Ludvina Dieser was born to Johannes Dieser and Marie Eva Heit in the little German-Russian town of Josefstal, near the Volga River. (She is 3 years old in this photo from 1915)
My grandmother called her sister by her nickname, Lilly. Lilly was 13 years old when my grandmother left Russia forever in 1925.
In a story that Granny Gerk told me, she remembered Lilly sitting in the corner in their family home, during the Volga famine of 1921-22, and just chewing on her nails...there was so little food.
Lilly will survive that famine.
It was not until 1984, when we established contact again with our family in the USSR, that we would discover Lilly's fate.
Another famine would rage in Russia. 1933 was the last time we would hear from family. Lilly will survive that dreadful year. Her mother, my great-grandmother, will die from starvation in August of 1933. But in November of 1934, Lilly will die from complications from her weak condition at the age of 22.
Family members tell us that Lilly asked to be buried in the wedding dress she was saving for when she wed...because she was going home "to be with Jesus".
They will bury her in the same grave that they buried her Mother.
Another sad tale....but as I promised my grandmother, Lilly is not forgotten!
