The Germans from Russia Heritage Collection is pleased to publish this valuable new book for the Bessarabian German and Germans from Russia community.
Michael Miller, director of the NDSU Library's Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, writes: "Sunflowers & Thistles is one of the most important scholarly books published by the GRHC for the Germans from Russia community. The book is a wonderful addition to GRHC's published book, Bessarabia: German Colonists on the Black Sea. We are deeply grateful to James T. Gessele, Mercer, ND native for volunteering to translate these books from German to English".
German critic Erwin Moritz writes, "Much of Elvire Bisle's Sunflowers & Thistles seems almost incredible when, on the basis of contemporary witness accounts, things come to light that have been kept closed-mouthed at all cost. Bisle should be recognized for her courage to expose events that her Bessarabian German countymen have hardly dared write about until now."
Secondary school educator Elvire Bisle-Frandrich traveled about Germany, often accompanied by her father, conscientiously researching and collecting accounts, allowing her Bessarabian countrymen to have a say with their authentic stories. Adds critic Moritz: "Accompanied by a wealth of photos, the work is thrilling to read, sometimes even upsetting, particularly the drama surrounding the horrible flight during World War II and how the Bessarabian Germans had to endure it almost without exception. This book will prompt us to reflect. And well it should."
Allyn Brosz of Washington, D.C., writes, "I thought I was quite familiar with the history of the Germans in Bessarabia, but Elvire Bisle-Fandrich has taught me so much more in her engaging look at daily life in the German Villages in the 1930s: Sunflowers & Thistles. She reminds us that the 'good old days' had both sunlight and shadows; our ancestors were only human, after all. The book is told with humor throughout and is truly an entertaining and informative read."
Michael Miller writes in the Acknowledgments: "With its original title. Sonnrosen und Piker: Bessarabiendeutschen erzählen, the work has had a wide audience among German readers and its important scholarly work. Says Frau Erika Wiener, Deputy Director of the Bessarabian German Association in Stuttgart, Germany: "The narrative work in Sonnrosen und Piker by Elvire Bisle-Franrich is - as far as I am informed - the only social criticism among literature of the Bessrabian Germans." Now in its compelling English-language format, it will reach a larger, worldwide audience."
About the translator:
James T. Gessele, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a native of Mercer, North Dakota. His great-grandparents immigrated from Bessarabia and the Black Sea Region to North Dakota. Gessele received his Bachelor of Arts degree in German Studies and Biology from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, and an M.A.T. degree in German from Stanford University. He taught high school German as a foreign language for several years in Minnesota. Gessele worked four years teaching English at the Viktoriaschule (academic high school) in Essen, Germany. He then took up a career in civil engineering in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Retiring in 2000, Gessele has devoted his free time to family heritage, recording of local history, and German to English translation of books relating to the Bessarabian Germans. He has authored a historical sketch of his hometown lake resort, co-authored, Memories: Mercer, North Dakota, 100 Years, 1905-2005. He served on the Board of Directors, Germans from Russia Heritage Society and as the Society's lead editor of "Heritage Review". Gessele translated the memoir of a Soviet German, Though My Soul More Bent, published by GRHS in 2003.
n 2011, the hardcover book, Bessarabia: German Colonists on the Black Sea, authored by Ute Schmidt, translated German to English by James T. Gessele, was published by GRHC. In 2014, Gessele translated the GRHC published book, Another World: From the Life of Germans in Bessarabia, Sketches & Poems.
In 2016, Gessele translated the hardcover book German to English, Sunflowers & Thistles: Bessarabian Germans Speak Out, authored by Elvire Bisle-Fandrich published by GRHC.
