Turuc & Schlacter Ancestors

The ultimate weakness of Soviet Communism can be traced to many sources. Despite their ideological commitment to human equality, the Communists established a party elite in the Soviet Union. As an economic system Communism was also found lacking. Allowing little scope for human initiative, Communists failed to draw out the best efforts of the Soviet peoples as producers and distributors of goods. Communism also relied on “controlled press” that printed only what the government wanted the people to hear. Romania even required its citizens to register their typewriters.... Resistance in Yugoslavia developed mainly in dispersed units of the Yugoslav army and among Serbs fleeing genocide in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Had not her family sent her to America she may not have survived the fierce Communist terrorization in her homeland which sadly took the lives of her parents. Maria Mandula not only gave a farm to her niece, but sponsored Pete Turuc so that he could escape the hardships in Europe at that time and be given a chance a the beginning of his young adult life.

(click picture to enlarge)

IMMIGRANT FAMILIES: TURUC AND SCHLACTER

Although resources were strained, their lives were better in America than in the countries from which they had come. Jobs became plentiful and wages increased and Americans worked hard to provide for their families and looked to God for strength and guidance. In time, many were drawn from the farms to the cities, where they joined thousands of immigrants in search for work.

As immigrant families settled in the cities, they often formed ethnic neighborhoods with others from their native land. (15).

Maria Mandula bought her daughter and her husband John a farm in Donaldson, IN(Plymoth, Indiana was the mailing address). Pete Turuc’s (c. 1924-) great grandmother and aunt. Pete’s brother, Joe, recalls that Maria lived near Maxwell Street. When he brought her a puppy she ended up returning it after it refused to bark and would act like the cats. Maria outlived three husbands. She was Romanian and she liked cats. Pete remembers spending summers on the farm and working hard. Maria was over 6’ tall. Because she new many languages she did very well financially. While she was a supervisor for “Bunte Brothers Candy Co,” she got Pete Sr. a job. Then Pete began cabinet making at Emil J. Paider Co. where he met his future wife Elizabeth Schlacter. He made barber and beauty shop cabinetry fixtures. He referred to Eli and his sister as his half-brother and sister. They had different parents.

Pete Turuc Sr., 18 yrs., before leaving from Romania. Pete was brought to Gary, Indiana by his grandmother—Maria Mandula who was his sponsor. He came to America first and worked at the Gary steel mills until he died. Peter Turuc funeral b. 7/14/1875 d. 3/28/1939.

(click picture to enlarge) Row behind casket: Cliff, Elizabeth, Pete Sr.(2), Pete Jr.(3). Gary Oak Hill Cemetery 4450 Harrison St., Gary, IN 46408 (219-887-7339). Garden B, Row 26, Space 16.

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John Sirca, Don Dionese, and Kiva Sirca. Eli Kotel and Kiva Sirca (most likely cousins of Maria Mandula) were also brought to the country (See Heritage Pictures). They both got railroad jobs in the central part of Omaha where the railroad had dead-ended. Eli married Martha and had no children. Kiva married John Sirca and had a son, Don Dionese, who became a doctor. He did his internship at Cook County Hospital. He married and then entered WWII as a military doctor. He re-married and had 2 kids. Then they went to California.

Kristoff & Elizabeth Schlacter: Kristof (Christophorus) was in construction work; masonry and brick building construction in business for himself. ‘Then, with the new wars in Europe, his equipment got stolen and he was out of business. He salvaged enough money to send his children to America. Magda stayed. She was just a baby at the time. She married Sereten Seffanovic. At times they lived with or nearby the parents. One day the parents were taken off and never seen again. Because Magda had married a Yugoslav name she was spared.. Joe Turuc Sr. recalls the story from Magda in which the parents were dragged out of their home and shot while two younger daughters hid in the fields.

MAGDA STEFFANOVIC (kid sister of ELIZABETH SCHLACTER c. 1901-1977) lived in Yugoslavia. She warned that the United States needed to “FEAR THE ARABS.” According to the World Book encyclopedia, “The people of Yugoslavia are divided into many religious and language groups, but they are united in a fierce national pride and a strong spirit of independence from outside interference.” (16) Sadly, however, when the Communists invaded in the mid-forties, Peter Turuc (Jr.)reported that her parents, Kristoff and Elizabeth Schlacter, were taken away and never heard from again. According to Peter's brother Joseph, the parents were dragged out of the house and shot and killed as the two youngest daughters hid in the fields. Both Communism and the Arabs have and still are a threat to our society. Not only was 9/11/01 a wake-up call, but today we are aware, with the many mosques going up across the country, that some are secretly preparing jihad to the United States…..America certainly does fear the Arabs today. Citizen Soldier , link 2 , link3.

The ultimate weakness of Soviet Communism can be traced to many sources. Despite their ideological commitment to human equality, the Communists established a party elite in the Soviet Union. As an economic system Communism was also found lacking. Allowing little scope for human initiative, Communists failed to draw out the best efforts of the Soviet peoples as producers and distributors of goods. Communism relied on “controlled press” that printed only what the government wanted the people to hear. Romania even required its citizens to register their typewriters. (20)

In Kristof and Elizabeth Schlacter's last days, the group headed by Marshal Tito took full control upon German expulsions in 1945. The Axis invasion caused panic in Yugoslavia, as foreign occupiers partitioned the country and terrorized its people. Bloody encounters involved both invading and domestic forces throughout the four years of war. The Communist-led Partisans rose from near oblivion to dominate the country's resistance movement. They emerged from the war in firm control of the entire country. The Communists under Tito emerged from the war as sole rulers of Yugoslavia, without major Soviet assistance. Tito supporters occupied almost all of the cabinet posts. New election laws barred alleged wartime collaborators from voting and all government held elections to choose the Communist-controlled People's Front, the descent of the wartime People's Liberation Front that encompassed all non-collaborationist political parties and organizations. The police harassed non-Communist politicians and suppressed their newspapers during the election campaign.

(Anna Turuc in Yugoslavia)

During WWII, 1941-45, the Axis invasion caused panic in Yugoslavia, as foreign occupiers partitioned the country and terrorized its people.

Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria dismembered Yugoslavia. Germany unleashed a reign of terror and Germanization in northern Slovenia. It resettled Slovenes in Serbia, moved German colonists onto Slovenian farms, and attempted to erase Slovenian cultural institutions. The Catholic hierarchy collaborated with the authorities in Italian-occupied southern Slovenia. The “Independent State of Croatia” was merely a puppet state. Storm troopers eliminated two million Jews, Serbs, and Gypsies through forced religious conversion, deportation, and extreme violence.

The puppet state was enthusiastically backed by some Croatian Catholic clergy, including the Archbishop of Sarajevo; some Franciscan priests even enlisted and participated in planned massacres. Resistance in Yugoslavia developed mainly in dispersed units of the Yugoslav army and among Serbs fleeing genocide in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. (19)

Over the last decade, Yugoslavia has fallen to pieces. President Slobodan Milosevic took power in Yugoslavia 18 years ago and he ruled like a dictator ever since. An election was held in September of 2000. Mr. Milosevic claimed he had won. But his opponents said their candidate had won. They accused the Milosevic side of falsely reporting the votes. Large crowds gathered to protest against Mr. Milosevic. People broke government buildings. The president finally conceded his defeat. Vojislav Kostunica is now the new president. Milosevic was the last Communist ruler in Yugoslavia. During his reign, the country fought and lost four wars. And four Yugoslav regions—Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Macedonia—broke away and became independent. (26)

In 1946, with the end of Soviet Communism, Winston Churchill had delivered a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, MO, proclaiming: “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the continent.” Forty-six years later, on May 6, 1992, Mikhail Gorbachev returned to Fulton as the last leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev had fostered the reforms that went beyond his own expectations and led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. (20)

Anton Schlacter (standing second left--See Heritage Pictures)
Anton worked briefly in Argentina, but returned home sick and died within a year.

ELIZABETH SCHLACTER'S BIBLE NOTES

Kristoff and Elizabeth Schlacter had eight children. Listed in the Bible of Elizabeth:
1) Theresa Schlacter born 15 Oct 1894.
2) Anton Schlacter born 11 Sep 1895.
3) Kristoff Schlacter born 11 May 1898.
4) Elizabeth Schlacter born 13 Jun 1901.
5) Mathias (Max) Schlacter born 25 Feb 1904, died 11 Aug 1987, Tuscon, AZ.
6) Sophie Schlacter born 01 Nov 1907.
7) Helen Schlacter born 15 Apr 1915.
8) Magda Schlacter (kid sister; no notes or dates on birth; pictured in Yugoslavia with husband Sereten.)

Schlacter family in Yugoslavia, before leaving for the USA. Max was 17yrs. And Elizabeth was 20 when they arrived in New York. (pictures to come)

1921—September 2, Elizabeth and Max Schlacter arrive in New York on the “Argentina” from Trieste, Italy.

Max and Mary Schlacter (pictured). Max Schlacter was born 24 Feb in Yugoslavia, died 11 Aug 1987 in Tuscon, AZ. Max married Mary Anna Lange on 17 Jun 1925 in Chicago, IL. Mary Anna Lange was born 6 Jul 1904 in St. James, MN. She was 8 years old when her father died and 13 when her mother died. There were 9 children in her family that were raised on a farm in Randolph, NE.

(Max pictured)Pete, son of Elizabeth Schlacter, recalls Max once had a sailboat that he stored on the old Navy Pier. One day he went out on Lake Michigan with a friend and was taken adrift down to Indiana. Elizabeth called the police when they didn’t make it back before sunset. Although they made it back safely that night, Max decided to add a small motor to the boat before going out again.

On Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed triggering the Great Depression. It spread from the United States to the rest of the world, lasting from the end of 1929 until the early 1940s. More than 15 million Americans became unemployed. President Herbert Hoover, a strong believer in rugged individualism, did not think the federal government should offer relief. Focusing on a trickle-down economic program to help finance businesses and banks, Hoover met with resistance from the business executives who preferred to lay off workers. Most Americans were able to provide for themselves, and others received help from family, friends, and private charities. Certain leaders, however, began to convince people that the government should solve their financial problems and many people began to depend on it for their financial needs. By 1932, the Depression was at its worst, and many people were open to socialistic ideas of government control and economic planning. (15)
(Pete, Joe, and George baby pictures.)

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

Austria-Hungary was an important country in central Europe from 1867 until 1918. It was a union of two neighboring states, the Austrian Empire and the Hungarian Kingdom. It also included two provinces, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were placed under Austro-Hungarian administration in 1878 and were annexed in 1908. Although it compared in size to Texas, 51,400,000 people lived there. Of the many peoples there were 23 million Slavs, 12 million Germans, 10 million Magyars, 3 million Romanians, and many smaller groups. It was not a “melting pot” like the Untied Sates though. The people were called by the districts they lived in, and each group kept its own customs and language. Because of the different nationalities and independence between the people, Austria-Hungary was not strong. For more than 40 years there was widespread discontent. In 1914 the murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand led to WWI. After the war the territory was divided. The new states of Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia were formed and the other land went to Italy, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia. (13)

Pete and Dolores Turuc met at the Aragon. Pete asked Dolores to dance. Then she invited him to a picnic in Virgil. The Aragon ballroom had instructor night on Tuesday night. The club was called the 400 club. Honey Fergen was there too. Members came to help beginners learn how to dance. Honey was a demonstrator. Members had free admittance to two ballrooms. Pete’s number was 476 to prove he was a member which involved taking a test. The “Jitter Bug” was not allowed. A big bouncer would shake his finger if you attempted to dance that way. They tried to keep a refined dance place. The Aragon Ballroom was Chicago's famous Northside night spot. It opened in 1926 with the "King of Jazz", Paul Whiteman and his orchestra. The Aragon Ballroom along with its sister operation, the Trianon, on the southside, was extremely popular with dancers during the thirties and forties. Although the Trianon and its organ did not survive, the Aragon and its WurliTzer organ remain virtually unchanged today even though its main floor has not seen dance couples except for a few isolated special occasions in years. Used mainly now as an exhibition hall for sporting events and private parties. For years Hal Pearl reigned supreme at the 3/10 WurliTzer console and was very popular with the dancers. (25)

Another popular spot was the Cuban village which was across the street from Vine Gardens in Chicago. It had Latin dancing and floor shows. Pete took Peppie and Estel, the instructors, over to the Frank Morgan Dance Studio, where he was teaching at the time, and they gave a Latin dance demo. At the Frank Morgan Dance Studio Pete did a dance demo for Fred Astaire. He got to meet him while he was there looking for a place to open his own studio. Frank Morgan was trying to interest him in a deal. Pete’s first dance job was at Arthur Murry Dance Studio on 64 E. Jackson Blvd. At that time Frank Morgan was teaching alongside him. Shortly after he opened his own studio and Pete worked there. Pete worked at a bakery while in high school. Then he worked at the Buick Motor division’s air craft engine manufacture in Melrose Park. He worked at the Douglas Air Craft assembly plant at O’Hare Field assembling air craft and sheet metal for a time and then, when the war started, he started working at dance studios when jobs were scarce. He returned to the bakery for awhile and then did state operating engineer work for the next 40 years. In December of 1986 he tore his rotator cuff and could not go back to work.

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