Gottfried Schulz

This article deals with the Bessarabian German landowner and cattle dealer Gottfried Schulz. For the car trading group, see Gottfried Schultz , for the physician, see Gottfried Schultz (Mediziner) .

Gottfried Schulz around 1890

Gottfried Schulz (born October 25, 1846 in Dennewitz , Bessarabia (today: Prjamobalka ); † April 27, 1925 in Sofiental , Bessarabia) was a Bessarabian German landowner and cattle dealer in Bessarabia. By buying land on a large scale, he made a decisive contribution to the internal colonization of the country in Bessarabia for the benefit of his compatriots. In business matters he worked together with his brother Gottlieb Schulz .

Life

Gottfried Schulz was born into a peasant family of German descent in Bessarabia , which at that time belonged to the Russian Empire. He was born in the village of Dennewitz, which was founded by German emigrants in 1834 and in which around 550 people of German descent lived in 1940.

Schulz initially ran a farm as a farmer in the German settlement of Neu-Posttal (today: Dolyniwka ). He had his first economic success selling his agricultural products in the cities of Akkerman and Odessa . He got the idea to do this with cattle for slaughter as well. Together with his brother Gottlieb Schulz , he bought lean cattle at markets in winter. The owners, who mostly belonged to different population groups, could no longer raise the money for the feed. The Schulz brothers employed shepherds who fattened the cattle on leased pastures in spring and summer. In the autumn, the herds of cattle were driven to the cities of Akkerman and Odessa for sale. In this way Gottfried Schulz developed into the most important cattle dealer in southern Bessarabia and was able to generate large amounts of capital.

The brothers used this capital to purchase land from aristocratic Russian landowners and to sell it on to their compatriots of German origin. 1% of the purchase price is said to have been taken as commission. The Russian nobility had great capital needs at this time. Many of his relatives, most of whom lived in St. Petersburg , led a lavish life in French and Swiss health resorts, which in some cases they could no longer pay for by renting their land.

By buying and selling land, the inhabitants of numerous Bessarabian German villages became owners of the land they had previously leased. Numerous new Bessarabian German settlements were created on the purchased land. In Bessarabia there were many landless sons looking for farmland, since according to inheritance law only the youngest son inherited the father's farm.

In total, Gottfried Schulz is said to have bought around 40,000 dessjatines (around 45,000 hectares) on land in Bessarabia . In addition, there was a major land purchase with 10,000 Dessjatines in the North Caucasus, which was intended for settlers of German origin. However, the project failed because the settlers were attacked by the indigenous population.

The land purchases by Gottfried Schulz led to the establishment of the following Bessarabian German settlements:

1881 Neu-Posttal 1883 Sofiental 1884 Neufall 1885 Benkendorf 1886 Mannsburg 1886 Strasbourg 1888 Pavlovka 1891 Basyrjamka

1894 Seimeny 1897 Andreevka 1905 Balaktschelly 1906 Romanowka 1906 Alisovka 1907 Rosenfeld 1908 Schulzenheim 1911 New Alexandrowka

Another achievement of Gottfried Schulz is that through him the leased land in 60 Bessarabian German villages passed into the possession of the farmers.

literature

• Richard Baumgärtner: Gottfried Schulz - a Bessarabian German pioneer. In: Home calendar of the Bessarabian Germans. Hanover 1978.