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Iron Crosses documentary to debut on Prairie
Public Television
A traditional
ethnic art form is the focus of "Prairie Crosses, Prairie
Voices: Iron Crosses of the Great Plains"—a video
documentary co-produced by Prairie Public Broadcasting and
the North
Dakota State University Libraries.
"Prairie Crosses,
Prairie Voices: Iron Crosses of the Great Plains" follows
the history of the traditional iron cemetery grave marker
as the folk art migrated from Germany to the Russian Ukraine—and
eventually to the Great Plains of North Dakota and Canada.
The iron crosses—some intricate, some simple, but no
two quite the same—are found in cemeteries and in agricultural
fields across the region.
The documentary
is the third in a series of collaborations between executive
co-producers Bob Dambach, of Prairie Public Television, and
Michael Miller, North Dakota State University libraries bibliographer.
Videographer Dave Geck contributed his exceptional talent
to all three documentaries.
Dr. Timothy J.
Kloberdanz, associate professor of sociology-anthropology
at North Dakota State University, is the writer and narrator
of "Prairie Crosses." He is considered an international
expert on the subject. "The Germans from Russia were
a frugal people whose blacksmiths used wagon-wheel rims and
scrap metal to fashion markers for the graves of the dead,"
he said. "Yet the crosses are a distinctive and beautiful
art form—with unbroken hearts of metal, brightly painted
stars, endless circles, banner-waving angels, exquisitely
formed lilies, and rose blossoms that rust but never wilt."
The first German
Russian heritage documentary presented by executive co-producers
Dambach and Miller, "The
Germans From Russia: Children of the Steppe, Children of the
Prairie," premiered on Prairie Public Television
in 1999, and has aired on 70 public broadcasting stations
in 26 states and four Canadian provinces. It won the top prize
for historical documentaries at the 1999 Telly Awards and
a bronze plaque award in humanities at the Columbus 47th Annual
International Film and Video Festival.
The second documentary
in the series, titled "Schmeckfest:
Food Traditions of the Germans from Russia," has
also been honored with a Telly Award.
In "Prairie
Crosses," Kloberdanz explains that large scale immigration
of German speaking settlers into Russia began in 1762 with
the ascension of Catherine the Great to the Russian throne.
The Czarina's manifesto offered western Europeans willing
to farm in Russia free land, local self-government and freedom
from military service. In 1764, the first great wave of German-speaking
agricultural settlers journeyed to the lower course of the
Volga River in Russia. By 1897, the population of these German
settlers numbered over 1.7 million.
In the late 19th
century, Catherine's manifesto was rescinded. Between 1872
and 1914, 300,000 Germans from Russia obtained passports and
began their migration to America. Although they settled in
almost every area of North America, most Germans from Russia
preferred the open spaces of the Great Plains. And it was
there that Germans from Russia in America maintained their
language and culture the longest.
The NDSU Libraries
Web site offers detailed information about the history
and culture of the Germans from Russia—including
other videotape
documentaries; photos
of iron
crosses on the prairie; publications; oral interviews;
folklore; foodways; an essay
by Tom Isern, NDSU history professor; and an events calendar.
The NDSU Libraries Web site also hosts photos
of Iron Cross making at Buckshot Junction in Bismarck,
ND; the world
premiere of Iron Crosses; and a photo
tour with Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz.
Prairie Public
Broadcasting's Web site offers
teaching materials, links, and historical information.
Major funding for
the documentary was provided by the North Dakota Humanities
Council, North Dakota State University Libraries, the North
Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the
state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts,
and the members of Prairie Public Broadcasting.
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