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nice page!!!

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My mother was Anna Baier-Diamond. She was born in Marienberg on April 14,1921. She was four months old when her father Jakob and mother Katharina along with eighteen other families bravely left the persecution of their homeland for greener pastures. Their emigration to Germany is recounted quite well in this website. The family Jakob,Katharina,Anna and a second child listed as Orlinda on the ships manifest sailed from Hamburg,Germany on a ship called the Mount Carroll and arrived at Ellis Island on August 2, 1923. They settled in Philadelphia Pa., and had three other children, Henry, Michael,and Jocob. My Grandfather Jakob died on December 8,1981, my Grandmother Katharina died on June 6, 1991 and my Mother Anna passed from this mortal coil on July 16, 2003. I continue to love them all very much. Thank you so very much for creating this site and telling and preserving the story of Marienberg.

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Jakob & Katherina Baier were my husband's grandparents. Their daughter, Anna Baier Diamond, was my mother-in-law. Many years ago Grandmom Baier shared some stories about their early lives as farmers in Russia--their horror & fear upon learning of the execution of Czar Nicholas & his family; how they nearly starved every winter because the Bolsheviks seized all their food & grain. Farmers built false walls in their barns to hide grain. When the Bolsheviks found out, they gathered all the people together and made several men dig a trench. The men and their parish priest, Jakob Kayser, were lined up in front of the trench and shot. It was after this that the Baiers decided to leave. As they began their long, agonizingly slow train ride through deep snow, men & women were separated and crammed into dark, unheated cars. Women with babies melted snow in a barrel to wash diapers, then wrapped the wet diapers around their bodies to dry them. The dead and dying were thrown off the train. Grandmom Baier recalled one woman in particular whose infant had died. A soldier yanked the infant out of the woman's arms and threw it off the train. The woman jumped out after it. Often the train would stop because of snowdrifts. Everyone had to get out to clean off the tracks and it was not uncommon to come across dead, frozen bodies buried in the snow. These stories made me realize that we sometimes take things for granted and don't fully appreciate the hardships our ancestors suffered for a better life in America.

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Hi Liz! I am also a decendent of Jakob and Katherina Baier by their daughter Anna Baier(Diamond) who was my grandmother. The events that took place in Marienberg at that time are fascinating and I find myself in awe of the incredible hardships that they faced on their journey to America. As I read and learn about their lives before I knew them I find more and more pride in knowing how strong they were to survive and then prosper.

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I love this website. My great grandparents are listed on your refugee page. They were Jakob and Katherina Baier. Anna is my grandmother's sister. My grandmother was born in 1923 right before they boarded the boat to America. The story of the Volga Germans is fascinating, and I'm eager to learn more of their journey. I admire their courage during their tumultuous time, and I'm proud to be one of their many healthy and happy descendants.