend Heritage Society it is my privilege to honour a Wend in Germany who speaks no English, but who made a valuable contribution to the success of our Wend Society, particularly in its early years.
I made my first contact with Pastor Siegfried Albert thirty years ago. His name and address were passed on to me by Robert Robinson-Zwahr from Texas. Robert had been to Germany researching his Zwahr Family. Pastor Albert was the Lutheran Minister of the large Gröditz parish in East Germany where my Zwar ancestors had worshipped.
My interest to make contact was aroused in 1975 when Dr Max Lohe [Head of the Lutheran Church in Australia] passed on to me a draft of the proposed book by George Nielsen ‘In Search of a Home’ where Nielsen referred briefly in his footnotes to Zwar letters from Australia in the Wend Newspapers in Germany.
The first reply
So I wrote to Pastor Albert. He sent his first reply on 9th September 1976. It was the first of a series of exciting letters and material about the Wends he would send me over the coming years. [I later learnt Dr Nielsen didn’t have copies of these letters. He had visited the Archives in Saxony where someone looked through the Wend letters and told him what they were about.] The copies Pastor Albert would send to Australia were the first time they were available in the Western World. A list of the main letters and material is given below.
Communism
I want to pay a special tribute to Pastor Albert tonight. Life wasn’t easy for Christians and their pastors in East Germany under Communist rule. He was the pastor of a huge parish. His sister wrote to me at one stage and advised me to be patient with him as he and his wife Annemarie hardly had a spare moment in their busy lives.
Yet Pastor Albert made the time to visit the Wend Archives in Bautzen where he photocopied the Wend letters and material, including some lengthy letters written home by Wends who had gone to Australia. Pastor Albert then translated these letters into German, typed them out neatly, and posted to me both the Wend photocopies of the originals and the typed translations. It must have taken a lot of time.
Rob Wuchatsch
When Rob Wuchatsch visited me 25 years ago in Warrnambool looking for information on the Wends he was thrilled and excited to receive a copy of a letter by Michael Zwar describing the voyage to Australia on the Prübislaw – the same ship his ancestors had travelled to Australia in 1849/50.
Money
One couldn’t send money from Australia to people living under communism in East Germany. To reward Pastor Albert for his work I would occasionally send a cheque to his sister, Mrs Irmgard Heuser who lived in Bad-Reichenhall in West Germany. It helped that the Australian dollar was worth two West German Marks in those days! His sister would find out what her brother would like to buy, then she bought it in the West and took it to Pastor Albert when she visited him. [Ray Deutscher told me he wrapped notes in silver foil and posted them successfully to his contacts in East Germany who were supplying him with information for the Deutscher Family History.]
Retirement
I am particularly keen to honour Pastor Albert as he is still alive. He lives in retirement in Bautzen. I plan to send him a copy of this ‘Tribute’ when I find someone who can translate it into German! I also had the joy of attending [and videoing] a Church service he took in the Wend language in Saxony in 1994.
A toast
The letters and material he sent out to Australia have been translated into English by a number of different people. It is my wish that anyone who translates and publishes this material, which has always been made freely available, will always acknowledge Pastor Siegfried Albert as the person chiefly responsible for making this material available to the Western World.
I now invite you to charge your glasses and we shall drink a toast to honour Pastor Siegfried Albert!
Material Translated
A list of translations by Pastor Siegfried Albert from Wendish into German (from 1976 on)
- Hochkirch Congregation, published in Tydzenske Nowiny re Langmeil Bethany 11.8.1849
- p.285 from Ebendorfel re Pastor Pench & brother 8.9.1849 p. 316
- Preuske 9.3.1850
- Schomburgh 17.5.1851 p. 156 (c 20)
- Andreas Preuske to brother Johann P. 6.3.1850 pp. 83,84 (c.14)
- Pastor Kappler 16.11.1851 pp. 345-347
- Hoehne 27.3.1851 13.12.1851/20.12.1851 pp. 50, 51
- Hoehne 21.6.1851 27.12.1851 3.1.1852 p. 52, c 1
- Johann Zwar (2 letters) 4.9.1851 1853 pp. 314,324,330,331,341,347
- Michael Zwar 1852 pp. 13,14,,19,27,36 (c2,c3,c4,c5)
- M Deutscher 19.1.1850 (3)
- H Albert 15.12.1852 10.12.1853 pp. 385,386 (49)
- J Ponich 1.7.1851 6.3.1852 (10)
- J Ponich 7.4.1852 21.8.1852
- J Ponich 11.2.1854 46
- J Ponich 4.3.1854 [Serbske Nowiny] (9)
- H Albert 24.12.1853 (401,402)
- J Mirtschin 19.9.1854 10.2.1855 [Serbske Nowiny]
- Maria Kaiser 5.1.1857 1857 146
Snippets of newspaper reports from Australia:
23.7.1842
21.4.1849
7.7.1849
4.8.1849
20.11.1852
undated:
29.1.1853
20.8.1853
21.1.1854
29.1.1853/54
2.4.1853
23.4.1853
6.8.1853
1928 “Luzica” No 1 1928 Luzica No 4
Article
“The Flame” 1978 No 18 A Sorbian Wedding in Australia
Pastor Albert also translated from Wend to German the lengthy ‘Appeal to the King of Saxony for Better Treatment for the Wends’ published in Australia in English [pp. 31-39] in the Oct 2005 Journal of Friends of Lutheran Archives.
© Kevin Zwar 2012
Paper presented at the Wendish Heritage Dinner, 7 October, 2006
by Kevin P Zwar
My first contact
On the 20th Anniversary of our Wend Heritage Society it is my privilege to honour a Wend in Germany who speaks no English, but who made a valuable contribution to the success of our Wend Society, particularly in its early years.
I made my first contact with Pastor Siegfried Albert thirty years ago. His name and address were passed on to me by Robert Robinson-Zwahr from Texas. Robert had been to Germany researching his Zwahr Family. Pastor Albert was the Lutheran Minister of the large Gröditz parish in East Germany where my Zwar ancestors had worshipped.
My interest to make contact was aroused in 1975 when Dr Max Lohe [Head of the Lutheran Church in Australia] passed on to me a draft of the proposed book by George Nielsen ‘In Search of a Home’ where Nielsen referred briefly in his footnotes to Zwar letters from Australia in the Wend Newspapers in Germany.
The first reply
So I wrote to Pastor Albert. He sent his first reply on 9th September 1976. It was the first of a series of exciting letters and material about the Wends he would send me over the coming years. [I later learnt Dr Nielsen didn’t have copies of these letters. He had visited the Archives in Saxony where someone looked through the Wend letters and told him what they were about.] The copies Pastor Albert would send to Australia were the first time they were available in the Western World. A list of the main letters and material is given below.
Communism
I want to pay a special tribute to Pastor Albert tonight. Life wasn’t easy for Christians and their pastors in East Germany under Communist rule. He was the pastor of a huge parish. His sister wrote to me at one stage and advised me to be patient with him as he and his wife Annemarie hardly had a spare moment in their busy lives.
Yet Pastor Albert made the time to visit the Wend Archives in Bautzen where he photocopied the Wend letters and material, including some lengthy letters written home by Wends who had gone to Australia. Pastor Albert then translated these letters into German, typed them out neatly, and posted to me both the Wend photocopies of the originals and the typed translations. It must have taken a lot of time.
Rob Wuchatsch
When Rob Wuchatsch visited me 25 years ago in Warrnambool looking for information on the Wends he was thrilled and excited to receive a copy of a letter by Michael Zwar describing the voyage to Australia on the Prübislaw – the same ship his ancestors had travelled to Australia in 1849/50.
Money
One couldn’t send money from Australia to people living under communism in East Germany. To reward Pastor Albert for his work I would occasionally send a cheque to his sister, Mrs Irmgard Heuser who lived in Bad-Reichenhall in West Germany. It helped that the Australian dollar was worth two West German Marks in those days! His sister would find out what her brother would like to buy, then she bought it in the West and took it to Pastor Albert when she visited him. [Ray Deutscher told me he wrapped notes in silver foil and posted them successfully to his contacts in East Germany who were supplying him with information for the Deutscher Family History.]
Retirement
I am particularly keen to honour Pastor Albert as he is still alive. He lives in retirement in Bautzen. I plan to send him a copy of this ‘Tribute’ when I find someone who can translate it into German! I also had the joy of attending [and videoing] a Church service he took in the Wend language in Saxony in 1994.
A toast
The letters and material he sent out to Australia have been translated into English by a number of different people. It is my wish that anyone who translates and publishes this material, which has always been made freely available, will always acknowledge Pastor Siegfried Albert as the person chiefly responsible for making this material available to the Western World.
I now invite you to charge your glasses and we shall drink a toast to honour Pastor Siegfried Albert!
Material Translated
A list of translations by Pastor Siegfried Albert from Wendish into German (from 1976 on)
- Hochkirch Congregation, published in Tydzenske Nowiny re Langmeil Bethany 11.8.1849
- p.285 from Ebendorfel re Pastor Pench & brother 8.9.1849 p. 316
- Preuske 9.3.1850
- Schomburgh 17.5.1851 p. 156 (c 20)
- Andreas Preuske to brother Johann P. 6.3.1850 pp. 83,84 (c.14)
- Pastor Kappler 16.11.1851 pp. 345-347
- Hoehne 27.3.1851 13.12.1851/20.12.1851 pp. 50, 51
- Hoehne 21.6.1851 27.12.1851 3.1.1852 p. 52, c 1
- Johann Zwar (2 letters) 4.9.1851 1853 pp. 314,324,330,331,341,347
- Michael Zwar 1852 pp. 13,14,,19,27,36 (c2,c3,c4,c5)
- M Deutscher 19.1.1850 (3)
- H Albert 15.12.1852 10.12.1853 pp. 385,386 (49)
- J Ponich 1.7.1851 6.3.1852 (10)
- J Ponich 7.4.1852 21.8.1852
- J Ponich 11.2.1854 46
- J Ponich 4.3.1854 [Serbske Nowiny] (9)
- H Albert 24.12.1853 (401,402)
- J Mirtschin 19.9.1854 10.2.1855 [Serbske Nowiny]
- Maria Kaiser 5.1.1857 1857 146
Snippets of newspaper reports from Australia:
23.7.1842
21.4.1849
7.7.1849
4.8.1849
20.11.1852
undated:
29.1.1853
20.8.1853
21.1.1854
29.1.1853/54
2.4.1853
23.4.1853
6.8.1853
1928 “Luzica” No 1 1928 Luzica No 4
Article
“The Flame” 1978 No 18 A Sorbian Wedding in Australia
Pastor Albert also translated from Wend to German the lengthy ‘Appeal to the King of Saxony for Better Treatment for the Wends’ published in Australia in English [pp. 31-39] in the Oct 2005 Journal of Friends of Lutheran Archives.
© Kevin Zwar 2012