Family Wandering

So they have wandered through generations upon generations. If I wished to remember some of the hardships - Come and gone through centuries and years The multitude of toils – that the wanderers met Old ones have passed away, been forgotten and vanished, Oh no, they surely have had enough of their burden But constantly new ones have followed their tracks. Before they from changing tasks died Far, far away that wandering began, So they have wandered through generations upon generations, Far beyond the curtain of human memory. So shall they wander in coming years Where? – no writings today can tell. One day I myself got to follow the others Whither? – no one knows or can foresee. On the way toward the goals, where the generations go. Changing fates have met them on the road, . By Ivar Röstlund. Fortune and adversity, joy and sorrow. The road and the throng of wanderers have branched In the rush toward the future's alluring market square.

Family

According to certain accounts, the parents of Jaan (grandfather Karl Kronberg and Marie Kapsas) sometime in the 1870s. They were married in Rõuge Church in southern Estonia and in 1875 the son Jaan was born. A few years later another child was born, a girl (about whom we know very little) and as the third child the daughter Anna was born. Anna (Jaan Kronberg's sister, married Toode) lived until 1960 with Emely and Karl in Tapa, but after a time moved to the old people's home in Tapa where she died in the year 19........

Jaan Poltan, (Emely Kronberg's father) was born in Estonia and had a family consisting of one son and five daughters:

Sofie, Karl, Emely, Anna, Alma, Elvy...

Sofie was married to Aadu Jurgenson. In the marriage there were Sons: Karl, Alexander. Moved to Tapa after the war and are buried there.

Daughters: Liisa, married Kasper, was together with her nephew shot in 1941 by the Germans for alleged partisan activity.

Karl Poltan (mother's brother) married ..................

Daughter:Elvy .

Elvy has a daughter Elfride living in Riga, is married to a Pole and has a granddaughter,

Salme, became acquainted with some German during the war and was after the war exiled to Vorkuta, Komi region. Visited Leningrad in 1985 and I met her at Vera Petrovna's.

Anna (married Rist)

Sons: Eedu, blacksmith, exiled to the Kola Peninsula, to Vyatka, died of hunger

Oswald, disappeared in 1937. The family was exiled to Siberia where the husband died during timber floating.

Daughters:

Alma Minna, married to Viktor Burov

Children: Svetlana, Bella, Anatoly

Vera Petrovna, married to Alexei Bachlanov

Children: Margarita, married to Slava Klepko

Tatjana, married to Boris Makorda

Emely (née Poltan),

Born 22 December 1884. (The birth date is not entirely certain). Emely said that they wrote 1988 in the passport, but that she in fact could be somewhat older. Married to Jaan Kronberg in 1910

Jaan Kronberg married in 1910 to Emely Poltan and in

the marriage three children were born:

Karl - (född i Pskow 1912-04-19/1999-11-07)

Alide - (född i Pskov 1914-01-13/1989-12-..) och

Albert - (born in Novosele 1928-08-01)

Karl Kronberg Sr (Jaan's father) drove in the winters sledge teams to Pskov. There was a certain driving schedule each year, how the trips were to be distributed among the various farms and which days he was obliged to drive. The journey went from Porkhovo to Pskov and they transported meat, vodka and other provisions. In 1885 (Jaan was then 9 years old) Jaan's father moved from Estonia to the village of Värtsikova by the Pskov River and in 1888 got a homestead in Puusta (Pskov region).

The neighbors in the Puusta area were as follows: Paed, Jaan, Gustaf, Anna and a fifth child whose name we do not know

Leo, Karl, Matisse (fell 1910), Lonny lives in Estonia and has a daughter

Belayeff, brothers, an Eduard and the daughter Lena, they were house owners, Eduard was imprisoned in 1929

Hellstin had only one son, the name.

Post, August (disappeared in the Gulag), Emely, Gustaf fell at Stalingrad

Sack, Karl was a blacksmith, godfather to Karl Kronberg.

They had four children: Leida, Salme and three more children. They were deported together with us to Khibinogorsk, traveled from there to Kandalaksa, no one returned to their home district

Tenson, The daughter Emely (Karl Kronberg Jr's potential fiancée), the youngest son Gustaf was considered lazy by those around him, he loved hunting. Arrested in 1937 and disappeared without a trace.

The youngest married .............Teinman

Sock, Peter, Maria, Alide. Maria Sock is buried in Haapsalu

Latvian family Gulbach: They had the daughter Alide and two sons. One son went to the Whites in Lithuania and the other fell, a Latvian, during the Kronstadt uprising 1921.

Additionally there was a family Kahari: they lived further away next to a large mountain and the father was the same age as father Jaan.

Kahari left his wife and the sons Jaan and Daniel. The sons were products of the society's disintegration during 1932. They burned our house, were prominent defenders of the collective system and served the Germans during the occupation. Now live in Estonia.

Someone was named Kapsas, but we know nothing more

Waldemar Naruspeck - we know nothing about him.

Family Hirv - Olga went to school with her, the brother lives in Tartu.

Edvard Jesse - was in his time a staff clerk in an Estonian regiment, thereafter he worked in food production and lived in Tartu.

Menski Pridu - we were together with them in Kirovsk, Karl tells, and lived on the same street, they had three children Paul, Anna (the youngest) died of TB

Eduard Hütt served in the 'Red Riflemen' unit and requisitioned horses from the peasants. It is told that he and his cronies upon entering houses struck the rifle butts on the floor and ordered the mistress to bring out the gold or else there would be a house search and confiscation.

In 1918 the 'Red Riflemen' had to leave Estonia, they were caught up at Pskov where they were disarmed. Upon closer inspection it was found that Eduard Hütt had a lot of gold with him. Even in Pskov they mostly engaged in theft and robbery. When conditions settled down and the country got in order in 1924, he came back to Novoselje and worked as a farmhand for father in 1925. He was somewhat unruly and on one occasion struck a horse's muzzle bloody after which he had to quit. The father took him to Gdov, he intended to return to Estonia.

About Alexander Sass I remember that he worked in a glass factory, Waldemar tells. In 1957 he died of cancer and it was a special memory from childhood, about how a person more or less withers away.

Karl Kronberg Sr died in the 'Latvians' house' probably the neighbor's on the other side of the stream, though not Gulbas. The year of death is probably 1930 or 1931, when Jaan in 1932 made a visit to his home district, his father Karl was already dead - of hunger.

We lived in Leningrad administrative region, Pskov district and in Novoselje raion (area). The village was called Pustaperzha, from Russian (pustosch = uncultivated farmland) but was renamed after confiscation to 'Leiner' and several collective farms were founded on the former kulaks' (wealthy farmers') lands: 'Forward', 'The Red Sower' etc. The villages were enclaves of various nationalities, mostly Estonians and Latvians. On 8 March 1930, Jaan and Emely Kronberg were driven away from their homestead together with some well-to-do neighbors.

Karl Kronberg, father of Jaan, was allowed to stay at home, he was old and sick, such people were not to be sent away to exile, only able-bodied citizens were forcibly assigned there. Staying with him was his daughter, Ann Toode, Jaan's sister. He died of starvation sometime 1931-32.

Tandberg 780821/2, sida B, Tandberg 210…Mor berättar hur det gick till när hon blev gift.

A number of photographs found among Karl Kronberg's surviving papers. They probably depict the family's women, but who they are will likely remain unknown. While Karl was alive I never saw these pictures. Karl perhaps knew who they were.

About life in the home district (941217) Karl tells about life in Kirovsk

About neighbors in the home district Karl Kronberg tells in Tapa

List of the family's and neighbors' names: their possible fates and relationships to the family.

Poltan, Jaan Father of Emely married Kronberg

Family Paed Jaan, Gustaf, Pavel, An and one more girl.

Karl says he knows nothing about their fates.

Family Leo: Karl, Mattis (born 1910) Loni and a third daughter.

Lonny is in Estonia, about the sister we know nothing

Family Beljaew brothers Edward ---- and Lena.

Family Belaev had two children: Edward and Lena. Edward was imprisoned in 1929, fate unknown

Family Hellstin had only one son, fate unknown

Family Post August, Emely, Gustaf.

The father disappeared in the GULAG, Gustaf fell at Stalingrad

The mother and an aunt are buried at Pulkovo cemetery, says Karl.,

Family Sack The father Karl was a blacksmith and godfather to Karl Kronberg, the family had four or five children: Leida, Salme …..

They were exiled together with us, they traveled from Kirovsk to Kondoposk, no one returned after the war

Family Tenson A bride-to-be for Karl Kronberg Jr. One of the sons Gustaf, was imprisoned in 1937, the oldest daughter married, I don't remember to whom, and the youngest to one of the sons Teitt….

Family Sock Peeter, Maria, Alida

The daughter Maria is buried in Haapsalu

Family Gulbach One of the farmers went to the Whites in Latvia, the other fell, a Latvian, during the Kronstadt uprising 1921

Family Kähari The father was the same age as our father Jaan Kronberg. He left his

In the family there were two sons: Jaan and Daniel. The sons were of the same ilk, members of a rotten society, they burned down our place in 1932. They were the foremost promoters of collectivization, served the Germans during the war and now live in Estonia.

Family Kapsas No information

Family Rist Emely Kronberg's sister was married into the family

Naruspeck Waldemar, grandson of our grandfather, no information available