Johannes Aldinger Family History

"The Bessarabian Germans"

    Johannes Aldinger was born on July 27, 1883 in Hoffnungstal, Bessarabia, Russia, and immigrated to the United States on July 3, 1911, arriving in New York with his wife, Fredericka Weishaar Aldinger. His great-grandfather, Christian Friedrich Aldinger, was born in Fellbach-Waiblingen, Württemberg, Germany, on January 6, 1804. Johannes deceased on January 24, 1932 in Coleharbor, McLean County, North Dakota.

    Johannes Aldinger and some of his ancestors were Bessarabian Germans. Bessarabia was about 1/5 the size of Colorado and was originally part of Rumania. Bessarabia was wrestled from the Turks by Czar Alexander of Russia at the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812.

    Having acquired Bessarabia, Alexander determined to make the rolling hills and prairies into a farming and agricultural region. Of course, the logical people to invite for this purpose were German farmers. In 1813 caravans of depressed Germans began arriving in Bessarabia. Thus, during the next 125 years of development and existence in the region, the Bessarabian Germans had progressed to a highly commendable lifestyle. However, all this was disrupted when the Bessarabian Germans were forced to leave and relinquish all their holdings. Subsequently, all were forced to flee for their lives in 1945 when the Russians invaded the Polish Warthe River region, some Bessarabians were caught and turned over to the Russians, who sent them into slave labor camps. Other Bessarabian Germans became scattered in East and West Germany and elsewhere throughout the world, the Johannes Aldinger family immigrating to the United States of America. Thus, brought the close of the saga of the Bessarabian Germans.

    The Aldinger branches currently residing in North Dakota and South Dakota areas, in Eastern Montana (towns of Glendive, Terry, Fallon), in Wyoming (Green River), in Washington, and in Minnesota are descendants of the Johannes Aldinger family tree.

    One descendant of Johannes Aldinger which I would like to mention is Otto Aldinger, son of Johannes and Fredericka Aldinger, born October 29, 1913. Otto Aldinger grew up on a farm in Coleharbor, North Dakota. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was awarded the Purple Heart and four Bronze Battle Stars for his bravery while serving in Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, and the Rhineland. Otto was severly injured in the famed Battle of the Bulge with the Third Armored Tank Division when his tank was badly shot up. He picked up a piece of shrapnel from an artillery shell in the left leg. After his discharge in August of 1946 he returned to North Dakota and to the Coleharbor area and resumed farming. In 1963 he was nominated as outstanding "Disabled Veteran" in McLean County, North Dakota. Otto passed away on September 4, 1992 and is buried in Coleharbor, North Dakota.

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