Tales of a Community that was… Krassna, North Dakota: A Memoir

2012 Beverley M. Paulson Family History Scrapbook Award, Heritage Education Commission, Minnesota State University-Moorhead

1924. Three white, clapboard, one-room school houses opened to educate the children in a farming settlement called Krassna, North Dakota, located on dirt roads about ten miles from the little village of Strasburg. The boys and girls were all descendants of Germans from Russia. Their parents and grandparents had arrived in the late 1800s from the steppes of Russia. Traditions passed down, through generations of a people who were first displaced from Germany and then from Russia, provided them strength to face hardship of this new land.

This book offers the reader a glimpse of life’s experiences in the Germans from Russia community. Their isolation and the ability to cope with North Dakota’s harsh climate created a supporting community that allowed their children to thrive. They survived.

About the author:

Angie Reinbold Ibarra was born in Krassna, North Dakota and lived all her formative years in South Dakota. She has called California, New York, Texas, Washington, D.C., and now, Minnesota home. Angie attended the University of Minnesota and graduated from Metropolitan State University. She is a former flight attendant, homemaker, substitute teacher for the St. Paul, Minnesota public high schools, a Licensed Private Detective, previous owner of her own Private Detective Agency and employer of Security Guards. Today, Angie is employed as a private detective for ADP, Inc., an international company specializing in background checks. Her previous writings appeared in the Stillwater Gazette, Stillwater, MN. She currently lives with her husband in Vadnais Heights.