For about 25 years we did not know much about the existence of the birthplace of our mother. As refugees, from Russian forced labor to East Germany, we were not inclined to speak about our Donauschwaben origins.
When our mother was retired and she visited her friends and acquaintances in what was West Germany at the time, she brought with her a book as a gift called "Sekitsch - Erlebte Heimat" (Sekitsch - Beloved Homeland) written by Philipp Sandles, an eyewitness. She gave us this book to read and since then we have never let go of it. We wanted to get to the bottom of the origin and living relationship of our ancestors, where they came from and under what circumstances did they live since the settlement of this village under Josef II of Austria.
In the beginning things were difficult there, as we suspected. There is indeed an Ortsippenbuch of the community, but our family was not represented in it, as they should also be, in the east at that time one had no knowledge of such a proposal and so our family, as well as many others remained unmentioned.
So we must look for other sources, which the nearest relatives (grandparents) to which one could ask about the family were dead and have left behind few records. So next we continued to study literature of existing publications in the hope of possible references to our ancestors. Our mother could remember that her ancestors came from Durstel in present day Alsace. So we went there and studied the remaining village church books for references. Unfortunately this trip was not very productive, so other sources must be found.
Again and again we have learned that no sources which are important for a family research exist and also the authorities of the village in present day Serbia were not cooperative in the beginning and did not respond to inquiries.
So what a day it was for us when Philipp Sandles telephoned, a special case of luck. Finally we found a competent, expert advisor and friend who imparted his knowledge to us, especially the village history, emotionally and very vividly. For this reason you should also find his report and research results on this page.
The beginning was done and so came many like minded people as well. Here we would like to thank Gottfried Schiffler and David Taus, true "founding fathers of the Sekitsch people" who were always energetic in obtaining information for us which was helpful and always still are.
On the strength of the abundance of existing data we have then established that our personal family research is very closely connected to the village of Sekitsch, and there was an enclave in the village where only a few "new" were settled, it quickly turned out soon that we were related to each of the existing families there. So the decision was made to work on the existing Ortsippenbuch anew and include additional sources that came in the meantime.
After that new sources such as the internet came finding the emigrants of both neighboring communities of Sekitsch and Feketitsch who went to North America and Canada.
Also this was not enough, so we made our way to the archive in Novisad in Vojvodina to find further information. In April of this year this long cherished wish was finally fulfilled. Until all of the data is evaluated, it will be necessary for some time.
Let yourself be surprised. We wish all visitors to this site much joy and hope we can also respond to people who up to now have not done their family research. Take your part in this unique and fascinating hobby we invite you to.