One of the sad stories of our Josefstal and Volga German people are the families who did not make it out of Russia….or, parts of the family made it.
The Friedrich & Katharina Holzmann family is one such story.
Friedrich Holzmann was born to Kristof Holzmann & Anna Margareta Schmidt on May 11, 1896.
Friedrich will marry Katharina Kern, born July 6, 1897, daughter of Andreas Kern & Katharina Schaefer, on February 8, 1916.
Captured German refugee war documents state the family escaped to Minsk in 1920 and lived there until 1943.
They would have 3 children born to them: Hilda, Roman and Viktor.
At some point Friedrich must have gone back to the Josefstal area, as a document suggests he died in the neighboring village of Erlenbach in 1937.
So what happened to this family? They would have traveled to Germany in the 1940’s…but after that….the disappear.
As a side note, two of Friedrich’s siblings, Alois and Kristof, will make it to Argentina.
in Josefstal, November 5, 1890
Josefstal - Skripalovo, Russia 
Is there any information on Josef Hoffmann he and his family were in the book and we know he parishes in the famine of 1933 but don’t know what happened to his family ..he was my great Uncle
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Hi! Can you tell me who your family were? Are you in the United States? We are looking for what might have happened to him. Please email me at tgerk@shaw.ca Thanks.